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> "They didn't have monotheism back then, did they?" I presume he meant Rome, in which case, no, polytheism was the way and Jesus was worshipped alongside Mars

> "They didn't have monotheism back then, did they?" I presume he meant Rome, in which case, no, polytheism was the way and Jesus was worshipped alongside Mars, Jupiter, Julius Cesar, Augustus Cesar, etc. Even people who explicitly believed in only one god casually acknowledged the other gods, it wasn't a big deal to go to a local temple in another province to say a prayer, get a blessing, or make an offering. Modern monotheism started around 325 at the First Council of Nicea. Since then, the dogma of monotheistic religions has evolved to say that there's one God, we understand him, and anyone else making claims of deities is false. But it's a bit of revisionist history - the vast majority of people in the West were "casually polytheistic" prior to 325, even people belonging to faiths that are now strictly monotheistic.

pbhjpbhj 17y ago
>Modern monotheism started around 325 So the Jews weren't monotheistic and the Torah never had "you will have no gods before me" in it? You might say, "that's not modern monotheism" but how can that be as Christians worship that same God.
- barry-cotter 17y ago
  You will have no gods before me That's henotheistic not monotheistic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henotheism#Judaism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henotheism#Judaism
  - pbhjpbhj 17y ago
    Well, I've never seen that claim promoted seriously for the Jews who followed Yahweh. Yahweh has many names, granted, and there are many false gods mentioned in the OT, the point being they are not gods but people worshipped them as such. Example, in Exodus 3:6 (NIV) 'Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.' So Abraham, Jacob and Isaac were monotheists. Moses was a afraid to look at God, not to look at "a god". Monotheism. The reference to the triune creator God as plural is not unsurprising.

pbhjpbhj 17y ago

>Modern monotheism started around 325 So the Jews weren't monotheistic and the Torah never had "you will have no gods before me" in it? You might say, "that's not modern monotheism" but how can that be as Christians worship that same God.

barry-cotter 17y ago
You will have no gods before me That's henotheistic not monotheistic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henotheism#Judaism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henotheism#Judaism
- pbhjpbhj 17y ago
  Well, I've never seen that claim promoted seriously for the Jews who followed Yahweh. Yahweh has many names, granted, and there are many false gods mentioned in the OT, the point being they are not gods but people worshipped them as such. Example, in Exodus 3:6 (NIV) 'Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.' So Abraham, Jacob and Isaac were monotheists. Moses was a afraid to look at God, not to look at "a god". Monotheism. The reference to the triune creator God as plural is not unsurprising.