A thought about ancient gods and Jesus, which came first?

Question

In an answer one wrote: "Did you know that your jesus is just a rehash of earlier, cooler gods?"

My question is this: Given that God exists (allow me this "fact" though you might not agree) and is good, would it not be logical for an evil being existing that would counter his plans? I say yes it is and the Devil is it. If that is the case, wouldn't it be logical for Satan, who knows God's plans, to provide the very "gods" mentioned in the above quote?

Eldritch--If God doesn't exist, why would Jesus? Your illogic is showing.

Answer 1

Definitely... the chicken....

Answer 2

When mankind first became sapient eons ago, he could not understand the world. To help him explain those things he did not understand, Man created Gods.

Most ancient societies had their own Gods. Usually a "Sun" God, an "Earth-Mother" God, a "Moon" God, a "Fire" God, a "Water" God and of course a "Death" God.

The Ancient Egyptions - builders of the pyramids had these Gods. The Phoenecians, The Norse, The Greeks and The Romans. All ancient civilizations.

Remember that the Egyption civilization went on for thousands of years. During it's later part, the Judeo/Jewish Faith came along. Their faith was based on the theory that there was only One true God - Jehovah. Anyone who did not believe in the One God was a pagan.

Read the Old Testament of the Bible, that is the common book between the Jewish faith and the Christian faith. It is the basis or their faiths.

Then about 2000 years ago a man named Jesus of Nazareth came along. He claimed to be the messiah that was foretold in the Old Testament. He preached to the people of Israel and created quite a following.

We know the rest of his story - he was cruicified, resurrected, he died to save the Christians from their sins.

His apostles wrote their gospels. They were gathered together into what we call today the New Testament of the Bible.

In the Judeo-Christian Bible, Satan is mentioned throughout the books; more as someone who tempts you away from your task at hand, or the goal you are trying to reach.

Now to your question and your comments -

1) You ask about Ancient Gods and Jesus - which came first?

The Ancient Gods came first. Why do I say that? The ancient Gods have been around since Mankind first became aware that he had intelligence - a few hundred thousand years ago. Jesus didn't appear on the scene until about 2000 years ago.


2) Did you know that your Jesus is just a rehash of earlier, cooler Gods?

Jesus is not a rehash of earlier Gods. Jesus was an actual man who existed in Israel 2000 years ago. How do we know this? We have a written record in the Bible's New Testament. We have Roman Documents showing that there was a Roman named Pontius Pilate in charge of Israel about the time of Jesus. That there was a King Herod, a puppet-king of Israel at that time. If those records corobberate names, I'd say that ensures that Jesus the man, did in fact exist.

3) Is there an Evil Devil to counter a Good God? (I'm paraphrasing here).

In my opinion, no. I don't think there is a devil. I think man created the devil to explain the evil that man himself can create - to explain why man can be so easily tempted away from his tasks - by greed, lust and all that.

There are many religions on this world today. Each religion does have something in common - that God is love. That mankind should strive for peace and inner harmony, and that we should love one and other.

It's the fringes of each religion that corrupts what each one believes in. They change the meanings into something else. Something so greivious as to impose harm on others.

Also, some churches, mosques, synogogues - also preach different meanings of the so called "word of God".

For example, some Christian Churches preach Hell and Damnation - that you're gonna go to hell for your Sins.

Some Imams in mosques preach Death to the infidels.

And some Synagogues preach Death to the Arabs.

In my opinion, they all corrupt the "Word of God".

To me, the Word of God is LOVE, PEACE and HARMONY. Not Death and Damnation.

In closing, I want to say that it was Man that created GOD in his image. And God that created the rules of life that Man should follow - Peace, Love and Harmony.

Ken

Answer 3

First, it is an historical fact that many "Christian" ideas are based on older belief systems. Even the date of Christmas, December 25, is based on earlier observances of the winter solstice. People saw the days getting shorter and shorter. Nights getting longer and longer. The Sun would rise and set each day further and further south. It's height in the sky at noon would get lower and lower. (It wouldn't climb as high). People thought, "Oh no! This can't be good!" so their priests and astronomer/astrologers created holidays near the solstice, or near the day when the sun finally started it's northward journey to mark the occassions. Read the Bible, and you'll find that all hints point to Jesus being born in the spring. Probably March or April. So, even the Bible supports this. There are many examples like this throughout the Bible and throughout Christianity. Including eating the wafer and drinking wine, baptism, coming back to life after dying and Easter. Many features of Christianity are based on earlier belief systems.

