Christianity and Greek Mythology Question

[DrFaroohk]

I was watching a show the other night about greek mythology stuff, and when they were on Hades, they talked about how Jesus and Hades fought for control over the souls of the dead or something, and Jesus ultimately defeated Hades.

They were kinda glossy on that subject, and I couldn't really tell what they meant. Did they mean that Jesus and the Greek God Hades literally fought each other (isn't that very notion blasphemus), or that Hades in a stand-in for Satan? Or is it more in the metaphorical sense that as Christianity came to be more popular, greeks and other gods were thrown backstage and sort of ignored from then on out?

[Gravekeeper]

That's rather odd. I'm going to guess it refers to Jesus's descent *into* Hades and subsequent departure from upon his ascension. Hades is a separate place from Hell and is essentially just a place of darkness and stillness for the souls of the dead. In the New Testament, Jesus descends into Hades for 3 days or some such before he ascends into Heaven.

So I'll take a wild guess that's what they were referring too. When Jesus was first crucified, Hades sort of broke open and the place turned into 28 Days Later for a while. ( Seriously, the New Testament has a zombie outbreak. ).

There are actually a lot of zombies in the Bible come to think of it. ;p

[DrFaroohk]

So Hades exists alongside Jesus? I would've thought they were seperate mythologies.

[Gravekeeper]

So Hades exists alongside Jesus? I would've thought they were seperate mythologies.

Not quite. The original Hebrew word for it is Sheol. But when the Bible was being translated into Greek from Hebrew, they used the word Hades instead because that was the equivalent in Greek mythology. Basically, its creative editing to pander to a Greek audience and ensure the Greek reader understood what sort of place was being referred too.

Its sort of like if I told you about a place called Naraka, and you went "What the heck is that?", so I said "Its kind of like Hell" in order to explain it.

[BlaqueKatt]

So Hades exists alongside Jesus? I would've thought they were seperate mythologies.

as GK said, place not person.

Just as I live in the city of Madison, there are also people named Madison.

[DrFaroohk]

as GK said, place not person.

Just as I live in the city of Madison, there are also people named Madison.

Yeah I get that part. But the show I was watching was talking about both as people. I'm starting to assume that particular point was more metaphorical.

[Gravekeeper]

Yeah I get that part. But the show I was watching was talking about both as people. I'm starting to assume that particular point was more metaphorical.

That is rather bizarre. Unless they were just discussing some sort of weird hypothetical who would win in a fight situation between religions. -.-

[Mishi]

Okay, this is from someone raised Pentecostal but the (paraphrased) intepretation of that section by the various churches I attended was that Jesus descended into Sheol, kicked Death's arse, took his keys and then was resurrected.

Edited to add: No, it's not blasphemous as the Bible recognises other gods. It's just that God is the top bloke and and being a bit jealous, states "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

[RedRoseSpiral]

In my college World Religion's class our professor was talking about the ways the Greek/Roman gods were "killed" by Christians. Evidently, there were quite a few "myths" out there of Christians claiming to have killed them in the name Jesus. My favorite (and the only one I really remember) is the death of Pan.

A group of Christians were boating down a river outside of Rome when a man calls from the bank "The god Pan is dead! Long live the Christians!"

[DrFaroohk]

I think I read that in a percy jackson story. Seems like they actually did some moderate amount of research for those books.

But anyway, the hades/jesus thing was on some documentary show they were doing of all kinds of myth things. And I always thought the christianity thing was "There are no other gods, and certainly none better than me!" So I thought it was weird when they had J and H fighting it out. I was really sure it was metaphorical for Christianity eclipsing Greekanity in the religious market.

[Andara Bledin]

Christianity recognizes other gods a few times. It's just that the Bible mentions the 'jealous God' thing and you're not supposed to follow any of the other ones.

^-.-^

[Gravekeeper]

Christianity recognizes other gods a few times. It's just that the Bible mentions the 'jealous God' thing and you're not supposed to follow any of the other ones.

Old Testament God. The jealous alcoholic boyfriend. ><

[crashhelmet]

Old Testament God. The jealous alcoholic boyfriend. ><

But then he found Jesus and became the nice, loving God.

I'm so going to hell for that joke....

[jackfaire]

I'm so going to hell for that joke....

I am because I pictured Jesus and Mary holding an intervention for God.

Mary Magadlene, "God it's a dark road don't go down it trust me"

[Mytical]

I am because I pictured Jesus and Mary holding an intervention for God.

Mary Magadlene, "God it's a dark road don't go down it trust me"

If I had been drinking something I would have violated rule #1