Did ancient greeks believe their myths? Did medieval scandinavians

Who's left after that everyone on that list is in hell?

The people you described saw their religious beliefs as "lucky" rituals: you pray to the statue of Apollo, and you might be healed; you pray at the temple of Demeter and spare a coin for the priest attendants, and your crops might do well. It was more akin to those "lucky" things that modern people do such as opening fortune cookies or splitting a wishbone or throwing a coin in the fountain: these things are done, but no one actually stops and wonders the implications.

The preoccupation with the literal existence of a deity and the mechanics through which he works in and the idea of only one deity to the exclusion of all others is a Christian development:

>>1523660
But that's the point. Everyone will face judgment, that's why it's so important people turn to Jesus.

>>1523597
Where in the scriptures did this guy find it said that smoking pot or rapping is a sin?

>>1523663
I thought Romans took religion and ritual pretty fucking seriously

>>1523597
Do you actually consider myths about Washington to be true?

>>1523678
What separated them from the Greeks really.

Except the Romans had something the Greeks didn't: Ancestor Worship.

>>1523678
They took ritual seriously. As in: we have to perform this ritual in order for the harvests to succeed. Every year, at the right time.

They still didn't invest even half of the faith in their gods as Christians did. It was merely being very observant of traditions because deviating from the tradition might lead to undesired results.

>>1523709
Can you elaborate?

The ancient greek had a big love for their ancestors, as each city-state had their founding fathers mythologized and held them in high regard, aspiring to be like them

>>1523663
Well, Jews are pretty preoccupied with their one deity and his mechanisms. I would say it's just a part of the Jewish tradition manifesting itself in Christianity and Islam. The reason people forget about the Jews is that they discourage conversion into their faith.

Muslims aren't as argumentative as Christians simply because their religion requires less miracles.

But I agree completely with your answer to OP.

>>1523597
My mom literally thinks the Ramayana happened

Yes, with the monkey army and shounen villain

>>1523792
Ravana was the best king desu.

Can we all agree that it was Laxmana's fault?

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>>1523795
There was no fucking point in her descent

>>1523805
> socrates invented philosophy
Stopped reading right there

>>1523854
But if Plato invented Socrates, and Socrates invented philosophy, then who was phone?

>>1523663
So essentially, the average Greek was just living out Pascal's wager?

>>1523792
Your mom sounds cool.

>>1523663
>>1523874

no. don't listen to him, they believed in the gods

>>1524004
She's a bit ditzy, but sweet

Gives offerings and praises to Lord Rama everyday without fail

All religious stories are based on some degree of truth (except Mormons and Islam)

I think it's hard for people who live in a modern era with everything substantiated to buy the idea that to the ancients, these stories were very real to them and they believed earnestly their wacky gods existed. This was the point made by a professor of mine who focused in religious anthropology

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>>1523597
Does it say anywhere in the Bible that you can't smoke pot?

Religious belief in the ancient world was much like it is today, in that it had general trends across rural vs urban, rich vs poor, and regional location. Just like today the poor and rural could be very literal and sincere in their belief while urban dwellers and the wealthy would often do what they do today, with non-committal beliefs and short-term adoptions of "Fad" religions. And just like today you had major exceptions to these trends in all populations. Furthermore there were those who gave no real credence to religious belief but kept it to themselves in order to not be socially ostracized just like many do in less tolerant countries today. Finally you see similarities between then and now with how religious belief operates in times of crises. When times were/are bad people become more sincere, literal, and intolerant. When times are good and peaceful people are/were more relaxed, metaphorical, and accepting of other beliefs and rituals.

>>1524824
Remember the burning bush?

>>1523597
Did they believe it? Yes of course. Why? Because they knew no better. They didn't have the capacity to have an inquisitive mind to explain things like a majority of people alive now does.

When you're starving, or suffering from the Black Plague, you have no time to think "Hmm...maybe the reason I'm so hungry is because God doesn't exist, and I'm not working to understand how everything works." Instead, they said "This holy man tells me this sickness I'm dying from is God punishing me for my sins. There's no reason to not believe him, and he must be right. Hopefully God will look down on me in mercy and cure me of this sickness."

Religion is an outdated substitute for science.

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>>1523663
>The preoccupation with the literal existence of a deity and the mechanics through which he works in and the idea of only one deity to the exclusion of all others is a Christian development

That's not true.

Both Epicurus and Marcus Aurelius had a "Deistic"/"pseudo-monotheistic" idea of God(s), and both thought quite a bit about it.

The cult of Sol Invictus in the Roman Empire was basically monotheistic too.

Greeks didn't care much for ritual and were rich in mythology
Romans were obsessed with ritual and had almost no mythology of their own

What does it mean?

