Joel's Answer: "In this scripture Jehovah was trying to persuade the Israelites from worshipping the many false gods of their neighbors, and he wanted them to focus on their God, Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ. Even though the LDS believe in the existence of other gods, they do not worship them since they have no authority over them. In 1 Cor. 8:5,6 it says: "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." Paul is saying that even though there are many gods and lords, we worship only God the Father. We worship Him alone since He is the Father of our spirits (Heb. 12:9). We all have parents and are subject to them only and not to our grand parents or great grand parents or anyone else's parents. The same idea applies to God."

You leave out the verse before verse 5 which throws the whole statement out of context. verse 4 says: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.
There is NO god but one, no other god. Not for this planet, not for mars or the sun, NO other god period. And paul is NOT saying there are other gods. the translation of verse five states "For even if there are so-called gods" If you would research the meaning of the original greek you would understand this. Paul is saying that EVEN IF there were other Gods, they would not be greater than God the Father and not worthy of worship.
The momon faith twists the bible and pulls verses out of context to support its false doctrine. It breaks down at every level

JOEL - In 1 Cor. 8:4 they are acknowledging that there are idols that people worship that are nothing to them. I agree with this. But then in verse 5 it says:
"For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)"
The phrase "whether in heaven or earth" cannot totally be refering to idols, because idols are only found on earth, not in heaven. So they must be refering to other kinds of "gods".
In the 1 Cor. 8 scripture Paul is making a distinction between the God we worship and those who are believers or followers of God who can also be called "gods".
In biblical terms, those who are worthy to share in all the power and glory that God himself has are called "gods":
"Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High" (Psalms 82:6)
"Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" (John 10:34)
So the "gods many and lords many" that he is talking about are those people refered to in these two scriptures above, who either have the potential to become gods or already are gods for other universes.
Our latter-day scriptures refer to several such persons, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who once lived on this earth and who are now resurrected beings and have earned godhood(D&C 132:37).
But they will be the Gods of other universes at another time so we do not worship them.
So, you are right in saying that there "is no other god for this planet, not for mars or the sun". There is only one God for this universe that we should worship.
I agree with you that the Bible is not translated corrrectly in some places. This is an important belief of our church. It is part of the reason that there are so many different Christian religions in the world today. But latter-day prophets help us to understand what God wants us to know from the scriptures. I understand that you don't accept latter-day prophets, but this is how we understand these scriptures.

SHANE - First, you said:

"In biblical terms, those who are worthy to share in all the power and glory that God himself has are called "gods":
"Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High" (Psalms 82:6)
"Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" (John 10:34)
So the "gods many and lords many" that he is talking about are those people refered to in these two scriptures above, who either have the potential to become gods or already are gods for other universes."

This is where mormons need to study not only the context of scripture, but also the original greek in order to properly translate scripture. This is actually a reference to the judges of Israel who,since they exercised the divine prerogative to judge (Deut 1:17), were called "gods." Once again you take the verse out of context.
Jesus was confronting the jews as they were passing judgement, charging him with blasphemy because of his claim to be God.
He responds by telling the jews, If God will call judges and rulers, men on earth, "Gods" then "what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?
Psalm 82 also had purpose, to show the one and true God's surpreme authroity over all who have any power, verse 1 states "God presides in the great assembly, he gives judgement among the "gods." The proper translation calls unjust rulers and judges "gods" and the quotations belong in a proper translation. The verse is to show that God is over everything, even the most powerful, even IF there were other Gods (which there are not) God would be over them. Not equal rule of different planets.
verse 4 says:
"We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one."

There is NO god but one, no other god. Not for this planet, not for mars or the sun, NO other god period. And paul is NOT saying there are other gods. the translation of verse five states "For even IF there are so-called gods" If you would research the meaning of the original greek you would understand see that it says "even if". Paul is saying that EVEN IF there were other Gods, they would not be greater than God the Father and not worthy of worship.

You also said: "In biblical terms, those who are worthy to share in all the power and glory that God himself has are called "gods":"
This is not true. God is supreme and would never put his title to any other being. "thou shalt have no other god's before me" "I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end" At every point God declares supreme authority over everything, all creation, not one world.

Why won't mormon's study the word, go back and study the meaning and greek and older translations? Why rely on what a man said? Jesus is the only authority, not Mr Smith. Would you let someone read the paper to you every day? What if they read you the wrong news, twisting what the paper said as they saw fit? All of your knowledge would be a lie, a whim of that person's choosing. And thats something as trivial as a newspaper, why then will you let someone read and interpret the bible, GOD's holy word, the most important thing we can ever read, and not look at the actual words yourself?
Finally, if Mormon's are so quick to say "well the bible is mistranslated, so we can't rely on what it says" why are you so quick to use it to defend your position? I think its because you only take what you need, mostly out of context, and attempt to throw out the things that disprove what you believe.

JOEL - I identify the 'Universe" as every planet, star , and galaxy that can be seen from this planet(assuming we could look that far).
We do not believe there are different gods for different planets in this universe. There is only one God for this entire universe. What the LDS believe is that there are other universes, inaccesible to our own, existing at different times, which have their own Gods. The Bible was written for everyone living on this planet in this universe and therefore speaks of only one God that we should worship.
So as far as we are concerned there are no other Gods that we would worship.
I know you don't agree with this, because this is what we have learned through modern revelation. But I just wanted to be sure you understood our beliefs correctly.
Much of what you say is your own opinion based partially on how you translate the scriptures. People for centuries have been studying the original greek of the Bible and still manage to come up with different opinions on what the correct translation should be. We do have scholars in our church who have done that as well. If I look at the actual words myself as you suggest, how can I know that I am understanding and translating them correctly, especially if my understanding is different from others?
What if I don't understand them exactly the same as you? Does that mean I am wrong or are you wrong?
Which Bible is the perfect translation that properly considers what the original Greek said?
The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramic and Greek, but none of the original manuscripts exist today.
Even though they were copied and translated into many different languages, the process of copying and translating could introduce errors and mistranslations. So how can you be sure the "original" Greek text that you study has not been altered?
And even if you do have the correct original Greek, people will interpret the meanings differently.
We do not rely on what man says. Jesus is the only authority as you say, but He is not physically here right now so we must have faith that our prophets are in communication with Him and are inspired by Him to let us know how to understand His word.
We can still use the Bible to defend our position because we do have prophets of God who can know what is correct or incorrect regarding what God intended to say in the Bible, regardless of what the original Greek words were. This of course requires faith on our part to trust that they are prophets of God. I don't see any other way to know for sure until Jesus comes again and we hear it directly from His lips.