The Only True God

God Against the Gods
by Jonathan Kirsch

(Page 4 of 6)

Monotheism, by contrast, insists that only a single deity is worthy of worship for the simple reason that only a single deity exists. On this point, Judaism, Christianity and Islam agree, at least in principle: the deity that is variously called "Yahweh" or "Lord" or "Allah" is thought to be one and the same god. Pagans certainly understood and embraced the idea that some gods are more powerful than other gods, and phrases like "Supreme God" and "Highest God" fit comfortably into the language and theology of polytheism. But monotheism insists that the other gods to whom worship is offered are not merely inferior in power or stature; rather, they are false, according to the Hebrew Bible, or even demonic, according to the Christian Bible.

"For though there be gods many and lords many," explains Paul, "but to us there is but one God."

The point is made plain in a phrase that is found in the scriptures of both Christianity and Judaism. The god of monotheism is not only "the living God," not only "the everlasting King," as the prophet Jeremiah puts it, but "the True God." The apostle John is even more plainspoken - the god of monotheism is "the Only True God." By contrast, all of the gods, goddesses and godlings of paganism are "no-gods," in the words of Jeremiah,14 or even worse, "devils," according to the apostle Paul. To worship the wrong god, according to the value system of biblical monotheism, is not only a sin but a crime, and a crime that is punishable by death.

Monotheism, for example, cruelly punishes the sin of "heresy," but polytheism does not recognize it as a sin at all. Significantly, "heresy" is derived from the Greek word for "choice," and the fundamental theology of polytheism honors the worshipper's freedom to choose among the many gods and goddesses who are believed to exist. Monotheism, by contrast, regards freedom of choice as nothing more than an opportunity for error, and the fundamental theology of monotheism as we find it in the Bible threatens divine punishment for any worshipper who makes the wrong choice. Against the open-mindedness of the pagan Symmachus, who allows that there are many roads to enlightenment and salvation, Bishop Fulgentius (468-533) insists that only a single narrow path leads to the Only True God.

"Of this you can be certain and convinced beyond all doubt," declares Fulgentius, "not only all pagans, but also all Jews, all heretics and schismatics will go into the everlasting fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels."

Here is the flash point of the war of God against the gods. The deity who is worshipped in Judaism, Christianity and Islam is described in the Bible as a "jealous" and "wrathful" god, and he is believed to regard the worship of any god other than himself as an "abomination." The deities who populate the crowded pantheon of classical paganism, by contrast, were believed to be capable of thoroughly human emotions, including envy and anger, but they were never shown to deny one another's existence or demand the death of someone who worshipped a rival god or goddess.

"The pagan gods, even the gods of mysteries are not jealous of one another," explains historian and anthropologist Walter Burkert. " 'Envy stands outside the divine chorus,' as the famous saying of Plato's puts it."

The polytheist can live in harmony with the monotheist: "[M]any pagans could still extend to the new worship," writes historian Robin Lane Fox, "a tolerance which its exclusivity refused to extend to them." Pagan Rome offered the ultimate gesture of respect to the Jews and Christians by adding the God of Israel to the pantheon of gods and goddesses, where he was called Iao and offered worship along with Apollo and Zeus, Isis and Mithra. "If the Supreme God was unknowable, who was to say which one of the many cults of different peoples was right or wrong?" explains Fox. "At its heart, therefore, pagan theology could extend a peaceful coexistence to any worship which, in turn, was willing." But the pagans who did so, of course, missed the whole point of monotheism, and the Jews and Christians refused to reciprocate.

Indeed, the monotheists condemned not only the rude and crude deities of the "barbarians" but even the elegant and refined deities of the Greco-Roman pantheon who were so richly embroidered into the fabric of classical civilization and high culture. A sixth-century Christian militant called Martin of Braga, for example, describes the most revered gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome as demons who had been cast out of heaven along with Satan and now tricked the benighted pagans into offering them worship.

"So one said he was Jove, who was a magician and so incestuous in his many adulteries that he had his sister as his wife, who was called Juno [and] corrupted his daughters, Minerva and Venus," insists Martin of Braga. "Another demon called himself Mars, who was a perpetrator of strife and discord. Then another chose to call himself Mercury, who was the wretched inventor of all theft and fraud. Another demon took the name of Saturn, who, basking in cruelty, even devoured his sons at birth. Another demon feigned to be Venus, who was a whore. She did not only whore with innumerable adulterers but even with her father Jove and her brother Mars."

For true believers like Martin of Braga, then, the tales that are told in the pages of Homer are not merely charming myths, and the pagan gods are not merely "no-gods" - rather, they are all the work of the Devil. Indeed, the monotheists of late antiquity were convinced that they lived in a world populated with evil spirits, and they relied on amulets and charms, prayers and exorcisms, to keep the Devil and his minions at bay. A vigilant Christian who passed a pagan shrine in town or country, for example, would hiss out loud and make the sign of the cross to scare off the unseen demons that he or she believed to linger there. "The air between heaven and earth is so crammed with spirits, never quiet or finding rest," writes the Christian sermonizer John Cassian in the fifth century, "that it is fortunate for men that they are not permitted to see them."

Thus the militant monotheist condemns polytheism in general as an "abomination," in the words of the Hebrew Bible, and pagan Rome in particular as the "mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth," according to the Christian Bible. Precisely because the monotheist regards the polytheist with such fear and loathing, peaceful coexistence between the two theologies is possible only from the pagan's point of view and never for the true believer in the Only True God.

© 2005 Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam, used by permission.

About the Author

Jonathan Kirsch is a book columnist for the Los Angeles Times and author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed King David, Moses, The Harlot by the Side of the Road, and The Woman Who Laughed at God. He lectures and consults widely on biblical, literary, and legal topics and is a past president of PEN Center USA West.