THE MONOTHEISTIC NARRATIVE ABOUT THE GODS

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Since most of us live in Monotheistic-dominant cultures, the concepts of Gods can be a thorny issue. The usual presentation in the culture about Polytheism is as follows: “Your Gods are merely stories and therefore your faith is based on lies.” The logic of Monotheism is that the Gods are imaginary beings. The proposition that there is only the One True God is asserted as the only truth concerning Deities. Moreover, this God is the all-powerful Creator, Who watches over all. Yahweh (Note 1) is greater than all the silly Gods of ancient myths.

 

What Ben Hunt of Epsilon Theory calls the “Narrative Machine” is at work. He defines this as “Where the translation of ‘reality’ takes place within a large Machine of strategic communication and game playing.” Since the Narrative Machine is an invisible network of social interaction, it shapes and controls how people think about things. Through contextual connections and networks, it creates a body of “Common Knowledge” (Note 2) for modern society to operate under.

 

Monotheism is the de facto standard for understanding religion. Within the Narrative Machine are many logical fallacies to direct people’s thinking about what is “proper religion.” “Missionary language” tells people to see the Gods as imaginary or as demons in disguise. “Interpretive language” turns a fact into an interpretation of what that fact means. (Interpretive language presents an opinion as a fact.) All Gods except for Yahweh are false Gods is an opinion presented as a fact. “Repetition” of one point of view convinces people that is the only truth. Since it has been repeated for so long, that there is only One God, people have no concept of Polytheism.

 

In his book examining the Gods of the Old Testament, “The Scars of Eden,” Paul Wallis (Note 3) describes how he thinks the central proponent of Monotheism came to be. Wallis tells how the Babylonian Captivity scarred the formerly Polytheistic Hebrews. “Many scholars believe that this edit was done during Israel’s painful subjection to Babylonia…Perhaps as a consequence of that unhappy context, there is in the retelling of the old, old stories a palpable undercurrent of rage.” He reflects that this rage is reflected in “Our God is real. Yours is a fake. (Emphasis his) We will be eternally vindicated. You will be eternally shamed.” Wallis explains that this “Us and Them” “narrative undergirds the whole editorial frame work for the Bible as we have it. And it shows.”

 

What Wallis refers to “card stacking.” The original propagandist selected his information to present a one-sided view. Since no one else knew what he was referring to, they could not challenge the propagandist. He had set up a situation that no one could refute.

 

Also, Wallis points to what is known as a “manufactured problem.” First, the propagandist created the dilemma of Yahweh destroying all Polytheists. Then he convinced the other Hebrews of the seriousness of the problem. Finally, he offered his solution: “Either believe only in Yahweh, or suffer the consequences.”

 

A “single all-powerful god in heaven implied the appropriateness of a single all-powerful king on earth” according to Jonathan Kirch. He notes in “God Against the Gods,” the history of Monotheism is tied with autocracy. Egypt, Israel, and Rome all adopted a form of Monotheism and ordered the population to believe only in that particular God. To ensure their power, these God-Emperors enforced Monotheism.

 

For example, King Josiah of Judah (648 to 610 BCE) enforced the singular worship of Yahweh and centered that worship to be only in Jerusalem. His high priest had discovered a “missing” Fifth Book of Moses, which was the Book of Deuteronomy. Known as “a pious fraud,” this book enforced the point of view of radical followers of Yahweh. This allowed Josiah to conduct a bloody purge of the Polytheistic Hebrews.

 

Since Monotheism has been enforced for centuries, Polytheism is little understood. It is often regarded as “proto-monotheism” or a stepping stone to Monotheism. By understanding the logic of Monotheism, Modern Polytheists can begin to purge their thinking of Monotheistic propaganda.

 

Notes:

 

Note 1. Although there are multiple Gods of Monotheism – Yahweh, Allah, God in Three Persons – I refer to Yahweh for all of Them. The Monotheistic Gods are male, with no Consort. (In Jewish tradition, Yahweh did have Shekinah, Goddess of Wisdom, as a Consort.)

 

Note 2. In Game Theory, “Common Knowledge” is the idea that something is not merely known by all the payers in a game, but is also known to be known, and that known is also to be known, and so forth in a chain of logic.

 

Note 3. Paul Wallis, former Archdeacon of the Anglican Church, believes that the “True God is the harmonious source of all things.” Christ came to earth with a “vision of love and justice.” Otherwise, he thinks that the God (Elohim) of the Old Testament is actually plural. Moreover, these Gods (Elohim) are aliens from outer space (that is UFO Gods).

 

Further Reading:

Edward Butler, “The Way of the Gods.”

John Michael Greer, “A World Full of Gods.”

Glenn Holland, “Gods in the Desert.”

Johnathan Kirch, “God Against the Gods.”

Lynn Prickett and Clive Prince, “When God Had a Wife.”