Religion.

[PhoenixTears]

Sigh...
At first, there only existed chaos. But from this chaos, Mother Earth Gaia and Father Sky Uranus was born. These two reproduced to create the titans and monsters such as hydras and cyclops?(unsure). There was something about the sky wanting the earth so to prevent their mother from being crushed, the titan Cronus defeated his father or something and did something bla bla. He became ruler. Cronus reproduced with his sister Rhea to create some of the original Olympian Gods. They are... Hera, Demeter, Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, and Hestia. Cronus did not want his children to overthrow him as he did his father and therefore ate his children as they were born. However, Rhea hid her last child Zeus, and gave Cronus a stone to eat. When Zeus was grown, they made a potion so Cronus would throw up his children (all fully grown and alive, as they are gods. immortal. lulz.) They overthrew the "Golden Era" or the "Age of the Titans". The titans that rose against Zues and the new olympian gods were punished. Cronus was sliced to many pieces and sent into Tarturus. Atlas was sent to hold Father Sky Uranus from landing on Mother Earth. And I don't know the rest.

That's about the beginning. Just because you guys seemed to be getting things a bit mixed up. =P

Um... I'm kinda floating in a daze right now, so I'll post something else about what I was about to say a bit later. @_@

[Leonri]

Umm, you seem to be getting mixed up more than them. You skipped a lot and used the Roman names for some and the Greek for others.

To answer Stefan's earlier question, we've found a number of Earth Mother statues from that time. They're mostly about 5cm high and depict a squat, **** older woman.

[Stefan the SwordSaint]

But Gaia is a perfect counter example to an Earth God/Goddess definitely being the creator God/Goddess.


And she used all Greek names, yes Uranus is the Greek name.  She's actually really accurate there..  Leonri you seem to be getting mixed up, maybe you shouldn't accuse others of the same?And PT, how was I ever mixed up? I never called Gaia the creator goddess in greek mythology, I said she wasn't.
Last time I checked 'chaos' doesn't have a gender.

[Kiroshima]

Actually, it is Oranos, I believe.  Kronos vs Cronus O_o.

I should know (or not know?), I play AOMT, where T stands for the Titan's Expansion lol. Oranos = Gaia > Kronos.  Sorry, cheaper myth units and siege do not make up for regenerating buildings (Gaia), super cheap economy techs (Gaia), revealed Settlements (Oranos), and 10% speed boost (Oranos). 

Poor Atlas, but one of Herakles' (aka Hercules) tasks got him switched with Atlas, till he tricked him into holding the realm again.

Wasn't Eris or something goddess of chaos? (AKA Starter of Troy?)

[Stefan the SwordSaint]

Actually, it is Oranos, I believe.  Kronos vs Cronus O_o.

I should know (or not know?), I play AOMT, where T stands for the Titan's Expansion lol. Oranos = Gaia > Kronos.  Sorry, cheaper myth units and siege do not make up for regenerating buildings (Gaia), super cheap economy techs (Gaia), revealed Settlements (Oranos), and 10% speed boost (Oranos). 

Poor Atlas, but one of Herakles' (aka Hercules) tasks got him switched with Atlas, till he tricked him into holding the realm again.

Wasn't Eris or something goddess of chaos? (AKA Starter of Troy?)

Oh right, Oranos is right.  Some reason Uranus sounded similar enough.
You know this really doesn't have anything to do with the posed question:

You know what we should debate?  What is religion?  What defines it, makes it so some people are religious, and yet, some people aren't?  We must DELVE into the very meaning of it, to truly understand it.

[PhoenixTears]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oranos
Read it. It explains why Oranos and Uranus sound similar.
Or at least those first three paragraphs or so at the top of the page.

StS, you called Gaia a titan. (BTW, it can also be spelled Gaea, and it's not pronounced guy-ya, but gay-ya. If that makes any sense.)

Leonri, you seem to be a bit confused in your mythology. I suggest you read up. And I know I skipped some parts. Those were the small details. Well, not really. But it was just a summary anyways.
Meh, and story versions differ too. Remember, these were told by word of mouth.

Um... I had something related to the question before. Just I didn't remember then. Nor do I remember now... which isn't a good thing I suppose.

[Stefan the SwordSaint]

I knew they were the same, but I should be able to tell the difference between greek and roman >.>
And it had very little to do with the previous question...

[Ratiqu]

Being too lazy to look through all 14 pages, I'm gonna put down what I do know.

I'm a Christian, and a Lutheran at that. I am also a great lover of science, and believe that God made science as a type of worship, allowing us to examine all that He has made for us.

