I am currently working on a research paper that involves Christianity and Hinduism. And I've never read much of the Bible, but today I read from the Ten Commandments that God says "Thou shalt have no other gods before me for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." Does that not imply that there are multiple Gods? And if so, how can people deny the existence of other Gods?

Interesting thing to ponder at almost 5 in the morning huh? lol

It is meant that the Egyptians, Romans and others prayed to other Gods.. I.e. Ra the Sun God and many others that are not coming to me at this late hour.. He was saying that HE is the ONLY God and WE should not have ANY others....

To answer your question Yes. Lol...Also in revelations it says "And G-d sat at the table amongst all the other gods".

And reread that sentence, it DOESN't Say anything about "G-d" sitting at the head of the table either.

Interesting huh?

What do you think it meant Jon? Do you think it was assumed? I haven't read Revelations, I've never been ready for it...

no i just didnt see your post...lol...i only saw the one post by the girl who asked the question.

dont need to be snippy

lol

Ah yes, an interesting question, and one no one can answer, of course. It's all based on your belief system. I think that it can be interpreted a couple of ways, probably more. 1. At the time, many people worshipped many different Gods. So, God could have been meaning, yes, there are more than one but I am the Supreme God and you shouldn't worship anyone but me. Or, 2. He knew that he was the only God and he wanted people to throw aside their beliefs in something that did not exist and believe only in him.

Now, of course, Hindus worship many Gods. Each God represents something different, however, their roles are often overlapping. But, key here really, is that Hinduism is both monotheistic and polytheistic at the same time. There are many Gods and Goddesses but each is really just an "offshoot" of the Supreme God, they represent different aspects of God's being. So, while they are distinct entities, they are really one and the same.

As for how people can deny the existence of other Gods? It's what they choose to do or not do. Or it is what they are raised to believe. And where you are raised in the world. Western religions, for the most part, tend to be monotheistic, while Eastern religions tend to be polytheistic. Who is right, who is wrong? Or are we all right and wrong at the same time? Is there no God at all? Questions we will know the answers to when we die.

I wasn't being snippy I promise, I was sincerely asking what you got out of it b/c I haven't read it...

The Key SuzinVa you hit on the head.. "most religions have one supreme God"...

if you think about it Almost All religions are either poly or henotheistic

Read the "book of swords" its a series of books and a not to bad story but has a great out look on the Gods idea

Oh my this is exciting haha. I wasn't expecting to get so many replies so soon.

IndnPrncs- I did figure that is what Christians interpreted that He was saying. I just think it's interesting how it's worded and the use of the word "jealous" throws me off a bit...

Jon- I do think that's interesting...looks like I've got me some more interesting reading to do.

Which leads to thanks Heather for your suggestion!!

Suzin- I also liked your answer, I think of it a lot in the way you do. I just don't know what I believe yet.

your welcome. I studied almost every last religion from Asatru/Norse to Wicca, except for Hinduism, Buddism, and some of the oriental dieties.

And all ancient writings, minus the oriental/mongolian over 5000 ways to write the word go...lol

also you probably read the ten commandments from mosses when he went to the Mountain. there are SEVERAL versions of the 10 commandments.

How is that different than Christianity? My understanding, and please correct me if I am wrong, is that the idea of the trinity is that there are three "offshoots" that "represent different aspects of God's being."

What's very interesting is that the Bible (original testament) keeps on talking about "One" - that G-d is one. There is a very strong emphasis on "One".

It kind of gets tricky once you start breaking that up into more than one. I just read that Mormons believe that the trinity is three distinct beings.

The lines between monotheistic and polytheistic can become blurry really quickly if we are not careful.

Religion is a fascinating but very sensitive subject. No offense was meant with my comments ;-)

It's an interesting subject, to me anyway. I'm not religious but I do find the study of the subject to be fascinating. I think that there's validiy in whatever someone believes, don't think it really matters much in the end what you choose to call yourself. Though, personally, if I were forced to choose a label, I'd probably be Buddhist.

Also, if want a comparison, Hindus believe in many Gods, each of which represent something specific about the Supreme Being. Catholics have their saints, which are of course not represented as gods, per se, but, if you need or want something specific, people do pray to these saints. So, while technically not being labelled as such, in a loose way, it can be compared to Hinduism, in that respect.

And last, Christianity, while an off-shoot of Judaism, takes many of its core beliefs from Eastern religions, which are far older. There is a school of thought that Jesus studied Buddhism at one point in his life, which cold explain why there are so many similarites between the two.

you can pretty much make anything a god for you personally. people worship statues made out of wood or stone and make that their god. god, to me, is whatever you make it (or whatever you've learned it to be) the jews have jehovah, christians have jesus, buddhists have buddha, even if you don't believe in God you are you're own God. i think God is somebody or something to give purpose in life, a goal if you will. whether its to please him, to get to "heaven", or even to spite him. most religions have pretty much the same ethical standards...maybe it was created by governments to keep they're people under control...maybe not. man it's late

If there was more than one God, then surely there would be war in heaven. Believe it or not that is why lucifer was cast out from heaven, because he equaled himself to God. And yes there was war in heaven. It's all in the bible.

I too am not a fan of confusion around One God and Three Persons. I took an Early Christian Doctrine course and I had trouble following the debates between substance, entities, nature, persons, three, one, two...but I guess these things happen when something is a mystery.

Haha, I like your line of thinking youngbutready.

And I do wonder what heaven is like...are there multiple heavens? Then that would allow for multiple Gods without warring?

Good morning Tom

This is, of course, if you take your religious viewpoint from the Bible. Millions the world over do not. Not right or wrong whatever anyone chooses to believe, just adding a different perspective. Though, of course, the Greek and Roman gods were all warring with one another as well.

I support different perspectives. I think it makes life all the more interesting, that's why I started this thread, to see what others thought about my confusion. And I'm glad I did! Such great ideas and opinions. I hope for more to come =)

This is a very interesting subject and I by no means have all the answers, but heres my theory. The ten commandments were given to the children of Isreal while they were wandering around in the wilderness for forty years. In Exodus 24 The Lord called Moses up on Mt Sinai to give him tablets of stone with the laws and commandments written on them so he(Moses) could teach them. Then in Exodus 32 it says Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain (he was there for forty days).The people got impatient and they made a molded calf out of gold and worshipped a created object. That was a common practice in the world among other cultures at that time, but these were the children of Isreal, Gods chosen people. They were to worship only the one God.
Now to put this in todays perspective, we dont hardly carve objects out of wood or gold and offer sacrifices to it as the people did in that day and age, but we have many other gods in our culture today also. The god of money is a big one, also fame, pride, you name it, if it gets between you and your total reliance and worship of the one God then it is a god to you.