I'm struggling with polytheism.

[TigerKanga]

The more ancient history I read the more I realize God has been around a very long time. During much of that time people believed in several or many Gods. I'm starting to wonder if the old God's really never were or if they are part of the one we follow. What do you think? I ask for advice because I don't know how to reconcile this with what I've been raised to believe.

 

[Peripatetic]

God provides evidence of His presence to all people (including non-believers, believers of other gods, and people in remote places on Earth that haven't read the Bible). There are many passages that show us this fact, but here are two of the most important:

Psalm 19 tells us that the very "heavens and skies" reveal God to us:

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

Not only is God's glory on display, but our hearts and minds receive this knowledge. Rejecting it goes against our nature, (though some do).

Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God has "set eternity in the human heart"

So in addition to the revelation of God's glory on Earth, He also gives us a yearning for Heaven. Some of the anxiety and discomfort that we all feel has to do with the fact that Earth is not our real home. Some don't know how to interpret these feelings and instead look to fill this void with worldly pleasures.

Followers of non-Christian religions are also receiving these signals. However, their cultures and traditions have invented mythologies that provide a different "wrapper" for the one God that has been revealed to us. I don't think any of us knows for sure how this affects their eternal salvation. Jesus told us that He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. But I like to think that Hindus, Buddhists, natives in remote Africa or the Australian Outback, etc. have a window of opportunity sometime in their lives to connect their misguided impression of God to the real one and join His family.

 

[Johnnz]

Throughout the OT God persistently attempts to get Israel to see Him as the only true God. With Christ that is affirmed.

Polytheism is an ancient belief. One reason why science never developed from societies that followed polytheism was that there can be no stability or consistency in the material world if it is under the control of competing deities and their turf wars or whims. How do you relate to many god's that may have contradictory claims or attributes?

John
NZ

 

[joey_downunder]

Throughout history many different cultures have done many different things that the God of the Bible condemned to please their gods e.g. ritualistic immorality, human sacrifice. The jews were always severely punished whenever they worshipped other gods.

Have you compared what these gods "command" their followers to do to please them with what God commands us to in the Bible?

God clearly states that He alone is the only God. e.g. Isaiah 45:18-25

 

[hlaltimus]

There is, always has been, and always will be only one, true God.

If "God" is an infinite Being without limitations as to who he is, how he exists, what he does and where he does anything, then there obviously cannot be two or more truly infinite Beings occupying that same infinite status. This would produce an utter contradiction to the very concept of infiniteness, as either one would cancel out the status of the other, for neither one would be truly infinite by virtue of the fact that the infinite status that the other holds is a place where their infiniteness is not, and that cannot be.

There is only room enough in this and all other created realms for one and only one infinite, supreme Being.

 

[salida]

There are many religions and they are all fundamentally different. When one does their research they will find that the bible could only be inspired by God because of its attributes.

Visit: www.TheBibleProofBook.com, (you will need acrobat reader for this), read The Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell a former agnostic- (its overwhelming circumstantial evidence of bible) and Examine the Evidence by Muncaster a former athiest/The Case for Christ and The Real Jesus by Lee Strobel a former athiest. www.equip.org (articles), http://www.gotquestions.org/,

Plus, no other religion offers this:
Are you a good person? www.livingwaters.com/good/

 

[E.C.]

The more ancient history I read the more I realize God has been around a very long time. During much of that time people believed in several or many Gods. I'm starting to wonder if the old God's really never were or if they are part of the one we follow. What do you think? I ask for advice because I don't know how to reconcile this with what I've been raised to believe.

Chances are they could be real in every sense of the word, but may not be of God; i.e. they could have been of demonic influences.

God allowed people to belief whatever they happened to believe before their Christian time for a reason most of which is to be able to eventually accept Christianity a little easier. For example, I believe it was in German paganism were a god of theirs manifested himself in three different forms. Chances are that God allowed that so that when Christianity came around they could understand the Trinity a little easier. Things like that.

 

[TigerKanga]

Throughout the OT God persistently attempts to get Israel to see Him as the only true God. With Christ that is affirmed.

Polytheism is an ancient belief. One reason why science never developed from societies that followed polytheism was that there can be no stability or consistency in the material world if it is under the control of competing deities and their turf wars or whims. How do you relate to many god's that may have contradictory claims or attributes?

John
NZ

The Greeks and especially the Romans got along pretty far in some scientific areas like engineering and even medicine.

 

[TigerKanga]

Throughout history many different cultures have done many different things that the God of the Bible condemned to please their gods e.g. ritualistic immorality, human sacrifice. The jews were always severely punished whenever they worshipped other gods.

Have you compared what these gods "command" their followers to do to please them with what God commands us to in the Bible?

God clearly states that He alone is the only God. e.g. Isaiah 45:18-25

I think all Gods command their followers to worship them. Some like Bhaal even called for blood sacrifices. Actually, even our God used to ask for blood sacrifices. Jesus himself was a human blood sacrifice. There are many similarities and differences between Christianity and other religions. Such as the sacrifices and stories like the great flood. Myths and legends shared by people whose ancestors experienced the same things.

 

[Johnnz]

The Greeks and especially the Romans got along pretty far in some scientific areas like engineering and even medicine.

The Romans were good engineers, but as for most ancients their cosmology prevented science as we know it today. They were aware of natural remedies, but that's about it.

John
NZ

 

[TigerKanga]

The Romans were good engineers, but as for most ancients their cosmology preve0nted science as we know it today. They were aware of natural remedies, but that's about it.

John
NZ

The ancients gave us the Mayan calendar that everyone is all excited about 2012 over. The calendar we use today is also very old.

 

[Johnnz]

The "image of God' has never been totally extinguished within humanity. We retain some of our original potentialities from which there have been many great achievements throughout history. For me the biblical story provides the best account and integration of the many strands of life on planet earth.

John
NZ

 

[TigerKanga]

One of the most intriguing pieces of literature I've found is Dante's writings. Especially where he describes Hell and the Greek and Roman real and mythological characters he finds there. This appears to be written at a time between polytheism and Christian monotheism.

 

[Johnnz]

One of the most intriguing pieces of literature I've found is Dante's writings. Especially where he describes Hell and the Greek and Roman real and mythological characters he finds there. This appears to be written at a time between polytheism and Christian monotheism.

The views on Hell that many Moderns have is more Dante than biblical. He has been extremely influential on Christians even though he drew heavily from Greek mythology. Virtually all the 'fire and brimstone' teaching owes more to Dante than Scripture (shock, horror).

John
NZ

 

[christandisrael]

People in old days worshipped cats, wood, and stone. No one can outmatch the Lord. The Lord is the only real god out there...