When people were
monotheistic, everyone's gods were just fine--they were all regional
and/or tied to a specific group of some kind (tribe, kingdom, etc.) and
accepted and even honored when traveling. It's why the first commandment
of the pre-monotheistic Hebrews talks about having "no other god before
me"--it's simply a command to not let any of the others knock Yahweh
from the top spot, not that there aren't any other gods. It's an
assurance that the prioritization of gods was always done with Yahweh as
the Hebrews' primary deity.
When the monotheistic beliefs arrived on the scene, along with that came the problem of non-uniqueness. If there is only one god, all of the other gods must be fakes. To have anything in common with them would be to destroy the one-god idea. It's a problem that hasn't gone away, as people still argue and kill each other over who's god is real.
Humans suck sometimes.
When the monotheistic beliefs arrived on the scene, along with that came the problem of non-uniqueness. If there is only one god, all of the other gods must be fakes. To have anything in common with them would be to destroy the one-god idea. It's a problem that hasn't gone away, as people still argue and kill each other over who's god is real.
Humans suck sometimes.
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