What kind of God do you follow? Is He infinite? Personal? Righteous? That’s the God I serve, the only true God. But there’s an interloper in our midst – Zeus, chief god of the Ancient Greeks. Zeus claimed to be all-powerful, wise, everything a god should be. How does he compare to the God of the Bible?
Jehovah, the God of the Bible, is infinite. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and omnipresent. He is not bound by time or space, or the laws of nature. He is above all the boundaries we are familiar with, because He created them. Can Zeus compare to this? Well, in a word, no. In contrast to God, Zeus is bound by time and space. He can’t be everywhere at once. He does, in fact, have to sleep. And he is not omniscient. The lesser gods have been known to go behind his back, do things against his wishes. Zeus gets mad when he finds out, but the fact is he didn’t know it was happening at the time and was powerless to stop it.
Jehovah, 1. Zeus, 0.
The God of the Bible is also a personal God. He listens to our prayers, which are like incense to Him. And our prayers do matter. God pays attentions to us and blesses us according to His wisdom. Besides this, God also has a personal, loving relationship with each and every one of His children. We can know God personally, and He willingly draws close to us when we draw close to Him. Zeus, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to care much for the thoughts or feelings of his followers. He isn’t bothered by lying to them, as in the case of Agamemnon’s dream at the beginning of The Iliad. Zeus sent the messenger Iris to Agamemnon, telling him he would have success in battle when in reality he was going to suffer defeat. Zeus simply used Agamemnon for his own purposes, disregarding the prayers and sacrifices Agamemnon offered up to him. And what about a personal relationship? No luck. When he isn’t causing trouble for the people, Zeus usually just ignores them and has a dandy time up on Olympus, eating and drinking and partying.
Jehovah, 2. Zeus, 0.
Jehovah is also completely righteous and holy. He always tells the truth, will never lead us astray, and will never sin. On top of this, He is unchanging. We never need to worry or be apprehensive because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never changes His mind because He never makes mistakes. Zeus? He’s as bad as a human, maybe worse. He is subject to all the same old sins, vices, and faults. He’s got anger issues. He’s unfaithful. He’s got an ego the size of Texas – with no legitimate claims to justify it. Not only does he have these problems, but he’s also driven by his emotions and whims. He’s known to change his mind frequently and unapologetically. In fact, you could say he’s about as stable as a gravel pile. In all these areas, the God of the Bible comes out ahead. He does what He says He does, and is what He says He is. He is worthy of all our praise and honor. Zeus doesn’t stand a chance.
Final score: Jehovah, 3. Zeus, 0.
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4 comments:
This is a pretty good essay. Although I say this, there are still a lot of ways to disagree. One, Zeus was made to have human characteristics because the people of that time could better relate. Jehovah was created with the idea of having a pure perfect god, the way a human wishes he could be/act. Not only this, but Jehovah was "Created" many centuries after the Olympian Gods. Also, setting aside the fact that the Ancient Greeks felt the need to solve every unknown event or environmental happenings that couldn’t be explained with their current technology, Jehovah was not created during this total misunderstanding of the world. The Greeks viewed themselves as the smartest people, and such also needed a way to back them up. To finish off, Zeus had the other gods by his side in reality because the Greeks believed that Zeus could not rule alone and needed to be kept in check. Because you view Jehovah as the "perfect" god, there is no need for these applied thoughts; Remember that democracy had also been in creation and that his may have been applied to how the world was ruled by the gods. In your essay, you also sound so connected to Jehovah that you are almost being bias towards it. If you want to make a point, then you must forget your connection at the moment and compare and contrast correctly. Other than that, it was a great start to a great work.
Your essay is ok but it has some serious problems in its neutrality. You diffidently have a theory but your supporting evidence is pretty weak. Unless your versions of Jehovah and Zeus are just that your versions. Cause you kind of seem to have a personalized slant to the two characters.
You say Jehovah can do no wrong and is righteous but it seems like your judging them by Jehovah’s own standards, so of course Jehovah would fit better. You seem to have missed the role and importance of Zeus to the people that worshipped him. If I wrote nothing but derogatory comments about Zeus without explaining his fundamental roll in the culture he can seem like a negative character but I think the same thing can be said for Jehovah just as easily. Your essay seems disrespectful to an entire faith and culture and support the other. Both characters have played a similar roll for people at different times and should be respected in that way.
A way to understand my point is to imagine a similar essay but written from the other point of view. Jehovah could be said to be very unstable and even a killer. In the Old Testament, God takes credit for a lot of killings, including the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He MUST be a "killer God!" How can anyone say God is not a killer God when He brought the flood that killed everyone in the world except eight (Noah and his family)?
However, arguing about the mythical stories and magic powers really isn’t enough and ultimately gets you nowhere because the powers and abilities of these creatures are both mythical in nature the real comparison is in the way humans use these deities in their civilizations. To this effect I would say Zeus and Jehovah are very similar and both have been used to justify good and bad things remember the only thing in these stories which is true is that people believe in them and act on them.
But your essay is interesting just its not a fair comparison it’s more like an advertisement for the character you like more.
Your introduction betrays you. You already favor " the only true god" as you put it without showing neutrality on the subject. You say that Zeus has had his fellow gods do things behind his back, yet God has had a third of the heavenly angels go against him. You say that God never makes mistakes surely you know of the Flood story (Did he not create a rainbow to show mankind his promise to never repeat that mistake) and Adam and Eve story ( In this one he even feared that man would eat of the tree of life and become like him hence plan B was to cast them out of the garden). You mention Zeus is quick to go into a state of rage while the bible is clear in God's jealousy and wrath. "God is unchanging" please that man changes his mind as often as he can, references include fore-mentioned flood and "Jonah and the fish". In reality one can never prove the existence of Zeus just as much one can never prove Jehovah's, You can only put forth "Faith". So your clear attack on Zeus is not cool, not cool at all.
While I hoped for a pure comparison between the two, you clearly betrayed my trust in believed this would be a good usage of my time.
i believe god is a man he is not powerful but he is wise he cant do everything we want him to do and he cant forsee everything so he had his current followers believing he was zeus, when he finally noticed all his flaws he gave birth to a son, a demi god, (explaining the virgin marry,) and he told his son and marry of his flaws, and they argued and argued of what they could do, thats when god stopped and realized, right now i am merely a man, but the people need so much more, I could be powerful and wise and cruel, but that never worked in the past, but to be godly what is that to a man, it's power, courteous, loving of all his children, forgiving, and always right there by your side when you need him most, a friend, now marry i have a job for you, take care of my child raise him to be the best friend you could ever hope for, tell him to be patient he'll understand when the time comes and if he goes through life unknowing of my presence and still remains in my good graces, ill make him the king of kings , god of gods, and i believe he was always watching even as zeus cause having his brothers and sisters turn on him gave us something to blame the hard times on besides him, his main goal, love him eternally and he will meet you half way=)
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