While at Paganicon, various organizations and individuals will gather in designated rooms to meet and interact with one another. These are usually a great way to have conversations with people. There was one room in particular that I visited where a guy named Thomas and I had a very interesting discussion. Thomas started talking about the coven he was a part of, but somehow we got on the topic of mythology. Thomas stated that mythology is all about books and stories. He also stated that the Bible was a book of myths as well, and we shouldn’t believe in them because they are just stories. I told him that mythology is interesting because each specific culture usually has its own creation story as well as a story about a catastrophic flood. For there to be so many stories about a flood that wiped out the entire earth, it had to be an actual thing. We chatted a bit more, and then I proceeded out of the room to find others to talk to.
The truth of the matter:
The thing that stuck with me was that Thomas compared the Bible to the other myths from other cultures. Saying that it was a bunch of stories, but the thing is, it's not!
Let’s take a look at what mythology specifically is. Myths help tell the stories of origins, triumphs, and disasters, and are a way to communicate life’s most important lessons1. Every culture preserves its myths because the beliefs and worldview are crucial to the survival of that specific culture2. Myths will provide the explanations for origins, natural phenomena, and death, the function of deities, and provide models of behavior by relating the adventures of heroes or the misfortunes of humans3. As I stated to Thomas, most myths depict the beginning of the universe, the existence of evil, and, interestingly enough, the creator must also fashion and destroy the human race, usually through a flood4.
Now, I won’t go into the research on the flood; that is for another post. When it comes to the Bible itself, it’s really a masterpiece. Think about this: you have a book that was composed over a period of roughly 1,600 years, with more than forty authors, who were kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, and scholars5. Written in the wilderness, a dungeon, a palace, in exile, in wartime, and even when there was peace, over three continents in three languages, on hundreds of controversial subjects6. It also contains flashes of inspired poetry, detailed history, biographies, letters, memoirs, and prophetic writings, and yet the book speaks from page one to the end about God’s redemption of man 7.
When you really think about it, the Bible could not just be a collection of myths or just stories. If that were the case, those stories would have faded away and would no longer be relevant today.
Hebrews 4:12 states, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
So I encourage you to read it for yourself, start in the book of John, and continue to move forward. It is an amazing book and one of a kind.
1 Daniels, Mark. World mythology in bite-sized chunks. London: Michael O’Mara Books Ltd, 2016.
2 Rosenberg, Donna. World mythology: An anthology of the great myths and epics. Lincolnwood, Ill: NTC Pub. Group, 1999.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 McDowell, Josh, and Bob Hostetler. Don’t check your brains at the Door. Dallas: Word Pub, 1992.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.