[Fyron]

QuarianRex :

I am quite aware of the definition of mythology. Myths do not necessarily define the morals of a culture. They explain cultural practices and natural phenomena. Morality may or may not be associated with them.

A mythology does indeed relate the moral values of a culture.

You seem to be saying that the only moral basis of a culture (particularly an ancient one) is myth.

That is not at all what I said. In fact, that does not even follow from what I said in any way.

The leaders themselves were guided by religious beliefs though and perhaps that is something that you are not comfortable with.

I fail to see the purpose of saying such a thing. All religious mythology was written by religious people. Care to enumerate?

Comparing the bible to the odyssey is just an attempt to minimise the bible, nothing more.

I was doing no such thing. You are again grossly misinterpreting my statements. If you want to compare the Odyssey to something, it would be one of the books of the Bible, not the entire Bible.

The odyssey is a literary construct showing the heroes journey through a supernatural landscape that required the heroes to stab cyclops in the eye and resist the unnatural lures of the siren (IIRC). The more fantastical elements of the bible are, for the most part, limited to visions by various prophets and environmental effects attributed to god.

Oh really? Samson? David and Goliath? Jonah and the whale? These are fantastical tales just the same as those in the Odyssey, and they serve the exact same role within each culture.

The Odyssey is, for the most part, visions by various ancient Greek prophets and environmental effects attributed to the Greek gods. If you would stop being so provincial, you could see that both the Odyssey and the books of the Bible serve the exact same role for these different cultures. The Odyssey (and many other Greek myths) taught the Greek value system to the Greeks. The Bible teaches the Christian value system to Christians.

Both of which are well within the realms of modern comprehension and acceptance.

...and within the realms of ancient comprehension and acceptance. What is your point?

Also, the bible (again, for the most part) is meant to be taken literally, and so does not really qualify as myth.

All religious writings/tales are meant to be taken just as literally as the Bible. Maybe you need to learn more about other cultures. Well... the Bible was written in a language steeped with metaphor, and was not actually meant to be taken wholely literally. That is just an error made by people that speak a literal language.

Your implication that the bible is merely a collection of 'tales' minimizes any historical import that it may have and tries to force it into a Category of literature to which it does not belong.

I would greatly appreciate it if you started reading what I posted, and not what you want me to have posted.

The Bible is indeed a collection of stories. So what? That is the entire purpose of the Bible: to be a collection of stories to help guide you to develop "proper" morals. That does not do anything to minimize any impact. In fact, that is the impact it has had. I have not forced it into any literary categories where it does not belong; I have merely stated the correct Category where it belongs, religious mythological works.

Basically, your error here is a common one of arrogance. Because you believe the Bible, and not other religious works, you refuse to see that the Bible is mythology, just like the Odyssey, the Koran, etc. You have wrongly associated the term with meaning falsehood, because you believe that other religious works are false. You have attempted to belittle them and isolate the work you believe from them to make it unique. Irregardless of any arguments about the veracity of the Bible, it is most certainly not in a separate Category as other religious works; they are all mythology. The term mythology has nothing to do with falsehood.

Alpha Kodiak:

Actually, what I am about to post is not some grand proof of Christian theology, and will probably not convince you of anything much, but it is the story of how I came to be where I am in my spiritual walk.

This is fine. In fact, this is infinitely better than ignoring my query, which a lot of people have done so far.

So essentially, you believe what you believe because that is what you were taught to believe. That might work for you, but not for me. I could go into a long schpiel about how wrong that is, but it would definitely fail to convince you of anything, so I won't at this juncture. That, and I must leave now for hours of riveting classes.

[ March 11, 2003, 20:21: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]