There is a well-known quote . . .”Man made God in his own image”. . .that serves to highlight that certain religious deities are essentially a reflection of the people in those societies.
But what about the desires of these people? Are not the functions of their deities a reflection of their ambitions?

Despite the various depictions of god, one can learn more from the faculties governed by each god.

The ancient gods appear to be manifestations of Man’s inner desires or what they themselves hoped to embody.  Thus these desires (and elements like the sun) were packaged and projected as god or more precisely an ability of god. i.e. the goddess of love and beauty, the sun god.

So if the faculties of the gods are attributes of what Man hopes to attain is god therefore Man’s alter ego?  Or a devised role model perhaps?

*largely my thesis focuses on the ancient gods and not the ones of the Abrahamic faith*

As a strict deist

Man is supposed to live,behave and pattern himself in the true nature of the God he believes in so a Man's behavioral pattern is in direct pattern to his God. He is supposed to be a role model but i doubt any religion in this World truly depict their God/god's true model.

Why is following God's way good?

interestin topic.

funny thing though; i suspect that you already have the answers to your queries but you want to sample popular opinion.

i skimmed through your recent posts and i could not help but notice how you superbly characterised salvation for what it actually is: salvation. the word itself implies that there is someone who needs saving from hell (real or imagined).

relating that to our ancient religions,  they (the ancient people) too needed salvation so they discovered who could save them from what. this is the reason you have different deitiesfor different causes. similar anthologies are christian patron saints for different causes.

if you really want to be more grounded on this topic i would advise you  research the similarities between ancient religions and present day abrahamic faiths and some non abrahamic ones.

the pictures i have added show the famous benin native chalk writing rituals/ diagram associeted with olokun worship of the benin people as far as 16th century. notice the use of crosses very similar to christian sybolism.

the question is this: did the binis make up their religion? if they did why then do they have symbols which show that by a cross (or rather by the sacrifice on a cross) all the world would be joined as one? one of their symbols clearly show the heavens joining the waters and the land with a cross. another shows a cross where all elements are present.

nepa don take light .

mkmyers45:
Man is supposed to live,behave and pattern himself in the true nature of the God he believes in so a Man's behavioral pattern is in direct pattern to his God.

What is the “true nature” of the gods? Didn’t Man’s wants give birth to these ancient gods?
Maybe man "pattern"ing themselves onto the “nature” of these gods could be man seeking to acquire those gifts perhaps.
These gods have distinctive roles thus they are specialist and therefore the ultimate pin-up of their ability.

If our imaginations/desires conceived these ancient gods man was probably hoping to convert the intangible into something real/touchable (by later carving these gods) and thus attainable. And to satisfy our desires we sought those wanted attributes from these devised ancient gods.

He is supposed to be a role model but i doubt any religion in this World truly depict their God/god's true model.

I wonder if this leads to a god-complex since people usually want to emulate their role models.

skillet:

interestin topic.

funny thing though; i suspect that you already have the answers to your queries but you want to sample popular opinion.

i skimmed through your recent posts and i could not help but notice how you superbly characterised salvation for what it actually is: salvation. the word itself implies that there is someone who needs saving from hell (real or imagined).

relating that to our ancient religions,  they (the ancient people) too needed salvation so they discovered who could save them from what. this is the reason you have different deitiesfor different causes. similar anthologies are christian patron saints for different causes.

if you really want to be more grounded on this topic i would advise you  research the similarities between ancient religions and present day abrahamic faiths and some non abrahamic ones.

the pictures i have added show the famous benin native chalk writing rituals/ diagram associeted with olokun worship of the benin people as far as 16th century. notice the use of crosses very similar to christian sybolism.

the question is this: did the binis make up their religion? if they did why then do they have symbols which show that by a cross (or rather by the sacrifice on a cross) all the world would be joined as one? one of their symbols clearly show the heavens joining the waters and the land with a cross. another shows a cross where all elements are present.

nepa don take light .

