Mono or Poly? (Judaic)

From what I've been reading of Jewish texts lately, I've become confused. There is IHVH (the Eternal, the One, the Truth, God, etc.)...but what are the Immortal Gods? Does Judaism have one supreme God only, or do they have a supreme God that heads a pantheon of gods, which are collectively known as the Immortal Gods? Or is there a different meaning behind the Immortal Gods?

[Aphelion Corona]

One Supreme God.

What book is this that mentions many Gods?

Judaism and Islam are both pure monotheistic religions, believing in only one (whom some may call the same) God.

This is known as Absolute Monotheism.

I'm an atheist and all, but I decided to read some Qabalah and books discussing the texts...I read a few things about "Immortal Gods", and am confused as to why 'Gods' is pluralized instead of singular. I understand that Judaism, early on, assimilated a few religions that were polytheistic and that may be where it comes from, but I'm uncertain as to whether it was original in the religion or if it did enter in from an assimilated religion.

[LostCause]

Disclaimer: I haven't slept in three nights and I'm seeing things, so forgive me if I ramble or don't make sense.

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It is confusing because Judaism and Christianity are always compared because of their similiarities, however the original premise of Judaism is much different than Christianity.

Christianity is based off of a duality: good and evil, heaven and hell, living and dying, etc... (personal note: and this all works very well for a belief system/philosophy/way of life, such as Buddhism, but as a religion it basically became dated when science proved that there is/are no natural duality/ies.)

Judaism isn't based on any kind of duality, there is no good or evil and there is no heaven and hell (at least not for human souls). And it sounds very nihilistic at first glance, but it's really not at all. It's very similiar to Buddhist quests for achieving nirvana - and what is nirvana but a state of enlightenment. There is no heaven or hell for the buddhist, either, and the quest for nirvana isn't about being in nirvana, it's about attaining it.

Okay, rambling ends...

Where was I.

O, yea...

Anyways... In Judaism (this is why it's confusing) god is often (but not always) referred to as "elohim", which translates roughly to "god of many gods". This would lead one who didn't grow up with Judaic teachings to think that perhaps there are many gods in Judaism and one major god ruling them.

But, it states in verses *mumble mumble* (Okay, so I can't remember which verse, but it says) somewhere in the Old Testament this whole shpiel about how god is the everything within the nothingness, and that we are one with him in the everything within the nothingness. Of course, the nothingness, itself, exists within the everything. So, it's... uh... it's just that way, you see.

Okay, so god is one god of many gods simply meaning he is everything within one thing.

Short answer: No.

Cheers,

Lost

Mono, but I'll bring up the book of Jasher and the question of Asherah (fraudulent book? I don't know). It does recognize Pagan gods/goddesses, but Jews are not to worship them, offer to them, or do anything eles of a polytheist nature.

[This message has been edited by Keltoiberserker (edited 06-18-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Keltoiberserker (edited 06-18-2004).]

Mono. The OT often talks about other gods as though they "are". At the same time they are also denounced as being false, impotent, useless "deaf and mute" etc.

Im going to beg to differ however, on one thing though. I think there is still a strong concept of good and evil throughout the OT. I think it comes across quite clearly in all the talk of the 'wicked' and the 'righteous', esp. in the wisdom literature. However, I agree that it's not nearly as abstract a concept as it is in the NT.

[Aphelion Corona]

There is a concept of two impulses, the yetzer hara (evil impulse) and the yetzer tova (good impulse) to explain why man often wants different things.

The yetzer tova is the thoughts that make you want to do the morally right thing, and the yetzer hara make you follow your base instincts.

The yetzer hara is therefore not evil in a sense, because it controls things such as hunger, thirst and sexual desire which are natural. It is called the evil impulse because if the good impulse didn't restrain the evil impulses' appetite there would be a tendancy for evil acts to be committed.

I'm not sure how well that explains the concept of good and evil and how they come about in Judaism, but I thought it would be a useful followup to Lost's post.