The Bible also says that the Devil and all devils fit into the master plan of God. Read Faust to get an idea of what that means. Or the Book of Job. So, even from a Christian viewpoint, your argument doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

Answer 4

Hmmm...a question based on an assumption based on another assumption based on another assumption. How useful.

OK, lets work on the assumption that God exists. I'll give you that one, just for the heck of it.

Next, you want us to assume that he is all good. This covers a portion of Christianity, but not nearly all of it. If God is everything and created everything, then non-good things come from God too. But let's take your generalization and go with it.

Next you suggest that an all-good deity requires an evil being that would counter his plans. What fuels that leap of logic? Why couldn't good exist on its own? In fact, if God created all things, then presumably there was a time when he was around and Satan wasn't, thus muddling the requirement for an evil being to exist.

Also, if Satan's existance is required, wouldn't he be required to be God's equal? I mean, seriously, what mechanism says if there is good there must be evil, but the evil must be less than the good? That's totally arbitrary. Yet surely you would not say that Satan is equal to God: that would make Satan a god himself, which any denomination would call incorrect or a heresy.

Oh, and then another assumption: Satan knows God's plans? How did that happen? Does Satan ahve the power to read God's mind? Again, heresy.

And then the final question about it being logical for Satan to create other gods. Sure, I guess that's one way Satan could hatch his nefarious plot, but how can you say that's the most logical plan? What are you basing your "logical" conclusions on besides whim? I think it would be just as logical for Satan to go around doing bad things and then pointing at God and saying "he did it."

I'm sorry someone told you that pagan gods are cooler than your deity. That was rude and childish. But your hop skip and jump "logic" to justify your position is absurd. At best, your question asks "if I make up a half dozen points, doesn't my conclusion sound logical?"

Answer 5

Sure, if any of it was true.

Now, given that god doesn't exist (allow me this "fact"), wouldn't it make sense that Jesus is merely an amalgamation of previous deities?

Edit:
I'm sorry, but did you actually read what I wrote?

I mean, by your last statement, you're assuming I:
A.) don't believe in your God, but...
B.) do believe in other deities.

Allow me to spell it out for you. God doesn't exist. No other deities exist. The IDEA of Jesus (or the divine aspects ascribed to him) was cobbled together from previous MYTHS that were present at the time the stories about him were written. I.E. Mithras, Hercules, Osiris, Ahura Mazda... etc.

Next time you want to get into an argument about logic, try to take an extra 5 seconds to examine the stance of the person you're attempting to refute.

Answer 6

If this is the case, why would God allow it -- to confuse people? The fact is that the story of creation, Jesus, and many other stories in the Bible are repeats of earlier stories, Gods, myths and teachings that pre-date Christianity. There is just no getting around it. This is a true fact and our Christian friends are trying desperatly to rationalize it away.

Answer 7

Jesus was first. In Genesis 1:1, if one digs a little into the original texts, the rendering would be "and Elohim said, let us make man in our own image". Elohim is plural, not singular in it's usage to describe God.
Satan, or the Devil is a created being, he is no where near equal to God, or Jesus, in any way. Satan, or the Devil and his fellow angels who revolted against God are the source of these gods this other person relates to, even though that person might deny that the other gods are merely created beings who posture themselves to be the equal of God, but are not.

Answer 8

Ok, hear me out here.

What if, for some people, believing this way caused them to be more united with the creative force of the universe. What if Christianity cause some others to be destructive (i.e. Judgmental, which the bible says is supposed to be Gods job anyways)? Who would be working for the devil then?

Answer 9

There are NO earlier Gods, God is the Alpha And The Omega. He existed before the beginning!
First of all the is ONLY ONE GOD, all others are false and non-existent, just stone. Satan is a DECEIVER & LIAR! SATAN knows his time is limited, before GOD casts him into the Lake of Fire!

Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Answer 10

That's a slippery slope.
In the Bible one of the 10 Commandments is: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." There is not a Commandment that states that we cannot believe that other gods exist.
Satan is not a god, anyway---he's a fallen angel, and cannot create anything, only destroy things that God has created.
However, I disagree that Jesus is a rehash of anybody. Some Christian holidays do have Pagan roots, but Jesus existed, and did not call himself God, but rather he called himself the Son of Humanity.

Answer 11

Given that your God exists (nearly swallowed my false teeth then) then remember that your religion is the only religion to have a Devil...
Don't you find that a bit odd ???
Oh yes the Koran has something similar, but the Koran was taken from both Jewish and Christian mythology....
Blessed Be... )O(