"It's true, all of it."

 

The title of this blog article is "It's true, all of it," which comes from Star Wars Episode VII, as spoken by Han Solo in reference to the Force and the Jedi. Well, there is another thing that's is true, and all of it, but it may leave many Christians unnerved, because it will seem as if I am saying something unchristian.

Recently, I have observed on Tiktok, many deconstructing Christians and/or atheists noting how Christianity and Judaism had/has largely borrowed from other Near East pagan constructs, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh for the Noah's flood story. Some may also say that Christianity "culturally appropriated" certain European pagan elements. Yet, Christians often fight back in defense of strict monotheism over what many Christians might perceive imagined pantheons of pagan gods.

Were there really pagan gods? Are there really pagan gods?

The answer is, "It's true, all of it."  

Modern Christians have a fairly rigid view of Judaeo-Christianity as being strictly monotheistic or having the belief in only one deity. This is true to an extent. It is true that Christians believe in one God who created everything, but this does not discount other gods (small "g"). 

Throughout Scripture, the Bible uses phrases referring to small "g" gods, angelic hosts, and the Divine Council. While many moderns might see pagan deities as non-existent things that were worshiped through hollow idols, the Bible and extra-biblical literature from the era make it apparent that the other gods existed, though they were not the Creator. These gods functioned in a semi-divine fashion as either agents of God or the fallen demons. These angelic classes held the roles of regency on the earth and in the heavens -- embodying the elements of creation symbolically, and they were often believed to oversee different regions or nations. Their divine authority derived from the Almighty God -- the Maker of the heavens and earth. They were not to be worshiped, though they were to be respected (except the fallen ones who deceived, of course).

So then, Jews and early Christians believed these entities to exist and so could not be classified not as strict monotheists, but rather as henotheists (worshiping one god among many) and/or they were practitioners of monolatry (worshiping a regional or national deity... See the book of Jonah). Despite this, they believed in ONE supreme overarching God. The fact that localism and plurality existed in the ancient world shows that other gods were seen as regents of God who had fallen and taken on worship themselves.

Jews and Christians did not abscond with pagan elements or borrow from pagan deities in order to dismiss their existence or simply replace one faith with another. Rather the Almighty God was reclaiming his turf. Jews and Christians acknowledged paganism and its pantheons. Jews and Christians were after all products of that time and had a shared cultural matrix. Only Jews and Christians placed a different perspective of things in order to clarify the appropriate understanding of ancient gods.