Will christianity become myth?

TheReaper

New Member
I am a Christian so I'm not trying to say I don't believe or anything like that, but do you think it's possible that hundreds, or thousands, of years from now Christianity will fall into the myth category and be replaced by something else?
 

Annoyingprat

New Member
When you think of it that way, then yes it can be classified as a Mythology. I say that because with Mythologies you either believe them or you don't. That's the same with religion in general. Being a religious person myself, I do believe in it as I do with certain Mythologies.
 

Medusa

New Member
I read an article the other day in some magazine or other at the doctor's office, that more and more Christians are becoming more pantheistic as time goes on. They referenced the belief in astrology and reincarnation as two particular beliefs that more Christians are starting to believe in. Interesting I thought.
 

Nadai

Active Member
I hope not, but I think it is possible. At some time or another, myths weren't myths. The stories that people told, whether Greek, Roman, Celtic, or Native American, weren't stories at all, but accounts of things thought to be true. I think with the advancement of technology and science, people began to stray from their religions and the things they once thought to be true became just stories and myths. People now try to explain the Bible as though it were not meant to be taken literally, as though some stories were written to make a point not to explain something that actually happened. Even now religion is beginning to take a back seat to science and I think that it will continue as we continue to evolve. I hope it is not the case, but perhaps one day in the distant future when children are studying mythology the Bible will be one book that they read from.
 

Isabelle

Member
I think it's certainly possible as someone else already said myths were not always myths at all. Instead the gods and goddesses were worshipped and revered so who knows.
 

TheReaper

New Member
That's a good point about the stories in the Bible. I guess I do the same thing. I believe the stuff that is feasible in today's world, but when it comes to Noah and his Ark and people living to be 600 years old I kind of disregard it and look for the lesson. I never thought of myself as someone who is slowly turning Christianity into a myth, but I suppose I am. Might need to change my way of thinking.
 

RLynn

Active Member
There are certainly themes in Christianity which are shared by other mythologies, such as the virgin birth and the dying and rising god. This is not to say that Christianity is false, but perhaps too much attention to the literal truth of Bible stories can detract from their moral and spiritual significance.
 

FreyjaLilith

New Member
Christianity is already under the term of mythology. Christianity can be considered the mythology of North America for instance.
I don't mean to offend when stating this, it is pretty much a fact. Also, the word 'myth' is used incorrectly nowadays. Myth is often associated with falsehood, but that isn't true at all. 'Myth' comes from the Greek word 'muthos' (myth-os) which means "speech to the God(s), way to communicate to God(s)"
 

RLynn

Active Member
Indeed, the word 'myth' is misused. It is essentially identified with 'falsehood' in the popular media. I have considered Christianity a myth ever since reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Myths have a reality which transcends a mere literal understanding.
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
Indeed, the word 'myth' is misused. It is essentially identified with 'falsehood' in the popular media. I have considered Christianity a myth ever since reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Myths have a reality which transcends a mere literal understanding.
The "Hero With a Thousand Faces" is awesome! Have you read Campbell's other books? I'm reading "Thou Art That" at the moment.

In regards to the other comments made, I have always found it fascinating that the Celtic God Lugh, the Egyptian God Osiris, and the Norse God Balder all deal with agriculture/trees, replenishment and light, and all were said to be born on December 25th.
 

RLynn

Active Member
I've read Occidental Mythology and Creative Mythology from the Masks of God series, I've started on Thou Art That. On my bookshelf yet to be read are Pathways to Bliss and Creative Worlds, Modern Words. I've watched The Power of Myth video series severaal times. One of my prized posssessions is A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake, which I dip into from time to time when I'm in a Joycean mood.
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
I've read the Masks of God series and was hooked on myth from then on... I just finished "Myths of Light" and I have yet to read "Transformations of Myth through Time" and "A Fire in the Mind". I've not seen "Creative Worlds, Modern Words." I'll need to check that out. Have you heard of Marija Gimbutas? Campbell did the foreword for the "Language of the Goddess" - cool archaeology stuff to support the symbols and art found in myth or portaying myth.
 

RLynn

Active Member
I believe Creative Worlds, Modern Words deals with James Joyce's writings, which Campbell categorizes as 'creative mythology.' (I've read only Ulysses. Finnegans Wake may be forever beyond my ken.) I'm not familiar with Marija Gimbutas.
 

