Through out the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus sees the Gods as tangible sources of divinity. However the modern world does not recognize Greek mythology as a religion. This allows the Odyssey to be looked at in a different way. During the course of his journey, Odysseus encounters Poseidon and Athena numerous times, each time resulting in either a misfortune or guidance. Looking at these events from a non-religious perspective the gods can be seen as symbols of Odysseus’ personality.
''A belief in miracles leads to the concept of a God who favours some but not all of his creation'' Discuss. The argument that a belief in miracles leads to an arbitrary and partisan God is from Maurice Wiles, who states that the existence of miracles leads to the assumption that God is not just. This is because, using the example of Moses parting the red sea, he favours the Israelites over the Egyptians due to the fact that Moses has a relationship with God. A more modern example could be the fact that no miracle stopped the killing of millions of Jews in Auschwitz, whilst some miracles in the bible - such as Jesus walking on water - seem trivial in comparison. Therefore, Wiles comes to the conclusion that God's goodness and the concept of miracles are two incompatible ideas.
CHRISTIANITY VS. JUDAISM Christianity and Judaism are religions that are each very unique. Although they both have plenty of differences, they also have similarities. In fact they probably have more in common than some of the other major religions in the world, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. Although both Christians and Jews believe God to be their creator and controller; Judaism has no founder, as opposed to Christianity whose founder was Jesus Christ. In Christianity it is believed that Jesus Christ was the savior to all humanity and was sent to Earth by his father (God) to pay for the sins of all mankind.
A God is expected to be responsible and someone who is well respected. It is hard to respect a God that acts like they are part of the human race. Comparing the two stories it is hard for one not to see that the book of Genesis is more realistic and believable then the “Epic of Gilgamesh.” Even though it is believed that the book of Genesis took its flood story from Gilgamesh’s story, seeing the realistic views of each stories may make one think it is the other way
Even though Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were similar they also showed many differences. Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt in the period of antiquity shared their similarities and their differences. Despite war and trade they did not imitate each other much. While Egypt emphasized strong central authority, whereas Mesopotamian politics shifted more often over a substructure of regional city-states. Since Egypt emphasized a strong unified kingdom, Egypt had a large bureaucracy, run by pharaohs who were worshiped as gods.
Mesopotamia was also divided into city-states. The religions of the Nile River Valley and the Tigris and Euphrates River valley were very different. The Egyptians worshiped their gods and thought that they brought them good things while the Mesopotamians feared their gods and thought that they caused storms when they were angry. The Nile River Valley and the Tigris and Euphrates River valley both had similar governments and ways to divide their country but when it came to religion they both had very different approaches. Both of the river valley civilizations had an absolute monarch but the Nile had a Theocracy while the Mesopotamians had a Monarchy.
“So where does this leave thee philosophers, the scholars and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:20-21 New living Translation). In the following verses it is stated that God saw in his wisdom that the world would never know him through human wisdom. Human wisdom is limited, because its bases off of prior knowledge and instinct, the wisdom of the world from philosophers, scholars, Greeks, Jews, and Gentiles is foolish to God.
Their nature was often vague, and references to them are fraught with ambiguity about number, attributes, and even gender. Some of the leading gods were eventually equated with major deities of the Greeks and Romans, as may be seen especially from the labeled representations on Etruscan mirrors. Tin or Tinia was equivalent to Zeus/Jupiter, Uni to Hera/Juno, Sethlans to Hephaestus/Vulcan, Turms to Hermes/Mercury, Turan to Aphrodite/Venus, and Menrva to Athena/ Minerva. But their character and mythology often differed sharply from that of their Greek counterparts. Menrva, for example, an immensely popular deity, was regarded as a sponsor of marriage and childbirth, in contrast to the virgin Athena, who was much more concerned with the affairs of males.
When people consider gods they automatically think of almighty, honorable, and immortal beings. They are usually associated with confident and self-assured figures in religion, but in reality they have their own doubts. Homer’s The Odyssey shows an example of doubtful gods and goddesses that make themselves feel better by seeing the destruction of others. Because of the gods wrath, people have horrible lives. Yet even if they have unbelievably amazing powers and immortality, the gods have self-esteem issues.
Scientists as well as common people doubt the Bible when it comes to Noah’s Ark. They do not believe it to be possible for the Ark to have fit two of every kind as God had asked. If all of the species we have found and those that are