Polytheistic Puns

وعن أنس رضي الله عنه أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال‏:‏ ‏ "‏جاهدوا المشركين بأموالكم وأنفسكم وألسنتكم‏"‏ ‏(‏‏(‏رواه أبو داود بإسناد صحيح‏)‏‏)‏‏.‏

Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:

The Prophet (PBUH) said, "Fight the polytheists with your wealth, lives and tongues."

[Abu Dawud].
Reference : Riyad as-Salihin 1349

Sup guys? I'm trying to understand the logical reasons why each of the three ideas would be logical. I'm not looking for facts/evidence to prove any religion, but rather, a reasonable argument as to why one of the three would be correct. The purpose of this thread is to better help me understand religions from a holistic standpoint.

Thanks in advance~!

Credit to u/Ice_chronicler for the idea!

#Premise

Many bible scholars today think that the bible slowly developed out of canaanite Paganism and only later after the destruction of the 1st temple and persian Zoroastrian influence did it become more Monotheistic and was not the revolutionary monotheistic text from the start as many Christians and Jews claim it to be.

If this were to be true, it would mean that the bible slowly developed by influence from other cultures, and the books in it were products of there own Time, this would then further prove that biblical religion was not inspired by God, since if it was , it would remain consistently polytheistic or Monotheistic all the way through, and this is not the pattern we see.

While we could use Sources other than the bible to see the development of biblical religion, the best source is the bible itself. Here are a few examples of polytheism in the bible, including a council of gods, a high God that is distinct from Yahweh, the Egyptian gods existing, and , the biggest of all, Chemosh

#The Egyptian pantheon, a council of gods and the high God.

The God of the bible Threatens to bring judgement upon The gods of egypt, which confirms there existence

Exodus 12:12

For I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man to beast; and I will execute judgment on all the gods of Egypt I am the LORD

The high God and Yahweh are different gods, Yahweh was assigned the nation of Israel by the high God

Deutoronomy 32:8-9

When El Elyon (literelly "High God") gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind,(Y) he set up boundaries(Z) for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. 9 For Yahweh's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.

These verses are perhaps the reason that the bible, tho recognizing the existence and power of other gods, encourages Israel to only worship Yahweh, since he is the lord of that nation specifically, as Decided By el Elyon

But yahweh and Elyon Aren't the only 2 gods ,oh no, there is a whole Council of gods. As we read -

Genesis 3:22

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever

**A lot of peaple are confused by this verse, mostly because a lot of peaple will come across it because of how early on it is in the bible. who is "Us" suppose

Vedas and Upanishads (they are some Hindu scriptures) say that theistic Hinduism only has one Divinity. All the different forms of Divinity are just different ways of understanding The One.

Why do people think Hinduism is polytheistic? It isn’t. If all the different deities are aspects of The One Divinity, known as Brahman, then it is clearly monotheistic. The criteria for polytheism is that all the deities have to be viewed as separate entities, not as facets of one divinity. Hinduism has a different understanding of Divinity compared to all polytheistic religions I am aware of, such as Roman polytheism, Greek polytheism, Wicca and Kemetism.

Any counterarguments will be greatly appreciated.

i know christians believe in jesus, muslims do too, but what is the difference between a christian and a muslim?

It seems that most mainstream historians think the early writers of the Old Testament were polytheistic because there’s archaeological evidence in Israel that there were polytheists living at the time when most of the Old Testament books were written and that later authors changed it to be a monotheistic God.

They mainly point out that in the Old Testament alongside the mention of YHWH(God) Elohim is also mentioned a lot which can mean God or “gods” and they think it meant multiple “gods”. They also point to the 10 commandments and other scripture like Psalm 82, 1 Samuel 28:13.

I’ve seen a video by InspiringPhilosophy giving evidence that Elohim is just another word for YHWH and it can also mean angels/demons which is also backed up Michael S. Heiser who is an Old Testament scholar.

So is there any evidence that the Old Testament writers thought there were multiple gods and they were polytheists not monotheists and does it affect our faith?

I am new to the Buddhist philosophy and am wondering if I could continue to follow my deities (cernunnos, freyja, Athena, Quetzalcoatl) and still be Buddhist. Thanks!

