Demons Created All Non-Christian Mythology!

...supposedly.

It became apparent during the course of discussion in another thread of mine that there are actually people who whole-heartedly believe the following:

The reason that there are so many similarities between the story of Jesus Christ and certain ancient traditions (such as Horus in Egypt, Krishna of India, Dionysus of Greece, Mithra of Persia) is because demons pre-empted the coming of Christ and acted out these stories so as to confuse man and deter him from the truth.

I'd like to see if there are any others who believe this. And from those sane ones among us, I'd like some conjecture as what is so flawed about this concept.

Originally posted by Cythraul
I'd like to see if there are any others who believe this. And from those sane ones among us, I'd like some conjecture as what is so flawed about this concept.

why would a concept like that be insane?

Quite simply because it is the pinnacle of arrogance, and completely belittles the world's pre-Christian cultures, showing them absolutely no respect.

I take it you're of the Christian persuasion yourself. What do you think about this concept? Do you believe the ancient world to be a lie?

Where to start?

You can use that sort of argument to debunk any evidence you like, eg; "Fossils were placed there to divert the unwary." and justify your faith in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I see this sort of logic as unnecessary, if civilisations before our own were worshiping a god or gods in a different manner to how we do now that doesn't mean that god doesn't exist. Far from it, the propensity for Humans to establish belief systems is often used as evidence that a god or gods must exist and that there is a natural spirituality within us.

As an atheist I find this sort of rhetoric disturbing because it prevents individuals from reconciling their religion with modern society, history and science and promotes blind ignorance verging on brainwashing. It strikes me that the statement about demons plotting ancient religions is a desperate attempt on the part of some preachers to further control their flock.

I believe all the Gods, angels, demons, etc from the Bible and ancient mythology were aliens. I do however believe in a creator and the Bible is definitely not about her.

Isaiah 19:25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."

God is the inspiration for all nations and religions. There is only one God.

Originally posted by Neo Christian Mystic
Isaiah 19:25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."

God is the inspiration for all nations and religions. There is only one God.

I have to disagree with you here. There are MANY gods and goddesses; however, you yourself only follow the one Christian God. But the others DO exist.

Could you please explain how God is the inspiration for all nations and religions? How do you figure? I'm sincerely curious.

We all share much of the same stories. Eden -- Edin. Adam and Eve -- Ask and Embla, the Great Flood also occurs in stories around the world. This and much more.

reply to post by forestlady


Its not that I believe that there are multiple gods or anything like that because I don't... what I believe is that if God is unknowable and infinite then its just as valid to refer to God as a he, she or it... that there are infinite aspects of it and as a result a soul can focus (worship) on one or another aspect, using different names and attributes etc... and still be referring to the same thing... the ineffable ground of being that we call God.

Originally posted by Neo Christian Mystic
We all share much of the same stories. Eden -- Edin. Adam and Eve -- Ask and Embla, the Great Flood also occurs in stories around the world. This and much more.

So here you're saying that alternatives to Biblical stories weren't the deliberately misleading works of demons, but the misinterpreted work of God instead?

Whilst I still strongly disagree, this is the kind of attitude I would expect and comfortably accept from a Christian. However, the notion that demons acted out later Biblical stories to confuse man is irretrievably demented.

Not nessasarilly misinterpreted. I've never said demons created anything.

Yes that's what I'm trying to ascertain. I know that you don't believe demons created anything and I'm glad. I'm trying to establish who or what you do believe is responsible for all pre-Judeo-Christian myth and cultural achievement. From what I gather, you believe your God to be responsible for all of these things. I suppose that's natural for a Christian seeing as he/she can't concede that the Christian God is not the only or earliest god.

"No idols before me..." and all that.

God created the universe. Man created religion. It's as simple as that.

Religions are what disciples turn the teachings of a master into once they realize how hard they are to live up to.

That's one way to put it.

Originally posted by Neo Christian Mystic
God created the universe. Man created religion. It's as simple as that.

