
“Then God spoke all these words, saying,
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.” – Exodus 20:1-3
I think we would all agree that this commandment states in clear terms that God’s people were told to have no other gods before Him. But what exactly does that imply?
I may not be a Christian any longer but I still can recite The Ten ...
Let me explain what I mean by this ... when I was Christian, which I was for many years, I was always told that there is only one God. One True God and that all others were false gods. Of course, all false gods are Satan. They may be Satan in disguise but they are Satan because there is only two choices: God or Satan. It is one or the other. Anyone who worships a god other than the one who gave us The Ten Commandments, anyone who worships any other god other than the Abrahamic God is not worshiping God at all. They are worshiping Satan. If you are a Christian this is more than likely what you honestly believe in your heart of hearts because you follow The Ten Commandments.
But let’s re-read that first Commandment once more:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.”
”You shall have no other gods before me.” What does this sentence imply? Doesn’t it imply that there are other gods? How can you put the Lord your God before other gods if there are no other gods? I suppose you could suggest that the reference here is Satan but as far as I am aware he is never even described as a god but as the adversary of God. This Commandment doesn’t say that you should put the Lord your God before Satan. It says other gods. These are the words from God. Aren’t they? So, then doesn’t this imply that God (the Abrahamic god – the One True God) acknowledges that there are other gods. Here he is commanding that his people not put the other gods before Him. He doesn’t say that the other gods don’t exist. He doesn’t even say that he is the ONLY god. No, in fact, he says that he should be first before any others.
I find this very interesting. What about you?