Mythology

[crisaor]

Despite what most people say, some of the stuff in the bible is merely symbolic. Maybe these fairytales that you mention are there for this kind of purposes?

[subterranean]

First i want to ask you Mike, why u only questioned about the Bible? How bout the Qoran or the stories in Vedha or Beghavad Githa? Don't you considered them as myth too?

As far as I know, Zeus, though he's the leader among other gods, he's not really that powerfull. Each god has his/her own responsibility and authority to certain job, like Cupid is the god of love, and there's his mother and Ares the god of war etc. So to some extent Zeus doesnt really controlled everything in this universe and sometimes he even has to follow other god's will.

But God in the bible is different, he controls everything, no other parties can determine what he shall/must do..even if he's doing something which is considered as pitiless, like giving a flood, destroyed a city with thousands of people in it etc.
Personally I dont want to respect a god like Zeus..I mean by eating Ambrosia I could be a god too.

And i think the first believers also give significant contributions to the acceptance of the bible as truth than merely as mythology. How the early christians fought for their faith..they were being chased, killed, tortured. Somehow this became a testimony for the next generations, I mean if the bible and all the stories about god in it is only some sort of myth..these people must be so darn silly for sacrificing their lifes like that. And it's also the same with Qoran
Have you ever heard in the Greek mythology about people who willingly sacrifice their lives for Zeus or Ares?

[IWilKikU]

Sub, I think you misunderstand my question in the same way that the others did at first. I wasn't talking about the character of God and why HE has remained while others hadn't. I was refering to the seemingly tall tales in the Bible.

I didn't ask about other holy texts because I don't know them AT ALL. I havn't even heard basic stories from them or anything. I'm totally 100% ignorant of these other religious texts. Sorry .

Just because people are willing to die for somthing doesn't make it true.

[simon]

Actually Sub Zeus' will is never controlled by anyone other than himself, the Greeks are very specific about this, he is the largest most powerful god, and being the oldest that makes him the powerfullest. The only arguable instance where that may not be the case is with Aphrodite (who may be older than him and therfore more powerful, but her parentage is arguable) infecting him with the passion of desire and making him turn into a bull and entice the wife of King Minos into making love with him and producing the Minotaur. Really i don't think that Greek mythology can be compared to the Bibile, becuase the the greeks had no concept of religion, in comparison to what we define as religion.

And eating ambrosia doesn't make you a god it makes you immortal, there is also agelessness which the gods have, something ambrosia doesn't give.

[Miranda]

I have been thinking a lot and have come to the conclusion that these myths endure because there is truth within them. Falsehoods tend to fade away because they have no real substance whereas truth has a way of surviving and kind of standing out from the crowd. Many Christians accept the ‘myths’ incorporated in the bible as actual events. Other Christians believe them to be allegorical stories but all I think accept them as containing truth I think that they continue to be believed because as Crisaor touched on - they are true or contain the truth.


Adam and Eve may or not be a true story of how humanity began (but I believe that it is) and it had surely to begin somewhere with one man and one woman coming together, so why not in Eden? The story of Adam and Eve explains God’s plan - His reason for creating humanity and the reason why there is evil in the world and why it affects us to such detriment. It is linked directly to God’s redeeming love in making a way for humanity to be restored back into communion with Himself – which is the way He meant it to be in the first place. I don’t know if other religions answer these questions in this way – but it is one reason why the creation story of Adam and Eve persists – it explains our existence and our purpose for being here.

The tower of Babel isn’t complete myth because this place really existed – and the aim of the men of that place was to attempt to climb up to where God is. Mankind I think is still trying to intrude on God’s province. There was obviously no way that these men could ever build a tower that could reach up heaven, but it was their aim which is the crux of the matter – and mankind hasn’t changed. Science is now in the process of creating clones and before too long will be looking to actually create life – which is God’s province and although it may seem fantastical to some, I believe that the destruction of the tower of Babel may be allegorical to the time of the return of Christ – as humanity tries to climb up to where God is..and do the things that he is solely responsible for. God destroyed the tower..and scattered the men over the earth, confusing their language to make knowledge less easy for them to pass from one place to another. But language is universal now and no longer a barrier, and there are few constraints upon increasing knowledge. So the ’myth’ of the tower of Babel contains not only truths about mankind and his ambition – but relates to the future too and so has not lost it’s relevance to Christians today. Another reason I think, why this story is still accepted and believed.

I think most of the ‘myths’ in the bible are like this - they endure because they contain an essential truth that remains relevant through the ages and the truth is changeless. But myths’ and legends and gods of other times and religions, as Crisaor says relate to ‘supermen’ and gods that are too much like ourselves. The God of the Bible is completely different to any other, because it’s against His law to make any graven image or bow down to it, or to sacrifice to idols. The nations surrounding Israel did all these things, including sacrificing their children to Molech. Those nations also all had Kings who were their leaders. The nation of Israel was different because they were led by prophets and priests who sought God’s will although this changed in the time of Samuel. These things make the Jewish nation a people of faith and the bible is their history book. Whilst most other religions laud their heroes to the skies, the bible tells both the good and the bad things about them which is another thing that makes it different and I believe helps to confirm its authenticity.

