Matt Silberstein wrote:

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 18:32:21 GMT, Jd <Jd.wuzhere@att.net> wrote:

With lightening bolts.

Interestingly enough, mythology has it that humans were formed from
the ashes of burnt "Titans" (which had become ashes due to Zeus
zapping them in a fit of anger) - at least according to the mythical
account I found while visiting NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Here's the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's take on the "Titans":

"A generic name for the children of Ouranos and Gaia...."

"... The Titans devoured the limbs of Dionysus, the son of Zeus, who
intended the child to have dominion over the world. Enraged, Zeus
struck the Titans with lightning. The fire burned them to ashes, and
from the ashes man was formed."

http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Sat_Titan&Display=Overview&System=Scientific

Imagine that. Mythology appearing on scientists (who work for the
government) computers where they are investigating the origins of
life!!!

Interestingly, as a result of a joint space mission between NASA and
the ESA (European Space Agency), a probe will settle upon a moon of
Saturn ("Titan") around Christmas time this year. It will analyze the
clouds, the atmosphere and the dirt of the moon Titan, according to
NASA.

You are a little dim, aren't you? Is there anyone one out there,
anyone at all, who does not see many flaws in JD post so far? I am
willing to discuss it with someone, but only if JD is not the only one
having the problem.

Are you against me showing the public what their hard earned tax$$ are
going for?

Look. You are free to do almost anything in this country. I question
the notion however, of Christian tax$$ going towards paganisitc
practices in light of the liberalistic agenda tossing anything
Christian out the back door.

If we're going to have church/state separation let's get paganism and
mythology out as well, OK?

alt.atheism,alt.education,alt.religion,alt.politics.usa,alt.religion.christian

Re: How Zeus invaded "science"

Matt Silberstein <matts2nospam@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message news:<rmdvh012cimb5eg601meapsk0058fibhv3@4ax.com>...

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 18:32:21 GMT, Jd <Jd.wuzhere@att.net> wrote:

With lightening bolts.

Interestingly enough, mythology has it that humans were formed from
the ashes of burnt "Titans" (which had become ashes due to Zeus
zapping them in a fit of anger) - at least according to the mythical
account I found while visiting NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Here's the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's take on the "Titans":

"A generic name for the children of Ouranos and Gaia...."

"... The Titans devoured the limbs of Dionysus, the son of Zeus, who
intended the child to have dominion over the world. Enraged, Zeus
struck the Titans with lightning. The fire burned them to ashes, and
from the ashes man was formed."

http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Sat_Titan&Display=Overview&System=Scientific

Imagine that. Mythology appearing on scientists (who work for the
government) computers where they are investigating the origins of
life!!!

...

...

Interesting. Dionysius is sometimes called the 'twice born'. At
least a slight reference to the similarities involved might have
been made in the phrase 'Religion is the ophium of the masses'.

Anyway, the Greeks in some ways may have had several different
versions of the story of the creation of mankind.

Edith Hamilton writes of it:

'There is more than one account of how that came to pass. Some
say it was delegated by the gods to Prometheus, the Titan who
had sided with Zeus in the war with the Titans, and to his brother,
Epimetheus. Prometheus, whose name means forethought, was very wise,
wiser than even the gods, but Epimetheus, which means afterthought,
was a scatterbrained person who invariably followed his first
impulse and then changed his mind. So he did in this case. Before
making men he gave all the best gifts to the animals, strength
and swiftness and courage and shrewd cunning, fur and feathers and
wings and shells and the like - until no good was left for man,
no protective covering and no quality to make them a match for the
beasts. Too late, as always, he was sorry and asked for his
brother's help. Prometheus, then, took over the task of
creation and thought about a way to make mankind superior. He
fashioned them in a nobler shape than the animals, upright
like the gods; and then he went to heaven, to the sun, where
he lit a torch and brought down fire, a protection to men far
better than anything else, whether fur or feathers or strength
or swiftness.

And now, though feeble and short-lived,
Mankind has flaming fire and therefrom
Learns many crafts.'

