How many gods?
01 Apr '09 21:57The Old Testament was written in ancient Hebrew, which has no vowels and little punctuation. The phrase 'I Am Who I Am' — God's name as revealed to MOSES — is written with four consonants that translates roughly as "I Am Who I Am."
These four letters are known as the Tetragrammaton and they contain a divine mystery: no-one knows how or is allowed to pronounce them. The Jewish people do not speak aloud the Name of God. No mortal tongue is allowed to utter it. To avoid blasphemy, other words are substituted, such as 'Adonai' (Ruler), or 'Ha Shem' (The Name). Even today, Bibles depict the Name of God with the euphemism 'Lord' instead of his actual Name.
How about the Fates, under the Greeks? CLOTHO who spins the Thread of Life, LACHESIS who allots the length of the yarn, and ATROPOS who does the snip (the final one). As the daughters of primeval night deities EREBUS and NYX (though some claim that ZEUS and THEMIS should be held responsible), the FATES control the destinies of all. Even the Gods are subject to their decisions.
Under the Romans they became just as popular under the name PARCAE.
Then there is CRONUS: Father of the Gods and one of the TITANS. He's known as the Castrator.
His mighty father URANUS was terrified of the children of GAIA and banished them. With a swipe of a sickle, CRONUS killed his father URANUS, CRONUS became supreme and ruled a Golden Age of peace and prosperity. With his wife RHEA he fathered all the other Gods.
CRONUS became fearful of his own powerful children, so he ate them and only baby ZEUS escaped.
The Roman god JUPITER started out as a primeval nature deity. A Sky God, he was in charge of the fundamental forces of nature and ruled the weather. When Greek culture began to influence Roman thought, JUPITER took on the attributes of ZEUS. Jupiter became King of the Gods and the special protector of Rome.
What about LUCIFER: Son of the Dawn? He was the Roman 'Bearer of Light' and God of the Evening Star and Morning Star. No connection with SATAN. Under the Greeks he was the God PHOSPHEROS.
What of the Eqyptian gods, starting with Ra, previously known as ATUM, the most important Egyptian God. Ra created himself out of the mound formed by primordial chaos, and then made SHU and TEFNUT to form the world. Now Ra sails across the sky as the sun. Mankind was made from Ra's tears. THOTH, MAAT, HATHOR, HORUS are up there with Ra, along with ABTU and ANET and KHEPRI the dung beetle. Thoth is the author of the book of the dead, the master of time, mathematics, astronomy, all knowledge. NUT was the mother of Ra's children: OSIRIS, ISIS, SET and NEPHTHYS.
As for SATAN, here is why he is also known as LUCIFER. Lucifer is a Latin word meaning Light-Bearer. St JEROME (4th Century) used it to denote the Greek word Heosphoros when he was translating the Bible into Latin. But Heosphoros means 'morning star', and the Biblical passage in question (Isaiah 14) is really just taunting the King of Babylon.
These four letters are known as the Tetragrammaton and they contain a divine mystery: no-one knows how or is allowed to pronounce them. The Jewish people do not speak aloud the Name of God. No mortal tongue is allowed to utter it. To avoid blasphemy, other words are substituted, such as 'Adonai' (Ruler), or 'Ha Shem' (The Name). Even today, Bibles depict the Name of God with the euphemism 'Lord' instead of his actual Name.
How about the Fates, under the Greeks? CLOTHO who spins the Thread of Life, LACHESIS who allots the length of the yarn, and ATROPOS who does the snip (the final one). As the daughters of primeval night deities EREBUS and NYX (though some claim that ZEUS and THEMIS should be held responsible), the FATES control the destinies of all. Even the Gods are subject to their decisions.
Under the Romans they became just as popular under the name PARCAE.
Then there is CRONUS: Father of the Gods and one of the TITANS. He's known as the Castrator.
His mighty father URANUS was terrified of the children of GAIA and banished them. With a swipe of a sickle, CRONUS killed his father URANUS, CRONUS became supreme and ruled a Golden Age of peace and prosperity. With his wife RHEA he fathered all the other Gods.
CRONUS became fearful of his own powerful children, so he ate them and only baby ZEUS escaped.
The Roman god JUPITER started out as a primeval nature deity. A Sky God, he was in charge of the fundamental forces of nature and ruled the weather. When Greek culture began to influence Roman thought, JUPITER took on the attributes of ZEUS. Jupiter became King of the Gods and the special protector of Rome.
What about LUCIFER: Son of the Dawn? He was the Roman 'Bearer of Light' and God of the Evening Star and Morning Star. No connection with SATAN. Under the Greeks he was the God PHOSPHEROS.
What of the Eqyptian gods, starting with Ra, previously known as ATUM, the most important Egyptian God. Ra created himself out of the mound formed by primordial chaos, and then made SHU and TEFNUT to form the world. Now Ra sails across the sky as the sun. Mankind was made from Ra's tears. THOTH, MAAT, HATHOR, HORUS are up there with Ra, along with ABTU and ANET and KHEPRI the dung beetle. Thoth is the author of the book of the dead, the master of time, mathematics, astronomy, all knowledge. NUT was the mother of Ra's children: OSIRIS, ISIS, SET and NEPHTHYS.
As for SATAN, here is why he is also known as LUCIFER. Lucifer is a Latin word meaning Light-Bearer. St JEROME (4th Century) used it to denote the Greek word Heosphoros when he was translating the Bible into Latin. But Heosphoros means 'morning star', and the Biblical passage in question (Isaiah 14) is really just taunting the King of Babylon.
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