Your guess is as good as mine. I haven't got the faintest idea. Other than being an object of worship, I can't even tell you what a "god" is.

Christianity will leap in here and state quite adamantly that there is only one God. After a bit of discussion they might later amend that statement to something like - "There is only one true God" but the truth of the matter is - they don't really know either, they just like to make it sound as if they do. There was a time when I would have done likewise, but I have learned a bit more since then.

One of the main problems that we have with the present day Bible is a result of many years refinement and changes. Both the world of Judaism and the world of Christianity have had a long time to study and implement those changes and to turn the Bible into a format which suits them and their intentions better, and they have been busy, busy bees.

I once remember a Christian many years ago telling me that the KGV of the Bible was just about the most accurate book that you could read because King James got together the best scholars of the time and they started from the very beginning and translated it word for word as accurately as possible.

Well all that I can say is - it is either just a piece of blatant propaganda or those scholars obviously weren't up to much.

In an earlier section, I did say -

If it was Jehovah who had asked - "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand?" Isaiah 1:11 everybody could have stood up and shouted out - "YOU DID". because according to the Bible it was the same God who demanded it in the first place. So you see it doesn't make sense that the God who demanded it in the first place should then later on in history asked who required it, does it? And I did say that it was another matter which we would look at later, so let us take a look.

There are many things in the Bible which just do not add up. The Bible is full of discrepancies and contradictions. I think that most of them have been brought about by the interpretations and changes which have deliberately been made.

Whilst it does not make sense that the same god should both command all sorts of sacrifices to be made and then to later ask - who asked this of you? it does make sense if the two statements were actually attributed to two different deities.

The problem that we face today has largely been constructed and most certainly been perpetuated by and because the leaders of the Christian Church and their desire in the first place to grow large and powerful, and in these days to retain their power and authority.

I do not think for one second that they are in the least bit interested in truth. They are not in the least bit interested in fact, or in actuality. They avoid and cover up such things as fast they can in order to remain intact in a position of power and authority. They do not care how much they pull the wool over the eyes of their converts. And in the past neither were they bothered how much blood they shed in killing those who opposed them. The leopard has not changed its spots. They are still in the business of remaining in power and controlling the masses and relieving them of their dosh. Luckily it was and is a very difficult thing to destroy and hide history

Christianity claims that it is a monotheistic religion. It believes in one God. Other religions are not too bothered about declaring a belief in a multiplicity of gods (I think that I am correct in saying that the Hindu religion accepts the worship of millions of different gods), but not so Christianity. For them there is only one God, the same God of the Old Testament that led Israel through the wilderness, the very same, the one and only Jehovah.

Well, you have got a problem, because if there is one thing that you cannot do is claim that the people which made up Biblical Judaism were ever Monotheistic. You don't have to be a Hebrew scholar to work it out, just the ability to read will do. And all that you have to do is read the accounts as they are presented to you in the Bible.

In the King James Version of the Old Testament the word "God" is presented to us a lot of times. I have just had a very quick look and the approximate results are as follows. Please note that these figures are approximate! I just can't be bothered to count them all over and over again to make sure that the figure is absolutely correct.

El - Mighty one - Translated as "God" at least 225 times

elah - an object of worship - translated as "god" at least 89 times

Elohim - god, gods, objects of worship - translated as "god" at least 2200 times

Jehovah translated as "god" at least 296 times

eloah - objects of worship translated as "god" at least 57 times

And there are others but these are the main ones.

Unfortunately to add even more confusion to an already confused situation the word "Lord" which is interpreted from the word Adonai and means "He who is" and is usually derived from the word Yahweh occurs so many times that I would hate to count them, certainly numbering the many many thousands.

El, we have met before. He was the main father god of the Canaanites. He was the chief God, the head God, top dog. The plural of El - Elohim which means god, gods, or objects of worship is present at least 2200 times but in every case it is presented to us in the singular form "God" even though it is in so many places so evidently out of place, such as "And God said let US make man in OUR image".

So, our first major problem is not knowing whether the original text should be understood to mean "God" singular or "the Gods" plural.

And I am sorry to have to say it but to add even more confusion to this already terribly tangled mess we have got several more major problems.

Many writers and teachers within Christianity will certainly not agree but many scholars are in some sort of agreement that the Old Testament, in particular the Pentateuch was compiled over a span of 1,000 years, beginning from about 900 B.C. The Hebrew Scriptures were put into their present form over many generations.

What I believe happened is this -

From their very beginnings and right through their history up until very late on, the race of people called the Hebrews were not monotheistic. They did not worship Jehovah as the one and only true God. They worshiped an assortment of gods, goddesses and deities. Jehovah was just one of the deities that they believed in and prayed to. The evidence is clear that the main top four gods that they worshipped were El, Jehovah, Ashtoreth and Baal, although not necessarily in that order of importance. They did build idols and plenty of them! And worshipped them as well!