Olsen

Member
I think this idea can be considered somehow offensive to us Christians. If this issue would be brought up about Islam on a Muslim forum, I have a feeling that things would degenerate into a conflict...

To answer the question, I have to say that I don't believe that the world's greatest religion would become a myth anywhere in the next 500 years, except for the hypothetical case in which science finds a way to disprove God's existence. It's unlikely.
 

LegendofJoe

Active Member
Although I'm a nonbeliever, God cannot be disproven.
But then again, you can't prove that Zeus does not exist either, and you don't see too many people worshipping him anymore.
I think as time passes more and more people will let go of these supernatural beliefs. Not because they have been disproven, but
because they will be seen as no different from previous religions that are dead, but live on in their mythologies. It is already happening today, with the
exceptions of underdeveloped countries, and the U.S.; which sadly still has a wealth of fundamentalist nuts.

But of course I could be wrong.
 

Libros

Member
I think we're all cordial enough people that we can discuss this topic without bashing or escalation. Regrettably jason doesn't seem to be active anymore so the forum can't be regulated.

From a narrative perspective, much of the literature that has sprung up exterior to the books of the Bible is interpreted as fictional myth. Dante's Divine Comedy, for example, is an extremely popular piece of religious poetry that rigourously divides Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell into levels of Dante's own design. To my knowledge there aren't any Catholics who openly believe in his complex system of divisions, but the book is embraced as a wonderful allegory of Christian influence on the world in his time.

C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia openly embrace stories from the Bible as the foundation of its narrative, including Genesis, David and Goliath, Jesus, the Antichrist, and Revelations. Narnia's mythology is developed from Christian allegory, and the books are enormously popular with religious and non-religious people alike.

If anything, Christianity and the other Abrahamic faiths haven't become mythology, but they've created myth, and it's the created myths on which even secular audiences thrive today.

From a comparative mythological perspective, scholars would link some prominent stories in the Bible, such as David and Goliath, the Flood, the dying God, and the End of the World, with similar stories that arose from traditions in cultures which predate Judaism. Those cultures' stories are now interpreted as myth.
 

RLynn

Active Member
C. S. Lewis, a conservative evangelical Christian, considered Christianity to be based on a myth which actually happened in history. As I've said before, it is unfortunate that incorrect usage of the word "myth" has made it almost synonymous with "falsehood." (English is a natural language. The meanings of words evolve according to usage.) The statement "Obama is a Muslim" is not a myth. It is at best a misconception, but more likely a deliberate lie, prompted by malevolence. I wonder why people love the word "myth" so much that they want to use it even where it is inapplicable.
 

Libros

Member
I did not use the word myth to describe the stories of the Judeo-Christian religions. I specifically referred to a body of myths in non-canonical fictional literature created through the influence of the religious stories.

The body of narratives or stories explicitly associated with living religious traditions may be termed myth, whatever its meaning, at your discretion. I choose not to do so.
 

RLynn

Active Member
I was not taking exception to your post, Libros. I was just expressing a pet peeve about how carelessly the word "myth" is thrown around nowadays. It certainly doesn't apply to your very careful use or non-use of the term.

I think that the question of whether or not the narratives underlying Christianity are literally true lies outside the domain of mythology. It is rather a matter of what Christians call "faith," not mythology. I have trouble with that word, since a lot of things are matters of faith, such as whether Aryans are the "master race," or whether people should be burned at the stake for having unorthodox theological opinions. If faith is not tempered with reason, then all sorts of hideous evil may result. That is a stern lesson of history. Well, when my faith is tempered with reason, all sorts of supernatural stuff goes flying right out the window.

I can believe that supernatural events may be metaphorically significant but not that they are literally true.
 

Isis

Member
I read an article the other day in some magazine or other at the doctor's office, that more and more Christians are becoming more pantheistic as time goes on. They referenced the belief in astrology and reincarnation as two particular beliefs that more Christians are starting to believe in. Interesting I thought.
Just a side note: astrology and reincarnation have nothing to do with pantheism. Pantheism refers to the belief that the totality of the universe and all it contains is equivalent to a god.
 
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