Things from the Old Testemant that raise questions

Here are some few thigs that got me thinking....does the Old Testement have evidence that there are acctually more than one God....

Here is one that most people know...
Genisis 001:026
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

Our being the key word there...

Exodus 020:003-006
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

If God wants us to take no other Gods before Him, than that must mean that there are other Gods, right? also God is jelous, i know that is refering to the graven images, but couln't that also apply to Him not want us to take other Gods before Him?

Thoughts...

 

wow, I never noticed the different "GOD" or "god" in the bible before.
Ok, this is a thread about the bible so I'll expect Brockton to leave us with another book of his opinions again.

 

By God saying our He is refering to everything He has already created...hence the alikeness of humans and animals, like monkeys. And if you read on Verse 27 says NIV So God created human beings, making them to be like himself.

And the last part to your question, simply God doesn't want us to worship anything that He has created for us...money, other people, materialism...

 

"I have said ye are Gods, all of you are children of the most high.” Psalms, Ch. 82, V6


It also mentions that Cain goes to live with the 'others' when banished for killing Abel. hmmmm? What others?
As it is often called, the good book is a gold mine of information.

I feel the previously quoted verse re: dominion was mistranslated, and the more fitting term would have been 'stewardship'. Maybe we would have taken a bit better care of things.

 

I think the use of the word 'our' in this context is purely a linguistic convention, as when Queen Victoria said famously 'we are not amused'. I don't think it is meant here to indicate two or more Gods.
But - the word 'Elohim' is used for God - and that translates as 'the mighty(feminine ) gods'.
As for point no. two - My understanding here is that what is meant is not to worship something else - gold, sensual pleasure etc in the place of God.
However - I personally don't feel that God is subject to human failings such as jealousy, and I believe the Divine takes many forms and also exists without any form.
The OT in general seems to be a somewhat crude example of applying human propensities to God. It was written, I fear, by people who were intensely fearful and superstitious.
My own least favourite line (can't recall exactly where it occurs, in Genesis or Exodous) is ' Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live'.
Equally disturbing though is Joshua's conquest of the promised land. which looks to the modern mind like a record of ethnic clensing on a large scale.

 

he said it like that because at the time people worshipped everything. god referred to them as gods although they weren't real gods, just gods of the people that they had invented. so the people called them gods so god used their language.

 

right, thanks for the lowdown

 

oks dude, the first quote: "Genisis 001:026
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."" is a not necessarily bad translation but a simplified translation from hebrew, if I could remember the source I could tell you the hebrew word which was translated into 'our', and the other meanings, but yeh. It's not a precise translation, in some bibles it's translated differently, g-d doesn't mean 'our'. I'll hunt up the info sometime.

Yeah, someone's already said this, the initial word for g-ds in the text is actually Elohim, a masculine plural (in singular it looks feminine but it isn't- eloha) means "princes, judges, other g-ds, and other powerful beings." so it might refer to other g-ds, but it's generally used in scripture to represent might, creative power, justice and rulership, when referring to g-d himself it's to emphasise these characteristics, so if the translation didn't specifically say 'other g-ds', I would assume He was talking about other forces of strength/might/power of creation/justice/ownership.

However, if you look at the definitions of 'idol' and 'idolatry' then you'll see an idol was anything you (hard to put this) focussed on too strongly? Like an obsession, excessive love, stuff like that. Anything which you focussed on strongly or gave higher importance over everything else for invalid reasons was an idol, so I'm with blackbillblake on this bit, I'm pretty sure that "Thou shalt not worship any other g-ds than me" (did i get that right?) actually refers to idolatry rather than other g-ds..

 

Oh yeah, and arent these texts used by some to prove the divinity of jesus? Take it as you will, I guess

 

huh?

 

try to remember the bible was not written in english. but, if stuff bothers you feel free to think for yourself. it is one of the gifts we were given.

 

just acknowledging that you were directly quoting what god was up to. you must have the lowdown on gods plan. more power to ya, I sure dont.

he said it like that because

god referred to them as gods although they weren't real gods,

so god used their language

it is clear you know the dope on god, his reasons and meanings for calling idols gods, which sounds a lot like a lie. But, as you point out god said that cuz he was just bringing it down to their level.
I sure wish I was able to get the inside story on Gods hidden meanings, and intentions, reasons, etc.

 

there is no mystery to what god does whatsoever

and god would have been pretty dumb if he hadn't used "spoken language" of the time.

 

He must have been there.

 

God does not refer to himself as god, I am pretty sure. I am not an expert, but the quote is not "thou shall not put any other jehovas before Me" or whatever the hebrew words are.

 

he actually refers to himself as "i am" but in many places in old testament when setting the law he says "for i am your god"

and soulrebel, no i wasn't there. i just read the bible and do my best to use my brains.

 

so, you justed sinned by saying "I am"....that was a sin worthy of stoning by your peers.

 

I've read the bible too, and used my head to think about what is written, not just absorb it all without thought.

 

not really. to the jews, god was so holy and the only god that he was not to be referred by name but only as "god". god did not refer to himself with a name when he called himself "i am"

 

k, got me there.