This post brings up a lot of issues, most of which we (Biblic Judaism) have discussed at various Old Testament readings. But I will discuss them here. Let's start with the Ten Commandments, the first 2 of which are:
1. Do not have other gods besides Me.
2. Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.
So why are these 2 separate commands? Why not just combine them into one command? The answer, largely misunderstood today, is that a god and an idol are far from the same thing. An idol is man-made. To worship nature spirits, like in Shinto, is to worship gods, but these are not idols. The problem with worshipping other gods and with worshipping idols is fundamentally different. The problem with worshipping other gods is that they compete with God, so one has to choose. There is actually nothing wrong with worshipping other gods as long as one doesn't worship God at the same time. One just has to choose one's religion. But to worship idols is fundamentally evil because this is man worshipping his own creation. No idol worshipping religion ever amounted to anything. Pagan religions like the religion of the Ancient Greeks did produce great cultures, but they were not idol-based religions. When Man believes that his own creations supersede reality, then reality hits back hard and that culture falls. The concept of idols extends beyond just carved images. Plato's ideal forms are essentially abstract idols, a creation of philosophy that is not part of the real world.
Why is the Old Testament god superior to the pagan gods? For essentially the same reason that Newton's concept of gravity is superior to Galileo's. The forces of the world have long been personified into gods as a way of explaining them. The insight of the Old Testament religion is that these forces are universal across time and space, and therefore are best described with one god. This is the same insight that Newton had for gravity.
The question of whether or not God has intent is not answered in the Old Testament. God only says what will happen, that a moral society will prosper and immoral society will fail. The question of intent is never discussed. People naturally personify God, giving him human titles like "Lord" and ascribing various human characteristics to God. But God himself never claims any of these things.
Many people prefer the concrete over the abstract. The god of the Old Testament is quite abstract. The New Testament addresses this issue by "making God flesh" in the form of Christ. I have no problem with this and Christians are quite welcome here. But I have a mind for the abstract, loving math and computer science, so I am quite well satisfied with the Old Testament alone.
The worship of nature spirits of the past is not coming back. Man has largely conquered the obvious forces of nature (but not the non-obvious forces). I write this in an airconditioned room where I am immune to the weather. I am not terribly concerned about the sun or the rain or the local river. So I would say that the best concrete god is in fact Christ, not a nature god. The challenge with Christians is getting them to connect Christ with the real Jesus since the real Jesus was quite an advocate of the Old Testament.
What I have written here are the kinds of things we discuss in our Saturday night Skype Old Testament readings. You are welcome to join us for more discussion.
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