Very incisive post you have here, I am happy at how you drew similarities between Ancient religions and Abrhamic and non Abrahamic Faith. But how can one fully reflect God's Image?

skillet:
i suspect that you already have the answers to your queries

Hmm not quite. I’ve been pondering over this recently. I carry an opinion regarding this topic but it’s not necessarily the correct answer.

they (the ancient people) too needed salvation so they discovered who could save them from what. this is the reason you have different deitiesfor different causes

But the faculties of their dieties were also a reflection of their wants/needs.

if you really want to be more grounded on this topic i would advise you  research the similarities between ancient religions and present day abrahamic faiths and some non abrahamic ones.

Yeah I’ve been loosely considering the relationship between some of the ancient gods in different societies. Some of their roles were similar which made me wonder if some gods were just mapped out into different cultures.

One of the most popular god is the goddess of fertility. She probably existed in most traditional beliefs but was called upon by different names depending on the society. So the presence of this goddess in such societies reveals that fertility is prized. Women who could not bear children at the time probably consulted this particular deity for the fruit of the womb.
Thus I wonder if this deity was conceived out of the human desire to have children. If these gods are manifestations of our wants did our inner desire create these ancient gods?

For example: I have my own ambition but I don’t pray/adhere to any deities whose faculties correlate to my desires but if I did would I have just imagined such a deity into existence? Won’t these deities just be the perfect extension of me as they embody what I want?

Even when you study the depiction of gods in times past, they resembled the people in their society hence the quote “Man made God in his image”.
These gods that resembled the people also contained the abilities that these people most likely wanted/needed. Thus I wondered if these ancient gods were perhaps Man’s alter ego because their existence was born out of what we lacked/wanted and packaged into this supra being whose function governs a particular ambition of ours.

the question is this: did the binis make up their religion? if they did why then do they have symbols which show that by a cross (or rather by the sacrifice on a cross) all the world would be joined as one? one of their symbols clearly show the heavens joining the waters and the land with a cross. another shows a cross where all elements are present.

Okay this is interesting and perhaps something to consider. I wonder how religions were born because it appears that there are very fine similarities shared amongst some of them or others were slightly influenced by another.

emöfine:


What is the “true nature” of the gods? Didn’t Man’s wants give birth to these ancient gods?
Maybe man "pattern"ing themselves onto the “nature” of these gods could be man seeking to acquire those gifts perhaps.
These gods have distinctive roles thus they are specialist and therefore the ultimate pin-up of their ability.

If our imaginations/desires conceived these ancient gods man was probably hoping to convert the intangible into something real/touchable (by later carving these gods) and thus attainable. And to satisfy our desires we sought those wanted attributes from these devised ancient gods.

I wonder if this leads to a god-complex since people usually want to emulate their role models.

As a deist i believe there is a God (Only one) but due to human analogy they tend to DE-regulate god roles to suit them. Most gods are borne out of desire of something to be reverenced, even modern day appliances/celebrities/images/items are gods.

fine girl ,

you are right on all counts.

yes, the diety you ascribe to is a reflection of the entity which gives you salvation for your wants and needs. just like keeping particular types of friends for particular purposes.

the question i think you are asking is: are we making up gods for ourselves?

i would say the answer is no. there is the truth and the deciever. simple. if you want i can expanciate, later.

if on the other had you are asking[b] if we are making gods in our own (individual or personal) images [/b] then,
i think the answer is still no. becos if the mountain and fire christians differ from the deeperlife christians, it is only personality differences. understand? some call God one of mercy and others call Him a consuming fire. in ancient religions this was so too.

hence the goddess of fertility exists in all religions becos all peoples need to procreate.

mkmyers,

i believe there is only one God but just like us (whom he created in his image) he is capable of multi tasking. ie he can consume a few thousand enemies in one go and at the sametime feed the birds. you might not understand this now but if you are a parent you will see how this is possible. you could feed your child with love while wanting to wring the neck of its mother at the same time.[/b]
t
ruth be told: [b]JESUS is the truth. just had to say that! if youre angry, forgive me.

skillet:

if on the other had you are asking[b] if we are making gods in our own (individual or personal) images [/b] then,
i think the answer is still no. becos if the mountain and fire christians differ from the deeperlife christians, it is only personality differences. understand?  some call God one of mercy and others call Him a consuming fire. in ancient religions this was so too.