The Old Testament is a continual stream of information concerning this, and to suggest as many do that these are merely temporary blips when a few of the people wandered off is to totally ignore the facts. We are continually assaulted throughout the whole of the Old testament with the history of a continual and incessant worship of different gods.

The Old Testament contains an almost continual stream of information, and I have absolutely no intention of listing them here. Go and read it for yourself and do your own homework. You will find numerous instances such as -

"And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree. And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 2 Kings 17:10 - 18

Throughout their history there was a continual battle among the priests of the various gods for supremacy among the people.

Again, I am not going to list them all, but here are a few examples

"And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 1 Kings 16:31 - 32

"And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only." 1 Samuel 7:3 - 4

"And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease. But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?" 2 Kings 1:2 - 3

"And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to another. And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments.

And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the LORD, but the worshippers of Baal only. And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him.

And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal. And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them. And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day. Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. 2 Kings 10:21 - 28

"And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile." 2 Kings 23:13

"For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites." 1 Kings 11:5

"And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. Judges 2:11

For goodness sake do you not get the picture? They were NOT monotheistic. They built altars to, sacrificed to and worshipped just about every god that there was going. There was nothing monotheistic about them.

A state of virtual war existed constantly between the priests of the various sects and cults, and depending upon the actual time of the history itself there could have been more than one. The backbiting, the slaughters and the continual fighting between the priests and followers of the different factions was an ongoing thing, a bit like it is today among many Christian sects. We are being constantly made aware of the hatred and animosity between factions of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism in certain parts of the world right now and they are both supposed to worship the same God. Not to mention the sheer animosity amongst and utter killing hatred between Christians and Moslems in many parts of the world. Well, things haven't changed much because it was no different throughout the history of Israel. The priests of the various factions were in a constant state of conflict for supremacy.

From my reading and study of it, according to the Bible, the dominance of the god Jehovah as the main god of Israel did not take place until around the time of the reign of Josiah (640 - 609 BC). It was then, that Josiah managed to win the supremacy battle and install Jehovah into the pole position as the God to be worshipped. The account of how it happened can be read in 2 Kings chapter 23.

According to the Bible, the story goes that the High Priest, a guy named Hilkiah was rooting about for some money in the temple and found what is referred to as "the book of the law" among the dust and he gave it to a scribe called Shaphan to read. He in turn passed it on to the king who was quite horrified to realize how the laws of Jehovah had been forgotten and began again to implement them and tear down all other forms of worship to all other gods.

This may indeed have happened, on the other hand it may not, and I seriously do doubt it. The priests of Jehovah were as much of a sect as all of the other sects, but it was an astute move to bring the attention of this "book of the law" whatever that may have been, to the kings attention.

The story continues that the king, on learning all about the law became all inflamed with passion for Jehovah and forthwith went out and tore down all of the groves and idols in the temple that had been erected to any other god.

I deeply suspect that what actually happened here was that the priests of Jehovah, somewhat sick of getting their backsides kicked by the priests of the other gods and losing the fight for supremacy very cleverly manipulated the situation to make of King Josiah an ally for their cause and to get him and the power behind the throne to kick the other priests backsides for a change. And it worked.

My own belief (and I am not alone) is that it was then, in the time of Josiah, that the first 5 books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) were backwardly compiled. By this I mean that the mainly oral traditions were laid out, written down, transcribed and history was written.

As I see it (and again, I am not alone) it was at this time, whilst these books were being written that the history itself was rewritten to give the impression that Jehovah had always more or less been in pole position.

This event was primarily designed to rewrite their history and give the people a background which they could believe in. These books were cleverly compiled to continually show that whilst their fathers and the generations before had occasionally slipped into idolatry, Jehovah had always been THE ONE TRUE GOD. It also undermined the facts concerning the Israelite history of pagan polytheism and their worship of other gods in the mind of the future generations.

In other words - rewrite history. Compile the necessary books to instruct and teach the children with, and instruct them that there really was only one God called Jehovah, teach them that he was the historical god of their fathers, ascribe to him all manner of wonderful deeds, and in one generation you have created a Jehovah worshipping universal tribe of people who will stand together. Jehovah is installed, and the people stop squabbling about which God they should worship, the fighting between them stops, and a powerful people who think as one begin to emerge.

Now, as many Christians will just be going "pphhhffff" at this suggestion, let us temporarily ignore their spitting upon the suggestion and see how the Priests of Jehovah in the time of Josiah accomplished it.

Firstly it must be understood that the average man could not read, or at very best they could read very poorly. The reading and writing was left up to the more educated Scribes, The majority relied upon the oral tradition. So the stages to accomplish are these -

1. When you compile your history books you make sure that you remove as many references as possible to the instructions, commandments of any of the other gods. So that when the oral tradition is repeated in the future your priests can whip out the scrolls and say - "no that is not correct, my friend, Jehovah said this, look it is written here".