A big difference between Catholics and Lutherans is that Catholics (not all Catholics, just the higher ranked ones) believe Jesus is embodied in communion food and Lutherans believe Jesus is represented in communion food.

Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet and Muhammad was the Christ, while Christians believe Jesus is Christ and Muhammad was an idiot (not really).

Buddhists have problems. Lots of them.

I'm not an expert on Greek mythology, but I always thought it was interesting, to say the least.


There's something to think about. Hit me with a brick if I forgot anything really important.

[Stefan the SwordSaint]

Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet and Muhammad was the Christ, while Christians believe Jesus is Christ and Muhammad was an idiot (not really).
 

wrong, Muslims do not believe Muhammad to be anything more then a prophet. That's the main thing you go wrong. 

[PhoenixTears]

Buddhists have problems. Lots of them.

Lollios.
Well, I dunno, I find their beliefs to be very interesting...

[ozymand1as]

What's wrong with Buddhists?

[Ratiqu]

Alright, I'm going to edit that statement.

"I think Buddhists have many problems. I think Hindus have even more problems."

So, I guess my knowledge and thus my reasoning may be wrong, but I'm still going to put up what I was taught. I was taught that Buddha was once a man and became Buddha because he sat under a tree for about 50 days and thought up a concept of reality. I was taught that Buddhists believe they will be reborn, and any actions in their past life will reflect upon and affect their present life. I was taught that Buddhists are trying to get to a state of nothingness. Again, my knowledge may be seriously flawed, but bear with me here.

About Hindus. I was taught that Hindus believe that nothing is real and that everything is an illusion. I was taught that Hindus also believe that everything is an extension of their main god, including all of their smaller gods. I was taught that Hindus, who believe they are nothing, are trying to raise their nonexistent selves to a higher nonexistent state of illusion, becoming one with the entire nonexistent universe. Immediately after which they will pass to the highest state of nonexistence, Nirvana.

Like I said, this knowledge may be flawed, so correct me if I'm wrong.

Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet and Muhammad was the Christ, while Christians believe Jesus is Christ and Muhammad was an idiot (not really).
 

wrong, Muslims do not believe Muhammad to be anything more then a prophet. That's the main thing you go wrong. 

Believe it or not, the main reason I came back today was to correct that statement. Yes, Muslims believe Muhammed was the highest of prophets, and no more will be coming now.

[Leonri]

^Ahhh! You let Rat into the Debate forum! Big mistake......

It's  a 'lil bit more complicated than that.
Actually Buddhism is pretty fascinating, and my favourite religion.
 The Buddha's original name was Siddharta Gautama.
He was originally an extremely pampered Indian prince, living in absolute luxury but not able to leave the palace (because of a certain prophecy...). He had no knowledge of suffering or evil at all. So he, sneaking out of the palace, had come to the real world for the first time, where he saw the Four Visions, changing him forever. The first Sight was of an old, old man. He had never before seen the debilitating affects of age. He then saw a man sick, and covered in sores. He had never before seen illness. His next sight was of a corpse being put on a wagon and taken away. He had no knowledge of death. His final sight was of a poor monk, begging for food. This is what changed him. He reckoned that for all his wealth
and comfort, he as no better or happier than the poor monk. So he traded his rich finery for the monk's simple cloth and went off never to return to the palace.

And so he became a monk and wandered far, seeking higher truth. However he did not agree with all the teachings of hinduism, so, as you say, he sat under a tree for fifty days and imagined his perfect religion. Reincarantion's pretty complicated. There are numerous planes of existence, incuding animal, plant, human, angels, heaven etc. Being good/bad affects your reincarnated state, perhaps slightly, perhaps in a big way.

This poem sums it up well. (not exact wording)

"I died as a mineral, and came back a plant.
I died as a plant, and came back an animal
I died as an animal, and came back a man
I died as a man, and now dance with the angels.
When has dying ever made me less?"

A person may need to be reincarnated hundreds or thousands of times.
Buddhist's follow the Eight pronged Wheel (similar to Ten Commandments) which is right action, right thought, right attitude etc. They have a holy book called the Tripitaka ( "three baskets" ).

The above is probably full of small inaccuracies but the basics still hold. Also it's extremeky summarised.
I'm too lazy to explain Hinduism right now....

[Ratiqu]

So, he still imagined up a religion, and, by the way, how does someone live or die as a mineral? Anyway, I already know the extreme basics of the Four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold Path. Or whatever they're called.

So, any thoughts? Or something else to debate about at the same time?

[PhoenixTears]

Nope, not really.
Like I've said counteless times before, I disagree with all religions. Not wholeheartedly, but I'd like to think that science is the one thing that rules this world, and that when we die, it's like an eternal sleep with no dreams.