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comparing and contrast creation myths
comparing and contrast creation myths
comparing and contrast creation myths
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Creation Myths
Who made who? Did God create humans or did humans create god? At first thought one
would of course say God created humans. Man cannot create god! What fool would dare say
such a thing! After all the definition of God says that it is the supreme being and the divine
creator, not the divine creation. So of course God created man, right? Or shall we dig a little
deeper into this question and examine it from the other side? Is God just a figment of mans
elaborate imagination? Could it be that God is a mythological tool used by man to manipulate the
mind to give explanations to the unexplainable? If this is true then humans created god.
Since the beginning of mankind, gods and goddesses have been attendant in all cultures all
over the world. In ancient times such as ancient Egypt man had numerous gods for
individual necessities. The Egyptians made sun, moon, rain, and fire gods in which they would
worship relentlessly in fear that the "Gods" would punish them by causing a drout, fire, or other
natural dis...
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis1:1.) God’s perfect wisdom created everything. In Genesis 1 and 2 we can see that God has loving and gentile nature when He created the earth and heavens. God created man in his image and we are the only creation that God breathed in the breath of life for human beings (Genesis 2:7). God did not do this for any of other creations but only for humans. The Bible has many scriptures that tell us how creative God is. Genesis 1;26 states “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created all of this for us to have fellowship with him.
The myths which prove the contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
From the time of early Greece and Rome, around 2500-500 BC, humans have considered religion to be not only an explanation of how life was created, but also a guide on how to live life. Initially, religion in Greece was centered around the poetry of Homer and Hesiod. Gods were thought to be of great multiplicity and each had a distinct personality which reflected the society of man. Their essence lacked uniformity, as portrayed
To start, physical features and behaviours are crucial to the representations of gods and goddesses. When believers pray for material or emotional gain, they must have something to pray to - a statue or item that can represent the god or goddess to whom they sent their prayers. Humans made these statues, and gave the gods and goddesses that the statues represented human physical and emotional characteristics, in order to explain natural disasters or occurrences. For example, when the sea was rough or when a ship sailed into jagged rocks, the sailors would pray to Poseidon (Greek), Neptune (Roman), or whoever was in charge of the ocean in their religion, and think that the god of the oceans was unsatisfied or displeased with something or someone, thus wreaking havoc on the Earth. Divine beings conducted themselves in a royal fashion, them supposedly in charge of various necessities of life. They did as they wished, for they were immortal, the only restrictions being that they may be punished by the supreme god, which in Greek mythology, is Zeus. To prove, in the myth about the creation of the world's animals, humans were created in the image of the gods, but lacked survival capabilities. Therefore, a Titan named Prometheus stole fire from Mou...
The idea of God is something that would not just come natural. It is not living ordinarily and just thinking of God. The idea of God as a whole must be created by God. If humans are finite, and God is infinite, how could one possible have the thought of such an infinite being.
Humans can think, feel, and reason which differentiate them from the rest of God’s creation. The ability to reason enables human beings to think and reflect on their own nature and the nature of God. The bible teaches us that God created man in his image and likeness. In the beginning of creation human nature was perfect because we were created by God. Genesis 1:31 describes Human beings were created very good by a loving God”. God created humans to operate their lives according to wisdom under God’s kingly reign (Diffey, 2014). God’s purpose in creating mankind was to work and serve (Genesis 2:15), and have dominion over earth (Genesis 1:26-28) The fall of Adam and Eve separated humanity from God and wisdom. This act plunged all of humanity into a history characterized by idolatry (Diffey, 2014), and is the root cause of all human
People of the ancient world often had questions about their existence and how life and people came to be on earth. Most ancient people answered these questions through religion. The Sumerians were the first important group of people to inhabit Mesopotamia and they were known to practice a form of worship called polytheism, which is the worship of several gods. Mesopotamians associated different gods with natural events, emotions, and other occurrences. Their main deities included An (the god of the heavens), Enlil (Lord Storm), Enki (god of wisdom), and Nihursaga (the mother of all living things)(p.22). The Mesopotamians believed that the gods controlled all of the events and occurrences in life. An ancient text called “Creation of Man by the Mother Goddess” (p.34) helps us understand how the M...
gods, each given a personality and purpose. And was the subject of many myths and legends that would be told for many generations to come. They were to become the basis for a religion that would last for hundreds of years and would yield thousands of followers to believe in the made stories of these enchanted people or gods as they were called.
According to a Christian worldview, life and mankind was created by God. Christians belief that the Bible is the word of God and therefore truth. The Bible states that God created the heavens and earth and everything on it “out of nothing”. (Weider & Gutierrez, 2013) When God saw that it was good, he also created mankind in His image. (Gen 1:25-27 NIV) (62)
The creation myths that I have studied are similar in many ways. They also have differences that show an inherently different way of thinking about the world. All have creators-gods that make the world into what is now. There are conflicts within their world, and these conflicts change the face world. God to god or human to god maybe be involved in these conflicts. Their bloody struggles prove who is more powerful, causing change in the control of the world. Some gods are beneficial to man and others are self-serving, using man only as a tool.
Throughout time each civilization has spread its folklore about their gods. Mythology is the collection of a societys myths and during older times mythology was thought to be created by the people who did not see the world like everyone else. Those people saw the world full of beautiful, magical possiblities. Many of the stories still hold an impact on the world today. Maybe not in the sense of worship, but people are intrigued to figure out the state of mind of the ancient people that once worshipped these gods. Some civilzations worshipped these gods in hope that they would help them in their daily lives. Most civilizations had gods for everything taht imacted their lives. Civilizations had gods that controlled the weather, the harvest, or
When the modern person ponders the formation of human beings, our mind automatically goes to Adam and Eve, whom were the first man and woman created by God according to the Book of Genesis. Before there was Adam and Eve, diverse cultures came up with myths about the construction of humans. These myths included: “The Song of Creation” from the Rig Veda, An African Creation Tale, From the Popol Vuh, and A Native American Creation Tale “How Man Was Created” Each one of these legends gives a diverse perspective on the creation of human beings.
...ed a part to him. First we see God as omnipotent then we see God asking where Adam and Eve are hiding (Not being omnipotent). With the creation of mankind God loses some part of his Godliness and he gains some humanity. God has a little human in himself and we have a little God in us. But the main point still is the same, God is the authority over man and will remain this way. I also feel that the God in the bible is truly no different than the Gods of Greece for example. The God of ancient Greece acted just like humans, the only difference was that they were immortal. The God of the bible seems to act just like humans, shows love, anger, regret, learns from mistakes and so forth. So in the end God shows flaws and learns from mistakes. God is like humans, maybe this is why we don?t understand God sometimes because we can?t understand other people and their actions.
Theory of the creation and for some, it is still a myth. However, Genesis introduces the God or Elohim in the Hebrew as the creator of the world, humans, and nature. The tree chapter mainly focuses on how God has created the heavens, earth, animals, and humankind.
After wisdom is turned on, a lot of people start thinking about human origins. Many great people have tried to explain the origin of human, they also proposed a variety of unusual ideas and explains, but most people are not accepted their idea. However, the first part of the Bible have a good explanation of the origin of human. There are two different theory about the origins of humanity in the Bible. God according to his own image to create a human, designed to allow humans to communicate with him, to respond to his love, and to serve as managing the affairs responsibilities.