Biblical myths?

WoodNymph

New Member
Many of the stories found in the Bible are also found in other religious texts. For instance, most religions have a creation story, a flood story, a story where a weakling beats the hero, a prediction for the end of the world. Would these be considered "myths"? What makes a story a myth, anyway?
 

Quentin Woolery

New Member
Isn't it interesting that so many different cultures have the same themes? Makes you wonder if the tales are truth and not fiction, doesn't it. I love reading things like this.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
There is no one satisfactory definition for myth that will make everybody happy.
Personally, I see myths as stories that may or may not accompany a religion or ritual. In the case
of the Bible, I believe there is both myth and dogma. Dogma is considered as truth based on faith. Myths are stories that, although not
literally true, may have allegorical meaning. So if you are a Christian fundamentalist, then the Bible has no myths: it is all true.
If you are of a more liberal persuasion, then the Bible has some myths, such as Noah's flood and the serpent in the garden. But
you may see Jesus as the living God, and therefore dogma, not myth.
If you are a nonbeliever(like myself), then the Bible is a collection mostly of Jewish mythology.
It is wrong for people to say that myths are mainly "dead" religions, because the myths are still relevant today even
though people stopped worshipping Zeus. And modern religions have there mythologies. I'm sure
many modern Hindus don't literally believe in all of the myths that are in Indian mythology.
But the stories still have strong symbolic meanings.
One way a myth can be distinguished from any old story is that a myth usually is very old and is part of the traditional corpus
of stories of a given culture. They usually involve bigger than life figures such as gods and heroes.
But there are many other theories as to what makes a myth a myth.
 

RLynn

Active Member
It is only natural that legends come to be associated with important historical figures, such as George Washington (the cherry tree incident), and Isaac Newton (the apple tree). The further back in history we go, the more fanciful the legends become, and the reality of the characters to whom the legends are attached become less certain. For example, Moses, David, and Jesus may (or may not) have been real people, but they were so highly venerated that they became the subject of extremely fanciful tales. Jesus is said to have been able to walk on water, change water into wine, and even rise from the dead. In my opinion, interpreting these stories as literal truth misses the point. For example, Jesus (whether real or not) was granted supernatural powers by storytellers as a tribute to his spiritual greatness.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
The Religion historian Mercia Eliade made a point of telling his readers that legends collect around factual stories fairly quicky.
His The Myth of the Eternal Return is worth reading for any mythologist.
 

NothingToFear

New Member
LegendofJoe-what a wonderful explanation! Thank you for taking the time to share your views.

The fact that so many creation stories and faith systems share so many elements is the only reason that I have even the slightest doubt that maybe, just maybe there is a higher being. I am basically atheist though, and feel that the reason that the myths are all so alike is the fact that they were simply built upon one another, as a case of oral history.
 

Goddess2u

Member
Do you guys believe in the Nephlim? This is what I consider a Biblical Myth. Angels mated with humans and procreated half human, half angel children that grew up and if this is true then they should still be among us.
 

RLynn

Active Member
The Nephilim are no more far fetched than the Holy Ghost impregnating Mary. The term 'Son of God' may have been a euphemism for someone conceived out of wedlock.
 

Libros

Member
No I don't believe in Nephilim any more than the half-mortal Greek heroes. And I don't believe many people in contemporary Greece think they are genetically descended from the Olympians because of these heroes. Until we're able to properly track the DNA of spiritual figures, I won't believe it. But I doubt that we'll ever be able to discover such genes.

Comparative mythology is a wonderful way of looking at these stories, but I don't believe that separate cultures sharing similar themes and ideas makes the content any more legitimate than a single culture espousing something unique.

As far as I'm concerned, stories are not evidence.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
That story always fascinated me. It is also called the Watchers and the Bible only alludes to it. The full story is found in the apocalyptic Book of Enoch.
The angels that fell in love with human women taught them all kinds of things such as cosmetics and magic(?!).
The Nephilim are said to be giants. From these giants demons are descended.
This gives a very different origin to demons: they were formed apparently after people proliferated, not at the very beginning when mankind was created and Lucifer refused to accept and serve humans.
Anyone see the movie The Prophecy? Chris Walkin plays Gabriel who rebels against God because of God's creation of humans.
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
That story always fascinated me. It is also called the Watchers and the Bible only alludes to it. The full story is found in the apocalyptic Book of Enoch.
The angels that fell in love with human women taught them all kinds of things such as cosmetics and magic(?!).
The Nephilim are said to be giants. From these giants demons are descended.
This gives a very different origin to demons: they were formed apparently after people proliferated, not at the very beginning when mankind was created and Lucifer refused to accept and serve humans.
Anyone see the movie The Prophecy? Chris Walkin plays Gabriel who rebels against God because of God's creation of humans.
Yeah, I remember the Prophecy - it was good from what I remember.
Legend of Joe - have you heard of "Wings of Desire?" Kind of along those lines...

This Wim Wenders film centers around the story of two angels wandering in a mixture of post-war and modern Berlin. Invisible to humans, they nevertheless give their help and comfort to all the lonely and depressed souls they meet. Finally, after many centuries, one of the angels becomes unhappy with his immortal state and wishes to become human in order to experience the joys of everyday life. He meets a circus acrobat and finds in her the fufillment of all his mortal desires. He also discovers that he is not alone in making this cross over, and that a purely spiritual experience is not enough to satisfy anyone. Written by Nell Rehn <NRehn@aol.com>
 

RLynn

Active Member
Wenders did a wonderful sequel to Wings of Desire entitled Faraway, So Close. This one features Damiel's friend, Cassiel. Cassiel's angel companion is the beautiful Raphaella. Like Damiel, Cassiel also becomes human and has some rather suspenseful misadventures. Both films are in my Top Ten list.
 

RLynn

Active Member
I've seen Land of Plenty; Paris, Texas; and The End of Violence. I really want to see Until the End of the World, but it's hard to find. I may have to buy it.
 

Goddess2u

Member
I haven't seen those movies and am going to see if I can find them on Netflix. I knew I had read that demons were nephlims also but I didn't know this other stuff. It is interesting though.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
Yeah, I remember the Prophecy - it was good from what I remember.
Legend of Joe - have you heard of "Wings of Desire?" Kind of along those lines...

This Wim Wenders film centers around the story of two angels wandering in a mixture of post-war and modern Berlin. Invisible to humans, they nevertheless give their help and comfort to all the lonely and depressed souls they meet. Finally, after many centuries, one of the angels becomes unhappy with his immortal state and wishes to become human in order to experience the joys of everyday life. He meets a circus acrobat and finds in her the fufillment of all his mortal desires. He also discovers that he is not alone in making this cross over, and that a purely spiritual experience is not enough to satisfy anyone. Written by Nell Rehn <NRehn@aol.com>
LOL
Yeah I remember that film! I saw it in the theater when it came out.
I saw it because my brother highly recommended it. I later chided him because I thought it was waaaayyy
long winded for me. How much could that acrobat go on and on and on and on about loneliness.
Other than that it was interesting; and it does tie into forbidden love between angels and mortals. I liked it was revealed
That Peter Falk himself was an angel once. (From what I understand he really does like to sketch people in his spare time).
There was an American version made with Meg Ryan. I think it was called City of Angels.
I was not aware that he made a sequel
 
Top