Thou shalt have no other gods before me

[Scott1]

III. "YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME"

2110 The first commandment forbids honoring gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself to his people. It proscribes superstition and irreligion. Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion; irreligion is the vice contrary by defect to the virtue of religion.

Superstition
Idolatry
Divination and magic
Irreligion
Atheism
Agnosticism



Peace,
Scott

 

[(Q)]

The first commandment forbids honoring gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself to his people. It proscribes superstition and irreligion.

What about not honoring gods at all?

I think it would tend to proscribe reason, rationale, logic, thinking and freedom.

 

[Scott1]

Hiya Q,

I think it would tend to proscribe reason, rationale, logic, thinking and freedom.

That's great that you have an opinion, but you lack evidence to back it up......

I know it's fun to lob out quips without reason, rationale, logic, thinking.....(hey where have I heard that before??) but it makes for a boring debate.....

Peace,
Scott

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion; ...

It also represents a perverse refusal to consider the philological and archaeological evidence, all of which suggests (a) that the Exodus/Conquest is folklore, and (b) that the early Israelites shared a world view in which each 'nation' was ruled by, and owed its allegience to, a particular God.

There is a wonderful theistic site dealing with the Synoptic Problem that warns:

Faith is no excuse for ignorance! Adherence to any tradition in disregard for textual evidence is sheer superstition.

There is no evidence for the Exodus, and no evidence for an Israelite monotheism (as opposed to henotheism) earlier than the 'Josiah reforms'.

 

[Scott1]

deut....

consider the philological and archaeological evidence, all of which suggests (a) that the Exodus/Conquest is folklore, and (b) that the early Israelites shared a world view in which each 'nation' was ruled by, and owed its allegience to, a particular God.

Wow.... you wasted all that time doing research about this BEFORE finding out if I considered it folklore to BEGIN WITH........ oooops!



The senses of Scripture

115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.


116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."83

117The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.


1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ's victory and also of Christian Baptism.84

2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written "for our instruction".85

3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, "leading"). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.86

118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses: The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;
The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.87

119 "It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer judgement. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God."88


But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.89



Peace,
Scott

 

[(Q)]

but it makes for a boring debate.....

Sorry to bore you and for not having provided you with evidence. I usually do provide evidence but I didn't think it would be of any interest to you as it does not come from scriptures.

 

[Scott1]

(Q),

I usually do provide evidence but I didn't think it would be of any interest to you as it does not come from scriptures.

I guess you don't know very much about Catholics............

Only Evangelical Protestants have the idea that all truth must be literally found in the pages of the Bible.

A little FYI for future reference.


One common source. . .

80 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal."40 Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own "always, to the close of the age".41

. . . two distinct modes of transmission

81 "Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit."42

"And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching."

82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence."44

Peace,
Scott

 

[(Q)]

Sorry again - I'll clarify my statement. The evidence won't come from Sacred Scriptures or Sacred Traditions.

Is that better?

 

[Scott1]

(Q),

Nope.... still want it.

Unless it is some wacko website..... I will give anything a honest look.

Scott

 

[(Q)]

http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/thomas_paine/age_of_reason/index.shtml

http://deism.org/ageofreason.htm

 

[Scott1]

(Q),

Thanks!

Age of Reason is one of my all time favorite books! I have it right here on the shelf next to my bible.

Peace,
Scott

 

[(Q)]

So, what is "SOGFPP?"

 

[Mr Spinkles]

SOGFPP will answer that question just as soon as you tell us what is (Q).

 

[(Q)]

Q is used throughout various physics and mathematical formulae.

Although for some reason people keep referring me to as a character from Star Trek - no idea about that one.

 

[Scott1]

Hey all,

Servant Of God Father Patrick Peyton.

http://www.familyrosary.org/main/home.php

Peace,
Scott

For the record.... "Q" was the coolest Star Trek character EVER.........

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

deut....

Wow.... you wasted all that time doing research about this BEFORE finding out if I considered it folklore to BEGIN WITH........ oooops!

Actually, I did the research long before encountering you.

 

[Scott1]

deut,

My point was, before you present something, you might want to find out if I already agree with you........ or else what was the point of your post?

Scott

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

My point was, before you present something, you might want to find out if I already agree with you........ or else what was the point of your post?

I'm actually quite pleased that you agree with me, and I'm sorry that you found my comments pointless. Perhaps I was unclear. I would suggest that the statement

Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion.​

is, to borrow a phrase from Rev. Harry T. Cook, little more than "a confection of self-serving theology". To the extent that it means anything, it restates the No-True-Scottsman fallacy, e.g.,

Superstition is that set of baseless beliefs in excess of my set of baseless beliefs.​

What renders this excess perverse is, presumably, up to God.

My point, however, was that the commandment had little to do with some Goldilocks proscription warning against too little or too much religion, nor did it require that the proto-Israelites deny the existence of other Gods. It simply commanded allegiance. As the Encyclopaedia Judaica notes: "Monolatry, aniconism (cf. the empty cherub throne over the ark), and the sanctity of the divine name are coeval with the beginnings of biblical religion."

 

[Scott1]

My point, however, was that the commandment had little to do with some Goldilocks proscription warning against too little or too much religion, nor did it require that the proto-Israelites deny the existence of other Gods. It simply commanded allegiance.

Got ya........ good post.



Peace,Scott

 

[Ardhanariswar]

um, i have a question. If God wanted no atheism and hinduism and other eastern religions in the world besides christianity, why didnt he do something about it? free will ya, but why would he create people with advanced ideas and conepets before the christianity religion came to be?

thats why i believe that salvation belongs to the person, not christianity.