Mythology

[roseanneb]

My close friend is a non-believer but wants to believe. She teaches Latin. She claims that one of her obstacles to faith is that so many of the stories in the Old Testament have parallel stories in Greek and Roman mythology, so she sees the Bible as myth.

I don’t know anything about Greek and Roman mythology. Some of you very erudite readers surely do. I think I have a good chance of convincing her if I can respond to this question.

Thanks,
Roseanne

 

[NotWorthy]

My close friend is a non-believer but wants to believe. She teaches Latin. She claims that one of her obstacles to faith is that so many of the stories in the Old Testament have parallel stories in Greek and Roman mythology, so she sees the Bible as myth.

I don’t know anything about Greek and Roman mythology. Some of you very erudite readers surely do. I think I have a good chance of convincing her if I can respond to this question.

Thanks,
Roseanne

Which came first? Don’t the stories of Genesis pre-date Greek and certainly Roman mythology?

I guess my question is, “If there is plagiarism, who copied who?”

 

[roseanneb]

Good point. I’m going to research the history of Greek mythology to see if there is mention of the stories coming from the Bible.

Thanks.

 

[COPLAND_3]

The same thing has been said of other religions as well. Here is a short answer to that claim litteralchristianlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/Christianity+Draws+From+Other+Religions%3F

 

[Roy5]

Let’s face it. Parts of the Old Testament and early Christianity both were seriously influenced by paganism of various types. The story of Adam and Eve certainly sounds like a myth or a parable, perhaps?) to me. And check out Genesis 6:2 and the whole Noah thing, probably a different version of the old Gilgamesh myth. Was that Babylonian? I forget.
There is much influence of myth in the New Testament, too, but I'd better leave that alone. I'm aware that while I try to be a devout follower of Christ there is material in the gospels and the rest of the Greek scriptures that was borrowed from paganism roundabout.

 

[NHInsider]

I always felt like the existence of parallel stories in other cultures was an indication of truth - that in fact there is some event back in ancient history that is the source of the story, that has been passed down through the generations, and recalled “through the lens” of various cultures’ later theologies or other interpretative lenses.

 

[ljubim]

I always felt like the existence of parallel stories in other cultures was an indication of truth - that in fact there is some event back in ancient history that is the source of the story, that has been passed down through the generations, and recalled “through the lens” of various cultures’ later theologies or other interpretative lenses.

I agree, an article mentioned this a while back in This Rock. There was a study that went back to many early creation stories and symbolism in various early cultures, all of which share common elements with our Garden of Eden.

Let’s face it. Parts of the Old Testament and early Christianity both were seriously influenced by paganism of various types. The story of Adam and Eve certainly sounds like a myth or a parable, perhaps?) to me. And check out Genesis 6:2 and the whole Noah thing, probably a different version of the old Gilgamesh myth. Was that Babylonian? I forget.

There is much influence of myth in the New Testament, too, but I'd better leave that alone. I'm aware that while I try to be a devout follower of Christ there is material in the gospels and the rest of the Greek scriptures that was borrowed from paganism roundabout.

So much for a bible believing Christian?

My close friend is a non-believer but wants to believe. She teaches Latin. She claims that one of her obstacles to faith is that so many of the stories in the Old Testament have parallel stories in Greek and Roman mythology, so she sees the Bible as myth.

I don’t know anything about Greek and Roman mythology. Some of you very erudite readers surely do. I think I have a good chance of convincing her if I can respond to this question.

Thanks,
Roseanne

Maybe you should ask her for specific stories, then look into them together (and post them here too, somebody might be able to help). I’m sure you can debunk a lot of false connections and come up with a good explanation of how certain themes appear frequently in the ancient world.

 

[Wordster]

My close friend is a non-believer but wants to believe. She teaches Latin. She claims that one of her obstacles to faith is that so many of the stories in the Old Testament have parallel stories in Greek and Roman mythology, so she sees the Bible as myth.

Good advice in the previous posts. Ask her also why Jesus, who in no way kowtowed to convention, would have treated the O.T. as divine & binding.

 

[Augusta_Sans]

I always felt like the existence of parallel stories in other cultures was an indication of truth - that in fact there is some event back in ancient history that is the source of the story, that has been passed down through the generations, and recalled “through the lens” of various cultures’ later theologies or other interpretative lenses.

