The Suspicious Relation between Ancient Greek and Christianity

[Absurd Atheist]

I keep finding these strange coincidental similarities between Ancient Greece and the Abrahamic faith. Here's a list I've compiled.

1. In the beginning the universe was formless and Earth was created out of the darkness - Not necessarily unique to Greece or Christianity but still noticeable

2. A war among godly beings where evil is tossed into a pit - Chronos/Satan

3. The Deluge Myth - (Plato's Timaeus. Noah's Ark) There are several (mostly updated versions of the last) in Greek mythology but Plato's Timaeus certainly holds the most interesting where Zeus punishes warring man by causing a great flood but allows one obedient follower to survive with his wife.

4. Man came first - In both the Bible and Greek myths man came before women i.e. not simultaneous creation

5. The first woman brought evil to the world - Pandora's Box/Eve's Apple

6. Immortal beings with oddly human characteristics - Zeus/God

7. Super strong hero's - Samson and Hercules (both also killed a lion with their bare hands and have other similarities)

8. Socrates and Jesus - Need I say more?

I'm sure there is plenty more.
The New Testament originally written in Koine Greek whereas the Old Testament was mostly in Hebrew. Rome's love of Greek culture could've played a role here as to why there's so much Greek influence. Feel free to leave your own examples.
Thoughts?

[Flanker1Six]

That's kinda SOP isn't it?  Cherry pick other peoples BS; mix in some of your own prejudices; thoughts, and heinous motivations (mine always involve cash, and good looking daughters----I'm not proud of it, but it's a proven formula!), and voila! you're the next Muhammed or Jim Jones. 

Note to self:  Call Robertson Ministries about book deal and supporting act on their show. 

[stromboli]

http://pocm.info/pagan_ideas_god.html

http://www.badnewsaboutchristianity.com/

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa1.htm

Judaism changed from a polytheistic to a monotheistic religion after the Babylonian captivity. Much of the mythos-garden of eden, noah's ark, the 10 commandments- have very similar and earlier precedents.

There are comparisons between Jesus and Apollo, Jesus and Horus

http://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/forum/42035/the-parallels-between-jesus-and-horus-

So yes, there are certainly parallels in other religions. Rome was a melting pot that tolerated a lot of different religions. Mithraism came from Persia and was practiced in Rome beginning about the 1st century ACE. So yes, there are certainly similarities and comparisons.

We had a die hard catholic on here recently that insisted the Catholic church could be traced directly to Jesus. Problem is there is a generation gap of from 20 to 40 years-or more- where no record of Jesus from an objective or Judaic source is known. Everything written about Jesus was written in Greek and after the fact. It has also been  shown that the earliest writings were those of Paul. The gospels were written later and possibly by only one or two authors.

Christianity really came into existence later, staring about the 2nd century. during that period any number of influences were likely.

[Mike Cl]

I keep finding these strange coincidental similarities between Ancient Greece and the Abrahamic faith. Here's a list I've compiled.

1. In the beginning the universe was formless and Earth was created out of the darkness - Not necessarily unique to Greece or Christianity but still noticeable

2. A war among godly beings where evil is tossed into a pit - Chronos/Satan

3. The Deluge Myth - (Plato's Timaeus. Noah's Ark) There are several (mostly updated versions of the last) in Greek mythology but Plato's Timaeus certainly holds the most interesting where Zeus punishes warring man by causing a great flood but allows one obedient follower to survive with his wife.

4. Man came first - In both the Bible and Greek myths man came before women i.e. not simultaneous creation

5. The first woman brought evil to the world - Pandora's Box/Eve's Apple

6. Immortal beings with oddly human characteristics - Zeus/God

7. Super strong hero's - Samson and Hercules (both also killed a lion with their bare hands and have other similarities)

8. Socrates and Jesus - Need I say more?

I'm sure there is plenty more.
The New Testament originally written in Koine Greek whereas the Old Testament was mostly in Hebrew. Rome's love of Greek culture could've played a role here as to why there's so much Greek influence. Feel free to leave your own examples.
Thoughts?

Interesting list.  But with #4, in the first chapter of the bible, god created men and women together. in the second chapter man came first.  As usual--one can make any claim with the bible to back it up.

[Baruch]

Not Koine Greek ... Judeo-Greek.  The Greeks deny how Jewish their god is.  The Jews deny how Greek their god is.  The last native speakers of Judeo-Greek are dying out in our time.  But once upon a time there were hundreds of thousands of Jews who spoke their own dialect of Greek.

There are reasons why, no coincidences, that we are Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman.  Contemporary people believe in modern mythology, that they can fly about the universe in star ships like gods.  But no matter how high or far you fly, you cannot escape your ancestors and the decisions they made long ago.