So I think the myths and legends that occur in the bible and which echo stories that appear also in other ancient literature, are still believed and accepted because they are an integral part of the bible and though possibly allegorical, endure because they contain truth.

[crisaor]

Actually Sub Zeus' is the largest most powerful god, and being the oldest that makes him the powerfullest.

No. He's not the oldest. All of the Titans, plus some other gods (Aphrodite in some versions, Thanatos, the Graces, or the Furies/Eumenides), and ALL of his brothers (he's the youngest) are older than him. He's simply the most powerful one because it was meant to be so. All of the gods were meant to be surpassed by one of their offsprings, that's why they tried to eat/ kill them, in order to prevent this. Just as Cronus was meant to overpower his father Uranus, so was Zeus regarding Cronus. In Zeus's case, Athena is the one meant to overshadow him, but since she sprang from his head (she had no mother to give birth to her), she had no desire to dethrone him. She owed her life to him.

[simon]

Your right Crisaor, sorry, Zeus is the most powerful becuaese he was deemed to be, fated to, and after having userped the oldest gods, he was able to keep the throne by either keeping his sisters unmarried, marrying them himself, and deabling his brothers. But I think that some of his power comes from his begin older than the other gods and that gives him more power over them.

[papayahed]

I believe that the chrisitain view has a wider appeal and that also can account for it's longevity. In Greek Myhology people were at the mercy of the Greek gods, a persons fate could be determined in a blink of an eye at the whim of a God. To an extent in Christianity your are in charge of your own destiny, how you live your life determines your fate.

Now that I'm thinking about it ancient Greeks were looking for reasons for the sun coming up each day or why it rained when it did, the greek mythologies fit the bill. It was the will of the gods, or somebody made an offering. Presently we have science to tell us why these things happen, we don't believe in the greek gods anymore because they were disproven, humanity out grew the need. Can it be that Christianity survived because humanity is still looking for the bigger cosmic answers that science can't prove? If we are to believe in God today we have to accept (think of them as truth or metaphor) the stories in the bible since they ar bound together (at least in the the 3 biggies).

I think i just confused myself.

[amuse]

correction, one does not have to accept the bible to believe in god. god is not owned by the bible, or for that matter a particular religion.

[Miranda]

Amuse - but we are talking here about the bible in relation to the 'myths' within it and why they are still accepted and believed by Christians today. The bible of course does not have a monopoly on god and other religions have their own gods, but the bible is central to the question that Iwillkiku is asking - why are the myths within it considered acceptable when they have been disregarded in other spheres.

I agree with you Papayahead, that man still needs something greater than science to explain the reason for his existence. I think it's because we are mind, body and spirit..and though science has the answers for lots of things - and theories for others, it can't fulfill the spiritual hunger that most of us have, though sometimes don't recognise and try to satisfy with other things. The ancient myths are as you say, inextricably bound up in the bible and though ancient they still have relevance today, through their metaphors.

[amuse]

yes, i'm aware of that miranda. i was simply replying to a statement of papayahed's. not sure why that needs to be clarified.

[subterranean]

Just because people are willing to die for somthing doesn't make it true.

I know what you mean, the thing is I see yhis pattern from most of holy texts, though I havent really know these texts precisely, but i know many stories in these texts which are perhaps more imposiblle to happen that those written in the bible (this is purely my subjective opinion, cause i do consider those stories are like imaginary stuffs). But still ..people (the believers) giving up their lives, possesions, wealth, family, etc. The"faith" factor pkays an important role here.
Somehow this becomes a strong fundamental for some people to belief that the bible, or Quran etc, are not just Myth. But of course, this is something subjective.

[IWilKikU]

I understand what you're saying, but I think you've got it backwards. People die for something BECAUSE they believe in it. They don't believe in it BECAUSE someone's willing to die for it.

Papyahead, The Greek Gods were disproven? Who disproved them? Who proved them in the first place, making them disprovable? It can be said the the existence of the Christian God has been disproved by Smith's book Atheism: The Case Against God, but good Christian boys and girls still believe in him. What's you're ground for the old Gods being disproven?

Miranda, thanks for taking a long time to think about this question. I think that you're arguements have made the strongest case for Biblical mythology's authenticity.

[papayahed]

"disproven" probably isn't the correct word, Obsolete is closer to what I'm thinking. My original arguement still applies.

The gods of the greeks were pretty much concerned with natural everyday occurances. I could be mistaken but I don't think the "soul" or "spirituality" was ever any issue for the greek gods whereas its one of the main themes of the Christian religion (and I'm only mentioning this one becasue I'm familiar).

[ajoe]

I have a question. Are we talking about the myths in the Bible or the myths in the Old Testament?