For thousands of years the gods...
Most Bible believers stay with popular ideas, dogmas, etc., and don't venture into areas seldom visited. Scripture indeed speaks of elohim, gods apart from Yahweh. One thing I think should be better understood is "the council of the gods/elohim." Perhaps the best-known story is that of Yahweh asking what should be done and someone suggested sending a lying spirit. Our basic story is there was Yahweh Who created man in His image and the rest of the narrative seems to be all about man's relationship or lack thereof with Yahweh. But, indeed, there were other entities. Our understanding of this is minimal if at all. Is it not possible when Yahweh said "in our image," "let us go down," this included this family of elohim, more than simply angels/messengers? ...or Father and Son?
People are awfully skittish about discussing uncomfortable topics sometimes. Not necessarily uncomfortable as in afraid, but not wanting to be outside of common thought. Anyway, enough of that. Let's just go with the idea that there have for millennia been "gods" whether they were simply fallen angels exalting themselves or being exalted, or something greater.
Most Bible believers stay with popular ideas, dogmas, etc., and don't venture into areas seldom visited. Scripture indeed speaks of elohim, gods apart from Yahweh. One thing I think should be better understood is "the council of the gods/elohim." Perhaps the best-known story is that of Yahweh asking what should be done and someone suggested sending a lying spirit. Our basic story is there was Yahweh Who created man in His image and the rest of the narrative seems to be all about man's relationship or lack thereof with Yahweh. But, indeed, there were other entities. Our understanding of this is minimal if at all. Is it not possible when Yahweh said "in our image," "let us go down," this included this family of elohim, more than simply angels/messengers? ...or Father and Son?
People are awfully skittish about discussing uncomfortable topics sometimes. Not necessarily uncomfortable as in afraid, but not wanting to be outside of common thought. Anyway, enough of that. Let's just go with the idea that there have for millennia been "gods" whether they were simply fallen angels exalting themselves or being exalted, or something greater.
The sound of thunder, the angry, fiery bolts of lightning that sometimes set fires and did other destructive things were deemed the doings of angry gods. These gods were given names or assigned them to themselves. Men, apart from Yahweh, needed an explanation. And there were other things like hurricanes, tornados, monsoons, famines, extreme temperatures, on and on. And it got fanciful. This god was mad at that god and the whole mythological system ruled the day, the millennia.
Now we have learned a thing or two. We know how these things work. What makes lightning, thunder, what changes setup tornados, even simple rain. We know these things. And who loses? The gods. All their claims of ascendency are lost to truth. How did they lose so much power over mankind after thousands of years' domination?
Fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels provide things like rubber, plastic and so much more. Because of fossil fuels, we build technologies that explain how things work. We can fly around and see much more than the little areas we inhabit. We communicate great distances, even globally. On and on. And we are now the gods. Ol' Yeah-hath-god-said is met with unintentional consequences of his scheme. His subjects have risen to godhood, and unseated him, at least in the area of worship of his grandeur with natural events. What are these events, specifically?
Climate. Weather.
The production of technologies, communication, travel and so many other advances has robbed the gods of their worship, mystical power over men. Exploitation of fossil fuels then is bad, bad for "Mother Earth," "Mother Nature." That's the narrative. How effective it is or will be is not the point. No need to pretend rationale in the presence of irrationality. But, we have it. All day every day we hear about the evils of fossil fuel consumption. And foolish legislation such as can't get oil here, the spotted, two-winged flying moth will be endangered. It has been a slow-moving resistance to the technologies that have robbed the gods of their hold over men, at least this part of it.
We've seen the return of so much ancient Egyptian culture, iconography, rhetoric and gods in our lifetime. Nearly every day, Jeopardy has a category on mythology and it is amazing how well the contestants know the subject. Many people know more about the gods than they do Yahweh's Word. So, before playing down my little theory here, we should simply see it as a small insight into the last days' war between Yahweh and the gods and the control of men. In our post-Christian world, it is not too far fetched to see a return to exaltation of the gods and the contest between them and the One Who made them.
We've seen the return of so much ancient Egyptian culture, iconography, rhetoric and gods in our lifetime. Nearly every day, Jeopardy has a category on mythology and it is amazing how well the contestants know the subject. Many people know more about the gods than they do Yahweh's Word. So, before playing down my little theory here, we should simply see it as a small insight into the last days' war between Yahweh and the gods and the control of men. In our post-Christian world, it is not too far fetched to see a return to exaltation of the gods and the contest between them and the One Who made them.
It all went wrong when men used fossil fuels to learn that the truth doesn't lie with the gods. We need to use "renewable" resources for energy, be it to warm our houses or fly around the globe. Let's get back to wind and the sun. How rational is this? It doesn't have to be. I am not opposed at all to windmills and solar panels. It's just this whole thing in circular motion is interesting, especially with vilification of fuels provided by the Great Flood which destroyed in large part, the work of the gods.
Ronnie
Ronnie
S Hauk 5 yrs
There is no doubt in me that there is a God, divine beings, and their opposite. I believe that we have changed the true concept of godhood to a level of our understanding. Children will not listen to "bed time stories" that are boring, so, what do parents do to get the little tykes to sleep and give us relaxation time? We take a man who gave us much of our science and instead of departing on a ship with white sails and a carved dragon's head and say he rode off across the sea on the back of a dragon with white wings. This is just an example and not any personal belief of mine. There are many stories in myth of men who tried to become as strong as the "gods" and they all end badly.