Are pagan gods literally demons?

[recessive redundancy]

I have a sense that there is a rise in neo-paganism among young people. I recently had a young co-worker around her late teens who worshipped Apollo, the ancient Greek god. I also have a PSR student in 4th grade who told me recently that her friend follows the ancient Egyptian gods.

Now, I told this little girl that the First Commandment which talks about “having no strange gods before me” is about not worshipping these false gods. They aren’t real, while Jesus Christ is the true God. I encouraged her to introduce her friend to Jesus and the Catholic Church.

Part of me worries that I was not strong enough in light of Scripture, merely saying that these gods are not real.

Now, one thing that I have emphasized to my students in discussing the First Commandment is the danger of the occult. One boy in my class told me that his friend plays with Ouija boards, and he was familiar with how they work. I didn’t mention this in my class, but a few years ago, I had a co-worker in her late 20’s who started doing witchcraft in the 4th grade, and said that the spell she tried at that age actually worked. Today, she knows a wizard whose involvement in the occult has taken a great toll on his body. As far as I know, she is still involved in occult practices.

I told the kids that engaging in these practices is not only a mortal sin, but opens our lives up to the influence of demons. But, I emphasize, God is more powerful than them, so if we live a holy life, we have nothing to be afraid of.

Now, Psalm 96 in the Douay-Rheims translates verse 5 as (95 in the Vulgate translations like the Douay) “the gods of the gentiles are devils” - although my more modern RSV-CE translation says “idols”, and St. Paul says in the RSV-CE translation in 1 Corinthians 10:20, “what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.”

Is this literally true? Are pagan gods actually demons, or are they merely non-existent? I know that other passages say that idols are empty, for instance. I’m a little worried that in my answer to the young girl, I was not faithful to the Word of God, and did not sufficiently emphasize the danger of what her friend does.

[Ruth]

I have a sense that there is a rise in neo-paganism among young people. I recently had a young co-worker around her late teens who worshipped Apollo, the ancient Greek god. I also have a PSR student in 4th grade who told me recently that her friend follows the ancient Egyptian gods.

Now, I told this little girl that the First Commandment which talks about “having no strange gods before me” is about not worshipping these false gods. They aren’t real, while Jesus Christ is the true God. I encouraged her to introduce her friend to Jesus and the Catholic Church.

Part of me worries that I was not strong enough in light of Scripture, merely saying that these gods are not real.

Now, one thing that I have emphasized to my students in discussing the First Commandment is the danger of the occult. One boy in my class told me that his friend plays with Ouija boards, and he was familiar with how they work. I didn’t mention this in my class, but a few years ago, I had a co-worker in her late 20’s who started doing witchcraft in the 4th grade, and said that the spell she tried at that age actually worked. Today, she knows a wizard whose involvement in the occult has taken a great toll on his body. As far as I know, she is still involved in occult practices.

I told the kids that engaging in these practices is not only a mortal sin, but opens our lives up to the influence of demons. But, I emphasize, God is more powerful than them, so if we live a holy life, we have nothing to be afraid of.

Now, Psalm 96 in the Douay-Rheims translates verse 5 as (95 in the Vulgate translations like the Douay) “the gods of the gentiles are devils” - although my more modern RSV-CE translation says “idols”, and St. Paul says in the RSV-CE translation in 1 Corinthians 10:20, “what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.”

Is this literally true? Are pagan gods actually demons, or are they merely non-existent? I know that other passages say that idols are empty, for instance. I’m a little worried that in my answer to the young girl, I was not faithful to the Word of God, and did not sufficiently emphasize the danger of what her friend does.

Analyzing myths on gods and demigods from antiquity shows us that the these representations were reflections of humanity and not the other realm.
Pagan gods and demigods and titans were sexual, greedy, temperamental, violent and sometimes benevolent. Some were decent at times but most were mercurial and unreliable.
In other words, the pagan image of gods and demigods were an echo of human nature.

I think this is why Plato and Aristotle stand apart and are uniquely different thinkers. They were on to something more eternal which they could not find in the pagan religions or their era.

[CCF_Bob]

It can be argued that the pagan gods and the occult are entirely different. Bear in mind that the pagans, for the most part, worshipped them as God. At the same time, evil was recognized and worshipped at times. While many will think of the pagan gods as myth and fun, it opens the door for Satan to enter in. Your students should be strongly discouraged with these dangers. It is sinful.

[CCF_Carol]

I have a sense that there is a rise in neo-paganism among young people. I recently had a young co-worker around her late teens who worshipped Apollo, the ancient Greek god. I also have a PSR student in 4th grade who told me recently that her friend follows the ancient Egyptian gods.

Now, I told this little girl that the First Commandment which talks about “having no strange gods before me” is about not worshipping these false gods. They aren’t real, while Jesus Christ is the true God. I encouraged her to introduce her friend to Jesus and the Catholic Church.

Part of me worries that I was not strong enough in light of Scripture, merely saying that these gods are not real.

Now, one thing that I have emphasized to my students in discussing the First Commandment is the danger of the occult. One boy in my class told me that his friend plays with Ouija boards, and he was familiar with how they work. I didn’t mention this in my class, but a few years ago, I had a co-worker in her late 20’s who started doing witchcraft in the 4th grade, and said that the spell she tried at that age actually worked. Today, she knows a wizard whose involvement in the occult has taken a great toll on his body. As far as I know, she is still involved in occult practices.