2. Whilst you are rewriting this history replace every single instance where any of the multiple gods was supposed to have said something and ascribe it to the one god Jehovah.

3. To further your end rewrite the scriptures and simply use the word "God", or better still "Lord" (Adonai) wherever the different gods names appeared in the oral tradition.

And thus you hide a multitude of problems. It is true that you create quite a few problems as well, especially for those who come a few thousand years later and try to sort it all out, but the problems that you create are well worth the mess because you are consolidating you god as No 1 and that is the only thing that matters.

Am I just a cynic? I don't think so.

So the question is what has Christianity inherited? It has inherited a right old mess. It has inherited a Bible, half of which is The Old Testament, where -

1. Every single time the word "El" occurs (Remember that El was the chief god of the Canaanites. He was the head god, the number 1) we now have the word "God".

2. Every single time the word "Jehovah" occurs we now have the word "God".

3. Every single time the word "Jah" (the shortened version of Jehovah) occurs we now have the word "God".

4. And on every single other occasion where the text is referring to a deity doing something, saying something or commanding something or even sneezing we now have the word "Lord", (Adonia).

That is what Christianity has inherited. So now they do not know who actually said what, to which of the deities it should be attributed, because it is all mish mashed up into a totally nonsensical load of garbage.

You now have "God" saying - sacrifice unto me all of these animals. And you also have "God" saying - What are you doing sacrificing all of these animals to me for, I am sick of them, who required you to do this?

You have "God" saying - Thou shalt not kill, and you have "God" saying - go and kill all of that lot over there.

You have "God" saying - Thou shalt not steal. And you have "God" saying - Go and kill that lot over there and when you have killed them all, steal everything that isn't nailed down.

You have "God" saying - sacrifice a lamb to me each morning and each evening, and a few thousand bullocks a year, and lets have ten thousand sheep, oh aye and don't forget the twelve million doves to pay for the sin of a woman having her period. And you have "God" through a prophet saying - "Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? MIC 6:6-8

It is an utter and absolute mess and a load of nonsense.

As it has been quite correctly commented on by many others before me - if you want to prove anything you can do it from the Bible. If you want justification to kill an adulterer, the Bible will give it to you. If you want to save an adulterer from being killed, the same Bible will justify your action. You can quite seriously find justification for murder, theft, genocide, and everything other crime against humanity in the Bible. You can also find as much justification for not doing these things. It is a crazy book full of inconsistencies and double-talk.

The problem is - we don't know which deity was supposed to have said what or to which deity the sayings should be associated and attributed. But one thing is for sure they didn't all come from the same deity, or if they did that deity was as barmy as a fruit cake.

Get real!

So there you are fast asleep in bed tonight and you are awakened and there at the foot of your bed, surrounded in a bright light is a "being" who is talking to you and telling you things. What is it? Who is it? How do you know? Do you call it an angel, a Seraphim, a Cherubim, God, or what? And if God, then which God. You tell me?

Likewise, when we read things that other prophets have uttered we have got to ask ourselves the same question.

I reject utterly and absolutely many things which are written in the Bible, and I accept others.

"Ahhaaaa," my Christian adversaries, leap in thinking that they have found a flaw that they can get profit out of. "you see, he even admits it. This man does not believe all of the Bible. He picks out the bits that he wants to pick out and argues against the bits that don't suit him."

Of course I admit it. In fact I will even repeat it for you - I reject utterly and absolutely many things which are written in the Bible, and I accept others. But in this I am in good company, for this was what Jesus did, and Paul as well, and my adversaries as well if they were honest about it.

The main difference between me and my Christian adversaries is that I am more honest than them because I do admit it. They do exactly the same and don't admit it.

And this is where each and every person must be fully convinced and follow the spirit which leads them.

You get a feeling about a writer the more that you read them. You get a feeling about the spirit that is leading them, etc. And if I read anything whether it is in the Bible or not which goes against the God that I know and the way that I am led, I reject it.

This is why I have little problem with people of other faiths and other beliefs. I would rather make a good friend and have discourse with a Witch who was sincere about their belief and striving to understand and to further their walk with their God that I would of ten thousand Christians who were mind-controlling chips off the Moses old block.

A few weeks ago a chap started e-mailing me on a point or two and after 2 or 3 e-mails finally gave it up as a bad job. His closing statement was - "There is obviously no point in carrying on, because I am not going to get anywhere. You just do not believe that the Bible is the word of God"

You are rootin tootin I don't believe the Bible is the word of God. You see, my God, the God that I worship, did not say - pick up your swords, your battle-axes, your bows and arrows and go over that there river and slaughter everybody including the men, the women, the pregnant woman, the children, the babies, their servants, and do not let a single solitary one of them live. And when you have slaughtered them all, rob them of everything that they owned and take it for yourselves. No, my god did not say that, but according to the Bible the god of the Bible did. My god did not say, go and get all of the prostitutes, the adulterers, the witches etc and stone them to death. But according to my Bible the god of the Bible did.