This sub has been discussing the polytheistic roots of Judaism quite a bit recently so I hope that is not too controversial. Also with discussions of how each tribe might have had different patron gods (ex. Elohim vs Yahweh) before reforming them into a single pantheon, could a strategy during that period have been to intentionally obfuscate who the supreme deity is by staying intentionally vague on who the real one is. I could see this as a “wink wink nudge nudge” situation where each tribe thinks the nameless top deity is their own one. Is there any writings or discussions on whether this was happenstance or intentionally done to build cross-tribal unity?

Could one be Buddhist and pagan? Could I follow a goddess of sex and war and have her be my patron and still be Buddhist?

I'm really fascinated by polytheistic religions and how God in said religions interact with each other.

I myself have not found many books with a prominent religion where the gods have an actual part in the book (but aren't the main characters).

If anyone has any recommendations please gods help me.

Greece was known for being polytheistic among other things, so I'm wondering if there are still people with such beliefs

Conversion? Demons? Let me know what this would change about your perspective, or just call me a heretic in the comments that works too.

Such as people who still follow Norse gods.

Would you say you view these beliefs in a neutral, positive, or negative light. I recently saw a piece of artwork on this sub depicting other polytheistic religions in a way that seems to lament their disappearance following the rise of Abrahamic religion, and I was wondering if this view was shared.

I’m sorry if this question’s been asked before

I noticed in the rules what it said about focusing on good things, so I figured I should talk about the views on LGBTQ people, and various other things people have viewed as bad. However, because the various claims made in the various books may not destinguish between Elyon, Jesus, and Yahwé, it will depend on what authorities each god has, and each god's individual opinion. Usually they destinguish Ashera, Thanatos, and the gods of Egypt.

1. Transgender men are going to heaven, since Jesus is one of the main afterlife gods, and he said they go to heaven in Thomas 114
2. Conlanging (creating constructed languages) is a sign of belief (marcus 16:17) -- This one is less well known, but it was mentioned in a documentary that there was a man who ended up burning a bunch of conlanging stuff because some church said it was of the devil.
3. Pokemon is fine, it's more analogous to faeries (see Invasions 64 for fairies being real), and some faeries are good and some are bad.
4. Women can fight in the army since Joan of Arc was called by Michael to fight in an army.
5. The various curses upon bloodlines gave rise to species of humanoid monsters and genetic disorders. IE, Cain gave rise to a monstrous race which eventually became Grendel. It is not about skin colour like some groups think or used to think.

So, one of the benefits of this yet unnamed religion is its tolerance of many things other groups do not, and established theological principles and teachings that already interpret the things people cite, such as the various curses (this isn't done much any more), with counterexamples, and preestablished teachings on such subjects.

Also, if you do something one god doesn't like, you can always ask another god to protect you from the other.

It is generally thought that the Jews were at first polytheistic, worshipping a large pantheon of Canaanite gods, with YHVH as the chief god. The general theory about how the Jews turned to monotheism involves the development of monolatrism - the recognition of the existence of other gods but the worship of only one - during the reforms of King Josiah in the 7th century BCE, which evolved into monotheism during the Babylonian Exile in the 6th century BCE.

However, the papyri found in the Jewish Temple at Elephantine in Egypt, dated from the 5th century BCE, describe the worship of not only YHVH, but also other deities. One easy explanation could be that the Jewish community at Elephantine predates King Josiah and the Exile and is thus a relic of First Temple Judaism, yet that community was as I understand it a border garrison established by the Persians, and thus must have been established after the Exile.

How to resolve that contradiction? Is it possible that monotheism was not established yet in the Persian period, or did multiple Judaic religions, polytheistic and monotheistic, coexist at the time?

Since life and death are basic chapters in every belief, I wanted to get a feel of what people believe in, if they've reconciled religion and anti-natalism, and if so how?

For example, I myself am a Muslim and I bridged the gap through moral beliefs that it would be immoral to bring another life in this world as it is. Do people agree with this? Disagree with it? Has it been easier to let go of religion or is it a source of comfort for this belief?

