Other Gods are Real

[Purple Knight]

Question for Debate: Is there room in the Christian faith to believe other gods are real if not worship them?

Doesn't the First Commandment imply other gods are real since it says not to worship them? Nothing about them not existing. Just, don't worship them. I understand this is a negative implication based on what was not said and thus not airtight but it reads like it would have been worded differently if there were no other gods.

Wouldn't this solve the dilemma that people often put to Christians? The dilemma is that Christianity has an effectively 0% chance of being true since there are a lot of religions and a lot of gods and any of them might exist. That's solved if you say they all might exist.

And doesn't the Catechism warn against black magic? I can't think the God of the Bible put black magic into the physical world and empowers people who use it to do more harm to people who don't. To be a good play on his part it would have to be a serious temptation, which it can't be since most people don't think it's real. Other than being a temptation, I can't see a point to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_views_on_magic

Unless I'm wrong the common thread here is: It's real, but don't do it it's evil. So my point is a good one that the only valid reason to put black magic on Earth is as a temptation, and it doesn't function as that with so much disbelief. In fact it's likely to backfire, causing good people who are not out to do anyone any harm to actually earn punishment when they put a real spell on somebody when they were only trying to act it out as a catharsis. (Though this may simply lend credence to the idea that if you act something out, you are, in a way, doing it, and it merits punishment anyway.)

[Clownboat]

Sorry, I have no reason to believe they actually worship something else. How can you even say so?

Don't appologize for not seeing the reason. It is big of you to admit your shortcomings though. Good on you.

Are Catholics actually worshiping Mary with their statues? Is that what you really think the purpose of Mary statues are for? Surely you don't think this.

I don't see any other reason for that.

I agree with you. You in fact don't see the correlation between Christian statues and those of a cow.

If they want to worship God, they should for example do this:

Sorry, but you are not an authority on how humans should worship their prefered god concepts.

Readers... as we have addressed, statues can be focal points for worship. The statues themselves need not be what is being worshiped though.
1213 not understanding the reason for why this is the case matters not.

[Purple Knight]

EXODUS 20: 4, 5a

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. You shall not bow down to them or worship them

By prohibiting the Israelites from making idols or bowing to them it is evident that whether one is simply has one in their home as decoration, uses an idol as a focus for prayer, or believes it channels God's power, it is the possession and or the use of an idol that is displeasing to God. In short, showing religious veneration for an image, statue, symbol of anything in worship is condemned in scripture.

When I was a kid I used to assume Catholics were the most orthodox Christians just because I noticed they were very strict.

I don't think that anymore. In fact, I would no longer give two dollars for a Catholic's interpretation of scripture.

[tigger 2]

[Replying to Miles in post #4]

Obviously you haven't read my post #3 above with any understanding. The capitalization bit was explained at the end and the many different sources (mostly trinitarian) are available for all to look up. Just because modern understanding of words like "god" differ from the meanings of such words in ancient manuscripts does not mean we should not at least attempt to understand the meaning originally intended.