Subject: Does anyone have a good way to explain t |
Bible Note: Hi Curtman Yes, you are exactly correct as far as I am concerned. Isa. 44:6 and 45:5 tells us there is only one God (mighty one) to us that should be viewed as the Supreme God, Almighty God, The Father. To view any other God in his place is wrong. It is interesting that you ask this question, because the making of more that one god as the sole GOD is exactly polytheistic. Remember what the words “elohim and “theos” mean. Anything venerated, a mighty one. Remember too that paying honor to such ones in a relative sense may be both proper and righteous. However polytheism is most certainly idolatry. Egypt’s religion was polytheistic, characterized by over 500 gods, and possibly twice that many. “Throughout Egypt generally the company of gods of a town or city were three in number,” says Egyptologist E. A. Wallis Budge. In time, a principal triad developed, a holy family composed of Osiris, the father; Isis, the mother; and Horus, the child. Polytheism resulted in several gods’ claiming to be ‘the sole god.’ But priests and theologians evidently saw no problem in believing in one god and at the same time viewing him as existing in a multitude of forms. Author B. Mertz comments that this “is only another example of that pleasant inconsistency which is so characteristic of Egyptian religion.” When the Son of God, Jesus is viewed as the sole God as the Father only should be viewed, is exactly polytheistic. Recognizing Jesus as a Mighty One (Elohim) is not polytheistic as long as he is not viewed as the Almighty One. Worshipping Jesus as the Son of God is relative and proper but worshipping him as the sole God in stead of as the Son of God is not. Jesus is the one that said, “It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.” Mat. 4:10 quoting Deut. 10:20 Actually the phrase “other gods” appears 84 times in the Bible and 5 times as “other god”. To error is to say all these are false gods (mighty ones. The Bible plainly says they are gods. Satan is a god, plain and simple. 2 Cor. 4:4. What kind of god is he? He is a "false" god. But just because he should not be worshipped as the Almighty God does not make him “no god”. To illustrate: John 8:12 tells us that Jesus is the “light” of the world. But what happens when we read Mat. 5:14? Are Jesus’ disciples “false lights” “not lights” of the world? Of course not. They were still “lights” but not in the same sense that Jesus was and still is the “light” of the world. 1 Tim 1:17 identifies Jesus’ Father as the “one true God”. Additionally to whom did Jesus say he was ascending to when he said, “to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.”—Joh 20:11-18. Polytheism is idolatry, thus Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus’ Father is Almighty God. To say otherwise is an invention of man and contradicts scripture and takes away the due honor to our heavenly Father Jehovah. Truthfinder |