Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

[Jimmy]

Hello heathens! This is contentious to the Christian world, but I pray to Jesus as the son of the Christian God, which is a deity to me, one of many. I think he represents and even governs humility and forgiveness in a chaotic world. Does anyone else use Gods from other religions and incorporate them into your polytheism as gods? The way I looked at it, Christianity borrowed or incorporated various elements of paganism, so it seems appropriate that pagans can do the same. I am not looking for any confrontation about the topic, just seeing if anybody shares/agrees with me, not disagree. Thanks for any input, it is greatly appreciated :^^:

[Malflick]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

I see zero problems with this as a Christian. Go for it. I only worship Yahweh, but there is a very strong biblical argument for monolatrism anyways, so as I said, go for it.

[Louisvillian]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

I don't personally do it. It doesn't make particular sense to me; a monotheistic system is explicit about other gods not existing. I am polytheistic, so I feel like it would be contradictory.
But if others feel that they can reconcile the two, go right ahead. I have no reason to stop them from conducting themselves in that way. We will have to agree to disagree, but that's part of life.

[Corvus]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

I wouldn't but I've seen people incorporate Jesus as an extension of other deities like Dionysus and Osiris

[Consciousness]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

I think Corvus said it 100%. The myths of Jesus come from pre-existing pagan systems of Greek, Persian, and Egyptian mythology. Jesus is just another expression be it a Jewish expression of these Savior deities. I do not use 'monotheistic' gods as its just not my cup of tea. I am a bit bitter at the religious genocide committed by Christians. So I do not show much interest in worshiping their version of god. However, I have a strong liking for the Gnostic Christian view of things. Only as an interest in terms of reading and learning. I do not wish to practice Gnostic Christianity. I think the Gnostic Christian system is more on the mark of truly being a trans formative path for Christians.

[Rae'ya]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

I believe in ALL the deities, but I don't worship them all.

YHVH is as much a deity as Othinn or Zeus or anyone. Jesus could be considered a deity, and I mostly do consider him thus. I don't work with or actively worship either of them, though. I was bought up Catholic and one day when I was about 15 I knelt down, performed the sign of the cross and said to YHVH something along the lines of 'you know what God, we both know that I've not been Catholic for a number of years now, I think you exist and I appreciate our relationship when I was a kid but you're just not the god for me anymore and I'm going elsewhere'. At the time it was just mostly a religion thing vs a deity thing, but I've since learned a great deal more about YHVH and his history and now I wouldn't want to actively work with him again. I don't like his machinations.

My husband is a Theistic Satanist and Demonolator, and when his very Christian grandfather was sick he asked if Jesus would be willing to work with him alongside a Demon or two for the purposes of healing. Jesus was more willing to partner up than most of the Demons where. I greatly respect Jesus and the messages that he has to teach, but I think that some modern Christian faiths have missed the mark in terms of their interpretation of his message. I have much less respect for YHVH but that doesn't mean that I deny that he's a powerful deity. I've never had anything to do with Allah or Ahura Mazda but I acknowledge that they exist as deities like any other. I find it interesting that some of the monotheistic faiths believe in more than one deity but don't admit it, using things like the Holy Trinity and the idea that Satan is not a deity to explain their monotheism (as opposed to admitting Henotheism). I also find it interesting that one of the major monotheistic faiths of modern times was happily polytheistic in origin.

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I just want to add that polytheism vs monotheism is a HUMAN thing, not a deity thing. Humans can be monotheistic, not the deities. True, some deities want their followers to believe that they are the only one in existence. YHVH is a good example of this... he's put that idea out there and told his worshippers that they 'shalt not have any other god before him'. But if you look far enough back in the texts, YHVH accepts that he's not the only deity that interacts with this world. YHVH himself is not monotheistic, and therefore working with him is not contradictory to polytheism at all. It's just that he's not one of those deities who often works with people outside of the Judeo-Christian faiths.

[Jimmy]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

Thanks for everyone's feedback, much to ponder.

