Hindus and non-hindus, what's your opinion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting topic. Some scholars actually argue the Old Testament is polytheistic or at least adhering to henotheism. (That's Judaism but still something I thought about when seeing this thread.

It's right there in the bible. Of course it's polytheistic.

1 - You shall have no other gods before Me.

It's easier to control the masses when you have one main deity.

In Catholicism, the trinity, while it's made up of father, son, holy ghost, is actually one entity for as absurd as that sounds. The saints and Mary, for that matter, are not at the same level as God. So there is a hierarchical structure similar to that found in Greek and Roman myths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting topic. Some scholars actually argue the Old Testament is polytheistic or at least adhering to henotheism. (That's Judaism but still something I thought about when seeing this thread.

It's right there in the bible. Of course it's polytheistic.

1 - You shall have no other gods before Me.

That's actually a fascinating quote, the wording of it I mean. I would love to know if that's a really accurate translation from - Aramaic? Because sometimes different scholars translate slightly differently, I'd really be interested to know if that translation is accurate not only grammatically but also contextually. Because if so, that's really polytheistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting topic. Some scholars actually argue the Old Testament is polytheistic or at least adhering to henotheism. (That's Judaism but still something I thought about when seeing this thread.

It's right there in the bible. Of course it's polytheistic.

1 - You shall have no other gods before Me.

That's actually a fascinating quote, the wording of it I mean. I would love to know if that's a really accurate translation from - Aramaic? Because sometimes different scholars translate slightly differently, I'd really be interested to know if that translation is accurate not only grammatically but also contextually. Because if so, that's really polytheistic.

Ancient Jews were polytheistic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-tarico/polytheism-and-human-sacr_b_777340.html
Polytheism and Human Sacrifice in Early Israelite Religion

Well as Chris Rollston argues, there are various stages in Israel's progression from polytheism to monotheism. Yahweh begins as a junior member of the divine pantheon. This is the view during the tribal confederation period of Israel's history. After Israel became a monarchy, Yahweh gets a promotion to head of the pantheon, taking his father Elyon's place. (This parallels similar ideas in Babylonian literature, in which Marduk's ascendancy to king of the gods mirrors the rise of the Babylonian empire.)

[Anonymous]

It went like this with each successive religion breaking away while keeping some similarities while introducing completely separate more exclusivity style beliefs.

Hinduism-->Zorastrianism-->Judaism-->Early Christianity/Catholicism--Later Christianity-->Islam

Yet it seems like each has little to do with the other and they differ more and more with each successive religion.