Over time, it has been claimed that the God of the Bible is the same as the ancient gods. However, there is a thick line of differences between them, something that makes them totally different in many aspects. God’s characteristics in the Holy Bible significantly contrast with the characteristics portrayed by the ancient gods in their actions, character and how they are portrayed.
First and foremost, the most throbbing question that everyone is asking is “why does anyone have to prove his faith?” The God of the Bible demands that people put their faith in him. According to the book of Genesis 22, we are introduced to God who challenged Abraham’s faith in a way that he had to kill his own son. Both of them went up the top of the mountain, he prepared his knife and prepared a fire to sacrifice the boy. Fortunately, he did not do it. It was enough for God to trust him in the way that he was ready to do it without asking any questions. On the same note, the salvation of man is by virtue of faith in God. God demands, therefore, that whoever seeks to be saved should first have faith in him. In contrast, gods have never challenged anyone as The Epic of Gilgamesh in World Mythology by Donna Rosenberg presents it. Since gods are physical and one is able to interact with them, they do not put sanctions. They are, however, way above humans. So, it was perceived that humans were serving gods. The chapter Babylonia of the same book clearly shows that people were helping gods build the Palace of Babylon at their own will. Without any threads or challenges, they were working on it together. This only has the implication that the ancient gods did not demand that men serve them. Instead, they lived among people and thus people could get the sense of serving them.
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Secondly, many people are asking “why does someone have to make a separation between and bad people or their own and others?” This question continues to throw many people into the controversy over the role of God in creating the separation between good and bad people. Although he is believed to have created everything, it is not the competence of God to do such a thing because he is supposed is to love all of us equally. The perfect example from The Holy Bible is in the Book of Genesis (17) which presents the story in which God tells Abraham to circumcise his son and all newborns on the eighth day of their life. This is how he was supposed to recognize them if they came from his seed. Also, people who were willing to take Abraham’s side could be circumcised as well, but those who were not willing to take the change could be killed. A story is also narrated of how God ordered Moses to tell the Israelites to smear blood on their doorsteps so that when the angel of death comes, he does not visit their houses (Exodus 12:6-12). In the same Bible, God seems to punish the wicked people with death for disobeying him and his commands. What kind of God would approve the murder of any creature on Earth? To take in consideration gods from the Epic of Gilgamesh, Osiris, Isis, and Horus of the Egyptian mythology, it is very hard to find anything similar to that unless it was a war or a battle where someone could be killed. While worries die and people mourn them, war is viewed as such a glorious thing that even the gods enjoy it.
Lastly, The God Yahweh has never appeared in the front of people, otherwise, The Bible would have a much better description of the God then just mentioning that he created a man in the likeness of one’s own. Instead, he sends the middleman angel with messages. For example, an angel appeared in the front of Hagar in the middle of the desert, The Book of Genesis 21, or another emersion of an angel on the top of the mountain when Abraham was about to kill his son. Yahweh was the kind of God who only wanted to keep his identity to Himself and never wanted other people to know who he really is. Could those that believe him have faith in something that is either non-existent or mythical? Interestingly, whenever God appeared, he did not reveal his true identity. He assumed different forms in different situations. When he was talking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he took the form of clouds and smoke, he appeared in form of smoke and fire when he directed the Israelites on their way to Egypt in the wilderness. Jacob wrestled with a man in Peniel whom he later identified to be God (Genesis 32:23-43), in Exodus 3:2-4;17, Moses identifies a burning bush yet the fire was not consuming and a voice identifying itself to be God’s calls him to draw near. It is also perceived that God appeared to Gideon in the form of an angel (Judges 6:11-24). These circumstances reveal that God at any point never appeared in his physical form but rather assumed other forms. Why would he choose to do that?
In comparison, the ancient gods were themselves. Like the story about Gilgamesh when people were not happy with his behavior but in the end, they were proud of him and could educate themselves by reading about his journey around the world. Gilgamesh was himself, he went through a long and hard path. He had never hidden behind anyone’s back. He took all his honor and fame honestly and dignifiedly. Another great description of god Marduk at World Mythology, in The Enuma Elish (9), a vivid description of his clothing, weapons, and actions ate given. He was wearing a garment and a coat of armor, he also knew how to use a bow and arrows. Throughout the Bible, there are images that give a resemblance of what gods really looked like. For example, there are statutes of Baal, Ashtoreth, Osiris, and Zeus. Yahweh however, did not have any Statue that people could see and visualize his real identity. It was possible to identify with gods since they could speak, eat, go to war with people and people could even consult them.
We are living in the society in which the majority of people believe in single God (monotheism), some worship the Universe while others choose whatever their hearts desire to believe in. many are still wondering and looking for the different keys or answers as to may have really happened back then and within such a short period of time, Mythology switched from many gods to one single God. The time gap in between these two Mythological stories was not dramatically big, but the concept is very different. gods from ancient time did not ask a human for the verification of faith, they did not separate them one into others and they did not use middleman as a messenger. The God Yahweh is the opposite. He is the one who has been keeping humans in awe until today. Hopefully, one-day humanity will find out how far were myths away from the reality.
