BEFORE me there were no other Gods - what does this really mean?

by truthseeker 22 Replies latest jw friends

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  LouBelle

  then that would lead to god being a liar - as he is the alpha & the omega???

  And the holy book said "god doesn' t lie"
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  gaiagirl

  I read that passage as "new light" for the original readers. In Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greek mythology, there had been several generations of Gods and Goddesses, newer replacing older in turn. For example, the Greeks originally had worshipped Uranus and Gaea, then these were relegated to a secondary role as the Titans replaced them. Eventually, Zeus and his siblings defeated the Titans, and became the supreme gods of Greece. In Hebrew myth, a similar thing happened, earlier generations worshipping El, later ones YHWH. This particular passage I read as basically denying that anyone had ever worshipped anyone by YHWH, even though they HAD.
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  googlemagoogle

  And the holy book said "god doesn' t lie"
  
  maybe the holy book is lying?
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  LouBelle

  perhaps?

  but it's going to have to take a lot more than just that. I think the ""accepted"" belief on a lot of scripture is just not what it should be.
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  Narkissos

  That's quite an interesting observation inasmuch as 2nd Isaiah (Isaiah 40--55) can be aptly described as the literary cradle of "God" -- the stage at which the god Yhwh becomes the only "God", denying the existence of "other gods" and even Yhwh's existence as "one god among others". Perhaps a lapsus calami.

  As to the henotheistic, then monotheistic Yhwh reuniting in himself features of many formerly independent deities, Mark S. Smith's Early history of God and John Day's Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan are seminal reads.
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  daystar

  maybe the holy book is lying?

  The first and second century gnostics (LINK) believed this to be the case; that Jehovah lied in many cases. They believed that Jehovah was a false god; that he mistakenly thought himself to be the Creator and that Lucifer and Jesus had made attempts to correct this.
• 

  Terry

  
  The most eerie and fascinating passage I ever read in any of the JW literature (literature??) was in the red book, LIFE EVERLASTING IN FREEDOM OF THE SONS OF GOD.

  I wish I had written the quote down. I recall being struck by the sheer thunder of it. It was written in terms of the kind of absolute knowledge it is impossible for men to have; yet, the Society was writing it and I was reading it.

  In effect, it said this: (I'm paraphrasing)

  "There was a time before He began creating that Jehovah was alone and, much as any adolescent about to embark upon what life will ultimately be, He had to choose what He would become."

  The above is quite staggering for me to contemplate. Why? Because it stamps out the notion of eternity from connectedness to God in one paragraph!

  For God to be ETERNAL there can NEVER have been a time BEFORE he was God; and yet---logically---unless God __assumed__the attributes of "god-ness" he would merely be an alive "something" or other and not God.

  To be God you cannot be alone because all the attributes which constitute God-ness are IN RELATION to other living things.

  1.If you have never created anything or anyone you cannot be a CREATOR.

  2.If you have not yet ALWAYS existed you cannot be ETERNAL.

  3.If you are not superior to others you cannot be:

  A. All powerful

  B. Worthy of worship

  C. The source of all knowledge

  etc etc.

  4.If you are unopposed in any way there can be no Good in you because no Evil is possible.

  5.To be All-Knowing there has to be ___something___to know; and with nothing existing---there is NOTHING to know (literally!).

  In view of the above, without OTHERS---God is impossible!

  This is the most logical refutation I've ever considered and it came from reading that one passage in LIFE EVERLASTING IN FREEDOM OF THE SONS OF GOD.

  Thanks, Watchtower Society!

  Terry
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  it means we're all atheists, whether we regard ourselves or not as such.

  if "god always existed", but was "unaware for millions of years", then what was he before the "millions of years"? and before that? and before that? (need i throw in an ad infinitum?)

  TS
• 

  truthseeker

  Tetrapod, I have always wondered about this.

  The Liveforever or Evolution book (forget which one) has a picture of a house and a picture of the universe next to it. The caption is something like, "If the house had an intelligent designer, surely the universe did too."

  And there's your ad infitiem...Who designed God? Does he know how long he existed, or his first moments of consciousness.

  If there was NOTHING, then where did he come from?

  Perhaps our universe is simply one of many universes, comprising a multiverse.
• 

  Legolas

  WOW !

  Interesting, very interesting!

  BTW.....where's Defd to answer this one! HA