[Heka]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

Pretty much I think you can do whatever you like. It's your beliefs. But to me, Jesus was a person. We have that in historical fact. Deity is above and beyond us humans (I think) so worshiping Jesus as a god doesn't quite swing right with me. But then if what Yahweh is saying is true Jesus is a god too....So I guess it's still just up to you!

[DavidMK]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

In Abrahamic traditions, Yahweh isn't really the only god (Jews even acknowledge that Amun Ba'al created insects, not Yahweh, at Creation). Rather Yahweh, in his own words, is a greedy god and commands those who follow him to worship no others. Abrahamism is a TECHNICALLY polytheistic tradition with Yahweh and Amun Ba'al as the top deities in the Polynesian tradition Abrahamism grew out of. It's simply that where a deity might become 'king of the gods' in other traditions, Yahweh actually usurped the authority of EVERY god leaving himself alone in worship. Even Jesus gave a nod to Hades (rather than Lucifer) at 1 point while talking about damnation.

So it's no real issue incorporating Yahweh into a personal pantheon, you just have to keep in mind he won't like sharing your affections.

[Claude]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

Certain pagan faiths most notably Kemeticism attempted to become monotheistic. Unlike what you're suggesting they became monotheistic within themselves. Meaning that they chose a god from within their pantheon to become the one. I don't think you could do this with a foreign god especially Yahweh. Yahweh demands that their be no other god in a person's life. He also demands humility whereas most pagan gods laugh at the notion of humble followers. The Gods want strong bold followers to glorify Them and themselves with great deeds. Yahweh wants followers to accept His will without question. There are just too many fundamental philosophical issues between pagan faiths and monotheistic faiths like Christianity to reconcile them into one coherent body.

[Malflick]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

Certain pagan faiths most notably Kemeticism attempted to become monotheistic. Unlike what you're suggesting they became monotheistic within themselves. Meaning that they chose a god from within their pantheon to become the one. I don't think you could do this with a foreign god especially Yahweh. Yahweh demands that their be no other god in a person's life. He also demands humility whereas most pagan gods laugh at the notion of humble followers. The Gods want strong bold followers to glorify Them and themselves with great deeds. Yahweh wants followers to accept His will without question. There are just too many fundamental philosophical issues between pagan faiths and monotheistic faiths like Christianity to reconcile them into one coherent body.

I'm not sure you understand Christianity, Claude... YHWH doesn't want me to accept his will without question, and he/she/it defiantly wants me to be strong and bold.

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Even Jesus gave a nod to Hades (rather than Lucifer) at 1 point while talking about damnation.

It says Hades because the Gospel it is in is appealing to the Greeks, rather than to the Jews, and its always used a replacement (or rather, translation) of the Hebrew word Sheol ("Abode of the dead"), not referring to the God Hades, but always to the place Hades, which was an easy way to bridge a gap of understanding.

[Yazichestvo]

Re: Polytheism incorporating Monotheistic Gods

With regard to the thread in general, I see no issue. A true polytheist generally does not make claims about any deity being false. Add that to the fact that both Judaism and Christianity have more ties with non-Abrahamic theology than is generally accepted by most. If I were to worship Jesus, I would regard him as a separate deity from the Abrahamic God. The latter is Semitic, and I see the former as partially Hellenic in his origins. So I guess like many polytheists, I can incorporate foreign deities into my belief-system, but with a very different perspective of those deities than those who worship them exclusively.

Certain pagan faiths most notably Kemeticism attempted to become monotheistic. Unlike what you're suggesting they became monotheistic within themselves. Meaning that they chose a god from within their pantheon to become the one. I don't think you could do this with a foreign god especially Yahweh. Yahweh demands that their be no other god in a person's life.

Did he always, though? It's well known now that some did worship Yahweh alongside with other deities, such as Asherah. He may even share roots with other semitic deities, like the Arabic Allah or Canaanite El. Obviously, if you go back to those roots, the people who worshiped Yahweh or Elohim inclusively had a very different view of the Abrahamic deity than that which predominates.