• Silverseren@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    The actual original stated history near the start of the religion is that Adam and Eve weren’t the “first people” to exist, just the first Jewish/Christian people created by God. Since it was common belief and understanding at the time that other gods also existed from the other religions and created their own peoples.

    Judaism was monotheistic only in regards to following a single god, but it fully recognized other existences in a much larger pantheon.

    It was only later that Jewish and Christian scholars denigrated the existence of other gods to be “demons” worshipped by pagans and thus lower than the “one true god” and all that nonsense.

    • toasteecup@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Jew checking in, can confirm. You can even see evidence of this in the modern translation.

      “Thou shalt have no god before me” doesn’t say anything about after

      • Duder167@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Doesn’t God mention after eve eats the fruit “they are now like us” also there’s evidence God had a consort named Asherah. The wholes a big dumb mess

        • TehWorld@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The Christian answer here is that ‘us’ refers to the Father-Son-holy spirit trinity.

      • steakmeout@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Minorly scholarly Jew checking in. That commandment did not exist when Adam and Eve were brought into Creation so it wouldn’t apply. The Ten Commandments, of which the first is, “Thou shalt have no god before me” also does not define belief order. Before is taken as you either follow H-shem or you follow others gods but you cannot follow both. Your confirmation is bunk. Judaism is hereditary, initally patrilineal up until about 10BCE and then it became matrilineal as Jews migrated into other nations and parts of the world.

        • Hyperi0n@lemmy.film
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          1 year ago

          Ignoring the fact that many of the ten sayings are mistranslated. “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” is actually the second saying in Jewdaism.

          However, your view is correct. It is a prohibition on Idolatry. Many of the proto-Jews probably still worshipped other, singular gods from other religions and this was a means to get everyone on the same track. It was probably created the same time the idea of the LORD/YHWH was formed around 800BCE

          • gowan@reddthat.com
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            1 year ago

            YHWH is literally straight out of the Caananite pantheon. It is unlikely that they did not at some point worship multiple gods at the same time. Monotheism is introduced later.

      • starlinguk@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        That’s not what before means here. It means you don’t treat other gods as better than me.

        • TheDom@lemmynsfw.com
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          1 year ago

          Isn’t that exactly what he said? After in this case just meaning worse (translating it your way).

        • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Which is a point I never see theist mention. It doesn’t say that there are no other gods. It says I am the one you are going to pray to. It doesn’t say that because the population didn’t believe it. They “knew” that there were other gods.

          The Bible first chapters are so much different if you just admit what the text is telling you.

    • SixTrickyBiscuits@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      If I understand it right, the Jewish God came from a pantheon, and didn’t just respect other pantheons. Like it was equivalent to a group of people who worshipped the Roman gods and then said “Yeahhh, but we’re going to pick Vulcan as our main guy.”

      • Hyperi0n@lemmy.film
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        1 year ago

        Proto Jewdism was highly influenced by Egyptian religion. Many themes and plots being pulled from there. It wasn’t until these proto-Jews spent time around Zoroastrianism that the religion really took its modern form.

        There is evidence of proto-Jews worshiping other gods but there is no evidence of worship of more than one God though.

    • gowan@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      Early Judaism was henotheistic in that they recognized others believed in different gods but believed theirs was superior. They later became monotheistic and decided all truth stemmed from their god.

          • sovietknuckles[they]@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            What do you mean “no”? Here’s your dictionary.com definition. See #4:

            noun

            1. one of a scattered group of people that traces its descent from the Biblical Hebrews or from postexilic adherents of Judaism; Israelite.

            2. a person whose religion is Judaism.

             

            adjective

            1. Offensive. of Jews; Jewish.

             

            verb (used with object)

            1. jew, Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. to bargain sharply with; beat down in price (often followed by down).: See Usage note at the current entry.

            So again, “Jew” as an adjective is a slur. Say “Jewish” instead, unless you’re using “Jew” as a noun.