Do Mormons Believe in Multiple Gods? | 3 Mormons

My friend, Stephen Smoot, discussed the plurality of the Gods with 3 Mormons. The video has just been posted online:

One text that was mentioned in passing but did not get dealt with (time constraints and the casual setting of 3 Mormons and all that . . . ) was that of Exo 20:3, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Some critics have latched onto this verse as evidence against Latter-day Saint theology, as they argue, it is strictly monotheistic. However, this is a gross misreading of the passage.

The Hebrew translated as "before me" is the Hebrew phrase, על פני , which literally means “before my face.” In the Ancient Near East, the images of the gods of conquered people were placed into debir (back/western part) of the sanctuary/temple of the conquering people and faced the image of the chief God of the pantheon of the victors. What this verse is condemning is the forging, and placement of cultic images in the debir as well as forging a cultic image of Yahweh. That this is the case is seen from the proceeding verses:

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, or serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. (Exo 20:4-5)

(See my post on the issue of images and their veneration)

Furthermore, the majority of Old Testament scholars see in Exo 20:3 an implicit recognition of the real/ontological existence of other gods. According to Michael Coogan, this commandment does not express monotheism, but rather presumes the existence of other deities--as in a marriage, one of the primary analogies for the covenant, Israel is to be a faithful wife to her husband (Yahweh), or, as in a treaty, a vassal to his suzerain. When the prophets condemn the Israelites for having worshipped other gods in violation of this, and related commandments (e.g., the Shema [Deut 6:4]), the metaphors of marital and political fidelity are often invoked, sometimes rather graphically (e.g., Ezek 16:23-24; 23:2-12; Jer 2:23-25; 3:1-10), as well as the depiction of Yahweh as a jealous husband (e.g., Exo 34:14), and the worship of other gods, or making alliances with foreign powers, provokes his rage. (Michael Coogan, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures [New York: Oxford University Press, 2006], 176, 116)

There is nothing in this verse that opposes Latter-day Saint theology when (1) one reads the underlining Hebrew; (2) examined in its historical and cultural context and (3) when read in the context of the proceeding commandments.