Well.
There are older religions than Judaism. There are Egyptian cults that go back to 3000 B.C. and Sumerian ones that go back even further.
( Moon Girl Technologies don't take my word for anything, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:19, archived)

so there ya go, more established gods than the christian one, sounds like a compelling argument to me

(Cabbages. Knickers. It's not got a beak, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:20, archived)

are we just going to say all those people were wrong and their gods didn't exist?

(Cabbages. Knickers. It's not got a beak, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:21, archived)

The development of these things is very complex,
but "didn't exist" would be an oversimplification. You might say that lightning isn't really a god, but you would hardly say it didn't exist. Or the sun or the wind or whatever. They were usually real things, concrete or abstract.

The difference with the God of Abraham is that He's not a "specialist", as it were. He's the Universal God of Everything. Not that this was a new idea even in Abraham's day. It's generally the layman who didn't get it and would rather worship animals and statues and whatnot.
( Moon Girl Technologies don't take my word for anything, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:30, archived)

so he's like Allah then?
no wait, are we saying there's only one god and he's Allah and old beardy skywizard rolled into one?

or are we saying that the ancient Greek, Sumerian and Egyptian lot were equally valid choices? I'm confused here
(Cabbages. Knickers. It's not got a beak, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:31, archived)

Allah and Yahweh are quite explicitly the same God.
Muslims even have a place for Jesus in their eschatology.
( Moon Girl Technologies don't take my word for anything, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:33, archived)

k, and how about those other god guys, Ra and Imhotep and all those dudes with dog heads and wings and shit?

(Cabbages. Knickers. It's not got a beak, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:35, archived)

Imhotep was the architect to the Pharaoh who designed the pyramids
Ra was the sun.
( Moon Girl Technologies don't take my word for anything, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:38, archived)

well that's even better, he's a god AND you get to see him move across the sky every day
can't ask for more than that
(Cabbages. Knickers. It's not got a beak, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:40, archived)

he was very popular,
Ptah is more my kind of deity though.
( Moon Girl Technologies don't take my word for anything, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:41, archived)

hang on, so you're a muslim?

(Cabbages. Knickers. It's not got a beak, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:40, archived)

well I might be, I guess,
so far you seem to have assumed that believing in God equals American Evangelicalism.

I'm not, except in the literal meaning of the word, "one at peace with God". Or something like that. Same root as Shalom.
( Moon Girl Technologies don't take my word for anything, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:44, archived)

yes but which god?

(Cabbages. Knickers. It's not got a beak, Wed 23 May 2012, 18:52, archived)

the one with the capital G

( Moon Girl Technologies don't take my word for anything, Wed 23 May 2012, 19:19, archived)