No other gods?

A common charge made by Anti-Mormon critics on CARM and elsewhere is the claim that Mormonism is polytheistic and the Bible teaches there is only ONE God..   This is simply false on both accounts.

First of all Mormonism is not Polytheistic. Critics toss that term out with disingenuous and pejorative intent to elicit an emotional aversion to "stop think".    The opposite of Polytheism is Monotheism.  Now there is a matter of definition of what is Monotheism. Monotheism has differing definitions.  In it's narrow and strictest sense, Monotheism is the belief and worship in one God period, no others exist.  And this is the definition which our critics use when attacking LDS beliefs.. And if you apply that definition, LDS are not monotheists.. and neither are Christians, and the Bible is polytheistic.   Perhaps the only true Monotheists are Muslims.   Now we know our critics do not view themselves as polytheists.. so there must be a broader definition to Monotheism and there is.

Monotheism in a broader sense is divided into subcategories.. One of these subcategories is Henotheism.

Henotheism (Greek εἷς θεός heis theos "one god") is the belief in and worship of a single God while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities that may also be worshipped.

This would be a more accurate description of LDS beliefs.. it also happens to be an accurate description of the beliefs taught in the Bible text.   Although not all Bible translations have been updated to modern standards to include textual readings found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, some have, such as the NRSV, or the ESV.   Here a but a few of the highlights found in the Biblical text that are clear indication of Henotheism.

When the Most High apportioned the nations,when he divided humankind,he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods;-     Deut 32:8

“Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. -  Deut 32:43

God has taken his place in the divine council;in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:...I say, “You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you;    Psalm 82

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord,    - Psalm 86

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;   - Gen 1:26

I think we have a good sampling here to make the point.. The ancient Israelites who gave us the OT texts were henotheistic.  They believed as it is articulated in Deut 32:8.. that the Most High God.. divided up humanity by a number of 'gods'.. each nation had their sovereign god.

  Israels god, was YHWH.. the 'I am" that spoke from the burning bush to Moses and led the Hebrews out of captivity and to the promised land and they were to worship him only.. no other gods as the first of the ten commandments state.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me -- Exodus 20:2-3

. This is not an assertion that no other gods exist, but to the contrary, they just must not worship them, for they are only to worship YHWH (Jehovah).

This is very critical context to keep in mind when reading Biblical texts like those which critics use to shore up the Trinity dogma.. Namely the Duetro-Isaiah book of comfort...

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. - Isaiah 44:6

I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me,so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. - Isaiah 45:5-6

These are some of the proof text's Trinitarians use to refute the LDS doctrine of the Godhead, which differs from the Trinity in that it avoids the paradox of three in one, and rather asserts it three unified as one in purpose.

So we see if you take these Duetro-Isaiah passages out of their historical context, they have a strong monotheistic bent, which at the same time contradict the passages cited earlier in this post which clearly acknowledges the presence of other gods.. So what gives here?   It's the historical context that Trinitarians obfuscate.   That context is to whom and when these duetro-Isaiah texts were written.  So here's the back story to help understand.

At the time the these duetro-Isaiah texts were produced, the audience was a captive Israel or Judah to be more precise.  These Jews held as we have pointed out earlier a henotheistic world view.. That every nation had it's own sovereign god as the world was divided by the Most High.   Now Israels God was YHWH, who defeated Pharoh and protected led the Isaelites into Caanan and protected them,  but now the status quo of the day seems to be they are captives in a land of Babylonians.. Jerusalem and the their YHWH's temple has been laid waist.. It would seem to the average Jew, YHWH had been defeated by Marduk, the god of the Babylonians, and they were now living in the land of Babylonia.. thus the inclination that YHWH was no more and that it's time to worship Marduk would seem to be the order of the day.. So here comes the words of comfort from Isaiah.. Asserting that YHWH is not gone, for Israel there is no other besides YHWH.. despite how it looks.   There is none like YHWH and YHWH will prevail.

So we see that these so-called proof texts of a ONE god of the universe are nothing of the sort when placed in their historical setting.. The text wasn't written to the Babylonians, or to the world.. But to the Jews captive specifically, and that is the context in which they need to be understood.