'another god' is referring to Satan and the demons. That is why God forbids idolatry. They are the 'other gods' of
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Well, Yahweh and Allah did have a lot more competition back in those days.
Speaking of which, has anyone here read the Koran? I've only made a brief excursion, but as far as I can tell, 99% of the book is essentially these three things reworded as nauseum: "Do not consort with the infidels", "Allah will prepare a great doom for the infidels", "Allah is great / wise / merciful..", "Did I mention that infidels suck?", etc.
That might explain why Islam has persisted for so long. Little room for any other thoughts.
If you look at both sets of 10 Commandments, both of them refer to other gods.
Set one: First Tables of Stone (Exodus 20)
1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.
1. Thou shalt worship no other god (For the Lord is a jealous god).
There is an interesting theory that Jewish tradition came out of a polytheistic religion from ages ago. Some points being that the 'Holy Spirit' in some ancient texts had a strictly female name and the songs from around the same time that are still used today are structured like mini pissing contests.
'Our god is an awesome god' makes a lot of sense if there are a lot of other gods running around and yours needed the most attention.
Yahweh was either a god of war or a head god, like Zeus, and survived more intact while the rest dissolved into the background of a hastily forgotten history.
The end result being Yahweh is paranoid about other gods and never declares that he's the only one that exists, but that he's the only one that matters.
If they were Satan and demons, one might expect they'd be referred to as such. You know, in the Bible. What are you, making things up as you go? If the Bible says they're gods, they're gods! Duh!
The Bible refers to other gods. The fact that the various Abrahamic faiths reinterpret them as demons is a far latter idea. Evidence suggests that early Judaism was monolatrist (that is, worshipping only one god while acknowledging others) rather than monotheist.
If you read the Bible, you might even get the picture that in ye olde days, people worshipped all sorts of gods. Horrors!
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."
It's that "before" bit that fucks you over.
I believe that there's an Original Source from which came everything; this Source, called by the name YHWH or Elohim or more recently Father and Christ and Spirit. Xie got bored and lonely and created lesser beings -- i.e. the pantheons of myth and the angels. They helped Xer design and build Creation, and interacted with mankind on Xer behalf. But they were flawed, like mankind. The Source came down to try and create order, because Xie regretted giving Xer creations free will, but did not have it in Xerself to take it away. Mankind frustrated Xer, even when Xie only interacted with a select group of them -- the Israelites -- and words were exchanged. Xie mellowed out and sent the Christ as a sign that the fighting and pain were over; Xie was done with us for the time being, and would return when the time of existence drew to a close.
Paganism + Christianity, basically.
Satan and his demons wouldn't even count as gods, either. Jeez, pay some attention, will ya?
'another god' is referring to Satan and the demons
Uhh, no.
Take a lesson in Middle Eastern history. Ever heard of Ba'al, Ashtarte, Marduk, ...?
@Checkmate: Unfortunately, the medieval demonologists were ahead of you about at least two of these, as well as other non-Hebrew gods and fantastic creatures. Baal, Astaroth, Amon, Phenex (Phoenix), Cimejes (Chimera), Sallos (Zaebos), Naberius (Kerberos), and Bifrons (Janus) are listed among the demons in the Ars Goetia. Marduk, however, seems to have escaped that fate. Yhwh, Anu, Enlil, and Marduk were probably local editions of the same entity, anyway. (And let's not get started on the Dictionnaire Infernal placing HINDU divinities among the demonic ranks.)
Never mind that it's doubtful that there'd be a single divinity named JUST "Baal"--that just means "Lord". You'd normally have a city divinity named Baal-____, such as Baal-Berith (patron of the place we now call Beirut) and Baal-Zeboul (apparently it meant "Lord of the Covenant"). Also consider that Belial may have originally came from a Hebrew or Akkadian term meaning "yokeless" or "lordless".
So Satan is a god? Cool story bro.
And does that mean people can worship anyone but Satan (say, Thor or Odin)?
'Thou shall have no other gods before me' translates out to mean, like, one spouse saying to the other 'don't have any other lovers but me!'. Polytheism provokes god's jealousy, cos he did, after all, create existence as we know it,and really doesn't like some piece of wood, or some carved piece of stone set in place, to be seen as His equal.
How would you feel if, on the job, after you completed a very hard, very challenging project, some other worker tries to steal credit for it all? (After He pisses all over your work first, of course.)
The idea that demons and Satan disguise themselves as pagan gods starts in the letters of Paul, Peter, and the other writings of the apostles.
In a way, this does make sense. Keeping people distracted with pagan worship deludes them from believing in the one true god.
"'another god' is referring to Satan and the demons."
[citation Seriously Fucking needed]
"That is why God forbids idolatry."
If there are no other 'Gods' for him to be 'jealous' of, what is his problem, then?
"They are the 'other gods' of
How do you know that the 'other gods' aren't the creators of your particular 'God', hmmmm...?! You seem to know more than Professors of Theology - who have studied the subject - as well as the myriad writings in Latin, Greek & Aramaic (therefore knowing more about your beliefs than you do) - re. '"another god" is referring to Satan and the demons', eh Theo?
"They are the 'other gods' of the decalogue"
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Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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