Why doesn't God allow you to worship anyone else?

Does that make sense to you? There's really absolutely no reason for it. The ancient pagan Gods didn't care who else you worshipped as long as it included them. They were completely open to you worshipping Zeus, Odin, Cthulu and the Flying Spaghetti Monster at the same time. It was an open door policy. Sure, everyone's invited! Come on in! Join the Party!

The christian God said you should worship him and only him. 'No other gods allowed' - the door's closed. No exceptions. Keep out. This is an exclusive club. I really don't see why it would matter as long as he got his daily prostrations from his penitents.

 

How would you worship if you worshiped?

 

I would make blood sacrifices on my own personal stone altar whilst paying homage to all the gods. I would call upon to protect me Zeus, Poseidon, Odhinn, Loki, Wotan, Quetzacoatl, Huitzilopochtli, Jehovah, Allah, Jah, Shivu, Krishna, Vishnu, Brahman, Jupiter, Pluto, Titan, Dionysis, Belus, Ishtar, Radegast, Apollo, Belenos, Toutatis, Gilgamesh, Chi You, Guan Yu, Ra, Horus, Ptah, Ranginui, Waheguru, P'tang-P'tang, Cthulhu and L Ron Hubbard.

 

I beg to differ.

Ancient pagan Gods definitely cared. They were such ego-driven, petty, soap operatic creatures that they often fought with each other.
Very few pantheons are an all out open-doored love-fest

 

When I was a christian, I was always told that god gets jealous when we worship other gods

 

Christianity got popular because it excluded any other religion. The heathen religions died off because if you were a heathen and a christian, the pagan religion was permissive while the christian religion was not.

 

No, it is message and marketing.

What?

 

This is what men wrote, their side of the story. There's no proof otherwise. If you choose to believe the story, your problem is with their interpretation.

 

i wonder how he feels when people pray to saints

santa claus must irritate him no end

 

The fact is there are many religions. The question is moot because because it's premise is not true.

Thou shall have no other gods before me, doesn't say no other gods at all, regardless;

The mind is enormously powerful. Mental focus or concentration directs that power in the same way a magnifying lens concentrates sunlight. The sun will not ignite paper unless it is pointedly focused, then it will burn right through paper.

We can create an atomic explosion through the implosion of fissionable material.
Thoughts loose charge if they are not cultivated, they have a half life, they are radioactive.

So this is what that admonition is about, focusing mental power. God being a jealous god depicts the chaos that emerges from diffuse or uneven mental focus. Words are symbols for conditions.

 

I always took it as God being jealous of the love given to other things.

 

We are to love one another, this fact alone, I think, would cast doubt on that perspective.

 

Love one another not other things. Jealous and zealous in the old testament are interchangable. God is jealous/zealous over people. Would a husband be jealous if his wife married another man?

 

haha i score A's in Christian Living education..... My teacher taught me that God is the greatest but everyone has flaws even God gets jealous and once you've entered this religion you've made a commitment to God(the covenant) it's like marriage

 

Jealous and zealous are interchangeable you say.

Zealous is actively and unreservedly, enthusiastic, i.e. focused.

Possessive jealousy is not loving. Love does not seek it's own.

I have posited things in this way for the sake of consistency of premise.

 

The True God loves you and does not want you to worship other gods because they will mislead you and you will suffer because of it. These other gods do not care who misleads you or how you suffer, thus don't care who you worship as long as it isn't the one True God.

 

For what reason do these other gods mislead people? What are their motives?

God created everything apparently, therefore god created those other gods. Did he do so only to test people's faith? Is god that petty?

 

One thing that olderwaterbrother does not comprehend is that all those things he calls angels, demons, gods, etc. are in fact, states of consciousness.

 

the same reason He needed Elijah to fight Ahab, Jezebel and other assorted followers of Baal (God has no power over other gods)

 

I love your question. I have thought about this before, because being spiritual but not tied to a religion, I see past the bullshit created by religions to make people do what they feel is appropriate, altruistic and ethical in life. I feel I can worship anyone or anything I want, because whatever the God or high power really is, knows I believe in it. And if my desire is to worship all Gods and having faith in all things and all humanity, then so be it. I have realized that being spiritual and having faith in one's self does alter reality in a positive way, and it wasn't through an Islamic faith, Paganism, Christianity, Judaism, etc. it was the power from me being content and faithful in myself and the higher powers that help you moderate your own reality. One thing that really upsets me about christianity is the fact that all holy texts are for interpretation, but people take it literal and settle on what a preacher or wiser "prophet" says. I accept God as I see him. And the fact that they make it so you are to sound powerless to God, and if you are a shaman you are seen as communicating with dead and a satanist.....what the fuck was Jesus then?