Interesting. I see that as a circular argument. Let me explain:

The nature of the Christian God has been established by the scriptures of religion. So when we talk about the Christian God, we are talking about a being who resembles that which is portrayed in the Bible. If man created religion, then it follows that man created the Bible and therefore conceived of the depicted God. So if God created the universe prior to his traits and nature being depicted then he likely doesn't resemble what we believe him to be at all. Therefore, he isn't actually the Christian God we've been taught of at all.

This is fine with me because I have issues with the Christian God whilst still believing in an original creative force (which I suppose could be called 'god', or 'gods').

By your very logic, if you worship the Biblical God, you do not worship the true god at all.

Originally posted by Cythraul

Originally posted by Neo Christian Mystic
God created the universe. Man created religion. It's as simple as that.

Interesting. I see that as a circular argument. Let me explain:

The nature of the Christian God has been established by the scriptures of religion. So when we talk about the Christian God, we are talking about a being who resembles that which is portrayed in the Bible. If man created religion, then it follows that man created the Bible and therefore conceived of the depicted God. So if God created the universe prior to his traits and nature being depicted then he likely doesn't resemble what we believe him to be at all. Therefore, he isn't actually the Christian God we've been taught of at all.

This is fine with me because I have issues with the Christian God whilst still believing in an original creative force (which I suppose could be called 'god', or 'gods').

By your very logic, if you worship the Biblical God, you do not worship the true god at all.

The bible is a prophetic book, mediated by God. Atleast that's the idea. Don't mix scripture with religion. Take the Catholic church for instance. The Scripture says you shall keep the Sabbath the last day of the week and since God rested on the seventh day so shall you. However, this didn't fit with the Romans so they changed this into Sunday worship. Likeways, the ten commandments also say that you should stay away from having idols or religious ritual pictures. Still the Catholics serve their icons and call them sacred. See? Texts can be inspired and mediated, but religion is like politics, it's human in nature. Some would even say demonic, but that's a bit far off I think.

I think it's a very valid concept. If you look across the world at the various ancient religions, there are many remarkable trends through them that are similar. Did this all stem from demons? I don't think so, though I do believe some did. Psalm 19:1-4 says,

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

And Romans 1:20 also speaks of this in saying, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." The implication is that we can come to know a component of God through creation, and that He reveals Himself through it. Since scripture dictates that no one has an excuse for not believing in God because His very creation speaks of Him and His nature, it would be expected that other religions, especially pre-Christan, before God's redemptive plan was extended to the Gentiles, or non-Jews.

It is clear, too, that God spoke to other cultures, such as the Babylonians (See the book of Daniel) and the Egyptians (See Exodus). The corruption of who God is, drawing people to attempt to personify Him or create Him to be something less than He is (such as the was the case with the Golden Calf in the desert as described in Exodus) stems from multiple causes. It is us, our nature to want to understand, that can bring us to give God attributes that are smaller and more fathomable to our minds than truly represent Him. It can also be demonic influence -- Christ spoke of false prophets coming and deceiving even the believers. Where do these prophets get their abilities (it seems clear to me through the scripture that they will be performers of miracles and have supernatural knowledge) if not from demons if they are at war against God?

Well said Jake. I particularilly like the quote you cite from Psalms. It speaks about astrology as the language of God, witnessing for all mankind of his glory and power.

Originally posted by Neo Christian Mystic
Don't mix scripture with religion.

Indeed, but scripture isn't always more righteous than the religion based upon it - usually it is - but sometimes not. For example, if my memory serves me correctly, the Old Testament God commands that unbelievers should be fought and killed, much like the Islamic Qur'an. Nowadays, Christians prefer to ignore this aspect of scripture or find a contradicting one in the New Testament which preaches forgiveness. This is a good thing, it is a good thing that in this case, scripture has been ignored for the sake of the religion based upon it.

Therefore I say that scripture is not infallable, and actually, both scripture and religion (if you prefer to view them as seperate things) are fallable and capable of terrible things. So it is my belief that either God is genuinely fallable himself, or, more likely, the scriptures are as much a product of man and all of his faults as religion is.