Religious thought

The study of religious or heroic legends and tales. One constant rule of mythology is that whatever happens amongst the gods or other mythical beings was in one sense or another a reflection of events on earth. Recorded myths and legends, perhaps preserved in literature or folklore, have an immediate interest to archaeology in trying to unravel the nature and meaning of ancient events and traditions.

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Phil Butler
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Re: Religious thought

Post by Phil Butler »

Kalimera from sunny Crete where those mysterious Minoans practiced a fascinating form of animism. I am enjoying reading all the comments. Bear with me while I synthesize. Seems we are all in search of the same "thing" ... Now onward to the pursuit of the God portal :D

Image
Minimalist
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Re: Religious thought

Post by Minimalist »

Welcome, Phil. I had the pleasure of getting to Crete as part of a cruise around Greece and Turkey in 2007. Knossos of course. All the touristy things!

And then it was on to Santorini which was mind-boggling.

I noted that you had an article posted on our new "NEWS" page. Here's a link to it for everyone else.

https://www.argophilia.com/news/ancient ... ts/224961/
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.

-- George Carlin
Simon21
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Re: Religious thought

Post by Simon21 »

:cry: "It has always amazed me that people who claim to be good Christians can also be anti-Semitic"
Kinda started off with the founder, St Paul
Simon21
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Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 4:40 am

Re: Religious thought

Post by Simon21 »

Your signature line is an underhanded way to sneak in advertising... We don't need ads for Kinder Surprise eggs in this forum.

On QI Stephen Fry surprised everyone by stating that Kinder Eggs were illegal in the US, or illegal to have in your luggage on account of the toys they contained.
pwesdock
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Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 9:05 am

Re: Religious thought

Post by pwesdock »

Hey PopeLane24, I just saw your post and thought I toss in my thoughts. I too am very interested in very early religion especially from the Sumerians. I am a fairly solid Catholic who is fascinated by God calling Abram out of Ur. For about two years I've been tossing this thought through my head but I wasn't really sure where it was going to take me. Then it finally popped into my mind what I was trying to search for - the Old Testament (or the Torah) being a continuation of the Sumerian Creation Stories. So I Googled if there was any form of research in this area and it took me to the website Academia.edu and a paper by Richard Averbeck.

Believe it or not, Gobeckli Tepe was the starter of it all. Civilization went from starting about 5 to 6 thousand years ago to now possibly 13 to 15 thousand years ago. And archeologists are even more astonishing things about early Homo sapiens that show they were more advanced than we thought. Gobeckli Tepe, thought to be a worship site for early people, got me thinking about "the evil deeds men did" that warranted God to destroy the world through a flood (and yes, I realize it may not have been one big flood but several small floods and each group of people created their own stories from it). Now go back to the Sumerians and Enlil wanted to destroy the "world" because the humans were too loud. Others have written on the similarities but they take the perspective of the people (of the time and stories they write) not the God's (and lower gods) view (what was actually written in the stories). The reason I say God's view is because I look at it like how management in companies works today. Tell the workers one story to get them to work harder but know between management there is a more detailed and differing plan to have the workers work harder. So was it with the writers of the cuneiform texts. They wrote what they heard or were told to write but truly didn't understand the true meaning.

Yes, this is all guess work and I am really just starting to piece all this together. It could totally be blown to bits by someone else's studies or it could grow and grow. We'll see. I just wanted to let you know that there is another person out there who is enjoying studying early religion.

PS Don't be discouraged by the naysayers.
pwesdock
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Re: Religious thought

Post by pwesdock »

Simon21 wrote: Thu Feb 20, 2020 7:03 am
:cry: "It has always amazed me that people who claim to be good Christians can also be anti-Semitic"
Kinda started off with the founder, St Paul
I'm sure you know St. Paul was a Jew too and good Christians aren't anti-Semitic now. Back in the early years of Christianity, yes many Christians were mad at the Jews for crucifying their Savior and trying to kill them too. The Jewish officials did not want this so called "blasphemous religion to get a foot hold so they tried to break it up. Later on though, all Christians who disliked the Jewish people just because they were Jews were wrong in disliking them. We are called to love and care for all. They are waiting for the Messiah and Christians are waiting for the Second Coming.
pwesdock
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Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 9:05 am

Re: Religious thought

Post by pwesdock »

Minimalist wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:08 am Arch was a particular brand of fundie nut. I still chat with him on his board. We actually agree on a lot of stuff as long as we stay away from his nutty bible stuff.

The biggest problem the bible has is that Protestant Reformers saddled it with a burden that no ancient text could possibly withstand. They claimed it was totally and literally true and in the last 30 years archaeology has torn that premise to shreds.

All of which is perhaps best explained by:


[img]http://www.justsaypictures.com/images/creationism.jpg[/img]
I totally agree with your first sentence in your second paragraph and Protestant Reformers are now doing the same thing with US Constitution/Capitalism.
Minimalist
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Re: Religious thought

Post by Minimalist »

This thread has been dead for quite some time. Popelane has not been around for years.

I doubt he will answer you now.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.

-- George Carlin
pwesdock
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Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 9:05 am

Re: Religious thought

Post by pwesdock »

Minimalist wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 8:47 pm This thread has been dead for quite some time. Popelane has not been around for years.

I doubt he will answer you now.
Maybe it can be resurrected.
Minimalist
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Re: Religious thought

Post by Minimalist »

It's never happened before.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.

-- George Carlin
Danielchubs
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Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2024 2:39 am
Location: Spain
Contact:

Giant Bones.

Post by Danielchubs »

Could the existence of giant bones found in ancient archaeological sites provide evidence for the existence of a lost race of giants, challenging our understanding of human history and evolution?
tangatawhenua16
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2020 7:21 pm

Re: Religious thought

Post by tangatawhenua16 »

Check this website out. Here is a bone verified by two professionals (one a forensic scientist) but not officially (for obvious reasons) -https://tangatawhenua16.wixsite.com/the ... ood-enough
DrDavidT
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jun 15, 2024 11:48 pm

Re: Religious thought

Post by DrDavidT »

pwesdock wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 6:15 pm
Minimalist wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:08 am Arch was a particular brand of fundie nut. I still chat with him on his board. We actually agree on a lot of stuff as long as we stay away from his nutty bible stuff.

The biggest problem the bible has is that Protestant Reformers saddled it with a burden that no ancient text could possibly withstand. They claimed it was totally and literally true and in the last 30 years archaeology has torn that premise to shreds.

All of which is perhaps best explained by:


[img]http://www.justsaypictures.com/images/creationism.jpg[/img]
I totally agree with your first sentence in your second paragraph and Protestant Reformers are now doing the same thing with US Constitution/Capitalism.
Really?? Wow... But if people hate religion so much, why do archaeologists label just about everything religious, ritual, or temple?? (Rhetorical questions)

I get tired of the lazy approach archaeologists take and name just about anything they do not understand as religious. It shows a lack of effort on their part and a refusal to dig deeper before announcing their conclusions or theories.
Minimalist
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Re: Religious thought

Post by Minimalist »

I suspect it is a legacy from the early days of archaeology. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries most "archaeologists" were sent out by religious-based institutions looking for evidence that their fairy tales were true. It's a knee jerk reaction and I agree that there is a large degree of laziness involved. It wouldn't be so bad except once the label is applied then anyone coming along later has to find clear evidence to overturn that label and the laws of inertia apply. Is it worth the effort? In most cases the answer is "no."
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.

-- George Carlin
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