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Personally, I pray to the Olympian Pantheon (Athena, Zeus, Artemis, etc). I don't really believe in a "creator", but I do find it abit odd that names like Apollo still exist in today's world.

I think most any logical person knows and believes the Bible to be a system of control, the idea being that you'll always get what you deserve in death, etc. With that said, I don't really "despise" religion, I find myself rather comfortable knowing there are so many literal "lambs" living amongst me. The more dumb people I'm around, the more opportunity I have to shine.

Then again, though, I do get abit cranky over it myself at times. Afterall the Bible essentially condemns women on a universal scale, but when you look at history it was always men who created dark nameless eras, genocide, biological warfare and so on. The absurd thing about Christianity is that it's actually one of the youngest religions on the planet, and the only reason it ever really became popular was because of Constantine (the first Christian King - the western world can thank him for Christian dogma).

If you get technical, all of America is going to hell, anyway. The King James version of the Bible as an example classifies as protestant religion, and this country was founded by those seeking to escape religion, not "conform" to it. Another interesting thing is that even though we write "In God we Trust" on our dollars, we also stamp each dollar with the Egyptian pyramids (which, as far as the Bible is concerned, is considered an Evil mark)...

Personally I can't say that I believe in a creator. In order for a creator to exist you need a being who can not only survive the Big Bang, but also cause it to happen. If we assume that one day God really is returning to rebuild Earth into a Kingdom, why would he choose this planet of all of them? Sure, Earth is beautiful, but y'know there has to be planets out there somewhere that're just as beautiful if not even moreso, and if he indeed is the Almighty you'd think he'd simply build a new planet of his own.

With that said, I'll continue offering lip service to Athena, Apollo, and Artemis - afterall they make more sense as a concept. They're much older historically as deities and there's alot more lore concerning them, not to mention the "cool" factor of the Olympian pantheon. The idea of Hell doesn't bother me, since if we assume that Hell is a place of lust and might then it fits me better anyway.

Macaroo wrote:

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I do find it abit odd that names like Apollo still exist in today's world.

Why?

I'll continue offering lip service to Athena, Apollo, and Artemis - afterall they make more sense as a concept.

Not that I begrudge you if it flips your switch, but how do they make more sense? The fact that they're older and that you think there is more "lore" about them doesn't appear to contribute significantly to reasons to believe in them.

Just curious.

Mac

Ah, I should've worded it more like this:

"The Olympian Gods more fit [my] personal "Godmen" fantasy than Christianity."

Of course, I say these things very loosely. The reason greek myths like Athena and Zeus make more sense is simply because the cultures they influenced actually had a basic understanding of how the universe worked; for example, the ancient greeks knew planets were round and they also knew that they revolved around stars almost 3,000 years ago, even though it wasn't until the 14th century (AD) that this theory became significant. Moreover, some of the technological achievements of the Ancient Greece (who were widely considered to be the elite few of the Olympian pantheon) in comparison to the rest of the world in that time are sometimes almost unbelievable. Athens and Sparta had "tanks" for example, sophisticated constructs that served as armored assault units in warfare - things like this weren't actually invented though until 400-500 AD. Even the Sumerians (a culture that is believed to be nearly 5,000 years old) drew diagrams of complex star systems in surprising detail. Even the mostly highly asteemed prophets of Christianity (Abraham, as an example) claimed the world to be flat in a literal sense. This alone makes me personally believe the Olympian deities to be more "true" than those of Judeo-Christianity.

Furthermore, ancient Greece used a 13 month lunar calendar to monitor the time on Earth, but they also had other calendars to measure time in different ways (no one knows why - the Mayans did this aswell), whereas the Christian calender (also known as the Gregorian calender, the 12 month calender we use today) is entirely inaccurate when it comes to measuring time in our solar system. There are actually 13 months in a lunar (earth) year, not 12 - the 12 month calender is the result of Christianity's chokehold over the world after the crucifixition, and it was reinvented by Pope Gregory in 1582. It's basically a reformed copy of the incorrect Roman calendar and it's incorrect when speaking of actual astrology and our movement around the star. The fact that ancient Greece and other cultures like the Mayans make them more proper as "divine" candidates for this (and many other) reasons.

Do these semantics mean they were "touched" by the divine, though? 'Course not. Although it could mean that they were visited by beings from other worlds, sure. When someone says "Creator" in the divine sense, I can't help but consider something along the lines of a pantheon comparable to those of old Greece's religions - it's difficult to believe that the universe was forge by a single "living" God, but then again such a topic is far beyond anything my mind will ever be able to fathom.

So, what I meant to say was, "if there is a creator or a judge in death, then I hope it is someone like Athena or Isis rather than the petty, bloody thing we read about in the Bible." It's also interesting to note that even though this entire "pagan" pantheon was deemed evil and vile by all Christian societies, we still build statues of them commonly. The statue of liberty for example is actually a representation of the Olympian Goddess Isis, and the Congressional Medal of Honor (aswell as many, MANY other notable seals of significance) bears the face of Athena. The torch that Lady Liberty (Isis) holds is a tribute to Helios the Sun God, and the base she stands upon is one of his symbols. Athena and Artemis also serve as mascots for American women serving in the Navy and the Air Force, whereas Apollo and Ares continue to act as symbols of perserverence for groups like NASA. It's interesting that even though these deities truly are the Roman "false" Gods spoken of in the Bible that they still remain widely accepted and popular today in most cultures everywhere. It seems that the Olympian deities tend to serve as a beacon of light for skeptics and non-believers everywhere. These deities are as widely cherished as Jesus Christ, afterall the faces of Athena and Isis aren't hard to find at all even in today's society if you care to look. To be honest the Olympian deities are as glorified as Jesus Christ and Moses, the only difference is you don't hear everyone saying their names all of the time or using their myths for political manuevering. I simply find these things interesting and worth pointing out, is all.



Moreover, I recently watched a documentary sponsored by Bill Maher called "Religulous." If you haven't seen it I'd suggest it to anyone, 'specially skeptics and those who admire idle humor. I'd also suggest reading into Olympian mythology sometime, even if only for a fun read - Pandora and Prometheus are essentially the same story as Adam and Eve, except ancient in comparison and in Olympian mythology Prometheus was portrayed as being more of a traitor than Pandora.