Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 3

"_This is a curious subject to be engraved on an ancient Pagan temple._"[16:2]

So the Colonel thought, no doubt, but it is not so very curious after all. It is the same myth which we have found--with but such small variations only as time and circ.u.mstances may be expected to produce--among different nations, in both the Old and New Worlds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 2]

Fig. No. 2, taken from the work of Montfaucon,[16:3] represents one of these ancient Pagan sculptures. Can any one doubt that it is allusive to the myth of which we have been treating in this chapter?

That man was originally created a perfect being, and is now only a fallen and broken remnant of what he once was, we have seen to be a piece of _mythology_, not only unfounded in fact, but, beyond intelligent question, proved untrue. What, then, is the significance of the exposure of this myth? What does its loss as a scientific fact, and as a portion of Christian dogma, imply? It implies that with it--although many Christian divines who admit this to be a legend, do not, or do not _profess_, to see it--_must fall the whole Orthodox scheme, for upon this_ MYTH _the theology of Christendom is built_. The doctrine of the _inspiration of the Scriptures_, the _Fall_ of _man_, his _total depravity_, the _Incarnation_, the _Atonement_, the _devil_, _h.e.l.l_, in fact, the entire theology of the Christian church, falls to pieces with the historical inaccuracy of this story, _for upon it is it built; 'tis the foundation of the whole structure_.[17:1]

According to Christian dogma, the Incarnation of Christ Jesus had become necessary, merely _because he had to redeem the evil introduced into the world by the Fall of man_. These two dogmas cannot be separated from each other. _If there was no Fall, there is no need of an atonement, and no Redeemer is required._ Those, then, who consent in recognizing in Christ Jesus a _G.o.d_ and _Redeemer_, and who, notwithstanding, cannot resolve upon admitting the story of the Fall of man to be _historical_, should exculpate themselves from the reproach of _inconsistency_. There are a great number, however, in this position at the present day.

Although, as we have said, many Christian divines do not, or do not profess to, see the force of the above argument, there are many who do; and they, regardless of their scientific learning, cling to these old myths, professing to believe them, _well knowing what must follow with their fall_. The following, though written some years ago, will serve to ill.u.s.trate this style of reasoning.

The Bishop of Manchester (England) writing in the "Manchester Examiner and Times," said:

"The very _foundation of our faith_, the very _basis of our hopes_, the very nearest and dearest of our consolations are taken from us, _when one line of that sacred volume, on which we base everything, is declared to be untruthful and untrustworthy_."

The "English Churchman," speaking of clergymen who have "_doubts_,"

said, that any who are not throughly persuaded "_that the Scriptures cannot in any particular be untrue_," should leave the Church.

The Rev. E. Garbett, M. A., in a sermon preached before the University of Oxford, speaking of the "_historical truth_" of the Bible, said:

"It is the clear teaching of those doctrinal formularies, to which we of the Church of England have expressed our solemn a.s.sent, _and no honest interpretation of her language can get rid of it_."

And that:

"In all consistent reason, _we must accept the whole of the inspired autographs, or reject the whole_."

Dr. Baylee, Princ.i.p.al of a theological university--_St. Aiden's College_--at Birkenhead, England, and author of a "Manual," called Baylee's "_Verbal Inspiration_," written "_chiefly for the youths of St.

Aiden's College_," makes use of the following words, in that work:

"_The whole Bible_, as a revelation, is a declaration of the mind of G.o.d towards his creatures on all the subjects of which the Bible treats."

"_The Bible is G.o.d's word_, in the same sense as if he had made use of no human agent, but had _Himself spoken it_."

"The Bible cannot be less than verbally inspired. _Every word, every syllable, every letter_, is just what it would be, had G.o.d spoken from heaven without any human intervention."

"Every scientific statement is infallibly correct, all its history and narrations of every kind, _are without any inaccuracy_."[18:1]

A whole volume might be filled with such quotations, not only from religious works and journals published in England, but from those published in the United States of America.[18:2]

FOOTNOTES:

[1:1] The idea that the sun, moon and stars were _set_ in the firmament was entertained by most nations of antiquity, but, as strange as it may appear, Pythagoras, the Grecian philosopher, who flourished from 540 to 510 B. C.--as well as other Grecian philosophers--taught that the sun was placed in the centre of the universe, _with the planets roving round it in a circle_, thus making day and night. (See Knight's Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 59, and note.) The Buddhists anciently taught that the universe is composed of limitless systems or worlds, called _sakwalas_.

They are scattered throughout s.p.a.ce, and each sakwala has a sun and moon. (See Hardy: Buddhist Legends, pp. 80 and 87.)

[2:1] Origen, a Christian Father who flourished about A. D. 230, says: "What man of sense will agree with the statement that the first, second, and third days, in which the _evening_ is named and the _morning_, were without sun, moon and stars?" (Quoted in Mysteries of Adoni, p. 176.)

