Myths

A few days ago, I talked about Hinduism. I was going to talk about Buddhism next, but there's really no point. Buddhism is merely another step in Hinduism. It came from the other religion in a way not entirely unlike Christianity coming from Judaism. It's the completion of an earlier religion. However, since Hinduism is problematic anyway, Buddhism has no foundation.

So next was going to be Islam, but that will be saved for later. For now: how do we know that the gods of various ancient civilizations weren't the right ones? These are what we refer to as "myths." Most cultures had some kind of god, all had some kind of creation story. Also, all that I have ever heard have possessed two major flaws.

1. The world existed as it was created.

If an egg hatched and out came the world (as one African culture believed), then something already existed before the world. Where did it come from? What is this egg that the earth hatched from? On a similar note, their beliefs conflicted strongly with what we know now. If the world were a flat disc resting on the backs of five elephants who stand on a giant turtle, then something is wrong somewhere.

(However, to this I will add one thing: in the Middle Ages it was commonly believed by Christians that the earth was the center of the universe, and the sun orbited around it. This is not a part of Christian belief, however, and was added later. Therefore the second point is not necessarily accurate. These ideas could have come along later and we just don't know.)

2. Every aspect of the world is ruled over by a different god

There's a problem here as well. A god is an ultimate power that rules everything. This means that the various little gods can't be gods. Some cultures solve this by refering to them instead as "spirits," and by having a "great spirit." I'm using Native American terms, but the same idea is in several other religions. However, this leads us to the original problem: where did the world come from? There has to be a god, not merely spirits. Spirits can't create a universe--that takes a god.

So upcoming is the largest of the challenges: Judasim, Islam and Christianity. The three largest religions in the world.

Mitchell