Ok that’s why I was focusing on the ancient gods. Ancient socities depictions of their gods mirrored the people of those societies. . . i.e. the orishas don’t resemble greek gods but they have similar faculties.

i would say the answer is no. there is the truth and the deciever. simple. if you want i can expanciate, later.

Expanciate please

^^

there are more similarities between the orishas and the greek gods than you imagine.

i was doing some research along these lines sometime ago. its unfourtunate i have deleted most of the files i have, connected to that research, but i will try to find some of thoses materials online. i will post them here.

but note worthy is the religion of candomble. this is a religion that is practiced all over south and latin america as well as in many countries in europe like spain and norway.

it is actually a mixture of yoruba orisha worship and christianity and native portugese religion. the reasons these religions could mix perfectly, are the similar lines on which they run.

traditional religion of all cultures have similar projections as dieties. this are some examples:

1. they all have goddess of fertility not gods
2. they all have god of war, not godesses
3. they all have patron saints for different causes (some of them being actual people who are now ancestors)
4. the religions all have the nuclear family structure ascribed to their dieties ie; father, mother and children

here are some pictures on candomble worship. look it up on google.

as for the truth and deciever issue, i will get to that in due course. you see, that is a really personal issue to me but since you have asked, i will share. just give me some time to collect my thoughts.

more candomble photos

mkmyers,
i havent forgotten you o. u asked how we could reflect God's image? that is the million dollar question for the future.

skillet:
there are more similarities between the orishas and the greek gods than you imagine.

In terms of faculties. Yes, I know

i was doing some research alog these lines sometime ago. its unfourtunate i have deleted most of the files i have, connected to that research, but i will try to find some of thoses materials online. i will post them here.

Please do.

traditional religion of all cultures have similar projections as dieties. this are some examples:

1. they all have goddess of fertility not gods

Well I would imagine as the womb is a symbol of both the woman and fertility.

2. they all have god of war, not godesses

My favourite ancient god is the goddess of war - Athena

as for the truth and deciever issue, i will get to that in due course. you see, that is a really personal issue to me but since you have asked, i will share. just give me some time to collect my thoughts.

Ok. Take your time.

emöfine:

My favourite ancient god is the goddess of war - Athena

kia! you harsh o.
well check this out: athena was a virgin amazon godess. she was sworn off men: she was a man. ie she played the role of a man, put on the garments of a man and therefore became a man. see symbolism in play?

she could not have been a symbol for creation ie fertility and a symbol of war at the same time. she has become an idol for women who believe they have been called upon to be militant where men have failed. she led an army of women and i dare say that we saw some of her worshippers when we saw ghadaffis elite women troops before he was toppled.

on a more serious note, this is athena, courtesy wiki answers:

In Greek religion and mythology, Athena or Athene ( /əˈθiːnə/ or /əˈθiːniː/; Attic: Ἀθηνᾶ, Athēnā or Ἀθηναία, Athēnaia; Epic: Ἀθηναίη, Athēnaiē; Ionic: Ἀθήνη, Athēnē; Doric: Ἀθάνα, Athana), also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene ( /ˈpæləs/; Παλλὰς Ἀθηνᾶ; Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη), is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes.[4] Athena is also a shrewd companion of heroes and is the goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens

Though Athena is a goddess of war strategy, she disliked fighting without purpose and preferred to use wisdom to settle predicaments.[15] The goddess only encouraged fighting for a reasonable cause or to resolve conflict. As patron of Athens she fought in the Trojan war on the side of the Achaeans

Although Athena appears before Zeus at Knossos —in Linear B, as a-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja, "Mistress Athena"[16]—in the Classical Olympian pantheon, Athena was remade as the favorite daughter of Zeus, born fully armed from his forehead.[17] The story of her birth comes in several versions. In the one most commonly cited, Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of crafty thought and wisdom, but he immediately feared the consequences. It had been prophesied that Metis would bear children more powerful than the sire,[18] even Zeus himself. In order to forestall these dire consequences, after lying with Metis, Zeus "put her away inside his own belly;" he "swallowed her down all of a sudden."[19] He was too late: Metis had already conceived.