[2:2] "The geologist reckons not by _days_ or by _years_; the whole six thousand years, which were until lately looked on as the sum of the world's age, are to him but as a unit of measurement in the long succession of past ages." (Sir John Lubbock.)

"It is now certain that the vast epochs of time demanded by scientific observation are incompatible both with the six thousand years of the Mosaic chronology, and the six days of the Mosaic creation." (Dean Stanley.)

[2:3] "Let us make man in our own likeness," was said by Ormuzd, the Persian G.o.d of G.o.ds, to his WORD. (See Bunsen's Angel Messiah, p. 104.)

[2:4] The number SEVEN was sacred among almost every nation of antiquity. (See ch. ii.)

[2:5] According to Grecian Mythology, the G.o.d Prometheus created men, in the image of the G.o.ds, _out of clay_ (see Bulfinch: The Age of Fable, p.

26; and Goldzhier: Hebrew Myths, p. 373), and the G.o.d Hephaistos was commanded by Zeus to mold of _clay_ the figure of a maiden, into which Athene, the dawn-G.o.ddess, _breathed the breath of life_. This is Pandora--the gift of all the G.o.ds--who is presented to Epimetheus. (See c.o.x: Aryan Myths, vol. ii., p. 208.)

[2:6] "What man is found such an idiot as to suppose that G.o.d planted trees in Paradise, in Eden, like a husbandman." (Origen: quoted in Mysteries of Adoni, p. 176.) "There is no way of preserving the literal sense of the first chapter of Genesis, without impiety, and attributing things to G.o.d unworthy of him." (St. Augustine.)

[2:7] "The records about the '_Tree of Life_' are the sublimest proofs of the unity and continuity of tradition, and of its Eastern origin.

_The earliest records of the most ancient Oriental tradition refer to a 'Tree of Life,' which was guarded by spirits._ The juice of the fruit of this sacred tree, like the tree itself, was called _Soma_ in Sanscrit, and _Haoma_ in Zend; it was revered as the life preserving essence."

(Bunsen: Keys of St. Peter, p. 414)

[3:1] "According to the Persian account of Paradise, _four_ great rivers came from Mount Alborj; two are in the North, and two go towards the South. The river Arduisir nourishes the _Tree of Immortality_, the Holy Hom." (Stiefelhagen: quoted in Mysteries of Adoni p. 149.)

"According to the _Chinese_ myth, the waters of the Garden of Paradise issue from the fountain of immortality, which divides itself into _four rivers_." (Ibid., p. 150, and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i., p. 210.) The Hindoos call their Mount Meru the Paradise, out of which went _four_ rivers. (Anacalypsis, vol. i., p. 357.)

[3:2] According to Persian legend, Arimanes, the Evil Spirit, _by eating a certain kind of fruit_, transformed himself into a _serpent_, and went gliding about on the earth to tempt human beings. His Devs entered the bodies of men and produced all manner of diseases. They entered into their minds, and incited them to sensuality, falsehood, slander and revenge. Into every department of the world they introduced discord and death.

[4:1] Inasmuch as the physical construction of the serpent never could admit of its moving in any other way, and inasmuch as it _does not eat dust_, does not the narrator of this myth reflect unpleasantly upon the wisdom of such a G.o.d as Jehovah is claimed to be, as well as upon the ineffectualness of his first curse?

[5:1] "Our writer unmistakably recognizes the existence of _many G.o.ds_; for he makes Yahweh say: 'See, the man has become as ONE OF US, knowing good and evil;' and so he evidently implies the existence of other similar beings, to whom he attributes immortality and insight into the difference between good and evil. Yahweh, then, was, in his eyes, the G.o.d of G.o.ds, indeed, but not the _only_ G.o.d." (Bible for Learners, vol.

i. p. 51.)

[5:2] In his memorial sermon, preached in Westminster Abbey, after the funeral of Sir Charles Lyell. He further said in this address:--

"It is well known that when the science of geology first arose, it was involved in endless schemes of _attempted_ reconciliation with the letter of Scripture. There was, there are perhaps still, two modes of reconciliation of Scripture and science, which have been each in their day attempted, _and each have totally and deservedly failed_. One is the endeavor to wrest the words of the Bible from their natural meaning, _and force it to speak the language of science_." After speaking of the earliest known example, which was the interpolation of the word "_not_"

in Leviticus xi. 6, he continues: "This is the earliest instance of _the falsification of Scripture to meet the demands of science_; and it has been followed in later times by the various efforts which have been made to twist the earlier chapters of the book of Genesis into _apparent_ agreement with the last results of geology--representing days not to be days, morning and evening not to be morning and evening, the deluge not to be the deluge, and the ark not to be the ark."

[5:3] Gen. i. 9, 10.

[5:4] Gen. ii. 6.

[6:1] Gen. i. 20, 24, 26.

[6:2] Gen. ii. 7, 9.

[6:3] Gen. i. 20.

[6:4] Gen. ii. 19.

[6:5] Gen. i. 27.

[6:6] Gen. ii. 7: iii. 22.