Think about Greek Mythology (which was a religion) and think about Christianity and the Bible stories.

The main God was Zeus.. which is alot of like the Christian God.And he had a son remember? Hercules(or whaevert the Greek name was. I forgot). He was half-man and half-God . Hmmmm.. who does that sound like? *Sarcasm*..Jesus. And the other Gods are like angels.Think about it..who was Lucifer? An angel who was cast down and ruled the Underworld ,right? Who was Hades? A God who was cast down and ruled the Underworld..Interesting ..considering that the Ancient Greek religion was there maybe thousands of years before the birth of Christ.

Also a Zeus statue was the model for what the christian god might look like.

http://groups.msn.com/AtheistVSGod/originofchristianity.msnw

Zeus had a whole load more than one child. As far as I know, over thirty. There are also an awful lot of half God half human characters in ancient Greek mythology.

And Hades was not "cast down" from anywhere. When Hades, Zeus and Poseidon divided the world between them, Hades took the Underworld. In fact, Hades was often referred to as the "rich one", because he posessed the riches of the earth.

Many parts of Christianity are taken from other, older religions, I'm not denying that in the slightest. But pick a better example next time.

Jx

quote:Originally posted by Jessic:

Zeus had a whole load more than one child. As far as I know, over thirty. There are also an awful lot of half God half human characters in ancient Greek mythology.

And Hades was not "cast down" from anywhere. When Hades, Zeus and Poseidon divided the world between them, Hades took the Underworld. In fact, Hades was often referred to as the "rich one", because he posessed the riches of the earth.

Many parts of Christianity are taken from other, older religions, I'm not denying that in the slightest. But pick a better example next time.

Jx

Well you're right where he wasn't "cast down" but there was mutual hatred between the hatred definetly. Considering the 12 labors of Hercules..which is alot like Jesus's journey before reaching his place at the throne.Hades had a very loose friendship with Zeus and probably despised him.Zeus is the ruler of all other Gods..making him in the same rank as other "omni-gods" like Allah, Ya-weh(or however its spelt),Brahm, and the Christian God. So even though there are similarites you can't really say it's stolen. And, by the way, the link about the Babylonian God is bullshit

You forgot to mention zeus's parents, Rhea and Chronos. There were also other titans. I see where you made the connection, but it doesnt fit well enough with christianity.

quote:Originally posted by Phaint:

Well you're right where he wasn't "cast down" but there was mutual hatred between the hatred definetly. Considering the 12 labors of Hercules..which is alot like Jesus's journey before reaching his place at the throne.Hades had a very loose friendship with Zeus and probably despised him.Zeus is the ruler of all other Gods..making him in the same rank as other "omni-gods" like Allah, Ya-weh(or however its spelt),Brahm, and the Christian God. So even though there are similarites you can't really say it's stolen. And, by the way, the link about the Babylonian God is bullshit

And you say this why? not saying the whole thing is true but why do you say it isnt?

Oh yea and the god dyoneises (shit i dont how to spell his name) was the god of wine and merriment. it is said that at the marriage at Cana? he turned water into wine, sounds kinda like what jesus did at the last supper. Buddha sat under a tree for 40 days and 40 nights to gain enlightenment. what a coincidence jesus did that in the desert. when constantine came to power he changed up a lot of shit in the bible so that when he tried to convert the entire roman empire he took things from all sorts of pagan religions and applied them to what is now popular christian belief. not sure about the whole mithras thing, but i read that there was some pagan religion that worshiped the moon on the 25 because that was the winter solstice according to the celtic calendar. so he says well have that date symbolize jesus' birth. there are tons more examples that i dont feel like listing but you can look them up for youself.

quote:Originally posted by Phaint:

Originally posted by Jessic:

Zeus had a whole load more than one child. As far as I know, over thirty. There are also an awful lot of half God half human characters in ancient Greek mythology.

And Hades was not "cast down" from anywhere. When Hades, Zeus and Poseidon divided the world between them, Hades took the Underworld. In fact, Hades was often referred to as the "rich one", because he posessed the riches of the earth.

Many parts of Christianity are taken from other, older religions, I'm not denying that in the slightest. But pick a better example next time.

