12 replies to this topic

[Fergus]

Why do just about all the religions and cultural creation stories around the world all share the same basic creation story?

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They start with god(s) (or star people) just being. Before everything.

The god(s) create the universe, time, earth and humans.

The god(s) have an argument/war over how to deal with man.

One/some of the god(s) decide to go against the majority/lone decision.

Man is given knowledge/fire/awareness by the smaller faction of the god(s).

The minority god(s) are banned/banished/cursed for the action.

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Many of these stories were established in the different religions and regions long before they interacted with each other, although some of the later ones could have borrowed from older ones. Looking at the whole picture though, it just seems to much to me to be a mere coincidence or something of the like.

I know there has been some discussion here and there about some similarities in ancient cultures, but I don't remember anything looking at just the creation aspect of them all.

I think given all the commonality between just about all of them, there has to be something to it.

[Bling]

Easy...because all religions are man made, and mankind doesn't have much of an imagination so has to steal ideas from others.

[Arbenol68]

Fergus, on 04 December 2012 - 02:52 AM, said:

Why do just about all the religions and cultural creation stories around the world all share the same basic creation story?

-----------

They start with god(s) (or star people) just being. Before everything.

The god(s) create the universe, time, earth and humans.

The god(s) have an argument/war over how to deal with man.

One/some of the god(s) decide to go against the majority/lone decision.

Man is given knowledge/fire/awareness by the smaller faction of the god(s).

The minority god(s) are banned/banished/cursed for the action.

-----------

Many of these stories were established in the different religions and regions long before they interacted with each other, although some of the later ones could have borrowed from older ones. Looking at the whole picture though, it just seems to much to me to be a mere coincidence or something of the like.

I know there has been some discussion here and there about some similarities in ancient cultures, but I don't remember anything looking at just the creation aspect of them all.

I think given all the commonality between just about all of them, there has to be something to it.

I wouldn't read too much into this. Your examples seem to be pretty standard for what we might expect of a god. One or two of your stories are not universal (eg, they don't apply to monotheistic religions) so you're left with the conclusion that all religions believe that god created everything. That's not really news, is it?

The fact that no two religions can agree on very much - and are often prepared to kill for it - leads me to believe that there's not much in any of them.

[pallidin]

Yeah, killing in the "name of God", regardless of religious standing, just seems sssoooooooo wrong.

[Beany]

This is from Carl-Jung.com. The archetype concept - Jung writes - derives from the often repeated observation that myths and universal literature stories contain well defined themes which appear every time and everywhere. We often meet these themes in the fantasies, dreams, delirious ideas and illusions of persons living nowadays". And: They impress, influence and fascinate us (our ego). This is why we call their tremendous effect numinous - that is, able to arise deep and intense emotion

[ZaraKitty]

All religions are stolen from older religions.

[the_fallen]

Bling, on 04 December 2012 - 02:55 AM, said:

Easy...because all religions are man made, and mankind doesn't have much of an imagination so has to steal ideas from others.

   "Mankind doesn't have much of an imagination," Ignorance at its finest, yeah?

[eight bits]

Um, Fergus. There's only god in Genesis. While there are some fairly clear references to the earlier Enuma elish, the neighbors' creation story, these appear to be in the nature of self-conscious gestures of contempt, rather than "borrowing" or other signs of a common source. The Enuma elish is a divine conflict story. Genesis isn't.

When we get to the "Man is given knowledge/fire/awareness" part, it is not "by the smaller faction of the god(s)." Man is given enhanced knowledge by the Woman. Even in the Christian retrojection of the story, where an animal helper in the original becomes a supernatural villain whose backstory makes him the leader of a small "faction" of non-god wannabes, it's still the Woman's fault. OK, then, she is the effective agent; superior knowledge is her gift to the Man.

Gods having sex is another popular creation motif. I suppose if you're French, that can be seen as some kind of battle , but other views of two becoming one are possible.

Different myths explain different things, IMO. That's contrary to some atheists' teaching that the actual function of such myths was to pass the time until Carl Sagan could explain it all for us.

Many origins myths, like the Enuma elish, are about a change in the order of the divine realm. Yes, change is frequently accompanied by violence. It is an easy conjecture that these myths reflect some memory of a social upheaval in which older gods were displaced by newer ones, perhaps those of an invader. The "Creation of the world," then, stands in for the establishment of whatever the current social order is, and the survival in it of remnants of an older defeated culture. That seems to work well for India.

Others, like Genesis, appear to be about the emergence of consciousness from unconsciousness. The "Garden of Eden" story in particular is an instance of a  frequently reported motif dream, "Meet the Anima." Alternatively, it is the ever-popular folk motif, "Daddy's Little Princess Grows Up," redacted by a priest.

Then finally, there is world-creation as divine sex. My guess is that's just a good story. I try not to over-psychologize the obvious. Sometimes a cigar really is just a cigar.

[Darkwind]

Before one decides their simulaties and difference one should do some research.

http://www.historywo...?historyid=ab83

http://www.gly.uga.e...CS/CSIndex.html

[constantine_337]

Religion to me is mans way of:
A) trying to take control of others
b)trying to explain things they dont understand
C) not taking accountability for ones own actions

Fact of the matter is, all religion is written and created by man. The argument that they wrote religious books through the thought of GOD is ridiculous. We dont know how we got here. Religion and science both dont truly know how we came to be, and any answer they try to give is pure speculation. Humanity needs to "man" up and stop waiting for a God to save us, or blame an evil entity for his wrong doings. We need to take responsibility for the things we have done and fix them ourselves.

Edited by constantine_337, 05 December 2012 - 02:12 PM.

[Sean93]

Either religions are our feeble way of processing some awesome and mind blowing force that some claim to see, or they are just stories that got popular.

Before anyone says that the mere fact that a religion takes means that it could be true, just look at the Cargo Cults, my favourite being the cult of John Frum, it's wacky, hilarious and a bit silly but it just shows how quickly a religion can begin and how sincere it adherents, even in the face of contradiction, will stand by it.

Read it all about it! http://www.damninter...he-cargo-cults/

Check this god out!


I know who I'm telling the Mormons I believe in next time they show up...

Edited by Sean93, 06 December 2012 - 02:58 AM.

[Ryu]

constantine_337, on 05 December 2012 - 02:11 PM, said:

Religion and science both dont truly know how we came to be, and any answer they try to give is pure speculation.

Well..science has already done a great job so far explaining how we came to be here but we (science that is) is still working out the details. Nonetheless I agree..we need to stop blaming sky monsters for our problems.

[aryannatimothy]

I have read it somewhere that we may be talking about ONE God ain just different forms and names. This may be true right? Makes sense after all.