After I recent trip to Israel I learned some interesting things,

>>2308999
>it seems to me that this commandment is literally talking about other deities of some sort.
Ding ding ding

There's also a story in the Old Testament where Moses and his brother Aaron go to bug the Pharaoh some more, and the Pharaoh calls out his court magicians who turn all their staffs into snakes. Not to be outdone, Aaron throws down his staff and it turns into an even bigger snake and swallows them all. Goes to show that Moses' god is not the ONLY god, just the best and most powerful

Gods are created socially by the societies that develop them. This doesn't mean that there isn't a single "god" out there, it just means that we've been missing the mark for what there may or may not be.

Look into philosophical descriptions of God. Plotinus, Spinoza, Epictetus, even Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu might offer some advice here.

Monotheism did not develop overnight, the notion of the Jewish god being the only God, as opposed to just the only God we worship took many centuries.

Look at a prayer like the me chamocha as an example of this, "who among the mighty is like you" of all the gods you're the best.

>>2308999
>However, it seems to me that this commandment is literally talking about other deities of some sort.

no shit lol

>>2309006
While I wouldn't call myself an outright athiest because I'm not a strict materialist, pandeism seems to make the most sense to me. On a semi-related note, there does seem to be some immaterial quality that living things share which empowers their life and growth. However, whether living or dead, everything shares in common existence with other real things. If this is the case, could existence itself be what the divine spark is? So powerful that it separates reality and non-reality, but so common and simple that it would be impossible not to recognize. Sorry squarecircle, no divinity for you.

>>2309008
I'm familiar with Polintus and The Art of War (nothing else by Sun Tzu), but which works of the others would you recommend?

>>2308999
You want to really have your mind blown, Yahweh and El are originally different entities.

File: 1425069983376.jpg (69KB, 634x900px) Image search: [Google]

69KB, 634x900px

>>2309006
yfw you realize that all gods are real.

>>2308999
That's Islam, not Judaism. Islam stopped the worship of 360 demon gods and encouraged the worship of only one demon god, Hubal.

>>2309070
>I'm familiar with Polintus and The Art of War (nothing else by Sun Tzu), but which works of the others would you recommend?

Ethics by Spinoza, the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, and the book called Chuang Tzu.

I'll be honest, I'm not actually directly familiar with Epictetus; I've read only secondary sources online.

Jewish monotheism developed in an atmosphere of "We worship our one god, and he's better than your gods."

It wasn't a denial of other gods, though as time went by people began reducing pagan gods to "demons" and shit instead of calling them gods, but it was the same premise. "Our god the best shit ever and yours are just pale imitations"

Still, yes, it should only take a brief study of the history of organized religion to realize that anybody preaching to you they've got it exactly right is probably full of shit, considering this shit develops and changes substantially over times. Whether you believe in a God/creator/etc or not you'd have to be an idiot to actually listen to these hucksters and genuinely believe that their interpretation is the flawless one. The Christians (and Muslims) exist basically as a product of the fact that the Jews didn't have their theology figured out.

>>2308999
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlnnWbkMlbg

vid related