They're not teachings per se, but they give a parallel account of things like Creation, the First Man (Adam), the Deluge, etc.
A great start would be to google "Enuma Elish", and "Adapa", they're my favourites.
God versus Satan
- Thread starter louis
- Start date
They're not teachings per se, but they give a parallel account of things like Creation, the First Man (Adam), the Deluge, etc.
A great start would be to google "Enuma Elish", and "Adapa", they're my favourites.
flowperson
Oannes
I believe that these mythologies can be accessed through the homepage of this website. Brian had the great foresight to provide us with much of the basic mythological information that we might need to become knowledgeable in the histories of religions.
flow....
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Saltmeister
The Dangerous Dinner
aburaees said:
I think I might have given the wrong impression here.
In my idea, God was still God, and the angels were still angels. God was still all-powerful and all-seeing, but had moral obligations.
I've done a search for the Sumerian creation epics, but I don't think their theology on angels matched those of Christianity, Judaism and Gnosticism.
When I said that angels were "potential gods" I meant that they had the status and role of "gods." I use the words "God" and "god" as titles for transcendent beings that have tremendous power. So I wasn't suggesting anything like the Sumerian and Babylonian creationist theories.
I was also using the term "gods" as "possessors" of human beings. Each "god" is in control of a spiritual kingdom, which may be either visible (easily detectable and observable in this world through politics, ceremony, doctrines and rituals) or covert (only known personally through a person's heart and soul).
So the God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is engaged in a struggle to re-acquire "possession" (as in ownership not mind control) of the hearts and minds of human beings, in competition with other agents, like the angels He personally created. So, in a sense, God is in a struggle against His own creations. What God created has rebelled against Him. Creation has rebelled against Creator and God simply wants to claim back what is rightfully His own. God certainly has immense power, but He has moral and ethical obligations to use that power appropriately. He's restricted by the ethics of dealing with His own creation.
It's just like us. What happens when we create computer-controlled robots that think . . . like us? Will they have rights? What are the ethical issues involved in dealing with intelligent agents that we create? Will they be our slaves? Will they be willing servants? Will they love us? Die for us? Give their lives for us? Or will they seek their own identity just as we seek our own separate identity from God? Methinks God faces the same dilemma.
Suppose you're the CEO of a company that manufactures these futuristic robots. Who are the "creator gods" of these robots? You and your colleagues, who designed the robots, are the "gods" of these robots. Their identity is attached to and defined by the company that created them. You are the "possessor" of these robots. They are your brainchild. There may be other companies that also design and manufacture robots. These companies are the "gods" of whatever robots they manufacture.
In the Abrahamic faiths, there is one Creator -- God. But God created angels as potential "possessors" of creations of a lower-order -- human beings -- the possessed. The angels were supposed to be guardians of human beings (the guided/guarded), but some of them become possessive and wanted to claim some human beings for themselves (ie. Satan). Human beings receive their identities from transcendent beings. Our identities are determined by our possessors/guardians. Our possessor/guardian is either God or an angel that He created. That was the idea.
flowperson
Oannes
Saltmeister:
You have cut to the heart of the matter. When precise and animated simulations of life are created, what does that make us ? Isaac Azimov, as I mentioned elsewhere here this am, had a lot to say on the subject.
The Sumerian and Babylonian mythology boiled down to the concept of G-d as "the people". What did that concept make them ?
Kubrick's last film made in consort with S. Speilberg, AI-Artificial Intelligence, brings a lot of human understanding to the subject for me. Centennial Man wasn't bad either. Cultural phenomena, such as these two films, will probably do more to determine human attitudes in this area than scripture can/will.
It's just the way that things are in the 21st century. I've always believed that the greatest dilemma for humans in the coming century will be to determine the real as opposed to the artificial. At some point discernment will become impossible and the differences are bound to disappear based upon past experiences I believe. Is flying in an airplane something artificial or is it something real ? Of course it's real to people who are familiar with how airplanes were created and how the industry has developed. But what might an escapee from the 17th century believe if he were to come to our world ? It's all a matter of perspective IMO.
flow....
You have cut to the heart of the matter. When precise and animated simulations of life are created, what does that make us ? Isaac Azimov, as I mentioned elsewhere here this am, had a lot to say on the subject.
The Sumerian and Babylonian mythology boiled down to the concept of G-d as "the people". What did that concept make them ?
Kubrick's last film made in consort with S. Speilberg, AI-Artificial Intelligence, brings a lot of human understanding to the subject for me. Centennial Man wasn't bad either. Cultural phenomena, such as these two films, will probably do more to determine human attitudes in this area than scripture can/will.
It's just the way that things are in the 21st century. I've always believed that the greatest dilemma for humans in the coming century will be to determine the real as opposed to the artificial. At some point discernment will become impossible and the differences are bound to disappear based upon past experiences I believe. Is flying in an airplane something artificial or is it something real ? Of course it's real to people who are familiar with how airplanes were created and how the industry has developed. But what might an escapee from the 17th century believe if he were to come to our world ? It's all a matter of perspective IMO.
flow....