Polytheism

Polytheism is the worldview that many finite gods exist in the world. There are differing versions of polytheism. In some forms, all the gods are more or less equal and each has a personal sphere or domain. In one of the forms, the gods form a hierarchy with a chief god, such as Zeus. This is called henotheism. In some forms, such as the Greek and Roman pantheons, the number of gods is limited.

Polytheism is a rejection of monotheism. GOD must be rejected before the multiple gods can be accepted. Polytheism works by seeking to absorb other religious ideas into itself. It remains the worship of multiple gods and goddesses. At one time polytheism reigned in Western culture, but when Greek culture collapsed, polytheism died and was replaced by monotheism. However, polytheism has since been resurrected due to religious pluralism and is now alive again today.

My Final Thoughts:

Polytheism reveals that humans have an innate knowledge that something greater than themselves exists. History tells us that even from long ago with the many gods of the Egyptians up to this current day when humans create superheroes and even claim that UFO beings or extraterrestrials exist, it is evident that humans tend to look beyond what is natural for evidence to explain their existence.

Although Polytheism calls attention to the desire to look beyond the natural, it also allows an irrationalism in which one may avoid a fully constructed view. This irrationalism allows moral relativity. However, Truth is absolute and we reside in a universe, not a polyverse.

If nature created the gods, then nature would be the ultimate. And if worship involves an ultimate commitment to an Ultimate, then nature, not the gods, should be worshiped. But from where did nature come? But this would be true regarding whatever was believed to have given birth to the gods or to have preceded them. If the gods are derivative beings, then they are not worthy of ultimate commitment. Why worship something that has no ultimate worth? Did humans create the gods? So should humans be worshiped? But from where did humans come? Nature? Again, from where did nature come?

Polytheistic gods must be within the universe and not beyond the universe. But the evidence is that the universe came into existence. If the universe is not eternal but came to exist from nothing, then the gods posited by polytheism would not be eternal; they would have come into existence. But if they came into existence, then they are not gods but creatures made by some eternal Cause (GOD). But if the gods of polytheism derive their existence from another, then this other is really the supreme GOD of monotheism. Thus, polytheism collapses into monotheism. Therefore, if the gods exist, they would ultimately be dependent on a Cause beyond them and beyond the universe. But this conclusion coincides with the claims of theism, not those of polytheism.

Conclusion:

Certainly the creature should bear some resemblance to the Creator. However, to apply human imperfections to deity renders the divine reality as less than worthy of respect and worship. The gods of polytheism appear to be made in human image with human characteristics, rather than humans being made in their image. This tends to give credence to the view that polytheism is a human invention or superstition rather than a depiction of what actually is. As a worldview, polytheism lacks rational and evidential support; furthermore, it does not account for either ultimate causality or ultimate unity, which is needed to explain a diverse, changing universe. Polytheism must be rejected as Truth and eliminated as a choice.

(My next argument is on Neopaganism…)