Originally Posted by
mpescatori
There is (not) only YHWH in the Old Testament. Indeed, Genesis and Deuteronomy as a whole are witness to the many Elohim who lived and governed, each their own people.
If you get an old (i.e. before WW2) Bible, Genesis alone will mention Elohim, El Shaddai, YHWH, but also the Elohim which were worshipped in cities like Salem or Gomorrah.
Indeed… Melkizedek, Priest-King of Salem, worshipped El Shaddai, and Elohei who is not YHWH; another example, Genesis 31:53:
"53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor [Elohei Nahor], the God of their father, judge between us."
So we have YHWH, who is "the one and only real God", coming to terms with a false idol over a truce between Isaac and his father-in-law Laban, son of Nahor.
OR
Abraham and his kind served YHWH, and Nahor and his kind served another Elohei.
Quite the contrary. YHWH is a god of war. He appears to Abraham in Gen.12, and rather than giving him a land to call his own, leads him to a steppe (semi-humid desert) where he and his kind are destined to a life of nomadism, having to flee to Egypt at least twice because of drought and famine, once when Abram isyoung, once when Jacob is old and Joseph is Governonr of Goshen. So how could the Creator of Heaven and Earth lead a man to the "Promised Land" and not even have control over the weather?
OR
YHWH is a god of war, and can only keep his promise through war.
See Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, but also Samuel and Kings.
Not once did he send an angel or appear in a dream to convince "the other guy" that "his guy" was a better option; no, he waged war and ethnic cleansing.
Again:
1- (many) Elohim contribute to Creation (although the original Hebrew for "Create" barà means "shape" or "mould", there is no such concept nor word in Hebrew to indicate "create out of nothing")
2- El Shaddai "The Most High" is "the ruler of all Elohim" from Creation down to Melkizedech;
3- Genesis concentrates on YHWH, and the other Elohim, although sometimes mentioned, are gradually censored not by the Jews nor by the Septuagint, but by the catholic copyists of early Christianity
4- What are generally taught to be "false gods" were actually the names of the other Elohim as found in Canaanite, Egyptian, Sumerian or Babylonian religious literature; indeed, there is a stelae (stone pillar with inscription) in Lebanon, written in Phoenician, which reads "Ashteroth greets YHWH and his Asherah", which means a number of things:
a. That was the "religious boundary" where the Priests of one would give way to the Priests of the other,
b. the two peoples acknowledged the existence of both Ashteroth and YHWH ,
c. YHWH had a "mate" or female peer known as Asherah.
Note: this is not heretical: in ancient times ALL gods formed amale+female couple, where to each his/her own temples, priests and responsibilities
Note: this may be the explanation why wise King Solomon allowed fr the creation of chapels to Ashteroth , Asherah and other female deities in the copurtyard of the Temple.
As for the Trinity:
1. God is the Father, OK
2. Jesus is the Son, OK
… mumble mumble … please, where is the feminine component in the Trinity?
Because if you read carefully and annotate with the attention of a Lt. Colombo… you'll notice that what "the Angel of the Lord" did in the Old Testament, generally ArchAngel Gabriel (up to and including Announciation) is then carried out by a difficult to fathom "Holy Spirit" or "Holy Ghost" (i.e. Pentecost).
...mumble mumble…
So either the Holy Ghost is actually the ArchAngel Gabriel,
OR
the Holy Ghost is actually Asherah.
Kinda shocking, if you give it a thought...