[thechat] Islam

[Ben Dyer]

At 02:26 PM 12/19/2002, you wrote:
>but how is Judaism not monotheistic?
>
>I am the lord THY god.  Thou shalt have NO OTHER GODS before thee.
>
>If there were not other gods, wouldn't it say, "I am the Lord, the ONLY
>God that actually exists"?

Actually, the capitalization makes all the difference here.

Exodus 20:2,3 (The Ten Commandments)
I am the LORD thy God...Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

The implication being, thou shalt not worship Ba'al, Ra, money, power,
whatever other "gods" (actually, it's closer to "idols") you're
worshipping, as opposed to or in addition to God.

<relurk />

--Ben