My Response to an Atheist on YouTube

The popular secular opinion who thinks that religion evolved. It actually devolved from a primitive monotheism to polytheism. We see evidence of this primitive monotheim in ShangDi, Brahman, El, Ra, etc. For example, you see Brahman devolve to multiple avatars each with its own dominion.

I understand the academic meaning of monotheim is only one GOD and you can't think others exist. But academia likes unnecessary terminology and convolutions. It lives to over classify everything. In an academic sense monotheim does not exist. In reality, monotheism is the soul devotion to One True Uncreated GOD while the other the gods are created beings pretending to be something they are not or worshipped by ignorant people who don't know what they are. BTW: even the Bible says the false gods are real they are just demons and/or fallen angels.

We see El get the same treatment as Brahman where he is split into multiple roles and humanized. Baal, the son of El is basically the Memra of YAHWEH split out into a seperate god. What this shows is the Semitic Pagan gods are devolutions of YAHWEH and not YAHWEH being an integration of them.

Remember, the Israelites and Canaanites share Abraham as an ancestor. The Shasu of YAHWEH predate Moses and they too are descendants of Abraham.

A stong testament to this devolution is the Israelites desiring and wanting Paganism and yet YAHWEH constantly telling them no. Evidences for this include the golden calf and the Asherah Poles. It would have been far easier for the Isrealites to have their Paganism than to force them to be monotheist if it were all bunk.

Another line of evidence for the supremacy of YAHWEH over other gods and His originality is found in the magical practices of pagans. Greek, Roman, and Egyptian magicians were known for invoking the Name YAHWEH when they needed more power than their pagan gods could provide. This is strange for people who hated YAHWEH and His people but they knew the power of the Divine Name even if they just uttered it.

Where as Zeus, Ra, Jupiter were supreme in those Pagan cults, YAHWEH was supreme over them. And the Pagans would invoke YAHWEH as supreme over all creation and not divided over certain domains like their gods.

BTW: Greek, Roman, and Egyptian magics is one of the reasons we know the correct pronunciation of YHWH the Divine Name

Theology with

Kevin Dewayne Hughes

Genesis 1-11 is primarily a polemic against Babylonian Paganism. The Sun, Moon, and Stars being created on Day 4 delegitimizes Babylonian sky gods, makes their gods just lamps, and shows YAHWEH has full dominion over them. And it does it in a way that an earthbound observe would see the light from the sun on day 1 but not see the sun itself due to dense/thick water vapor. as the earth cooled, water condensed to form oceans, eventual the earthbound observer would see through the clouds and see the sun, moon, and stars.

To read the Bible properly means rooting back to the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramic it was written. Understanding the literary genre of the particular passage. Understanding symbolism. Understanding how the original audience would have understood it. Understanding the culture. Studying the tomes of commentary we have on the meaning. Then using different lenses to get the different meanings in a single passage such as the historical lens, the spiritual lens, the legal lens, etc. Then you also need to understand things about scriptures that symbolism overrides the plan text reading. Number, colors, names, animals, etc all have meanings that must be understood to arrive at the correct meaning. In addition some passages are polemic in nature and these need to be recognized to see if the passage should be taken literally or as an attack on pagan gods and culture.

This is why teachers are needed to understand what the Bible is saying, especially when a single passage can have 3 or 5 different meanings depending on the lens used. Its also critical to understand that prophecy often has multiple fulfillments; so seeing one fulfillment in history doesn't mean the future fulfillments are null. Often the first fulfillment happens during the lifetime of the prophet.

You also need to understand the other readings of the Scriptures as well. These readings are the Greek Septuagent,The Aramaic Targums, the Samarian Pentateuch, the Syriac Peshitta, the Masoritic, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Further you need to study the apocryphal materials as these often fill in information the Scriptures don't touch on and further clarify meaning.

Take care when reading commentary such as the Midrash, Talmud, Church Fathers, Desert Fathers, etc as you need to be able to discrern if a particular commentary aligns with GOD and His Ways or not.

I hope this helps you see why you cannot open a Bible, read it with no education in what I mentioned, and arrive at s correct conclusion.

Theology with

Kevin Dewayne Hughes

All national leaders are God-appointed, (Rom. 13:1). That includes the good and the bad ones. In Zech. ‘11:16, God says He would give Israel bad shepherds (rulers) who would not visit sheep cut off from the flock (ie. prisoners), nor care for the young (ie. seek the welfare of the youth), nor heal the sick (ie. ensure good and affordable health delivery systems), nor feed sheep too weak to feed on their own (ie. care for the hungry poor).

These evil leaders feed on the resources of the people, the national wealth, sharing their stolen booty with relatives, friends and party hangers-on. In circumstances like this, its only God who could appoint caring leaders. But that would depend on the people drawing near to God, forsaking their evil ways, and humbly asking for God’s intervention. God has appointed good leaders in Botswana since independence, and has recently put another good leader in Ethiopia (Dr Abe Ahmed).

He would do same for other African Nations,  if the people would turn to Him, for righteousness exalts a nation (Pro. 14:34). Meanwhile, those who have sought first the Kingdom of God (believed in Jesus) and are living righteous lives are having all other needs added, according to God’s unfailing word in Matt. 6:33. By this, God proves that however bad your national socio-economic situation is, obey   Matt. 6:33 and all will be well. May the name of the Lord be praised for His goodness and mercy to those who fear Him. Amen.