Which religious belief systems had a son/daughter of a god?

Magnetic · Post by **Magnetic** » 2006-03-09 10:16am

Just curious as to which culture (past or present) had/has a religious belief/doctrine of their God having a son (or daughter) that comes to earth to interact with humans?

mr friendly guy · Post by **mr friendly guy** » 2006-03-09 10:23am

I suppose Greek myth. For example Heracles the son of Zeus who had adventures on Earth. Or his other sons such as Perseus who slew Medusa.

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2006-03-09 10:26am

Just off the top of my head, in Hindu myth the gods regularly shagged human women to conceive demihumans on Earth (the most notable example being probably the Pandeva brothers in the Mahabharata.

Greek mythology also has its examples, for example Hercules was the son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene, among many other illegitimate children that Zeus conceived. Achilles was the son of a mortal man, Peleus, and the goddess Nereid Thetis.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-03-09 10:43am

Norse myth, I believe. Thor was quite popular and regularly seen as a protector of man. He was seen as a rather straightforward god, as opposed to being mysterious or unknowable.

Magnetic · Post by **Magnetic** » 2006-03-09 11:19am

Yes, of course. . . . . the Greeks. Probably Egyptians.

A Christian response I just read concerning this (and I paraphrase):

Yes, these other religious systems had similar points to the words in the Old Testiment because when these cultures departed the location after the "Tower of Babel" experience, they would have still had the knowledge of God and his son, . . . .or why most cultures have a flood account. . . .

Comments?

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2006-03-09 11:23am

Magnetic wrote:Comments?

The word 'lie' springs to mind. Not every culture has a flood myth. Indeed, the one culture we expect to have one.. The Eygptians.. Do not. There is a very, very logical reason why this is: The Nile floods very regularly and predictably, and thus never catches them off guard.

The delta between the Tigris and Euphrates, on the other hand, flooded erratically.

As for a mortal/semimortal son of God.. Um.. The vast majority. Greek/Roman is famous for it. Norse is common. Eygptians, definately. The Japanese? Yep, the Emperor is the direct descended of the Sun Goddess Amaretsu.

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2006-03-09 11:37am

Magnetic wrote:Yes, of course. . . . . the Greeks. Probably Egyptians.

A Christian response I just read concerning this (and I paraphrase):

Yes, these other religious systems had similar points to the words in the Old Testiment because when these cultures departed the location after the "Tower of Babel" experience, they would have still had the knowledge of God and his son, . . . .or why most cultures have a flood account. . . .
Comments?

I was under the impression that the Tower of Babel occured in the OT long before Jesus came along, so that this argument is self-contradictory apart from the outrageously all-emcompassing lie that it implies regarding other cultures.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2006-03-09 11:38am

I've heard that in proto-Islam, Allah had three daughters who were gradually marginalized over time.

Technically, in Judaism God has children - they're collectively known as humanity. That's the whole point of the "Heavenly Father" bit. That's also why I never got just what was so special about Jesus...

xerex · Post by **xerex** » 2006-03-09 11:48am

SirNitram wrote:
Magnetic wrote:Comments?
The word 'lie' springs to mind. Not every culture has a flood myth. Indeed, the one culture we expect to have one.. The Eygptians.. Do not. There is a very, very logical reason why this is: The Nile floods very regularly and predictably, and thus never catches them off guard.

The delta between the Tigris and Euphrates, on the other hand, flooded erratically.
.

yeah lots of civs had flood myths Greece,Mesopotamia, Persia are similar enough that they could have had a common origin. Polynesians ,Hawaiians ,and I think the Aztecs or Mayans also had flood myths.

OTOH. The longest lived civilaizations such as the Egyptians and the Chinese have NO flood myths. Dont know about Indians or Africans. But it would appear that if there was a flood. it was localisted to the Mid-East Area with another one in the Pacific.

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2006-03-09 12:22pm

xerex wrote:OTOH. The longest lived civilaizations such as the Egyptians and the Chinese have NO flood myths. Dont know about Indians or Africans. But it would appear that if there was a flood. it was localisted to the Mid-East Area with another one in the Pacific.

The Chinese have flood myths, but the ones I've heard standardly involve some god being pissed over something like man not giving him half his crops and the problem being solved by the construction of the dike system to control the flood waters and foil the god in question. However, these aren't really epics.

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2006-03-09 12:50pm

For centuries, just about every Germanic/ Scandinavian king claimed descent from Odin/ Woden/ Votan. Probably because an upstart king's job application sounded more impressive with "Gunnar, son of Odin" as opposed to "Gunnar, son of Gunther, the Assistant Swineherd". One Anglo-Saxon king claimed Odin, Adam, Caesar and Hercules as his ancestors. Talk about padding your resume!

Many Indo-European heroes are the offspring of gods and mortals, with Zeus being the Wilt Chamberlain of mythology. In fact, I can't think of any ancient heroes who weren't the sons or grandsons of one god or another.

Lord Zentei · Post by **Lord Zentei** » 2006-03-09 01:30pm

Elfdart wrote:One Anglo-Saxon king claimed Odin, Adam, Caesar and Hercules as his ancestors. Talk about padding your resume!

Of course the claim of having Adam as your ancestor might not be seen as all that special in some circles.

Invictus ChiKen · Post by **Invictus ChiKen** » 2006-03-09 02:36pm

I'd say basically. All of them it would be easier I think to tract down the religions where this DOESN'T occur.

