Originally posted by DoctorScribbles
Your analogy maintains an interesting but probably unintended characteristic of the original situation.
What makes the real teeth real and the false ones false? Essentially, it could be argued that it's because the real ones are yours and the false ones are foreign. Suppose I yanked out one of your real teeth and put it in my mouth? Would it t ...[text shortened]... keep my own real teeth than substitute yours in for mine -- then I'd be worshiping a false god.
I still have some chewing to do on this stuff. This topic doesn't deserve the back-burner, but unfortunately there it goes. I'm going to make one last post here (at least for a time), and one in that thread with AThousandYoung and then I'm out of the forums for (at least) a couple weeks, I'm afraid. End of the semester approaching... one more essay and a whole semester of reading to do, in a week, before exams ...
In the meantime, I'll briefly address this:
From their perspecitve, I think they acknowledged that all people had gods they worshipped, just like we all have our own real teeth. I think they acknowledged that their god was no more real than that of any other tribe - I think they really did think of them all as being real gods. Of course, they did think theirs was the best - how could they think otherwise and still worship him over the others?
I think it is true that the Israelites acknowledged the other deities. In fact, they didn't always trust Yahweh above the others, weren't always fully convinced He was the best. Idolatry is a recurring issue in the histories and the prophets. And when they weren't rejecting Yahweh outright, often the people were downright synchretistic. For example, some of the Psalms were previously hymns to Baal in which his name was replaced with Yahweh! ( "Why should the devil get all the good music?" ) Baalism and Yahwehism were often confused. Yahweh was not pleased by that. We don't know how Baal felt.
Anyway, while I believe the Israelites, as a people, often thought this way, I think they were wrong -- not all of them, for Yahweh claimed He had a faithful remnant.
I do see a monotheistic witness in the OT, alongside a witness to the struggles of the Israelites with their own polytheistic tendencies (how long was it after the Exodus that they were worshipping a golden idol? )
For example, the story of the capture, captivity, and return of the Ark demonstrates the superiority of Yahweh, at least over Dagon on Dagon's own home turf. The Exodus itself shows His power in Egypt, with the plagues often overpowering Egyptian gods and goddesses in their own spheres of power.
The scope of Yahweh's rule is generally described as universal, despite His being the God "of Israel." It seems He was "of Israel" because He had chosen them, for whatever reason, to be His people and to be their God. The Old Testament seems to me to portray Yahweh as one of a kind.
That's not to say that it denies the existence of other powerful beings, "gods," false gods. Neither do I deny their existence. Nevertheless, I think there is only one true and living God, and I believe the Old Testament agrees. I don't think false gods are really gods, even if the word 'false' often gets left off.
As for the teeth analogy, let me chew on that one a while longer.
- p.s. - some Christians are mightily bothered by the fact that a few Psalms were originally hymns to Baal!
- p.p.s. - 'Baal' and 'El' do not have one-to-one correspondences with English words. Of course, few words do between any two languages.
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It seems my daughter is unwell, so I must be off. I had intended to edit this post quite a bit more, and that post-postscript is cut short. But I'd rather give it to you as is than lose it. I'll be back in a few weeks.
Please, good doctor, extend my apologies to AThousandYoung that I won't be responding to him as soon as I'd like. Thanks!
Week 1 SAB Study: How many Gods are there?
15 May '05 21:361 edit
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