Edit: Thanks for all the replies people, and thanks for keeping the discussion civil. It's interesting to see how so many people have such varied beliefs in this sub.

If your counter to “God caused the universe” is “What about the Greek Pantheon, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster?”, that’s not saying that the universe isn’t evidence for a deity. That’s saying it doesn’t tell you which deity. It can still be evidence for a deity.

It’s like, you can have evidence that a thief stole something, without it also telling you who the thief is.

The story is found in Genesis Chapter 20 if you need a refresher.

But yeah. Another weird thing is God punishes Abimelech by making all the women in his palace infertile? Why not make him infertile since he was the one that did the thing. But even though he did the thing, it was unknowingly, which God agrees with before lifting the curse.

Just a weird story. I’m not terribly familiar with covenant theology and dispensationalism, but is there an opinion that beliefs didn’t matter under Abraham’s covenant?

In the episode with the quarter stuck on the pavement, Rolf's proclaims upon seeing it:

"A gift from the gods."

And in Hanky Panky Hullabaloo he mentions Valhalla before going Doomslayer on the Jimmy and Sarah cherubs.

Hmm... perhaps Rolf's home country is the only country in Europe to hold onto its Pagan religion.

Why is it that other polytheistic religions would eventually get replaced by Christianity or Islam but Hinduism was able to survive to the present day even through periods of Islamic rule (like the Mughal Empire)? Why was Hinduism more able to preserve itself than say Greek, Norse or Arabic Polytheism? Note that I'm not assuming the transition to Monotheism from Polytheism is inevitable or anything, it just seems like everywhere else that ends up being ruled by Christians/Muslims ends up displacing whatever religion(s) were previously practiced there and India/Hinduism seems like the only exception.

According to Catholic theologian Mark Smith "there's no surprise that "elohim" is rendered differently, because it means different things in different contexts, and sometimes it refers to this one God, and sometimes it refers to plural gods or divinities, with a small "d". It doesn't bother me in the least that we've got different translations.”

Now I know that MidEastern were Polytheistic. But an Egyptian major into religion told me that pre-Islamic religions in the area why openly polytheistic on the surface, had a sort of monotheistic overlay to the whole religion. A great example can be seen in how various Mongol warlords sent to the area often converted to Islam because Mongolian religion overall believes in a supreme being ruling over everything else despite being polytheistic on the surface. When combined with Islam's warrior verses, the religion was very appealing to pagan warlike people who practised a monotheistic take on polytheism such as tribes in what is now Afghanistan the various Persian kingdoms, and so on.

Where as European paganism was at the core polytheistic. While there is a hierarchy, European pre-Abrahamic religions truly believed the existence of multiple entities as separate beings.

So he has this theory that Christianity as the perfect monotheistic religion to take Europe by storm because it is very seemingly polytheistic. The trinity praying hail marys, the hundreds of Saints and petitioning them, archangels, asking for intercession from dead relatives-all easy to transition from European polytheism or at least blend in local customs (like replacing a local god with a pagan saint who is patronage of the same topics).

Even among strictly Protestant ideology, the concept of the trinity with a human god, and all bearing father fro the heavens, and an invisible spirit is still appealing to many pagans across Europe who had similar trinity concepts in their religion esp with a specific god on the top of the pantheon.

So I wonder if this is a reason why Christians esp with the very seemingly polytheistic Catholic Church in Western Europe fought so viciously with fanaticism to push back Islamic entrance into Europe and esp one o the factors for anti-semitism n Europe's history after the fall of Rome?

Someone wrote a post a year ago claiming Christianity appealed to Europe unlike Islam because of a human God and that was the inspiration of this question. So I wonder if various polytheistic concepts like Saints and Mary as Mother of God were key roles to the rapid acceptance of Christianity after the fall of the Roman Empire? and if this was a reason why Islam was seen as so alien even to European pagans like the Vikings and Slavs because of its strict emphasis on monotheism?

