| This seems to be an age-old question. I'm only 36 years old, yet I feel I have
answered this for myself. Darwin was searching for truth the only way he knew how in
his time. The problem I have with Creationism is the 2000 year-old Earth rhetoric.
Geological studies have proven in the past that the earth is millions of years old.
The Creationistic view (needless to say) is limited and very closed-minded.
I am a person with a very open mind. I'm not doubting that there was maybe a flood.
There are a lot of diverse peoples from all over the world that have it as part of
their belief system. So be it. What I'm having a hard time with is the whole idea of
Christianity being the "next step" to becoming a "civilized" people.
I have read more books on indigenous peoples and their individual belief systems to know that if a society has a belief system in place that keeps order among the
various tribes and families, who am I to go into their territory to tell them they
have to believe what I do or they're lower than me?
Some of the Creation stories in the Native American peoples are far more interesting
than the one the Christians have come up with. One tells of a pregnant woman
floating to Earth on the back of large turtle, or maybe a raven, her children, a boy
and a girl populate the region and are seen as sacred.
Another has people coming up from the middle Earth and living on the top after
thousands of years in exile undergorund.
I am more spiritual now in my life and I am learning towards the teachings of
Buddha. My father practiced Buddha when I was growing up. He was particularly taken
with the Samaurai of Japan.
Anyway, to say that any one Creation story is to be believed over another is silly.
To borrow from a line in "White Fang 2", Moses Josph is teling Leland the "preacher"
about the sacred caribou and how the legend of the white wolf came about. Leland
scoffs and tells him he believes in mere stories. Moses points to the Bible Leland
is holding as if to say, "You have yours, and we have ours." Thank you, Zoe... |
| Response
to the question: "How
are the ancient gods like us, and why?" |
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name:
Ramon Balane Jr.
age:
12
city:
Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin
country:
United
States of America
answer:
the ancient Gods are like us because like all
human beings, each God had some strengths and
some weaknesses.
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name:
Ramon Balane Jr.
age:
15
city:
Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin
country:
United States of America
answer:
It is a very ironical explanation as to why
the ancient Gods are like us. First of all,
the Gods were actually created in the images
of human beings, rather than human beings created
in the images of the Gods. Human beings saw
what they lacked in themselves and decided to
make up myths about stronger and powerful dieties
that lacked these weaknesses and harnessed strengths
that were unparallel to the capabilities of
humans. They told stories about Gods that were
able to accomplish great things, but also had
some weaknesses that each humans possess.
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| Response
to the question: "We see similar elements
in many cultures' stories of creation - floods,
parents who need to be separated, a mother earth,
several generations of humans - how can you explain
that these themes repeat themselves all over the
world?" |
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name:
Misty Monreal
age:
29
city:
Colorado Springs
country:
USA
answer: As a teacher of Mythology, I believe
that the people who were created, and those
who were present during the great flood passed
down the events orally and like the children's
game "Telephone," as the original
accounts of these events were passed along and
tribes of people split apart, variations and
interpretations begin to appear. Over thousands
of years, these became tailored to the region,
the people, and the diety beliefs adopted. However,
the stories of creation and floods still contain
the original motifs because they all started
out from one source. The idea of a mother earth
ties in the the fertility of a woman's womb.
The earth gives birth to life. This connection
is evident in numerous cultures, even patriarchal
ones.
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name:
Michael McCrae
age: 50
city: Albion, New Jersey
country: United States of America
answer: As the sons of Noah began to multiply,
they each carried with them their grandfather's
story of the creation. Upon the fall of the
Tower of Babel, these stories were carried by
the different language groups to the four corners
of the earth. Very simple explanation in fact.
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name:
HAVA
age: 22
city: BEER SHEVA
country: ISRAEL
answer: PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD NEEDED
TO EXPRESS THE PHENOMENON THAT WE HAVE IN LIFE,
LIKE THE EARTH THE SUN THE MOON . IF WE HAVE
WAR IN THE GREEK MYTHOLOGY IT IS REPRESENTED
BY ARTEMIS THE GODESS OF WAR AND HUNTING, ATHENA,
THE GODESS OF WISDOM AND WAR, AND WE ALSO HAVE
GODESS WHO REPRESENT FIRE CALLED HEFISTUS AND
HERA SHE PROTECTS THE MARRIED WOMEN
SHE ALSO REPRESENTS ENVY.
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name:
Kaye Hepburn
In the process of research for a presentation
I visited your site. It is an excellent teaching
tool. I recently completed a BA-Theology (at 45
yrs) and interested in the teachings of varied
cultures of the world, that we understand as religions.
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name:
Daniel
I'm sure you get this all the time, but the
Old Testament Creation Story is by no means accurate
at all. You totally begin to take creative liberities
with the story by day 6. The bible clearly states
that God created "man (there is no mention
of the name Adam at this point) in his own image,
in the image of God created he him; male and female
created he them" not Adam on the sixth day.
God does not call upon his creations to rest on
the 7th day at this point because there is no
work for them at this point, because they are
still in Paradise. God does not turn the earth
against man (named Adam by this point) until after
Adam and Eve have sinned. Also nowhere is there
anything about apples mentioned in the creation
story, it says "tree of the knowledge of
good and evil". Don't allow popular culture
to taint your otherwise wonderful site. Those
obvious errors in your OT Creation Story translation
makes me wonder if you have taken other librties
in other less known creation stories. You
still have a cool site though. Thanks.
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name:
Djamila
age: 20
city: petite ville
country: france
answer:
I'm going to try in English... beside religions,
I think that there is psychology. Floods can
be linked with the mother and her pregnancy
(the "water"in her belly). As for
the seperation from parents, there is also a
psychological answer. The fact of leaving them,
in every part of the world, and the fact of
living by our own means, is synonymous with
becoming real adults, however old we are. Some
people living with their parents at the age
of 26 can be considered as children, while some
"teenagers" we may say, who left their
home at the age of 16 can be called adults when
they manage by themselves. The mother Earth,
the fact that the Earth is seen as a "she",
a mother, is the most reassuring definition
of the planet ever given. Indeed, we are always
on Earth and, psychologically speaking, we always
have a mother with us, our universality, our
human side. WE ALL HAVE A MOTHER. WE ALL ARE
HUMAN BEINGS. This psychological interpretation
doesn't contradict the diverse!
religious views (I do believe in God). The point
here is why we have the same pattern. We are
not asking if these statements are true are
false, we try to define why, in different part
of the world, in such diverse peoples as the
monotheists, the polytheists and the atheists,
we have the same elements. At this level, psychology
intervene. I apologize for my poor English and
hope that it was clear enough.Thank you for
having read till the end!
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name:
Hugo Blasdel
age:
57
city:
Washington DC
country:
USA
answer:
I am very sorry to hear that the material will
go off line since being on line makes it available
when and where the need originates. In
answer to your question the human experience
has much in common, both social and natural
disasters, generations of humans, and the need
to tell stories which make sense of the distinction
between us and the creatures around us. While
all life follows the generic heuristic (try
again as long as able), we remember and generalize
from our experience, sharing that generalization
first in story, and evolving at the level of
story (idea), as well as copied behavior, reflex,
and genome.
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