'According to another story, the gods themselves created
men. They made first a golden race. These, although mortal,
lived like gods without sorrow of heart, far from toil and
pain. The cornland of itself bore fruit abundantly. They
were rich also in flocks and beloved of the gods. When
the grave covered them they became pure spirits, beneficent,
the guardians of mankind.

In this account of the creation the gods seemed bent on
experimenting with the various metals, and, oddly enough,
proceeding downward from the excellent to the good to the
worse and so on. When they had tried gold they went to
silver. This second race of silver was very inferior to
the first. They had so little intelligence that they
could not keep from injuring each other. They too passed
away, but, unlike the gold race, their spirits did not
live on after them. The next race was of brass. They
were terrible men, immensely strong, and such lovers of
war and violence that they were completely destroyed by
their own hands. This, however, was all to the good,
for they were followed by a splendid race of godlike
heroes who fought glorious wars and went on great
adventures which men have talked and sung of through
all the ages since. They departed finally to the isles
of the blessed, where they lived in perfect bliss
forever.

The fifth race is that which is now upon the earth: the
iron race. They live in evil times and their nature
too has much of evil, so that they never have rest from
toil or sorrow. As the generations pass, they grow worse;
sons are always inferior to their fathers. A time will
come when they have grown so wicked that they will
worship power; might will be right to them, and reverence
for the good will cease to be. At last when no man is
angry any more at wrongdoing or feels shame in the
presence of the miserable, Zeus will destroy them too.
And yet even then something might be done, if only the
common people would arise and put down the rulers that
oppress them.'

...

'There is still another account of the creation of
mankind. In the story of the five ages men are descended
from the iron race. In the story of Prometheus, it is
uncertain whether the men he saved from destruction
belonged to that race or the bronze race. Fire would
have been as necessary to the one as to the other. In
the third story, men are descended from a race of stone.
This story begins with the Deluge.

All over the earth men grew so wicked that finally Zeus
determined to destroy them. He decided

To mingle storm and tempest over boundless earth
And make an utter end to mortal man.

He sent the flood. He called upon his brother, the
God of the Sea, to help him, and together, with torrents
of rain from heaven and rivers loosed upon the earth,
the two drowned the land.

The might of water overwhelmed dark earth,
over the summits of the highest mountains. Only
towering Parnassus was not quite covered, and the bit
of dry land on its very topmost peak was the means by
which mankind escaped destruction. After it had rained
through nine days and nine nights, there came drifting
to that spot what looked to be a great wooden chest,
but safe within it were two living human beings, a
man and a woman. They were Deucalion and Pyrrha -
he Prometheus's son, and she his niece, the daughter
of Epimetheus and Pandora. The wisest person in all
the universe, Prometheus had well been able to protect
his own family. He knew that the flood would come, and
he had bidden his son build the chest, store it with
provisions, and embark in it with his wife.

Fortunately Zeus was not offended, because the two
were pious, faithful worshipers of the gods. When the
chest came to land they got out, to see no sign of
life anywhere, only a wild waste of waters, Zeus
pitied them and drained off the flood. Slowly like
the ebbing tide the sea and the rivers drew back and
the earth was dry again. Pyrrha and Deucalion came
down from Parnassus, the only living creatures in a
dead world. They found a temple all slimy and
moss-grown, but not quite in ruins, and there they
gave thanks for their escape and prayed for help in
their dreadful loneliness. They heard a voice.
'Veil your heads and cast behind you the bones of
your mother.' The command struck them with horror.
Pyrrha said, 'We dare not do such a thing.'
Deucalion was forced to agree that she was right,
but he tried to think out what might lie behind the
words and suddenly he saw their meaning. 'Earth is
the mother of us all,' he told his wife. 'Her bones
are the stones. These we may cast behind us without
doing wrong.' So they did, and as the stones fell
they took human shape. They were called the Stone
People, and they were a hard, enduring race, as was
expected and, indeed, as they had need to be, to
rescue the earth from the destruction left by the
flood.'