I completely agree! I took an elective course on mythology in high school. One of the units required students to read and compare several creation stories, including Genesis 1. That so many cultures came up with such similar stories strengthened my belief in the Bible. In my public high school biology courses, the parallels between the Genesis Creation story and the theory of Evolution (e.g. the order in which different organisms came into being) further strengthened my belief.

 

[puzzleannie]

If the stories in the earliest part of the bible are true, especially Genesis, which tells of events that predate recorded human history, then we should expect to see parallels in the pre-history of other cultures. If there was a time of innocence early in human history, an early Eden or paradize, and a fall from grace with the introduction of evil, murder etc we should expect myths of other cultures. If there was a flood over the inhabited parts of the earth early in human history we should expect a flood myth to occur in other cultures.

If there was indeed a dispersal of various groups geographically, a diversity of cultures and ethnicity, and a confusion of language, we should expect that process to be accounted for in the mythology of other cultures. If there was a higher being who created the earth, all that is on the earth and humankind, and if early humans perceived that being in some way and held it in awe, and recognized his power over nature and themselves we should expect all cultures to reflect that perception and acknowledge that higher power through a need to offer sacrifice, to consecrate aspects of life and nature to that being and so forth. If there is indeed a universal moral law we should expect other cultures to have recognized, codified, explained and enforced it in some way.

If the Creator communicated to the earliest humans in some way the order of creation, and the place of humans as stewards of creation we should expect early cultures to explain in some way the relationship between humans and animals and nature in general, as well as an acknowledgement that somehow aspects of the natural world and the cosmos reflect the action or presence of that Creator, that supreme being. We should expect all early cultures to have devised some explanation of the separation of the heavens and the workings of the cosmos. And we should expect all these mythic explanations and stories to agree on some key points, and also to vary widely according to culture, history of the subculture or ethnic group, language and so forth.

What do we find in examining pre-history myths, traditions and beliefs of early peoples all over the globe? Yes as expected there are elements of the accounts of human origins given in Genesis that arise in all those cultures, shaped, changed, interpreted and handed on through the language, customs and religions of those cultures.

 

[Mintaka]

If your friend reads Latin, why isn’t she reading the early Christian apologists who talk about this very point? There’s a good deal of discussion about this in St. Augustine’s City of God, but long before that, you’ve got St. Justin Martyr in the First Apologia, Tatian’s Address to the Greeks, Marcus Minucius Felix’s dialogue Octavius (out on the beach at Ostia!), and tons more.

Basically, a mix of ideas were held on this point of similarities, depending on the myth.

1. Demons imitating Jewish prophecies of the Messiah, or stuff about Jesus (once he came).
2. God preparing pagans for the Gospel.

The later things got, the more #2 tended to be favored. (Except in really gross myths, or by that Irish monk complaining in the margins that he didn’t want to copy stupid pagan stories about Cuchulain and the Tain Bo Cuailgne, no matter what his abbot said. Maybe he was a teenager monk.)

 

[KyivAndrew]

Good point. I’m going to research the history of Greek mythology to see if there is mention of the stories coming from the Bible.

Thanks.

But in the Greek myths, one learns that the gods were capricious, jealous, and would plot one against the other. There was no universal sense or moral code of a loving God in whom one would find Divine Law, and a God who cared and loved His Creation. The Jewish faith from which we draw our root was the first on earth to attach ethics to belief in One God - ethical monotheism. The only other culture previous that had attempted monotheism was in Egypt some 100 years in Egypt before Moses (and only for a short time did it last), and it proposed one god but had no worked-out ethical system as did the Hebrews.

And in Christianity, one finds that our God loved the world so that He sent His only-begotten Son for our Salvation, and taught us of good vs. evil. The closest competition to Christianity at the beginning, apart from Gnosticism which despised the physical world, was Mithraism which basically had a god (Mithras) worshiped by Roman soldiers in caves with little worry of good and evil. Christianity didn’t murder and pile up slaves or children to be buried with their ruler (pharoah, Far East emperor, or for that matter Viking warlord later) to ease the chief’s journey to the under world or to Valhalla. Each soul was to be equal before God, prince and pauper, healthy and ill, alike.