Eventually Zeus experienced an enormous headache; Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares, or Palaemon[disambiguation needed ] (depending on the sources examined) cleaved Zeus's head with the double-headed Minoan axe, the labrys. Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed, with a shout— "and pealed to the broad sky her clarion cry of war. And Ouranos trembled to hear

from the wiki quote above you can see that athena was forced to fight for life even before she was born. somethimg i just realized is that the message with athena is the feminist message: what a man can do,

i am sure if we search right we will see many godesses like her in our traditional religions.

next let us see some well known followers of athenian principles; the amazons. over to wiki:

The Amazons (Greek: Ἀμαζόνες, Amazónes, singular Ἀμαζών, Amazōn) are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia (modern territory of Ukraine). Other historiographers place them in Asia Minor,[1] or Libya.[2]

Notable queens of the Amazons are Penthesilea, who participated in the Trojan War, and her sister Hippolyta, whose magical girdle, given to her by her father Ares, was the object of one of the labours of Hercules. Amazonian raiders were often depicted in battle with Greek warriors in amazonomachies in classical art.

The Amazons have become associated with various historical peoples throughout the Roman Empire period and Late Antiquity. In Roman historiography, there are various accounts of Amazon raids in Asia Minor. From the Early Modern period, their name has become a term for woman warriors in general.


Herodotus reported that the Sarmatians were descendants of Amazons and Scythians, and that their females observed their ancient maternal customs, "frequently hunting on horseback with their husbands; in war taking the field; and wearing the very same dress as the men". Moreover, said Herodotus, "No girl shall wed till she has killed a man in battle". In the story related by Herodotus, a group of Amazons was blown across the Maeotian Lake (the Sea of Azov) into Scythia near the cliff region (today's southeastern Crimea). After learning the Scythian language, they agreed to marry Scythian men, on the condition that they not be required to follow the customs of Scythian women. According to Herodotus, this band moved toward the northeast, settling beyond the Tanais (Don) river, and became the ancestors of the Sauromatians. According to Herodotus, the Sarmatians fought with the Scythians against Darius the Great in the 5th century B.C.

Hippocrates describes them as: "They have no right bosoms, for while they are yet babies their mothers make red-hot a bronze instrument constructed for this very purpose and apply it to the right bosom and cauterize it, so that its growth is arrested, and all its strength and bulk are diverted to the right shoulder and right arm."


see, athena and the amazons were not women, women. they were more or less, men.
kia! i don tire!

skillet:

kia! you harsh o.

Ndo

kia! i don tire!

Tire for wetin? for copying and pasting abi?

see, athena and the amazons were not women, women. they were more or less, men.

Even though I don't agree with the wordings I understand what you're trying to say here. Reminds me of the quote in which I'll badly paraphrase: whilst women were trying to be like men, men were busy trying to be god.

(Excuse my very bad paraphrasing, I can't remember the quote word for word.)

whilst women were trying to be like men, men were busy trying to be god.
[quote][/quote]

GBAM!

i hope you are not trying to fan my ego here. you know, man *beating chest* being like gods

jokes apart i honestly would like to draw your attention to these few coincidences and see what you could infer.

earlier on we talked about people and gods like the egg and hen theory of who came first.

our question was: who patterened what to fit whom?. abi?

later on we drifted to athena goddess of war and justice, and amazons as her offsprings or believers. i also drew on the fact that gadaffi's elite female sqad could be seen as amazons. now i found these out also

1. according to the wiki quote herotudos and histographers place the ancient amazons in ukrane asia minor ie  libya. presto! female squad.

