Over sixty valid deities in the OT

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Willum
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Over sixty valid deities in the OT

Post #1

Post by Willum »

So I knew there were other gods listed in the Torah/OT, but I didn't realize there were over sixty!

Sixty deities spoken about as if they were, to spout the phrase, "living gods."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category: ... brew_Bible

How can the OT claim to be monotheistic, when Asherah (Ha-Sarah), is Yahweh's wife, and so many other deities are part of the narrative?

We all thought Judaism was monotheistic, but it has as many gods as any other religion.

Can anyone explain this?

If you are Judaic, is it OK to worship one of the less bloodthirsty ones? Dagon, god of grain and the oceans, seems nice.

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Re: Over sixty valid deities in the OT

Post #2

Post by Tcg »

Willum wrote: So I knew there were other gods listed in the Torah/OT, but I didn't realize there were over sixty!

Sixty deities spoken about as if they were, to spout the phrase, "living gods."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category: ... brew_Bible
Your reference lists 57 and I see at least one overlap. The "God of Israel" is listed as is "Yahweh". You might only have about 50 or so. In any case, your point is well made from this list.

How can the OT claim to be monotheistic, when Asherah (Ha-Sarah), is Yahweh's wife, and so many other deities are part of the narrative?
I don't know. Does the OT itself claim to be monotheistic? People may make that claim about the OT, I'm not sure it claims it for itself.

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Re: Over sixty valid deities in the OT

Post #3

Post by Jagella »

Willum wrote:How can the OT claim to be monotheistic, when Asherah (Ha-Sarah), is Yahweh's wife, and so many other deities are part of the narrative?

We all thought Judaism was monotheistic, but it has as many gods as any other religion.

Can anyone explain this?
The polytheism of the Old Testament has been hidden by Bible scholars who use the generic "God" or "Lord" to translate the names of those deities making the Hebrew Bible appear to be monotheistic. The Jews at the time their scriptures were being written were largely polytheistic. Their polytheism was to a great extent borrowed from earlier, pagan people and their religion.

Christian apologists need to explain how their "God" exists while denying the existence of the gods he is based upon. As I see it, nothing can exist if you know that what it came from didn't exist. So in the same way that I cannot exist if my mother never existed, the Bible god cannot exist if those pagan gods never existed.

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Re: Over sixty valid deities in the OT

Post #4

Post by Jagella »

Tcg wrote:Does the OT itself claim to be monotheistic? People may make that claim about the OT, I'm not sure it claims it for itself.
Generally, the English translation of the Hebrew Bible only speaks of other gods as objects of worship. The implication is that those gods are mere idols fashioned by people out of stone or clay or whatever. Yahweh, then, is posited as "the one true God." But as I have posted above, the English translation of most Bible versions hides the polytheism in the Jewish scriptures. So "the one true God" only exists in the English translations.

Now, the New Testament is "paradoxically" monotheistic. What I mean is that at least one passage in the New Testament, Romans 3:29-31, speaks that there is only one God. However, the Trinity is actually a polytheistic doctrine. The three "persons" of the Trinity are actually three gods. Christians hide this polytheism by calling these three gods three persons.

In any case, it looks like Jews and Christians embrace monotheism in name only. Their religions are actually polytheistic.

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Re: Over sixty valid deities in the OT

Post #5

Post by Willum »

[Replying to post 4 by Jagella]

Negative:
I've been reading the references. They are 'real,' gods, vilified perhaps, demeaned occasionally, honored more rarely, married to Yahweh, once.

You drank the Kool-aid, shake it off!

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Re: Over sixty valid deities in the OT

Post #6

Post by JehovahsWitness »

[Replying to post 1 by Willum]

What is a "valid" deity as opposed to just a plain common old garden deity or an "invalid" deity?

I think we need to define our terms so we can eliminate any deities on the list that cannot be defined as "valid".
INDEX: More bible based ANSWERS
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 81#p826681


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Re: Over sixty valid deities in the OT

Post #7

Post by Willum »

[Replying to post 6 by JehovahsWitness]

The Bible/Torah talking to them as if Yahweh interacts with them, or other characters interact with them.

Your real deity can't marry or punish a god that doesn't exist, can he?

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Re: Over sixty valid deities in the OT

Post #8

Post by JehovahsWitness »

JehovahsWitness wrote:What is a "valid" deity as opposed to just a plain common old garden deity or an "invalid" deity?
Willum wrote:
The Bible/Torah talking to them as if Yahweh interacts with them, or other characters interact with them.
Emphasis MINE
  • Are you sure you wish to stick to that definition of "valid"...? Valid as in "The bible talking to [said deity]" ? Is that a typo, did you mean "The bible talking *OF* them..."

    What do you mean "interacting" do you mean a character praying to them and the deity answering? I ask because "interaction" for me means a two-way exchange of some kind.


You might like to revise your definition because if you really qualify a "valid" deity as the bible speaking or a god responding I fear the list might be a good deal shorter than 50.... but hey, your game, your rules.



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Re: Over sixty valid deities in the OT

Post #9

Post by Willum »

[Replying to post 8 by JehovahsWitness]

Any educated person reading the Bible should be able to figure it out.
Jeremiah 46:25
The LORD of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, says: "I will punish Amon, the god of Thebes, and all the other gods of Egypt. I will punish its rulers and Pharaoh, too, and all who trust in him.
You can't punish somegod that doesn't exist, right?

I am not interested in the usual game of trying to use words to define God into existence, the OP is plain, to the honest. Jags and tcg get it, I don't see why anyone should have difficulty, except deliberately.

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Re: Over sixty valid deities in the OT

Post #10

Post by JehovahsWitness »

Willum wrote: .. the OP is plain, to the honest.
Would that be the honest that can read? I ask because so far you have failed to define your terms so it's impossible to verify if the list contains any "valid" deities at all. It probably contains the names of some deities that are mentioned in the bible, although 52 is somewhat hyperbolic (read inaccurate).

Would you like me to address the question of how many deities are mentioned in the bible?
Last edited by JehovahsWitness on Fri Nov 02, 2018 12:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 81#p826681


"For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah" -
Romans 14:8

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