Jeff Zweerink - Total Eclipse 2024

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[@tlstewart123]

The wonders of God's fingerprints on our Tme-Space reality. Wonder of Wonders! Praise God the Master Engineer and Master Artist! Amen.

[@ji8044]

I like your joke about the atheist/skeptic, but not for the reason you told it. It perfectly illustrated the ancient concept of gods, as the Israelites (and all others) knew them. Their God, was not alone in the universe. He was a competitor against all the other gods, and he needed to prove himself over and over. What does Yahweh say to Moses? “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3You shall have no other gods before Me 4You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me 6but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments" Notice that Yahweh never says he's the ONLY god. He says I am YOUR god. He says you will have no other gods BEFORE ME. Never once does Yahweh say there are no other gods in the universe, but he intends to be number one. Monotheism, as we understand the term today, is a very late development in what is termed Judaism, probably 5th Century BC after the return from Babylon.

[@tlstewart123]

Do you suppose lack of idolation/worship/praise, diminishes other gods into nothingness or weakness, only to be consumed by remaining gods but Yaweh was the ultimate Winner?

[@ji8044]

@@tlstewart123 If I understand your statement correctly, the answer is yes. Gods depend on believers for their existence. That's why no one builds temples to Zeus anymore. However it's not always a zero sum game. The Romans had a very flexible pantheon of gods and were always willing to mingle new and old. It's the main reason they ruled Egypt so successfully for centuries. They didn't run around tearing down temples and killing priests. Yahweh was the ultimate winner until Jesus came along to take his title. People who believe in the Trinity say they are one and the same, but the Jews, whose God he is/was, don't say that. In fact according to Judaism, that age of Yahweh as actively interventionist closed 400 years before the birth of Jesus.