Hi, introduction and (if I may)a question that bugs me

[TheAnyKey]

Hi,

I'm new here, I'm from Germany and I came here through google, because a question I asked on yahoo answers got flagged and deleted. So I was hoping I could ask that question in an atheist forum, where I might find a little more lenience when it comes to questions critical of religion. Even though I don't think that particular question is critical, it just is about Christian doctrine/scripture.

So much for the introduction, I hope you don't mind if I now put my question in here, as I asked it on yahoo answers, it looks like I'm not allowed to post in the Religion sub-forum yet:

question reposted in religion area:  http://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=8134.0


Thanks a lot guys, I'm glad I to be here.


Please don't be too harsh on me because of grammatical or spelling errors or because my questions seem silly or outright stupid. English is not my first language and I'm frankly not the sharpest tool in the proverbial shed.

[Whitney]

welcome to HAF...there is a reason why you can't post in the religion area yet, we want people to get to know each other before debating. 

I'm going to copy your question and repost it over in that section.

[Tank]

Hi TheAnyKey

Welcome to HAF.

Regards
Chris

[Sweetdeath]

Hey there!  Welcome! *heads to religious section*

[Stevil]

Just 9 more posts and then you can participate in your own thread,
Go on, say hi to a few new commers

[OldGit]

Hi, TheAnyKey and welcome to the forum.  Don't worry about your English, it's excellent.  I mentioned Martin Luther's Du sollst keine andern Götter haben vor mir in your question thread - mir scheint, vor ist in diesem Zusammenhang genauso rätselhaft wie before.  What do you think?

[TheAnyKey]

Hi, TheAnyKey and welcome to the forum.  Don't worry about your English, it's excellent.  I mentioned Martin Luther's Du sollst keine andern Götter haben vor mir in your question thread - mir scheint, vor ist in diesem Zusammenhang genauso rätselhaft wie before.  What do you think?

I asked about the Luther quote in a German Forum, there seems to be a lot of confusion about it. In a more recent translation of the ten commandments it is translated as "Du sollst neben mir keine anderen Götter haben. "Neben" meaning "besides" or "in addition to" but also "next to". But that still does not quite explain whether there are other real gods according to the bible, and you are only allowed to worship one or if they mean you are not allowed to worship false gods, idols, like money, possessions or the golden calf, I suppose it is in the bible.

Wikipedia says: "Monotheism (from Greek μόνος, monos, "single", and θεός, theos, "god") is the belief in the existence of one god..." If that is true then there only exists one god resp. there is believed to be only a single god in monotheistic religions. That would pretty much answer my question, but as a former professor of mine once said, Wikipedia is not a scientific source and may not be quoted for assignments.

I really feel undereducated to even take part in that discussion and I probably missed the whole point.

[OldGit]

I really feel undereducated to even take part in that discussion and I probably missed the whole point.

You're doing pretty well so far! 

[TheAnyKey]

Any idea on my second, terminological question?

Also what's the difference between scripture(which the bible is, I suppose) and doctrine? I suppose doctrine is the teaching derived from scripture and depends on whatever interpretation of the scripture a particular denomination of e.g. Christianity uses. Is that somewhat correct?

[Lecter]

Wilkommen TheAnyKey

I'm not Christian but I'll try to answer your question in your other thread.