TLC

Trinity Lutheran Church McAlester

Is there a single god, many gods, or just mythical gods?

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People seem to be created such that they need a god or several gods to make them feel secure. From the earliest times, people have turned to the creator God, Yahweh, or devised their own gods. The Bible is emphatic on the singularity of God, ““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, ESV) This verse is held dearly by the Jewish faith; they call it the Shamah. Yet, the God of the Jews is not the triune God of Christianity, composed of three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Any God other than the Triune God, Yahweh, has no power or authority in the universe. The various gods of other world religions, such as Buddha or Allah, or even those of ancient religions like the Baal, Dagon, or Chemosh cannot prove their existence.

In the book of 1 Kings 18, the prophet Elijah is pitted against 450 prophets of Baal in a contest to see which God is real. In the contest, each team builds an altar of stone, loads it with wood and then a sacrificial bull. The 450 prophet team wailed as their danced around their altar, calling on Baal to answer and burn up their offering. At noon, Elijah mocked them that their god must be on a trip or asleep, so they cut themselves and limped around until near twilight. Then Elijah called the people, dug a trench around his altar, had the people fill four jars of water and pour it over the bull, the wood and altar three times until it ran down and filled the trench. Then Elijah called on God. Immediately, fire from heaven came down, which burned up the bull, the wood, and even the stones.

I’d say that hands down, Yahweh won over a lifeless, mythical Baal. Uniquely, the Bible is filled with well-known historically verified accounts where Yahweh acted in miraculous ways to demonstrate his power and existence. Yet people wonder if he is real? All other gods must be false, but are there other gods that people choose?

Reality of human nature is that we like to make money, things, certain people, or especially ourselves gods. Anything that becomes the central, most important thing in a person’s life is their defacto “god.” In a world that is very much trending toward narcissistic behavior, the self-god is leading the pack. Still, people try to glom onto every god they can. They worship money at the top spot, but also sports heroes, movie stars, pop stars, spouses, children, cars, houses, jobs, and dabble in the gods of various religions like a smorgasbord.

So what is the answer? God says, ““No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24, ESV) Yahweh demonstrated that he lives throughout history and continues to live today and forever. He’s proven time and again that all other gods are mythical, having no power. So there is one true God in existence, not many gods.

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