2. athena was fabled to have been born fully dressed or armed (anyhow u like) for war from birth or from creation (anyone you like).
wiki also shows that herotudos also describes the amazons as women who frequently hunting on horseback with their husbands; in war taking the field; and wearing the very same dress as the men".
presto! female squad

3. of athena this was said: Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed, with a shout— "and pealed to the broad sky her clarion cry of war. And Ouranos trembled to hear
of the amazons this was said: No girl shall wed till she has killed a man in battle
presto! female squad!

see the above similarities? i will show you some pictues of ghadaffi female squad so you can check the similarities off yourself.

one more thing: in the middle east these female soldiers are known as the virgin soldiers. why? i dont know. maybe it has something to do with their patron dieties having gone the same path, or it might be something more sinister than that. it could be that, 

so what do you think about that?

did the elite female soldiers make up athena?

was athena real? or is there a possibility she really existed?

or is it that the projection of a female goddess of war and justice and wisdom was so desireable to the ancients
that they made her up?

if that was the case, then why does every court room today on earth have an athena in their sights? see pic.

also google lady justice. look out for the wiki results. that should make for interesting read

way past my bedtime. good morning

skillet:
i hope you are not trying to fan my ego here. you know, man *beating chest* being like gods

No I wouldn't want to do that. If I fan your ego the population of gods will increase.

skillet:
later on we drifted to athena goddess of war and justice, and amazons as her offsprings or believers. i also drew on the fact that gadaffi's elite female sqad could be seen as amazons. now i found these out also

Gaddafi's female fortress, the amazons and Athena obviously do share similarities.

I also find it interesting that Gaddafi’s female bodyguards were all virgins but there obviously must have been a reason for that. I doubt Gaddafi would have wanted to be competing for their loyalty/affection but I think it was an ego thing for him to have an all beautiful untouched female fortress. I also think it was an ego thing for them to be selected to protect a once prominent male figure because usually in a relationship the dominate role is played by the protector but then again he had the wealth which must have been their motivation so he could still order their steps.

personally, i dont think ghadaffis female soldiers were really virgins. no! a whole army of virgins? that is valhalla .

do you think the fact that they all seem to have come from lybia axis ie asia minor, mere similarity?

i also do not think money is the motivation here. its the cause, thats the motivation.

as for the ego tripping, well, girls really do like to be on top

i will also like you to look up egyptian mythology. i did that today and i was wowed.

lets discuss a few:

Ra (alternatively spelled Re and properly transliterated as Rꜥ) is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the midday sun. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it is thought that if not a word for 'sun' it may be a variant of or linked to words meaning 'creative power' and 'creator

Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu[citation needed] (also spelled Amon, Amoun, Amen, Zeus Amun, and rarely Imen or Yamun, Greek Ἄμμων Ammon, and Ἅμμων Hammon[citation needed]), was a god in Egyptian mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt. Whilst remaining hypostatic, Amun represented the essential and hidden, whilst in Ra he represented revealed divinity. As the creator deity "par excellence", he was the champion of the poor or troubled and central to personal piety. Amun was self created, without mother and father, and during the New Kingdom he became the greatest expression of transcendental deity in Egyptian theology. He was not considered to be immanent within creation nor was creation seen as an extension of himself. Amun-Ra did not physically engender the universe. His position as King of Gods developed to the point of virtual monotheism where other gods became manifestations of him. With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods. He was also widely worshipped in the neighboring regions of Ancient Libya and Nubia. he was known as the father and king of all gods.

i have chosen these two becos of the similarities they share with God the Father and God the son.

the Bible records in genesis that in the begining was the word, and thbe word was with God, and the word was God and was nothing made that was not made through it.

if we remember that Jesus, the son of God is referred to as the word and if we also remember that Jesus is recorded to have stated that he was with God in the begining, we can easily infer that there are some truths to the egyptian claims.

egyptians believe that the world was created by the spoken word; so do the greek.

africans believe that their gods decended from heaven and settled on earth. they have no native theories on creation proper.