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Some argue that the early Jews (i.e., at the time of Abraham or Moses) were monotheists (belief in one God only) or henotheists (Yahweh being preeminent<\/em> among many gods), but concede that by the time of the prophet Isaiah they had become monotheists.\u00a0Some more extreme liberals, on the other hand, (astonishingly) extend this supposed polytheism into the New Testament<\/em> as well!<\/p>\n Here is a thoroughly biblical refutation of such claims. In the initial passages about Abraham (Abram<\/em> at first)<\/a>, \u201cLORD\u201d is constantly used, and in English Bibles it stands for \u201cYHWH\u201d (Yahweh): the one God. There is no mention of more than one God \/ god (and this never changes in any<\/em> of the accounts of Abraham<\/a>):<\/p>\n Genesis 13:4<\/strong> (RSV) . . .\u00a0Abram\u00a0called on the name of the LORD.<\/p>\n Genesis 13:18<\/strong> . . .\u00a0there he built an altar to the LORD.<\/p>\n Genesis 14:22<\/strong>\u00a0But\u00a0<\/b>Abram\u00a0said to the king of Sodom, \u201cI have sworn to the LORD God Most High, maker of heaven and earth,<\/p>\n Genesis 17:1\u00a0<\/strong>When\u00a0<\/b>Abram\u00a0was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to\u00a0<\/b>Abram, and said to him, \u201cI am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Once the Mosaic Law is established, monotheism (one God and one God only) is crystal clear, and remains so throughout the Bible:<\/p>\n Exodus 8:10<\/strong>\u00a0. . .\u00a0there is\u00a0no one like the LORD our God.\u00a0(cf. 1 Chr 17:20; 2 Chr 6:14)<\/p>\n Deuteronomy 4:35, 39\u00a0<\/strong>To you it was shown, that you might know that\u00a0the LORD is God; there is\u00a0no other besides him. . . . [39] . . .\u00a0the LORD is God\u00a0in heaven above and on the earth beneath;\u00a0there is\u00a0<\/b>no other. (cf. Neh 9:6; 2 Sam 7:22; 1 Kgs 8:23; Is 43:10; 44:6, 8; 45:5-6, 14, 18, 21-22; 46:9; 47:8; Hos 13:4)<\/p>\n Deuteronomy 6:4\u00a0<\/b>Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD;\u00a0(cf. Mk 12:29; Jas 2:19)<\/p>\n Deuteronomy 32:39<\/strong>\u00a0See now that I, even I, am he,\u00a0and\u00a0there is no god beside me;\u00a0I kill and I make alive;\u00a0I wound and I heal;\u00a0and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.<\/p>\n Psalm 83:18<\/strong>\u00a0Let them know that\u00a0thou alone,\u00a0whose name is the LORD,\u00a0art the Most High\u00a0over all the earth.<\/p>\n Psalm 86:10<\/strong>\u00a0For thou art great and doest wondrous things,\u00a0thou alone art God.<\/p>\n Isaiah 37:20\u00a0<\/b>\u2026thou alone art the LORD. (cf. 37:16)<\/p>\n Isaiah 43:10\u00a0<\/b>\u2026Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.<\/p>\n Isaiah 44:8\u00a0<\/b>\u2026Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any. (cf. 44:6; 45:5-6, 21-22; 46:9; Mal 2:10)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n And the Bible also explains beyond any doubt that the other \u201cgods\u201d being talked about are not real (only imagined to be by false worshipers). The Bible refers to them in the sense that they exist in other religious belief-systems<\/em>: not because they exist in fact or reality<\/em>. Obviously, these sorts of texts are saying that this is all these supposed \u201cgods\u201d are: wood and stone. They have no conscious existence. It\u2019s classic\u00a0idolatry<\/em>: that the Jews were judged for again and again throughout the period of the Old Testament:<\/p>\n Genesis 31:19<\/strong>\u00a0. . .\u00a0Rachel\u00a0stole\u00a0her father\u2019s\u00a0household gods.<\/p>\n Genesis 35:2, 4<\/strong>\u00a0So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, \u201cPut away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; . . .\u00a0[4] So\u00a0they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears; and\u00a0Jacob hid them under the oak\u00a0which was near Shechem.<\/p>\n Exodus 20:23<\/strong>\u00a0You shall not make\u00a0gods of silver\u00a0to be with me,\u00a0nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.<\/p>\n Leviticus 19:4<\/strong>\u00a0Do not turn to\u00a0<\/b>idols\u00a0or\u00a0make for yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.<\/p>\n Deuteronomy 4:27-28<\/strong>\u00a0And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.\u00a0[28] And there\u00a0you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of men\u2019s hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. (cf. 29:17; 1 Chr 16:26; Is 2:8, 20; 31:7; 37:19; 44:10, 15, 17; 46:6; Jer 1:16)<\/p>\n Deuteronomy 28:36\u00a0<\/strong>The LORD will bring you, and your king whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone. (cf. 28:64: \u201cother gods, of wood and stone\u201d)<\/p>\n Deuteronomy 32:17<\/strong>\u00a0They sacrificed to\u00a0demons which were no gods, . . .<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n 2 Kings 19:15-19\u00a0<\/strong>And Hezeki\u2019ah prayed before the LORD, and said: \u201cO LORD the God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim,\u00a0thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth;\u00a0thou hast made heaven and earth.\u00a0[16] Incline thy ear, O LORD, and hear; open thy eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennach\u2019erib, which he has sent to mock the living God.