Atheists, the Homeric epics, and the Bible
I often say to atheists that if the Bible is just too much (or too 'stupid') for them then read the Homeric epics (the Iliad and the Odyssey). If they then say the Homeric epics are stupid too then you just tell them they are commonly shallow and they shouldn't be talking about things they have no interest in and don't value. I.e. you can't be a common, no-effort dope and understand the Bible.
But now look at that from another angle. Imagine an atheist reading the Iliad and the Odyssey *the same way* they read the Bible. "Oh, ha, ha, so Athena is all pro-Odysseus all through the war, but the moment he leaves for home she is slamming and breaking up his ships! They couldn't even keep that contradiction out of it!! Ha, ha!!!"
Rather than seeing the subtle, inspired relations between the gods and goddesses and the heroes of the two epics; rather than looking for the cause of Athena's actions; rather than attempting to tune into something that is higher than them and their current level of understanding, the atheist chooses to remain a common, shallow dope mocking what he can't understand or refuses to attempt to understand. So when you see the atheist doing this with great and inspired epic poems and you see that it is the *exact* same approach they take to the Bible you really see how the atheist is exposed as a shallow dope. Then when the same atheist lectures you you look at him and realize this is somebody who couldn't follow - or appreciate - the action in Pride and Prejudice let alone understand the genre and the content of the prophets of the Old Testament.
3 Comments:
Hey, as long as you consider the Greek gods in the Iliad and the Odyssey as real as the gods in the New Testament, that's fine by me.
Epic poetry is fiction. In the case of the Homeric epics very inspired works of art. A deep language. Higher visual language. Kind of like folk tales or legendary stories that arise from the mists of time of an entire culture rather than from the mind of a single person.
The New Testament (as the Old Testament) is the revealed Word of God.
The Homeric epics get at the truth that the Bible presents pure only by degree and the host of gods and goddesses probably mirror more the forces of the Heavenly host - angels - and the influence and inspiration that comes down from on high and also present universal archtypes. They also present a deep language of inner development presented in sophisticated metaphor and their very structure. They're doing a lot of things at once. This type of knowledge coming from General Revelation - as opposed to Special Revelation - touches on inspiration from the only source of truth which is God, yet they are not the Word of God or 100 percent truth, obviously. Nothing other than the revealed Word of God is.
Most Christians wouldn't understand what I've written above, and most would also shallowly condemn it. The English from the Elizabethans on saw the parallels or same feel of inspiration in the Homeric epics and the Bible and commented on it.
As always though any work that is not the Word of God though is inspired is like a planet that reflects the light of the Sun rather than being the Sun itself.
I made this a post and elaborated more here:
http://electofgod.blogspot.com/2011/04/comment-regarding-iliad-and-odyssey-and.html
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