Was watching Wrath of the Titans the other day and occurred to me that greek mythology has been accepted as such while other religions have been preserved to this day. There were statues and monuments made to honor these gods and at one point in time they were believed to be true. How were these beliefs eventually dispelled and all the other religions have sustained?
the jews were smart and created an invisible god. they banned all the idols. TADA. great trick. not sure how hinduism survived, but they’re probably the worlds oldest religion so that has somethign to do with it. the greeks themselves were smart so they realized their gods were imaginary.
Polytheism >>>>> Monotheism
Having multiple gods with some of them being rivals or planning to take over other gods territories to gather more worshipers or some shit like that is waaaaaaaaayyy more interesting than this punk ass one god one truth boring bullshit you get with stupid Christians and Muslims. I swear I should make my own religion that’s based from Emerson’s essay so I can put gods in certain spots to represent the multiple facets of human thinking.
Being more on topic, I think that the major religions sustained because they had real power back then since people were just unable to explain the stuff that became more explainable as we had our intellectual renaissances. After that, the major religions just sort of adjusted to people getting smarter by just neglecting to really mention certain stuff that’s supposed to be taught to others because of the clash between the values of the old times when that religion was the law of the land and values of the later and later generations that followed.
Plus the major religions also made sure that they really communicated with people by teaching them stuff that really anyone can learn from either experience in living life, learning from others mistakes and the golden rule and stuff that you don’t really need a religion to be able to get values from but, because most people are stupid and weak, they have to latch on to some sort of support that makes them feel better when times get rough and whatnot.
Also, fuck Mormons and fuck Utah.
Greek gods failed cause they weren’t based.
the greeks were more enlightened and less fanatical about their gods. brain dead fanaticism wins out unfortunately, as the unwashed hordes storm the gates of history and fuck everything for all of us.
but hey, the greek gods aren’t totally dead. I mean, agnostics still believe in the possibility of them (because agnostics are smarter than all of us.)
Well u can’t disprove something. But the smart agnostics assign the same probability value of Greek gods to Christian gods to Santa Clause. And that value is close to, but not quite zero. Dawkins thinks that’s pussying out. And that’s why I love Dawkins
You guys need to read Snow Crash.
I really want to work on a mythology novel, but I can’t get started. I have a really rough idea of what I want to write about, but no framework with which to do so. Hopefully, I’ll figure something out. :tup:
My dad’s a bishop and most of the people in his ward are imports from Utah
Having an agnostic son is a very uncomfortable situation for him.
Well when christianity came around they basically tried to overwrite every other religion ( destroying records, taking old holidays and placing they’re important days on them ).
Shit like that, christianity is nuts.
history is written by those who win or survived. lucky a few smart people where able to save the myths of greek mythology. i bet you there are many more mythology we will never hear about since it was wipe out by the winner.
also someone who loves history like me i have to say greek mythology is great. their gods are just like us. fuck up and crazy haha. i really should start looking up more about mythology’s. i been to lazy on looking up history stuff.
Greek gods are interesting, because that’s where you see the practical purpose of religious belief most clearly.
Like pretty much everything human beings have ever invented, gods (and, by extension, the fictional archetypes that they fit into) were invented as a tool to do a job. Each of the gods personifies a different aspect of human experience. Ares, for example, personifies our anger and our conflict-prone tendencies.
The Greeks didn’t develop myths about these guys just so they had some bullshit to talk about in the salon. Mythology–in other words, mythical storytelling–helps people to understand things about themselves and one another in a way that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.
Telling a story about Ares might conceivably have helped them to deal with problems like anger in a way that gave them some perspective and objectivity on the issue. When you’re angry, it’s much more difficult to deal with if you can’t separate it from yourself, localize it outside of yourself, and get a good look at it from a clinical distance.
Same goes for Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, etc. They were all ways for us to partition our emotional experiences from our intellect so we could get them figured out. It’s not such an easy job in our society of (typically) one god, whose nature is so poorly defined and so hopelessly abstract that he only really functions as a one-stop shop for explaining shit we don’t understand. And, I guess, as an all-seeing Big Brother eye to scare us into behaving.
Gods also helped the Greeks to know what to aspire to be, and what to avoid becoming. This happens elsewhere in fiction too, not just mythology. J.M. Barrie helped Victorian-era kids (and, presumably, himself) deal with the experience of growing up by writing Peter Pan. Working-class youngsters in the Depression bolstered their pride and their fighting spirit by reading comic books about tough heroes who went after the evil bastards who were repressing regular people. Adults in the 1990s got a comedic look at their own dysfunctionalities and neuroses reflected in the first wave of modern sitcoms like The Simpsons and Seinfeld.
That’s my thoughts on the matter, anyway. Gods were yet another way that we pulled something out of our asses to solve problems and make our lives easier.
Dawkins is like the grumpy, unpleasable dad of the new atheist movement.
“But Dad, what if God does exist and there’s just no way of knowing about it?”
“Son… why do you disappoint me? Go mow the lawn. And don’t fuck it up like you always do.”
Then he slouches in his chair with the newspaper, rustling it with unnecessary loudness every time he turns the page.
The Roman emperor, Constantine saw the cross of Jesus in the sky, and had the cross on the shield of his soldiers who later won an important battle. He then converted to Christianity. That’s how the west became Christian.
The Abrahamic Religions used the sword better against everyone else. Thats how other religious systems were rendered “mythology” while Christianity/Judaism/Islam are the “true religions”.
Edit: Though seeing stuff like this that undermines the big three make me smile
This thread will end great, and there will be no bickering, arguing or dumbass comments made the whole thread. Quality through and through.
Greek religion lives on today in western art and fashion
Greeks put forward the concept of working hard on your body to be a worthy avatar for god worship.
hinduism praises a conciousness state, so it’s more personality and energy convergence.
Catholicism is more about worshiping one who promises us accension after death.
Islamic faith is like a hightened version of Catholicism.
btw just like how Buddhism is a tangent of hinduism, Greek mythology is a tangent of Egyptian mythology
didn’t help that the Romans stole their Gods and just renamed them
WAIT A GOD DAMNED MINUTE: Why were you watching Wrath of the Titans? Who the fuck watches the remade Clash and goes “Hey, you know what would be great? A sequel to this fucking disaster.”
Yeah; I will never stop regretting the fact that we don’t have most of Sappho’s stuff.
Just imagine how much lesbian porn is in those missing poems…
Yeah; I will never stop regretting the fact that we don’t have most of Sappho’s stuff.
Just imagine how much lesbian porn is in those missing poems…
Richard dawkins is pure comedy gold because he has zero respect for religious people?
[media=youtube]j7NeSGggF7Y[/media]
yeah he’s arrogant at times but you have to admit, there’s nothing fake about him, unlike religious trolls like ted haggard who believe one thing then do the exact opposite.