The Gods--All of them! (Religion)

by dhw, Friday, November 19, 2010, 11:27 (4905 days ago) @ xeno6696

Matt has been reading the Iliad, and has enjoyed meeting the Greek gods.-MATT: It was once possible for a man to strive for Olympus! In fact, Alexander the Great was just such a man, driven by love of his mother to be the son of Zeus. Contrast this son of God; to Heracles; and then to Christ. Which is more noble ... and why? (This is a deep question I pose to you....I find satisfaction in all!)-With my 20th/21st-century outlook, I find absolutely nothing noble in Alexander's ambition to conquer the world. I could not even begin to compare this utter disregard for human life with Christ's attempts to create a more humane world. And remember Christ also lived in imperial times. So Christ wins hands down. -You ask how the OT God became an explanation for the universe. Many religions have their creation myths, and I don't find it a problem that Genesis only devotes two chapters to it. No need for a War and Peace. I see the "overarching goal" of the OT as being to keep the Jews under one (divine) umbrella. Prior to monotheism ... the Jews weren't the first monotheists, but theirs was the form that set God up for life ... gods were all over the place, on hills, in caves, in rivers, in buildings. It was immensely practical to have one God who was omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent, and whose prophets could scare the daylights out of anyone who didn't conform to their way of thinking. God was not "the center of the world in THAT way", he was all over the world in every way. -MATT: I leave you with this question: Why do we only value our weak gods?-I have scratched my head over this, and have come up with nothing but splinters. Maybe I need to know who "we" are. The god of the Jews, Christians and Muslims is omnipotent. How weak is that?