So hey, instead of pointing the finger at me and saying - phhhfff, you don't need to take any notice of him, he doesn't believe that the Bible is the word of God, ask yourself if you believe that it is.

Christianity, which sprang up from the roots of Judaism, has endeavored, indeed been utterly hell bent on making its followers believe that Judaism from which it originates is and always was a follower and believer in one God - monotheistic. Christianity claims to only believe in one God, so it suits their purpose to claim that the religion from which it sprang - Judaism believed in only one God also.

This is utter nonsense, and far from the actual truth. Throughout its history Judaism believed in and worshipped the several Gods mentioned above in particular.

The writings of the Old Testament are not the production of a monotheistic religion at all. Get it out of your head right now. Stop thinking it, and stop trying to interpret the Old Testament as if it was and is so. It is totally incorrect, and a very clever and subtle cover up. For the most part Judaism was not a monotheistic religion.

The subtle changing of the plurality of the word Elohim (Gods) to the singular word God could not have better suited Christianity's purpose. I repeat, on every single occasion where the word Elohim which should be interpreted god's (plural) occurred, they changed it to God (singular).

Do not just brush this fact aside as if it was of no real importance. It is of staggering importance. Because if Judaism was not a monotheistic religion, (and it wasn't), then the boundary of the whole playing field changes.

The instructions or complaints orally given by the prophet at the time depended very much upon which God they were worshipping at the time and from whom they believed their instruction came from.

Now you may begin to understand why different texts conflict and argue against each other. This may well be the reason why in one text a command to sacrifice all manner of things is opposed in another place by another text which claims that God had no interest in such sacrifices and never required them at man's hand in the first place.

We are not being shown that the deity changed their mind, but possibly we are looking at two different sets of instructions from two different deities.

The question now, of course, is - which god is the God of the New Testament, who was the God of Jesus? (the Father) Who was the God of Paul and Peter and John. Did they have it sorted out in their head? Are their writings a mish mash of old and new? Are they trying to change Gods, and yet because of human nature, still retaining a lot of the old teaching?

What about Jesus Himself? If he did die for sin, then who did he die to appease?

Did He die to redeem Israel from their sins because the God that he refers to as "Father" required a blood sacrifice to appease him, or did He die to redeem them from the stranglehold that Jehovah and the priests of Jehovah had over them?

Did He die because the "Father" demanded and required a blood sacrifice to be made, or did He die to free those who were in bondage to the wild blood loving god Jehovah. Did the "Father" that he referred to actually need a blood sacrifice, or was it the people who needed to see that a blood sacrifice had been given so that they could be set free from the bondage and slavery that they were under to Jehovah's laws and regulations?

Which ever way it goes it sticks out like a sore thumb that He wasn't flavour of the month with The Jews of 2000 years ago who were the Priests and adherents of Jehovah's laws and teachings.

On every occasion possible he argued with them, he withstood them, he called them some very nasty names, they tried to stone him, they tried to trick him with some very subtle questions, and he in turn did all that he could to turn their religion upside down, inside out and on its head, and in the end they managed to get rid of him.

If you are an active Christian then you will have a Bible. You will have no doubt read many portions of the New Testament. You may also have a Biblical concordance. Do you not find it interesting or odd that nowhere in the New Testament is the name of Jehovah mentioned? Not once, not on one solitary occasion is the name even hinted at. Hmmmm, now there's food for thought. Go to it and search because you won't find it anywhere.

Now, I find that a wee bit surprising given that the New Testament is supposed to be an enlightened unveiling of things that were hidden for so long in the Old Testament.

Jesus continually refers to His God as "Father". He tells us to pray - "Our Father". The hymn writer may well have written "Guide me oh, thou great Jehovah", but Jesus didn't. Father, Father Father, all the time we have "Father", and not a "Jehovah" in sight.

As I said before - the nightmare of discrepancies and the fact that nobody actually knows who actually said what, or to which of the deities it should be attributed to, because it is all mish mashed up into a totally nonsensical load of garbage is what Christianity has inherited. The thing that disturbs me most of all is that they don't seem to care! In fact they bend over backwards and strain everybody's incredulity to the point of breaking by trying to keep a straight face.

What about all of the errors?

Go away son of Satan, you are just here to tempt us to doubt.

But what about all of the inconsistencies?

Go away spawn of the devil, you are just here to tempt us to doubt.

In fact the putting together of the book which Christians are happy to call the Word of God, the Bible was an even greater farce, so let us take a look at that.

And for those of you who would like to see an instance where today the church is still refining and making changes to the Bible to suit their own purposes - click here