Re: Thor is Christ (Archetypes | Most religions are telling the same stories)
Posted: May 23rd, 2023, 3:23 am
Just to show how messy these assumptions are: Odin/Wotan/Woden and Baldur are actually better matches for Christ in Norse/Germanic mythology than Thor.
There isn't a single figure who exactly matches Christ, in fact, the parts are scattered all around in different places. Someone will try and tidy up a figure (as some on this thread have already done) and improve the similarities. The reality is that the figures often have big dissimilarities.
Take the two above:
* Odin
** Hung on a tree to gain knowledge and arguably save the world.
** But more akin to Heavenly Father in his role than Jesus.
** But did not die and become resurrected properly. (Norse gods were mortal unlike most of their counterparts elsewhere. )
** Being hung on the tree was mainly to gain wisdom and gain access to the runes.
** Represented as a family man with numerous children. (Jesus despite stories of his being married is not generally portrayed as being a husband or father.)
** One eyed, more like the Masonic deity than Jesus.
** Rides a horse with more than four legs, Sleipnir, which is technically his grandchild, via Loki, his adopted son, which Loki gave birth to in female form. (Apart from Jesus riding a donkey, this doesn't sound remotely Christian to me)
* Baldur
** Son who undergoes martyrdom.
** But story may postdate contact between Norse paganism and Christianity.
** But martydom takes place at the end of the world, when his father's rule is collapsing.
** Martyrdom is not by anything resembling crucifixion.
** Name may be remotely related to Baal and Bel. (Arguable.)
The death and rebirth myths in other religions are also often repeating cycles, rather than a one off event as in Christianity. There is no eternal redemption in such events, it has to happen again and again and does not usually represent an atonement.
Another clunking big problem that the posts above address is that the gods of almost all religions are immortal. Norse/Germanic mythology tends to be something of an exception since its gods could die. So when some Egyptian or classical god is chopped up, they haven't really died in the first place! The majority of religions have no sense of sin and atonement, although one can offend gods. The pre-Christian Romans for example, thought gods could be angered and offended, but like the Hindus had gods one could go to if one was a criminal such as a thief or murderer to help you in those projects. Roman Catholicism has something like this in its saints (which are more like pagan deities in some senses) including unofficial patron saints of drug dealers etc.
There isn't a single figure who exactly matches Christ, in fact, the parts are scattered all around in different places. Someone will try and tidy up a figure (as some on this thread have already done) and improve the similarities. The reality is that the figures often have big dissimilarities.
Take the two above:
* Odin
** Hung on a tree to gain knowledge and arguably save the world.
** But more akin to Heavenly Father in his role than Jesus.
** But did not die and become resurrected properly. (Norse gods were mortal unlike most of their counterparts elsewhere. )
** Being hung on the tree was mainly to gain wisdom and gain access to the runes.
** Represented as a family man with numerous children. (Jesus despite stories of his being married is not generally portrayed as being a husband or father.)
** One eyed, more like the Masonic deity than Jesus.
** Rides a horse with more than four legs, Sleipnir, which is technically his grandchild, via Loki, his adopted son, which Loki gave birth to in female form. (Apart from Jesus riding a donkey, this doesn't sound remotely Christian to me)
* Baldur
** Son who undergoes martyrdom.
** But story may postdate contact between Norse paganism and Christianity.
** But martydom takes place at the end of the world, when his father's rule is collapsing.
** Martyrdom is not by anything resembling crucifixion.
** Name may be remotely related to Baal and Bel. (Arguable.)
The death and rebirth myths in other religions are also often repeating cycles, rather than a one off event as in Christianity. There is no eternal redemption in such events, it has to happen again and again and does not usually represent an atonement.
Another clunking big problem that the posts above address is that the gods of almost all religions are immortal. Norse/Germanic mythology tends to be something of an exception since its gods could die. So when some Egyptian or classical god is chopped up, they haven't really died in the first place! The majority of religions have no sense of sin and atonement, although one can offend gods. The pre-Christian Romans for example, thought gods could be angered and offended, but like the Hindus had gods one could go to if one was a criminal such as a thief or murderer to help you in those projects. Roman Catholicism has something like this in its saints (which are more like pagan deities in some senses) including unofficial patron saints of drug dealers etc.