My Egyptian friend who is currently working on his masters and hopes to go for a PhD truly bel

“Polytheism is found in the Bible. Usually, when people discuss the issue of polytheism versus monotheism, many people think that polytheism is something that only Israel's neighbors have, or the other peoples of the Ancient Near East, but that Israel is thoroughly monotheistic. And when it isn't thoroughly monotheistic it's because they've fallen away from the old monotheistic ideal, which they believe is laid out in the ten commandments at Mount Sinai.... This is not hardly original with me, I'm just largely summarizing, in some of my work, like "The early history of God", I'm really summarizing what has been a direction of study, with new information and new research thoughts going back over a century, about polytheism within Ancient Israel.” (Mark Smith)

My friend is a Hellenist and she said everyone thinks she practices witchcraft, when all she does is worship Greek Gods. Now that I think about, I used to think they were the same, but they’re not. So when and how did practicing ancient religions make you a witch? All my friend wants to do is to be Hellenic, that’s it.

Vedas and Upanishads (they are some Hindu scriptures) say that theistic Hinduism only has one Divinity. All the different forms of Divinity are just different ways of understanding The One.

Why do people think Hinduism is polytheistic? It isn’t. If all the different deities are aspects of The One Divinity, known as Brahman, then it is clearly monotheistic. The criteria for polytheism is that all the deities have to be viewed as separate entities, not as facets of one divinity. Hinduism has a different understanding of Divinity compared to all polytheistic religions I am aware of, such as Roman polytheism, Greek polytheism, Wicca and Kemetism.

Any counterarguments will be greatly appreciated.

Vedas and Upanishads (they are some Hindu scriptures) say that theistic Hinduism only has one Divinity. All the different forms of Divinity are just different ways of understanding The One.

Why do people think Hinduism is polytheistic? It isn’t. If all the different deities are aspects of The One Divinity, known as Brahman, then it is clearly monotheistic. The criteria for polytheism is that all the deities have to be viewed as separate entities, not as facets of one divinity. Hinduism has a different understanding of Divinity compared to all polytheistic religions I am aware of, such as Roman polytheism, Greek polytheism, Wicca and Kemetism.

Any counterarguments will be greatly appreciated.

Would you guys describe yourselves as polytheistic?

Also, if mormons become gods, and make creations of their own and their creatures become Gods, where did the first god come from?

Now I know that MidEastern were Polytheistic. But an Egyptian major into religion told me that pre-Islamic religions in the area why openly polytheistic on the surface, had a sort of monotheistic overlay to the whole religion. A great example can be seen in how various Mongol warlords sent to the area often converted to Islam because Mongolian religion overall believes in a supreme being ruling over everything else despite being polytheistic on the surface. When combined with Islam's warrior verses, the religion was very appealing to pagan warlike people who practised a monotheistic take on polytheism such as tribes in what is now Afghanistan the various Persian kingdoms, and so on.

Where as European paganism was at the core polytheistic. While there is a hierarchy, European pre-Abrahamic religions truly believed the existence of multiple entities as separate beings.

So he has this theory that Christianity as the perfect monotheistic religion to take Europe by storm because it is very seemingly polytheistic. The trinity praying hail marys, the hundreds of Saints and petitioning them, archangels, asking for intercession from dead relatives-all easy to transition from European polytheism or at least blend in local customs (like replacing a local god with a pagan saint who is patronage of the same topics).

Even among strictly Protestant ideology, the concept of the trinity with a human god, and all bearing father fro the heavens, and an invisible spirit is still appealing to many pagans across Europe who had similar trinity concepts in their religion esp with a specific god on the top of the pantheon.

So I wonder if this is a reason why Christians esp with the very seemingly polytheistic Catholic Church in Western Europe fought so viciously with fanaticism to push back Islamic entrance into Europe and esp one o the factors for anti-semitism n Europe's history after the fall of Rome?

Someone wrote a post a year ago claiming Christianity appealed to Europe unlike Islam because of a human God and that was the inspiration of this question. So I wonder if various polytheistic concepts like Saints and Mary as Mother of God were key roles to the rapid acceptance of Christianity after the fall of the Roman Empire? and if this was a reason why Islam was seen as so alien even to European pagans like the Vikings and Slavs because of its strict emphasis on monotheism?

My Egyptian friend who is currently working on his masters and hopes to go for a PhD truly believe