Scientology, Taoism(I think), Wicca, Thelema, Discordianism, Church of the Sub-Genuis.

I could be wrong on all the above counts.

Ryushikaze · Post by **Ryushikaze** » 2006-03-09 03:32pm

Molyneux wrote:I've heard that in proto-Islam, Allah had three daughters who were gradually marginalized over time.

Technically, in Judaism God has children - they're collectively known as humanity. That's the whole point of the "Heavenly Father" bit. That's also why I never got just what was so special about Jesus...

Especially since if you pay attention, he almost never uses the phrase 'son of god' to describe himself- almost always using 'son of man' instead- and the few times he did use such terminology, his wording was inclusive, IE 'we are all sons and daughters of god'. Used that one at one point when his mom and brother were outside a party he was at and wanted in.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2006-03-09 04:46pm

Invictus ChiKen wrote:I'd say basically. All of them it would be easier I think to tract down the religions where this DOESN'T occur.

Scientology, Taoism(I think), Wicca, Thelema, Discordianism, Church of the Sub-Genuis.

I could be wrong on all the above counts.

Some Wiccan believes have 'Jack in the Green' or another summer god, born of the winter god and the goddess. At the end of harvest Jack is killed, but reborn at the first of spring.

felineki · Post by **felineki** » 2006-03-09 05:06pm

SirNitram wrote:Yep, the Emperor is the direct descended of the Sun Goddess Amaretsu.

It's actually "Amaterasu", IIRC.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2006-03-09 05:32pm

Invictus ChiKen wrote:I'd say basically. All of them it would be easier I think to tract down the religions where this DOESN'T occur.

Scientology, Taoism(I think), Wicca, Thelema, Discordianism, Church of the Sub-Genuis.

I could be wrong on all the above counts.

I don't think that you can really count Buddhism or Taoism as religions, since IIRC neither one actually has (or cares about) any deities...

drachefly · Post by **drachefly** » 2006-03-09 05:38pm

Buddhism isn't a religion? That's a very peculiarly narrow definition.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2006-03-09 06:22pm

drachefly wrote:Buddhism isn't a religion? That's a very peculiarly narrow definition.

Well, there's no worship as far as I know, no creation myth, no central (or indeed any) deities; the only thing it has in common with most other religions is that it touches on an afterlife.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2006-03-09 06:46pm

Molyneux wrote:I've heard that in proto-Islam, Allah had three daughters who were gradually marginalized over time.

That was pre-islamic meccan mythology. Mohammed co-opted parts of it (like jinn), but islam is primarily a bastard child of christianity and judaism, not meccan religion.

Technically, in Judaism God has children - they're collectively known as humanity.

No need to go that far. Gen 6:2.

That's the whole point of the "Heavenly Father" bit. That's also why I never got just what was so special about Jesus...

"Only begotten son of God."

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2006-03-09 06:59pm

Rye wrote:
Molyneux wrote:I've heard that in proto-Islam, Allah had three daughters who were gradually marginalized over time.
That was pre-islamic meccan mythology. Mohammed co-opted parts of it (like jinn), but islam is primarily a bastard child of christianity and judaism, not meccan religion.

Technically, in Judaism God has children - they're collectively known as humanity.
No need to go that far. Gen 6:2.

That's the whole point of the "Heavenly Father" bit. That's also why I never got just what was so special about Jesus...
"Only begotten son of God."

The meanings of "to beget" are a) to father or to sire ("Our Father, who art in Heaven"), and b) to cause or create (the first few chapters of Genesis).

I ask again, what the heck is so special about Jesus?

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2006-03-09 07:13pm

He was sired by miracle, by God. That not strike you as odd? Obviously, since it claims he is the only begotten son of God, he is set apart from everyone else.

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2006-03-09 08:55pm

Rye wrote:He was sired by miracle, by God. That not strike you as odd? Obviously, since it claims he is the only begotten son of God, he is set apart from everyone else.

...sculpting all of humanity from dust doesn't seem miraculous to you?

If you're saying that Jesus was supposed to be a new, separate creation, then okay. He's a younger sibling to humanity.

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2006-03-09 09:20pm

Magnetic wrote:Yes, of course. . . . . the Greeks. Probably Egyptians.

A Christian response I just read concerning this (and I paraphrase):

Yes, these other religious systems had similar points to the words in the Old Testiment because when these cultures departed the location after the "Tower of Babel" experience, they would have still had the knowledge of God and his son, . . . .or why most cultures have a flood account. . . .
Comments?

Too bad the "Tower of Babel" incident was before Jesus. Even the OT Jews had no knowledge of him at that point. It doesn't explain how many religions have such stories at all. These peoples are morons.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2006-03-09 09:26pm

Molyneux wrote:
Rye wrote:He was sired by miracle, by God. That not strike you as odd? Obviously, since it claims he is the only begotten son of God, he is set apart from everyone else.
...sculpting all of humanity from dust doesn't seem miraculous to you?

It's a different time and a different class of miracle, the idea was he was a specific messenger of God, his son, divine, in a way that normal people weren't. This is elementary christian stuff.

If you're saying that Jesus was supposed to be a new, separate creation, then okay. He's a younger sibling to humanity.

Not really, since he's meant to be human, just without sin. He's also meant to be God, and claims in John somewhere that he was before all the prophets.