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I rather love this. Explains why in the Bible God seems so bi-polar. It's actually to Gods. Christianity was a polytheistic religion originally just like Egyptian and Greek myths before it. More to the point, it looks like God had a wife, and like a vindictive writer, mankind stripped her from the Bible and replaced her as a "tree", "shrub" or "bush" (bush... cute) and by doing so removed her not only from history but from the future. Or maybe not... Science is uncovering the truth about God's wife.

God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.

In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah.

The ancient Israelites were polytheists, Brody told Discovery News, "with only a small minority worshiping Yahweh alone before the historic events of 586 B.C."

In the Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her." Several Hebrew inscriptions mention "Yahweh and his Asherah."

Many English translations prefer to translate 'Asherah' as 'Sacred Tree,'" Wright said. "This seems to be in part driven by a modern desire, clearly inspired by the Biblical narratives, to hide Asherah behind a veil once again."
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Of course, the "great monotheist religions" are ALL polytheistic. Always have been, and always will be. Just because they try to re-define the term "god" to mean ONLY a supernatural creator, that doesn't mean that they are correct.

I pointed this out to a pastor friend of mine a few years ago. He thought I was talking about the Trinity concept, and I said, "No, I mean there are lots of gods in the Christian mythology: Satan, the various named angels, like Michael, Gabriel and so forth... these are all obviously recognizable as gods, exactly the same as Apollo, Hermes and Poseidon were for the Greeks."

He looked a little taken aback and said, "Hm. I never thought of that."

Bet you can guess easily enough which "pastor friend" I'm NOT talking about in this vignette.

I have to say I don't find the argument that Asherah was the wife of Yahweh very convincing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah

Asherah was a mother goddess, consort to Eli. Like many old gods the mythology is complicated and confusing, with names being fluid. She was referred to as a 'tree' or 'pole' since the symbol for her was a tree or pole, later the obelisk - and some say the church steeple.

She is mentioned in many places in the Bible but not in a positive way. The KJV obliterates her name and substitutes 'tree' or 'grove', other translations use her name.

I think the reference to Kings is this verse:

2 Kings 21:7
And he (Manasseh) set a graven image of the grove (Asherah) that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever

Which sounds positive - until you read

2 Kings 21:9 But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.

The other references are mostly commandments to cut down Asherah poles or groves and treat them like Baal's bulls

Exodus 34:13 but ye shall demolish their altars, shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs. (Root in DBY NIV)

Deuteronomy 7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs, and burn their graven images with fire. (Root in DBY NIV)

Deuteronomy 12:3 and ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and burn their Asherahs with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy the names of them out of that place. (Root in DBY NIV)

Deuteronomy 16:21 You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Yahweh your God, which you shall make for yourselves. (WEB JPS ASV DBY NAS NIV)

Judges 6:25 It happened the same night, that Yahweh said to him, "Take your father's bull, even the second bull seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it; (WEB JPS ASV NAS NIV)

Judges 6:26 and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold, in the orderly manner, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down." (WEB JPS ASV NAS NIV)

Judges 6:28 When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was built. (WEB JPS ASV NAS NIV)

Judges 6:30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it." (WEB JPS ASV NAS NIV)

1 Kings 14:15 And Jehovah will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their Asherahs, provoking Jehovah to anger. (Root in DBY NIV)

1 Kings 14:23 And they also built for themselves high places, and columns, and Asherahs on every high hill and under every green tree; (Root in DBY NIV)

1 Kings 15:13 Also Maacah his mother he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

1 Kings 16:33 Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did yet more to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

1 Kings 18:19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel, and four hundred fifty of the prophets of Baal, and four hundred of the prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table." (WEB JPS ASV DBY NAS NIV)

2 Kings 10:26 And they took out the image of Asherah from the house of Baal, and had it burned. (BBE)

2 Kings 13:6 Nevertheless they didn't depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin, but walked therein: and there remained the Asherah also in Samaria.) (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

2 Kings 17:10 And they set them up columns and Asherahs on every high hill and under every green tree; (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Kings 17:16 They forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

2 Kings 21:3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

2 Kings 21:7 He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Yahweh said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever; (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

2 Kings 23:4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

2 Kings 23:6 He brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

2 Kings 23:7 He broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Yahweh, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

2 Kings 23:14 And he broke in pieces the columns, and cut down the Asherahs, and filled their place with the bones of men. (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Kings 23:15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

2 Chronicles 14:3 and he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places, and broke the columns, and cut down the Asherahs; (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Chronicles 15:16 Also Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY NAS NIV)

2 Chronicles 17:6 And he took courage in the ways of Jehovah; moreover, he removed the high places and Asherahs out of Judah. (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Chronicles 19:3 Nevertheless there are good things found in thee; for thou hast put away the Asherahs out of the land, and hast directed thy heart to seek God. (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Chronicles 24:18 And they forsook the house of Jehovah the God of their fathers, and served the Asherahs and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Chronicles 31:1 And when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the columns, and hewed down the Asherahs, and demolished the high places and the altars in all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. And all the children of Israel returned every man to his possession, into their cities. (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Chronicles 33:3 And he built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshipped all the host of heaven and served them. (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Chronicles 33:19 And his prayer, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sin and his unfaithfulness, and the places in which he built high places, and set up Asherahs and graven images, before he was humbled, behold, they are written among the words of Hozai. (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Chronicles 34:3 And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherahs, and the graven images, and the molten images. (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Chronicles 34:4 And they broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and the sun-pillars that were on high above them he cut down; and the Asherahs and the graven images and the molten images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and strewed it upon the graves of those that had sacrificed to them; (Root in DBY NIV)

2 Chronicles 34:7 and he broke down the altars, and beat the Asherahs and the graven images into powder, and cut down all the sun-pillars throughout the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem. (Root in DBY NIV)

Isaiah 17:8 And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, nor have regard to what his fingers have made, neither the Asherahs nor the sun-images. (Root in DBY NIV)

Isaiah 27:9 By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit of the taking away of his sin: when he shall make all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are crumbled in pieces, the Asherahs and the sun-images shall not stand. (Root in DBY NIV)

Jeremiah 17:2 whilst their children remember their altars and their Asherahs, by the green trees, upon the high hills. (Root in DBY NIV)

Micah 5:14 I will have your Asherahs pulled up from among you: and I will send destruction on your images

She was PMSing then.

Technically, it was Judaism rather than Christianity that was Polytheistic. What Wikipedia refers to as "a strong monotheistic party" was clearly active circa 625 BC. They were also fairly clearly victorious; the polytheism had been pretty thoroughly stamped out by 30 AD. (Debates about the veneration of saints and angels are separate from this question.)

The degree to which polytheism was the norm prior to that is hotly debated, with positions largely determined by how reliable one considers the Biblical testimony about the time before King Josiah - and how much one is disinclined to consider the obvious possibility of High Priest Hilkiah having done some editing before presenting the scrolls to the King.

abb3w wrote:Technically, it was Judaism rather than Christianity that was Polytheistic.

Christianity also has multiple gods. They just don't like to admit it is all.