>>1524899
>They didn't have the capacity to have an inquisitive mind to explain things like a majority of people alive now does.

Obviously you know nothing about history. Just leave this board.

They believe Alexander the Great was actually a God. They believed him to be unfallable and perfection incarnate.

So I'd assume they'd believe in other stuff like Hercules, Zeus, Poseidon, Hermes, etc

>>1524927
If that was the case, why did his army refuse to follow him deeper into india? why was he described as having a somewhat deformed neck?. Sure, his admirers portrayed him as a god, but to most greeks he was a warrior king, not a god.

>>1523597
Pretty sure they didn't sacrifice animals for nothing, they must have had some level of belief.

>>1525225
Sacrifices were just glorified barbeques

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>>1524824
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;

- Psalm 104:14

>>1525272
So nothing against edibles?

>>1525323
That post speaks for marijuana, not against.
Not him but dam man, take the dooby out of your mouth.

>and herb for the service of man
>that it may bring forth food out of the earth;
Totally applicable, since it's the drug of choice when it comes to winding down.

>>1524761
>all religious stories are based on truth
>except the one religion where we know for a fact their messiah was a historical figure and did exist

You seem to have a horse in this race.

>>1523597
some did some didn't

but no, in fact they weren't a bunch of nature loving atheists living in the woods and telling stories they thought were 100% make believe.

idk why morons push this idea considering Romans/Greeks and the like were incredibly superstitious and religion and civil life were completely inseparable.
the 12 tables of Rome has entire sections dealing with magic and what is legal/not legal/

>>1523729
>They still didn't invest even half of the faith in their gods as Christians did.
you're completely full of shit. they were deathly afraid of their Gods at times.

>>1525272
I might be misinterpreting this, but
How in the hell does that have to do with pot
I mean, I know pot existed and was used as far back as Crusader times, but simply mentioning herbs doesnt mean the bible is referring to weed. There are a thousand different herbs that "service man".

>>1524899
>Why? Because they knew no better. They didn't have the capacity to have an inquisitive mind to explain things like a majority of people alive now does.

The 'majority' of people are still religious. They might listen to doctors and scientist to help them, but they still believe it's the work of deities if the doctor is able to cure them. It's still like that in this age with Internet, nothing has changed.

Even if we are able to map all of existence and explain every phenomenon that exist to the point toddlers can understand the experiments, and we don't find some energy being:

People will still believe in religion and just say our instruments can't see God.


Maybe it would change if medicine made us immortal. I doubt people could be religious and believe in heaven after they have lived for a few millenia and no longer fear death.

>>1524824
I knew this particularly retarded, dwarf-looking kid when I was going to high school. He was heavily christian and wanted to turn our public school into a Christian one with the help of his cultish church.

Anyway there's a passage in the bible that bans sorcery and he used to bring up that one definition of sorcery can be taking drugs to reach religious states ala shamanism and that's the only attempt I've seen a Christian make that's somewhat coherent. I think it's a major stretch that's that what the authors were thinking about when they wrote down sorcery though.

>>1525876
some did some didn't

but no, in fact they weren't a bunch of god worshiping priests living in caves and telling stories they thought were 100% literal fact.

Yeah, thats exactly how you appear to any reader, stating that you are on the fence, and then strawmanning in favor of one side without arguing or reasoning at all.

>>1523663
Not really.

Read History of the Peloponnesian War and it's clear most Greeks had a very strict, literal interpretation of their religion.

Romans were the same in abiding by extremely stringent religious holidays which led to a few instances of fucking themselves over in warfare.

>>1523709
I am pretty sure every culture eved did ancestor worship

>>1523663
You're partially right, but don't underestimate the Graeco-Roman reverence for their gods. They didn't exclude gods, sure, but it would be closer to argue that they saw the gods as existing, but only something really to be conciliated with offerings and sacrifices, not to be "worshipped" in their own right. THey DID stop and wonder at the implications, and there are literally dozens of surviving texts about exactly that. Even the Iliad is in many ways a treatise about man's relationship with the gods, and what happens when demi-gods are thrown into the mix.

So if i time-travelled to ancient greece, and proclamied that there are no gods, would they burn me at the stake?

>>1526580
No, they'd call you a philosopher and tell you to go back to teaching merchant sons to count.

>>1523674
LOL this. "Gangsters" I can understand because they are ostensibly "criminals", however I don't see why anyone should be worried about their soul for fast-talking rhymes alongside a funky beat.

>>1526580
They'd just laugh and call you an atheos.

>>1523674
Not sure about rapping, but smoking pot is against the law, and breaking the law is a sin.