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"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." What about it? God wants us to acknowledge that He reigns supreme and that we should worship no one else.
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If that's not clear enough, Isaiah 42:8 (ESV) "I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols."
That's right. That's simply another way of putting the first commandment. We should glorify and praise none other than our God.
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You can try to spin it any way you want, but God is God.
I'm not spinning it any way at all. Of course God is God. He always has been and always will be.
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There are none like him, and he won't share his glory with anyone.
It's not a matter of Him sharing His glory. When you share something with someone, you relinquish part of it and it is no longer yours. Nothing can take away from God's glory. It is His forever. He is even greater than most Christians seem to believe He is, because He is not merely the God of men; He is also "God of gods."
Since you apparently understand Romans 8:16-17, 2 Peter 1:4, Revelation 2:26-27 and Revelation 3:21 to mean something quite different than I do, what do you think they mean?
And please, if you respond to no other of my posts, do me the favor of replying to my Post #27.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." What about it? God wants us to acknowledge that He reigns supreme and that we should worship no one else.
That's right. That's simply another way of putting the first commandment. We should glorify and praise none other than our God.
I'm not spinning it any way at all. Of course God is God. He always has been and always will be.
It's not a matter of Him sharing His glory. When you share something with someone, you relinquish part of it and it is no longer yours. Nothing can take away from God's glory. It is His forever. He is even greater than most Christians seem to believe He is, because He is not merely the God of men; He is also "God of gods."
Since you apparently understand Romans 8:16-17, 2 Peter 1:4, Revelation 2:26-27 and Revelation 3:21 to mean something quite different than I do, what do you think they mean?
And please, if you respond to no other of my posts, do me the favor of replying to my Post #27.
If nothing can take away God's glory then why is it necessary for him to tell people not to give away part of his glory to someone/something else? Since nobody can?
I don't think you guys thought all this through very well.
P.s. If he is the god of Gods then you, and God, are agreeing there are other gods? How does he rule the other gods? What do the other gods do?
If nothing can take away God's glory then why is it necessary for him to tell people not to give away part of his glory to someone/something else? Since nobody can?
I don't think you guys thought all this through very well.
P.s. If he is the god of Gods then you, and God, are agreeing there are other gods? How does he rule the other gods? What do the other gods do?
Worship has nothing to do with God, His Glory, or other gods. We can have NO IMPACT on His glory and God has no need of worship. It is entirely for our benefit from the state of mind it puts us in.
Worship has nothing to do with God, His Glory, or other gods. We can have NO IMPACT on His glory and God has no need of worship. It is entirely for our benefit from the state of mind it puts us in.
I know, just logically if nothing else, but I was wondering what Katz, BF, etc. thought.
I know, just logically if nothing else, but I was wondering what Katz, BF, etc. thought.
You may get no answer. I didn't. If God said "You shall have no other gods before me," it obviously means that God knows there are other gods that could have been put before him. Otherwise, there is no point in saying such a thing.
You may get no answer. I didn't. If God said "You shall have no other gods before me," it obviously means that God knows there are other gods that could have been put before him. Otherwise, there is no point in saying such a thing.
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Originally Posted by JerZ
If nothing can take away God's glory then why is it necessary for him to tell people not to give away part of his glory to someone/something else? Since nobody can?
I don't think you guys thought all this through very well.
P.s. If he is the god of Gods then you, and God, are agreeing there are other gods? How does he rule the other gods? What do the other gods do?
Foolishness.
Because people, being sinful beings that we are, tend to put a lot of things ahead of God. Not only false deities we create in our minds, but things like money, sex, etc. Those verses I referred to were speaking of the false gods that the Philistines, and all the different "ites" worshiped.
Isaiah 44: "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
“I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god."
It gets better. God actually makes fun of the blasphemers.
Isaiah 44:12-20 "The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. 13The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil.b He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. 14He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 16Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” 17And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
18They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
Claiming there are other gods today is just one more example of that folly. As v. 20 says "It's a lie".
The Bible certainly speaks of other gods and portrays them as being real. Rather than taking the time to go into detail about this (I'm too tired to do so), I'll simply refer interested persons to this short 9 1/2 minute lecture by Old Testament scholar Michael Heiser who is Christian by the way. He explains a lot in this short video. Granted that it is only part one of a longer lecture, it is very educational. Take 10 minutes of your time and listen to it.
The Bible certainly speaks of other gods and portrays them as being real. Rather than taking the time to go into detail about this (I'm too tired to do so), I'll simply refer interested persons to this short 9 1/2 minute lecture by Old Testament scholar Michael Heiser who is Christian by the way. He explains a lot in this short video. Granted that it is only part one of a longer lecture, it is very educational. Take 10 minutes of your time and listen to it.
So...are you suggestiing that the false gods are merely demons? Or do you actually believe in a pantheon of lesser gods?
I think the point is, THEY did. Hence, "gods" plural. If you believe that was an error then you believe the people who wrote the various books of the Bible were in error. I agree with you.
People have always tried to understand God. That "understanding" always very coincidentally seems to be focused on the civilization's own geographic locale, actual history, weather, customs, particular issues/concerns and so on. "God" even has a given (self-given?) name in that civilization's language. (Hmm. I mean what were the odds??? KWIM?) Worked fine for local gods (including Jehovah) who were believed to be just that: local gods, among many gods. But problematic when the ancient Jews wanted it to be "the only" god, yet, again by astounding coincidence, the one that had THEM be the chosen people. Weird, eh?? Come on.
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