[Absurd Atheist]

Not Koine Greek ... Judeo-Greek.  The Greeks deny how Jewish their god is.  The Jews deny how Greek their god is.  The last native speakers of Judeo-Greek are dying out in our time.  But once upon a time there were hundreds of thousands of Jews who spoke their own dialect of Greek.

There are reasons why, no coincidences, that we are Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman.  Contemporary people believe in modern mythology, that they can fly about the universe in star ships like gods.  But no matter how high or far you fly, you cannot escape your ancestors and the decisions they made long ago.

The point still standing on the odd relation between Abrahamic faith and Ancient Greece.

[stromboli]

Greek language was the trade language among different countries rather than Latin- thanks to Alexander the Great. Ptolemy in Egypt-who eventually produced Cleopatra- was one of Alexander's generals. Huge influence throughout the region, including their religion, which was borrowed wholesale by the Romans. But as I previously noted, Rome was a melting pot and fairly tolerant of different religions. It would seem the model for a savior runs through all cultures- a man born of a virgin who creates a new belief system, dies and is resurrected. the men who eventually created Catholicism simply reengineered the myths that were already there.

Later on the pagan Eostre became Easter and Winter solstice celebrations from various cultures became Christmas. If you can't get rid of it morph the beliefs into your belief and make it your own.

[drunkenshoe]

That's a little tiny bit of slice pulled from the huge cluster of culture that gave birth to abrahamic religions.

Why suspicious? We know who the father is...:p

[SGOS]

Philosophy of Religion in college could have more aptly been called Comparative Religion, because the most striking thing about it was how much today's religions resemble each other.  It's like any religion that's going to stick around for a while, has to appeal to some common memes in man's psyche to draw a loyal audience.  I'm not sure how the correct responses to man's needs and memes are selected.  I suspect it's much the way Republicans select their propaganda.  Sling an idea no matter how bizarre against the wall, if it sticks, keep repeating it, and incorporate it into the ideology.  You will never know the depth of human gullibility or what outlandish thing will gain traction in a society unless you give it a try and check the response.

Timing is also important.  A silly dogma today, might become tomorrow's truth if it's presented when people want to hear it.  It will then remain in the ideology for centuries long past the time it has lost it's original appeal.  Timing!  Did you ever imagine a president like Donald Trump resonating with such a broad cross section of the populace?  It's the timing.  20 years ago, he would have been dismissed as a fool.  Today, he's God sent, and not even the party leadership can't get rid of him.

[Baruch]

The point still standing on the odd relation between Abrahamic faith and Ancient Greece.

The apologists of old said that the Greeks stole everything from Moses, or that Moses stole everything from Greeks.  Small scale chauvinism.

Even though the Greeks are Indo-European like the Hindus ... and Semites are closer to the Hamites of Egypt ... there are common Stone Age fossils in their behaviors.  The idea of Eucharist goes back to Pharaoh Unas eating his gods (2300 BCE) ... which goes back to the cannibalism we see in New Guinea.

[Munch]

Its just a common fact that all religions take from other previous religions to shape their own. Some even have done it blatantly, like when christianty wrote how jesus came to hades and freed all the trapped souls their and lead them to heaven. You couldn't get more of a story of Christians sticking their dicks into greek myth then that.
Over time of course they changed hades into hell and tried to rub out the existence of any greek myth itself, such as was the nature of christianity bulldozing over previous myths.

[Absurd Atheist]

I think the relationship to the Greek Myth to be of the most fascinating of pagan plagiarism due to their prevalence and focus in Modern America. Sure we can list off which stories the Bible copied from till we're blue in the face but Greek culture is one of the few that's still relevant today. The only other gods equally famous would be the Egyptian and perhaps one or two of the Norse. Yet people can't see the similarities slapping them in the face as classical culture forms one of the backbones of American society. The stories are taught in most school systems at least once but there are never any dots connected. Like the blatant similarities between Zeus and Yahweh are disturbing in a "How did I not see that?" sense. What have you guys heard about the whole Jesus/"Iesous" equals "Hail Zeus" debacle? Or the Divine Council of other "gods" which god sentences to death.

[Baruch]

Schools are for indoctrination.  They either don't connect the dots, or they do it wrong for political gain.

Adonai Yashua vs Adonaija Shua.  One is Jesus is lord, the other is Adonaija Saves.  What is a word and what is a name and what is a title?

Of course in general no Jewish savior would have any name other than Ya Shua aka G-d Saves.  Adonaija was the prince who lost to Solomon.