There is a passage in the bible that states:
Exodus 20:3-5 (KJV)
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Now I am posing this question to all theists. Does this implicitly state that no other Gods but the Abrahamic God, exist? Or that other Gods exist, but one will not worship and bow down before them? I read it as the latter, maybe because I have polytheistic leanings. I am asking this because upon discussion with a friend, she said she does not believe in other Gods because in the Bible it says not to have any other gods before hers. That prompted my response that acknowledging that another god exists is no blasphemous or against that statement, as long as she is not worshipping hte other deity.
Anyways, thoughts?
EDIT: Mods, if this needs to be moved into scriptural debate please do so, I was unsure quite where to post this.
Exodus 20:3-5 (KJV)
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Now I am posing this question to all theists. Does this implicitly state that no other Gods but the Abrahamic God, exist? Or that other Gods exist, but one will not worship and bow down before them? I read it as the latter, maybe because I have polytheistic leanings. I am asking this because upon discussion with a friend, she said she does not believe in other Gods because in the Bible it says not to have any other gods before hers. That prompted my response that acknowledging that another god exists is no blasphemous or against that statement, as long as she is not worshipping hte other deity.
Anyways, thoughts?
EDIT: Mods, if this needs to be moved into scriptural debate please do so, I was unsure quite where to post this.