I was inspired by True Spin last night, especially the part about how it is human nature to chase after vanity. The author of Ecclesiastes describes how we chase after wisdom, achievement, and pleasure to try and make our existence meaningful and it got me thinking, how much more do the Greek gods do this? The Greeks so humanized their gods that they are the masters at all of these subjects. They fight among each other and the mortals to be the wisest, the strongest, and the most respected. They indulge in uncountable, unnamable pleasures, but do their lives really mean anything? The gods mess around with the mortals trying to save their favorites and kill those that they dislike and yet it seems the humans fates remain the same.
Reading the first three chapters in Genesis, I also noticed how opposite Christian beliefs are from Greek mythology. In Genesis, humans were created special and one of our most precious, yet dangerous gifts, is choice. Adam and Eve decide to disobey God and therefore choose their fate, but how much free will did the ancient Greeks have? There is no meaning in their lives because they don’t have the option of going to heaven, they only have the underworld. Just like the gods they serve their life is pointless. As Achilles says “fate is the same for the man who holds back, the same if he fights hard.” And he is right, because nothing they do in their life can get them out of the grasp of Hates.
Great point putting these two pieces of literature side by side!!!
ReplyDeleteHow "godlike" are the Greek gods? They seem to be affected by the same things (physically...emotionally?) that the mortals experience. They take sides and don't consider everyone equal. How does one gain their affections? And what is fate? It is not the will of the gods! How confusing must that be?! I think it would be very difficult to trust that the gods are carrying out your fate. I feel like the gods are unreliable. They are not in a 100% spiritual realm, which would cause me to lose respect for their authority if I were in the place of a Greek. When Zeus gives the other gods "permission" to get involved or bans them from getting involved with the mortals, he seems to be the one in command. But just before that we see him so easily get tricked by Hera. It seems as if his authority is often undermined.
I love this post. My favorite line is "humans were created special and one of our most precious, yet dangerous gifts, is choice." To think that God loves us so much that He sent His Son for us, YET He still refuses to force Himself on us, He lets us CHOOSE. I too see incredible differences between Greek mythology and Christianity. Differences that make me truly glad to serve an all-powerful God!
ReplyDeleteI like this. It reminds us of how real and awesome our God is. All others are flawed. The only thing we can really comprehend is human characteristics, so naturally any gods that we create are going to be too human.
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