I told the kids that engaging in these practices is not only a mortal sin, but opens our lives up to the influence of demons. But, I emphasize, God is more powerful than them, so if we live a holy life, we have nothing to be afraid of.

Now, Psalm 96 in the Douay-Rheims translates verse 5 as (95 in the Vulgate translations like the Douay) “the gods of the gentiles are devils” - although my more modern RSV-CE translation says “idols”, and St. Paul says in the RSV-CE translation in 1 Corinthians 10:20, “what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.”

Is this literally true? Are pagan gods actually demons, or are they merely non-existent? I know that other passages say that idols are empty, for instance. I’m a little worried that in my answer to the young girl, I was not faithful to the Word of God, and did not sufficiently emphasize the danger of what her friend does.

The Hebrew word in Ps 96:5 is 'eliyl, which means "of nought, worthless", and secondarily as a description of idols (and used there figuratively, as the tangible idol in Hebrew is pecel). The Hebrew for "demon" or "devil" (such as found in Dt 32:17) is shed. The DR version is reaching on that translation.

On the other hand, St Paul is implying that worship offered to anything other than the triune godhead -- especially when one knows of God -- is as if one is paying homage to the devil, for it is in opposition to God:

"No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. "

Paul is, however, referring to sacrilege committed by Christians who join in with sacrificial meals/rituals of pagans. And YES, those who engage in any type of idol worship in place of worshiping God may certainly be in a state of serious sin. Unfortunately, occult practices (including neo-paganism) is growing rapidly in today's society. I've also had young students come to class with books of spells, etc. (and have a daughter whose supposedly been embroiled in the occult for decades.) Some think it's "harmless", others use it as a rebellion against parental control, etc. And they don't consider the dangers to which it can lead them.

[Psalm51]

This is not to sound flippant (as it could because text communication is flat), but at the end of the day, does whether literally demons or not actually matter? I would say no. We know what they are not. They are not God. They lead to sin, so they either are not real and are demons, are not real but are impersonated by them and call themselves by their names, or they are "just" sins (of the world and evil; of the demonic). They are dangerous and, as Catholics, we do not invoke or mess with them. I would target the whole occult and break it down very quickly, explaining why we need none of them because our Heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is very real and He knows what we want and need. Also, real God will not deceive us, yet the occult path could cause us to believe the first lie that God would or could do such a thing, so that would be something to emphasize in a way which a child could understand. Bad. Dangerous. The spiritual effect on our state of Grace being akin to the physical effect of touching a hot stove or getting burned by a fire.

Saul going to the witch of Endor would be one such Scripture account they could be familiarized with, but should be noted to them that one does not have to do something as spiritually heinous as necromancy in order to be involved in the occult, so you are wise to err on the side of caution with this.

[LethalMouse]

"Pagan gods" are many things.

I saw something in a show the other day that is so apt. A Man was doing things in essence in memory of his fallen comrades. While fighting a friendly foe to the death, the friend and hero of the story spoke of their memory and what this man should actually do. He said a quote that is so perfect:

"You're turning them into evil spirits!"

See, the form of the men that the guy was living for, the values he was projecting in their name, his attempt to kill his would be friend, made these men something they were not.

What is a thing? Is the Muslim God our God? Even if He is? How about the Mormon version? The man from the multiverse they say he is?

To Jehovah's Witnesses Jesus is Saint Michael.

Are these not now different people? There becomes a time when due to the nature of earth and humanity, we'd become unable to reconcile the way we do currently. Imagine losing the language and history of Mormons and meeting them centuries from now, us not knowing them and them not knowing us. We say "Deus" lets say, and they say "God". We would not recognize their God nor Jesus, we would fully think them pure pagans.

Pagan gods...are:

God
Angels
Saints
Demons
Damned
Lies
Amalgamations

One interesting version of theory that exists is the linguistic travels of Esau. Esau became known as Edom. Edom had a people and the people dispersed over time.

Some say Odin = Edom. But Odin is not 1:1 Edom.

This is not hard to do, Mormon, JW, Muslim Jesus is not 1:1 Jesus neither.

Is Esau saint or Damned? Hard to know that one. But, look at the core of most pagans, they do not so truly in root worship mortals. Odin is in fact "mortal" in paganism. He is given to death, yet in the deepest reaches is always a creator.

I also note that if you had 4 parishes in a US county "St. Michael Catholic Church", "St. Joseph Catholic Church", "St. Rita Catholic Church", and "St. Stephen Catholic Church." And you met these people with no linguistic or historical knowledge, digging up artifacts, you'd believe that you found "pagans" who worshipped 4 different regional gods".

Now some, some pagans were quite clearly Satanist. Babylonians worshipped a created "god" who was against us serving the "gods" brought us "freedom" from the divine. Pretty clear why God did not like the Babylonians. Obvious.

Linguistics is hard, Melchiezedek was a high priest of God and an Assyrian. No scholar today generally can understand that, they will never dig up a artifact in Assyria that says "Here's God" as they would only find in Rome "Deus" in Arabia "Allah" and in Spain "Dios".

Pre-pagan-protestantism I'd lean that An, Atum, Shang-Di were examples of gods who were at some point actually God. When they went more and more protestant-Mormon equivalent, it's hard to tell.

We know that Nineveh had a mix of God and Pagan God's, as an Assyrian city-state that at some point respected God and listened to Jonah. We also see a period of religious hard change in the general time era many think Jonah took place. So some part of their linguistic pantheon was God and some was demonic.