did the other gods exist to?

[Mikkiness]

Okay this was just a random question that popped into my head a while ago when i was reading something on the 'net, about how the christian god is the one true god & no-one i know can answer it so im asking you.

If the christian god exists why cant old gods from other religions exist as well?

if the other gods dont exist then why cant people worship them? i dont see how it matters really.

& please, only answer if you're trying to answer the question

[YoungFang]

Depends on what gods and religion you mean. Christians, Jews and Muslims all believe in the same god and according to those teaching god is the only one and created the world, worshipping other gods in those beliefs would be idolising something else and a big no no.

[J.L.R.]

If Christians are right, then No, no other gods exist. In Christianity, God, is the sole creator of this world, all other gods are basically man's method of trying to understand the one God, their own way. God, in Christian belief, is not a God of this or that, but the One God... In short, it is like giving credit to the toy, for the toymaker's design. Science teaches us that the Sun, for example, is not a god nor never was. While many worshipped it for its power to give and take life, we now know it is just a giant ball of gas (basic terms speaking). While it can give and take life, and because of it we are alive, we know that it doesn't function with purpose nor desire, nor does it give thoughts as to what to do tomorrow, but exists as a benign entity in this grand uniserve... It is a Star...

The truth of the matter is this, the belief in God, gods, OJ Simpson's innocence... is cornered on one thing, belief. This is a question of faith, regardless of who is speaking, whether they be fundamental Christian, or atheist. This is a question that you, along can decide, unless you are in China and the government decides for you. :P You have a free will and you have the right to believe in whatever you want.

[NeonLightChild]

Many of the gods and goddesses of the past were created to explain the cause and meaning of many events that we now know today to be caused by scientific means. For example, one group believed that the sun rose when Apollo (I think? My knowledge of Greek/Roman gods has waned quite a bit) hitched his horses to the chariot and drove them around the sky, the chariot's wheels providing the sunlight. The adventures of Persephone, Hades and Demeter helped people explain why some seasons were cold, others warm. And then some jerks came along and ruined it all by saying "Hey, the earth revolves around the sun on an axis, that's why the sun rises and sets and why we have seasons."

Good question...I think some comedian once said "Religion is nothing but an argument over who has the better imaginary friend." But all humor aside, in the present day, it's just what you believe, and I've always figured that it was your belief in them that gave them life. I was once a Christian, I believed in nothing other than the Christian God, and by that I gave him life. Gradually I began to see things a different way and by doing that my beliefs died, taking the Christian God with them and now other gods and goddesses are alive because I believe in them. Just a different way of thinking about it.

[DarkHunter]

All the gods ever dreamed of existed in the sense that they affected the world. They may not have been genuine seperate conciousness, but they existed in the minds of the people who believed in them and that was enough.

[ThrasherCub]

If the christian god exists why cant old gods from other religions exist as well?

if the other gods dont exist then why cant people worship them? i dont see how it matters really.

& please, only answer if you're trying to answer the question

Well, assuming that there is only the one Christian god, He's insane. If you look through the bible, you will notice that He appears to be suffering from multiple personalities. If you wish to look at the idea that there are multiple gods, why not look at it more as aspects of the One God? I take a very Hindu approach to it. Example: Krishna is a merciful God who intends to help and save humanity. Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu, who is a merciful God who intends to save the universe, and Vishnu is just an incarnation of the Atman, which is the giant over-soul of the universe.

I like to remember that God, Atman, The One, whatever the heck you personally have chosen to call It, doesn't have a name or face or gender. Beyond that, It doesn't even have intentions or a personality I can comprehend. Therefor I try not to give It a face directly, but rather give faces and names to little sub-divisions of It. This way I can connect well enough to do things such as meaningfully pray (who wants to pray to a far out concept?), but at the same time I can keep from fooling myself into believing that I actually understand this being.

Look at these other religions - are they really so different from Christianity? They may have different names and stories, but they generally say the same thing. In one time an place, the most loving thing a god could have done was come to earth and die on a cross for your sins. In another time and place, the most loving thing a god could have done was stab himself and then hang upside down from a tree in order to gain knowledge which would benefit humanity.

The main difference between religions, and their gods, is what the people expected to hear. That's it.

[J.L.R.]

Actually wrong Thrasher... Since you only looked through the Bible, I will let you off on that one, however, I think an actual reading of the text would better allow you to understand the context of the many names used to describe God...

The fact of the matter is, God experiences many of the emotions that we ourselves experience. The Biblical God isn't an entity that can't be understood or some far stretched ideal. God is merciful. God is just. God can be angered. God is compassionate. God is loving... to name a few.

In the Old Testament alone, there are hundreds of names for God, but they all simply add to the character of a singular allencompasitating God.

To make things simpler...

We experience several emotions. We can be loving, we can be compassionate, we can get angry... however we are still sane... will at least some of us... :)

Then is it too far wrong to consider that God has the ability to have all of these emotions as well. After all we were made in His image. The only thing God does not share with us, is sin...

That is if you choose to believe the Bible. If you don't then it really doesn't matter.

[YoungFang]

We experience several emotions. We can be loving, we can be compassionate, we can get angry... however we are still sane... will at least some of us... :)

Then is it too far wrong to consider that God has the ability to have all of these emotions as well. After all we were made in His image. The only thing God does not share with us, is sin...
.

Only I don't go around telling people to kill other people who don't believe in me

[Rascaduanok]

I personally believe that in some way we all conceive of God in our ways. That throughout recorded history we have put our own cultural face to God, absorbed other cultures and their ideas about religion and divinity, until we end up with monotheists who try to subsume all gods into One.

I like this quote from Stephen F. Roberts: “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

Sometimes I wonder if we — like the early ancient Egyptian settlers who worshipped the life–giving, fertile section of the River Nile as a veritable god — have given human attributes to the whirling, mindless vortex at the centre of the universe that also forms the universe itself…

To return from my slight detour off–topic… If you look at the Old Testament of the Bible (basically the Jewish Tanakh), you will see that the Biblical God there serves as one of many gods worshipped at that time. He simply won!

[Aeolus]

I believe that the greek gods did exist but ultimately were not as great as the One. They were defeated by greek thinkers and the use of knowledge and are not worthy of my praise. I'm not trying to be a jerk, that's just what I believe.

NOTE- the reason I say 'greek' gods is because it is accepted by anthropologists that all old pantheons bear similar archetypes comparable to that of the greeks(i.e. a goddess of love, supreme god of sky and storm, god/ess of sun etc.)