"No gods beside me"

I was visiting a website called Christianity who's author posed the question of how Mormons (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) respond to statements by Isaiah quoting Jehovah as saying "there is no God besides Me" (Isaiah 44:6) which he does frequently with some variation.  


I replied with these thoughts: 

I remember once speaking to a foreign audience through a translator. She had difficulty whenever I used certain colloquial expressions such as "cut to the chase". Our language is full of these, but over centuries, in ancient texts, we struggle to interpret them properly which is why the old testament is so difficult for us. We cannot fully understand the customs, culture and idioms of the day.

The phrase "no God beside me" may be equivalent to our current expression "no one can hold a candle to him" or "out of my league". This is why Isaiah can use it faithfully while Paul can still write to the Corinthians "there be gods many and lords many". He doesn't mean people equal in authority to Christ, but those who may appear or claim to be so. Likewise, Christ quotes the psalmist "Ye are Gods" meaning we are children of God - not equal to Him. Later Christ will pray to the father on several occasions - the intercessory prayer, Gethsemane, and on the cross addressing him as The Father or "Eloi". Clearly he is not praying to Himself, but is addressing his Father, who "gave all things into (his) hands" (John 13:3). The Father (God) put the Son (God) in charge and this was witnessed at the baptism of Christ when the Father spoke, and sent the Holy Ghost (also God). I hope this is helpful. :)