i'm a bit late on this one, but i'm gonna have to side with More&Faster on this one. i'm pretty sure definition 4 under mythology from webster's fit's perfectly.

Main Entry: my·thol·o·gy
Pronunciation: mi-'thä-l&-jE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -gies
Etymology: French or Late Latin; French mythologie, from Late Latin mythologia interpretation of myths, from Greek, legend, myth, from mythologein to relate myths, from mythos + logos speech -- more at LEGEND
1 : an allegorical narrative
2 : a body of myths : as a : the myths dealing with the gods, demigods, and legendary heroes of a particular people b : MYTHOS 2 <cold war mythology>
3 : a branch of knowledge that deals with myth
4 : a popular belief or assumption that has grown up around someone or something <defective mythologies that ignore masculine depth of feeling -- Robert Bly>

edit: page 3 ownerages

 

about the whole jesus being based on a mythoglogical character (i've heard hercules, bacchus, etc), i put no money into. although i do believe that jesus' life was misconstrued, any correlations between him and any gk/roman gods would be accidental, although they might have been pushed so that the roman culture could embrace him more as a god.


and george, you're on the right track on constantine. he truly was no saint. i've heard several times he refused communion (but what can we prove?) but in all honesty all he did was back the winning horse. unless i am utterly mistaken, he compiled the gospels that are in the bible today. whats that you say? there are more? ah yes, there are, and they are quite interesting to read. any that did not elevate jesus to the son of god were eliminated. if anyone's interested, you can check out the gnostic gospels, which are some of the eliminated gospels. they give a completely different view of jesus IMO, and they are actually a little less dull to read than most of the new testament.

i'm gonna try and stay out of this, but i'll give random comments on what i know and not argue.

 

constantine converted on his death bed. In fact, earlier in his reign, he employed anti-christian terror at least once.

 

isn't that pentacostal? I'm sorry, i jdon't know specifics about christianity and the different religious views.

as far as the dicussion on god being mad made, i've talked to a lot of christian people, who are all very wonderful people, but when they talk about god being the supreme being, it doesn't sound right to me. More like, the idolizing of something for security.

One arguement i've brought up numerous times with my christian friends is things not found in the bible which can be proven today. Such as, Dinosaurs. If in fact the bible is always being written- to educate future generations, why did the dinosaurs get left out? What about cavemen? They existed, we've found physical proof that things like this exsisted, but i've only seen speculated truths about jesus actually walking on earth. Maybe i am ignornant and haven't read enough to find out if in fact jesus really was a human with extrodinary powers? I saw one time on discovery that they possibly found Noah's ark, which would be impossible. The wood used would have rotted away into nothing, unless they found it in a polar ice cap for preservation.

I've said it before, I'm Buddhist, and I'm very proud of my "religion." If you would even call it a religion, it's more of a guide for life (and to christian's the bible would be the same thing right?) I follow the eight-fold path, which is the equivolent of the 10 commandements. To me it makes more sense to take responsibility for your actions, your life, than to push faith into an unseen person; entity.

Tho i've only followed Buddhism for about 8 months, I feel like it has made me a better person, and from that, i'm more openminded about issues. I'm not degrading your religion, as i am very proud it works for you. I truelly believe whatever makes you happy, and instills good values and life skills is what you should believe. I don't however like it when other people from different religions push forward thier beliefs on me and expect me to convert. Then proceede to tell me I am wrong for what I believe in. Which nobody has done in this thread (that I really saw) so i guess I want to say, this thread has been a really informative thread, and actually shed light on a lot of misconeptions I had about god and christianity in general.

It's just really nice to come to the board when i've been away for so long and not see people attacking each other for being different.

(((hugs everyone))

 

Essentially, people accept the bible on faith.

The Jewish interpretation of why the bible (at least the portion that is shared between Judaism and Christianity) doesn't mention things like dinosaurs or the Big Bang is because even though the bible is "the word of G-d" it had to be written down by people and thus put into terms they would understand. I mean 2000 to 4000 years ago humans didn't exactly have an understanding of paleontology or physics.

Another theory which this Jewish physicist guy actually presents a lot of mathematical evidence for is that since G-d is a being external to the universe, the rate at which it was/is expanding called the theory of relativity into play and that would make the period of time in which the original stuff mentioned in the bible happened look like only a week to an external observer.

My observations of Christianity is that it tends to put a lot more into adherence to the actual words in the bible regardless of science, instead of trying to reconcile the two.

 

ok, i think i understand now. Basically god would be on an entirely seperate energy level than the rest of the universe, despite the bible saying he created everything and so and and so forth?

Oh Another thing... Adam and Eve... If it only started with two people, that god created, how did the rest of the world come about? Did god create more people to populate or are we all a product of biblical incest? thats another thing that I really didn't understand.. but i think i understand the dinasaur/cavemen thing

 

It'd kind of be impossible for all of us to be directly descended from Adam and Eve since they had no female children which meant that their kids would have had to impregnate Eve and there sure ain't no mention of that in the bible.

I'm not sure on this one but when they were cast out of the Garden of Eden they went and lived with the rest of the people.

 

but i thought adam and eve were the start of the world? I've read genesis, and thats about all i read... from what i think i understood was, god created adam and eve as the first humans, because god took a rib from adam to make eve...i just don't understand where everybody else came from

 

refer to Genesis chapter 5 verses 2-5

he did have daughters

 

genesis chapter 5