Jx

Well you're right where he wasn't "cast down" but there was mutual hatred between the hatred definetly. Considering the 12 labors of Hercules..which is alot like Jesus's journey before reaching his place at the throne.Hades had a very loose friendship with Zeus and probably despised him.Zeus is the ruler of all other Gods..making him in the same rank as other "omni-gods" like Allah, Ya-weh(or however its spelt),Brahm, and the Christian God. So even though there are similarites you can't really say it's stolen. And, by the way, the link about the Babylonian God is bullshit

I wouldn't put Zeus in the same category as Allah or The Brahman because those two are All Encompassing Ultimate Reality type Gods and Zeus was a Diety who lived on Mount Olympus and was not the Originator of Everything Nor the Reality in which everyone exists in.

quote:Originally posted by Phaint

And, by the way, the link about the Babylonian God is bullshit

You think there is something that must be more than coincidental about Christianity and Greek mythology, but you think the link I posted is bullshit?

What exactly did you find to be bullshit?

There are similarities between every religion. I'd like to be more helpful to this thread but the extent of my knowledge on Zeus, Hercules, etc is from a cartoon that was on like 5 years ago haha.

quote:Originally posted by Phaint:



Well you're right where he wasn't "cast down" but there was mutual hatred between the hatred definetly.

Could you explain what you mean by this?

quote:Considering the 12 labors of Hercules..which is alot like Jesus's journey before reaching his place at the throne.

You really can't compare Heracles and Jesus. Heracles did his 12 labours in repentance for killing his own children. When they were done he then continued his life, got married, and only died when his wife thought he was cheating on her and poisoned him. Only then was he given immortality by the gods.

quote:Hades had a very loose friendship with Zeus and probably despised him.

Probably? Nice to know you've got this theory well worked out.

The Greek gods did not get on. They were forever bitching and fighting and using mortals to get one up on each other. And as Hades was just another God, albeit one of the major three, it would hardly be an event if they didn't get along.

Anyway, I'm not aware of any major beef between Zeus and Hades (obviously, correct me if I'm wrong), and I think "despised" might be a tad strong.

quote:Zeus is the ruler of all other Gods..making him in the same rank as other "omni-gods" like Allah, Ya-weh(or however its spelt),Brahm, and the Christian God. So even though there are similarites you can't really say it's stolen. And, by the way, the link about the Babylonian God is bullshit

Zeus is not comparable to these Gods! Zeus was the son of Cronos and Rhea. Therefore, he was not the creator of the universe. He actually gained his role as the leader of the Gods by killing his father. Not to mention that he was not even vaguely omnipotent/omniscient. And that he married his sister. And his various rapes of and affairs with Goddesses, Nymphs, and mortals.

Please! Like I said in my earlier post. You're right that other, older religions have contributed to Christianity, but Ancient Greek? Bad example.

Jx

You would've had better luck comparing Babylonian God's found in the Old Testament, such as Baal and Zeus. The only connection you might be able to make is of paintings of God from Italy compared to statues of Zeus.

Here is what it takes to be like Zeus:

1. Being Born or Manifested in some way.

2. Conquering the others to become Chief.

3. Sexing a whole load of people and having kids.

4. Living in a certain place but having certain magical powers and abilities.

5. Typically seen as being in the image of man.

To be like Allah/The Brahman:

1. Must be existing forever, time is within, not without.

2. Must be imageless, formless, infinite, all encompassing Ultimate Reality.

3. Must be All Powerful in that everything is dependant on it and everything is made of it and existing by it and within it.

To be like Yaweh:

1. Never born.

2. All Powerful.

3. In the image of man.

4. Creator of everything.

5. Penchant for Revenge.

You might have had better luck comparing the God in the Rastafari belief system with Zeus or even the Mormon God, as the Rastafari God lives on Mount Zion, the Mormon God lives on the planet Kolob, and Zeus lives on Mount Olympus.

Yaweh had no father or mother and was never born but was God from the beginning of the Universe.

Ahura Mazda was God, fatherless and motherless, never born, but God from the beginning of the Universe.

Allah and The Brahman are what allow the Universe to exist and what the universe is within, they are Ultimate Reality All Encompassing but were also present prior to the expansion of this Universe though there was no beginning and there will be no end this expansion being one of an infinite number.

Yaweh is often humanized heavilly but I don't believe that was ever a deliberate intention, but rather a way in which one could find God's like Allah and the Brahman more accessible and easy to understand. Though Yaweh does as an idea have origins in relation to other God's of the time such as Baal whom Yaweh eventually defeats.

Baal was the Babylonian Chief God after he did battle with the heir to the Throne who had made a deal with the old Chief God. Baal and his story could possibly be a reflection of an ancient war between heirs which occured in Early Babylon or prior.

To say Zeus is like the Christian God and Hercules is like Jesus isn't as close as you could get.

You might have more like saying Jesus is like Mithra or Apollo.