The other great close-by religion of the time, apart from the Greeks, were the Zoroastrians and also the later followers of Manes (Manichaeism) in Persia- unlike these, Christians did not believe in a Dualistic universe where a good god fights against an equally powerful evil god. In Christianity, Goodness is Supremely Powerful and “absolute evil” cannot exist as all evil is basically a tortured warping of or absence of good. God is Good and All-Powerful. There is no room, as in Manichaeism, for an equally powerful Evil Force. Evil is not equally strong. All is subject to God.

Look to Greek mythology and see if you can find the Beatitudes attached to a belief in One Loving Omnipotent, Benevolent God would be my start. Just my two cents.

 

[KyivAndrew]

But in the Greek myths, one learns that the gods were capricious, jealous, and would plot one against the other. There was no universal sense or moral code of a loving God in whom one would find Divine Law, and a God who cared and loved His Creation. The Jewish faith from which we draw our root was the first on earth to attach ethics to belief in One God - ethical monotheism. The only other culture previous that had attempted monotheism was in Egypt some 100 years in Egypt before Moses (and only for a short time did it last), and it proposed one god but had no worked-out ethical system as did the Hebrews.

And in Christianity, one finds that our God loved the world so that He sent His only-begotten Son for our Salvation, and taught us of good vs. evil. The closest competition to Christianity at the beginning, apart from Gnosticism which despised the physical world, was Mithraism which basically had a god (Mithras) worshiped by Roman soldiers in caves with little worry of good and evil. Christianity didn’t murder and pile up slaves or children to be buried with their ruler (pharoah, Far East emperor, or for that matter Viking warlord later) to ease the chief’s journey to the under world or to Valhalla. Each soul was to be equal before God, prince and pauper, healthy and ill, alike.

The other great close-by religion of the time, apart from the Greeks, were the Zoroastrians and also the later followers of Manes (Manichaeism) - unlike these, Christians did not believe in a Dualistic universe where a good god fights against an equally powerful evil god. In Christianity, Goodness is Supremely Powerful and “absolute evil” cannot exist as all evil is basically a tortured warping of or absence of good. God is Good and All-Powerful. There is no room, as in Manichaeism for an equally powerful Evil Force. Evil is not equally strong. All is subject to God.

Look to Greek mythology and see if you can find the Beatitudes attached to a belief in One Loving Omnipotent, Benevolent God would be my start. Just my two cents.

 

[KyivAndrew]

But in the Greek myths, one learns that the gods were capricious, jealous, and would plot one against the other. There was no universal sense or moral code of a loving God in whom one would find Divine Law, and a God who cared and loved His Creation. The Jewish faith from which we draw our root was the first on earth to attach ethics to belief in One God - ethical monotheism. The only other culture previous that had attempted monotheism was in Egypt some 100 years before Moses (and only for a short time did it last), and it proposed one god but had no worked-out ethical system as did the Hebrews.

And in Christianity, one finds that our God loved the world so that He sent His only-begotten Son for our Salvation, and taught us of good vs. evil. The closest competition to Christianity at the beginning, apart from Gnosticism which despised the physical world, was Mithraism which basically had a god (Mithras) worshiped by Roman soldiers in caves with little worry of good and evil. Christianity didn’t murder and pile up slaves or children to be buried with their ruler (pharoah, Far East emperor, or for that matter Viking warlord later) to ease the chief’s journey to the under world or to Valhalla. Each soul was to be equal before God, prince and pauper, healthy and ill, alike.

The other great close-by religion of the time, apart from the Greeks, were the Zoroastrians and also the later followers of Manes (Manichaeism) in Persia- unlike these, Christians did not believe in a Dualistic universe where a good god fights against an equally powerful evil god. In Christianity, Goodness is Supremely Powerful and “absolute evil” cannot exist as all evil is basically a tortured warping of or absence of good. God is Good and All-Powerful. There is no room, as in Manichaeism, for an equally powerful Evil Force. Evil is not equally strong. All is subject to God.

Look to Greek mythology and see if you can find the Beatitudes attached to a belief in One Loving Omnipotent, Benevolent God would be my start. Just my two cents.