\u00a0[17] Of a truth, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,\u00a0[18] and\u00a0have cast their gods into the fire;\u00a0for they were no gods, but the work of men\u2019s hands, wood and stone; therefore they were destroyed.\u00a0[19] So now, O LORD our God, save us, I beseech thee, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that\u00a0thou, O LORD, art God alone.\u201d (cf. Is 37:19; 45:20)<\/p>\n 2 Chronicles 13:9<\/strong>\u00a0. . .\u00a0Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull or seven rams becomes\u00a0a priest of what are\u00a0<\/b>no gods.<\/p>\n Psalm 40:4<\/strong>\u00a0. . .\u00a0those who go astray after\u00a0false\u00a0<\/b>gods!<\/p>\n Psalm 96:5<\/strong>\u00a0For\u00a0all the gods of the peoples are\u00a0<\/b>idols;\u00a0but the LORD made the heavens. (cf. 97:7; 115:4; 135:15)<\/p>\n Isaiah 37:19\u00a0<\/b>\u2026for they were no gods, but the work of men\u2019s hands, wood and stone.\u2026<\/p>\n Isaiah 44:10\u00a0<\/strong>Who fashions a god or casts an image, that is profitable for nothing?<\/p>\n Isaiah 44:15<\/strong> . . .\u00a0he makes a god and worships it, he makes it a graven image and falls down before it.<\/p>\n Isaiah 44:17<\/strong>\u00a0And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol; and falls down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, \u201cDeliver me, for thou art my god!\u201d<\/p>\n Isaiah 46:6<\/strong>\u00a0Those who lavish gold from the purse,\u00a0and weigh out silver in the scales,\u00a0hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; Jeremiah 2:11<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Has a nation changed its gods,\u00a0even though they are\u00a0<\/b>no gods?\u00a0. . .<\/p>\n Jeremiah 5:7<\/strong>\u00a0. . .\u00a0Your children have forsaken me,\u00a0and have sworn by\u00a0those who are\u00a0<\/b>no gods. . . . (cf. 10:14)<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Jeremiah 16:20\u00a0<\/strong>Can man\u00a0make for himself gods?\u00a0Such are no gods!\u00a0(cf. 51:17)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n All of this<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0monotheism is supposedly\u00a0rare<\/span>\u00a0in the Bible, as these particular liberal Catholics claim? Hardly!<\/em>\u00a0. . .\u00a0<\/span><\/span>They live in an alternate universe, or else they are unable to use a concordance or any of the various word-search tools available online.<\/p>\n As for the New Testament, such folks argue that Paul made reference to \u201cmany gods and many lords\u201d: thus \u201cproving\u201d that he was either a polytheist or a henotheist.\u00a0This is erroneous as well.\u00a0<\/span>Out<\/strong> of context<\/em>, that phrase of Paul\u2019s it may sound, prima facie<\/em>, like polytheism, or henotheism (for those who are ignorant of the contents of the Bible and its theology). Understood in<\/strong> context<\/em>, it is not at all (note particularly the use of quotation marks in the RSV: insinuating that the existence of these \u201cgods\u201d is denied by Paul:<\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 8:4-6<\/strong>\u00a0Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that \u201can idol has no real existence,\u201d and that \u201cthere is no God but one.\u201d\u00a0[5] For although there may be\u00a0so-called gods\u00a0in heaven or on earth \u2014 as indeed there are many \u201cgods\u201d and many \u201clords\u201d \u2014\u00a0[6]\u00a0yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n St. Paul also taught:<\/p>\n Galatians 4:8<\/strong>\u00a0Formerly, when you did not know God, you were\u00a0in bondage to\u00a0beings that by nature are no gods;<\/p>\n Ephesians 4:5-6\u00a0<\/strong>one Lord, one faith, one baptism,\u00a0[6] one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.<\/p>\n 1 Timothy 2:5\u00a0<\/strong>For there is one God, . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Some also claim that St. John in the book of Revelation is a henotheist or polytheist, too. I don\u2019t see how. The book of Revelation never includes the word \u201cgods\u201d a single time. Here\u2019s what it teaches:<\/p>\n Revelation 1:8\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI am the Alpha and the Omega,\u201d says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n As for further clarification of the distinction between henotheism and polytheism, it\u2019s a matter of definition of words. In my opinion (and I think this is pretty straightforward and non-controversial), henotheism is simply one version of polytheism<\/em>.\u00a0WikiDiff, \u201cWhat is the difference between henotheism and monotheism?\u201d<\/a> states:<\/p>\n Monotheism is a coordinate term of henotheism. Henotheism is a see also of monotheism.<\/p>\n As nouns the difference between henotheism and monotheism is that henotheism is belief in or worship of one deity without denying the existence of other deities while monotheism is the belief in a single deity (one god or goddess); especially within an organized religion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nthen they fall down and worship!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n