Christianity: Fire/volcano Cult?

[TheJackel]

There are volcanic regions in Saudi Arabia and Jordan as well. And I suspect that it doesn't matter which mountain GOD was in because they probably believe all Volcanoes contained the spirit of GOD, and that a Volcano was God of the Mountains. If you really take the time to watch the videos at the beginning of my article, imagine see something like that from a sheep herder perspective in biblical times.. A Volcanic eruption would be GOD like without a doubt in that time period. Moses clearly worshiped a Volcano as GOD. And the entire Christian religion revolves around such a concept.. Lakes of fire, fire, burnt sacrifices/offerings ect... I think it's pretty obvious and makes far more sense than those which suggest something like a Sun GOD.

[Gawen]

Lakes of fire, fire, burnt sacrifices/offerings ect... I think it's pretty obvious and makes far more sense than those which suggest something like a Sun GOD.

I can agree with that.

[Too Few Lions]

Another big problem with this hypothesis would be that I don't think there are any active volcanoes in the Levant / Sinai area, and I'm not sure there have been any in the past 3000 years (although I'm no vulcanologist!)

What makes you think they must be in that specific location? I don't remember the bible having a GPS location of MT Sinia. Also there are a ton of volcanic ranges in that region of the world. Including one within 500 miles to which was a super volcano that erupted around 1500 B.C taking a good part of the Island with it. Plus this would take some serious assumption that these people were magically clueless as to the existence of volcanoes, or any supposed stories of.

What's relevant is what is written in the bible.. And it's clearly described as such. So you need to address that because it doesn't even matter if it's fictional.

I thought that's what I was doing! The Old Testament was written by people who lived in the Levant area, descended from Canaanite stock from the same area. It sems strange that they would worship a god of volcanoes if none existed in that area at the time. They may well have heard of distant mountains that erupted with larva from foreign sources, but I don't see why they would have built their religion around something that they would never have seen or experienced.

I disagree that what is described in the Bible is a volcano. Holy Mountains are central to Indo-European mythology and represent the idea of the world axis;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_mountain

Your quote of Exodus 19:16 'And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled' sounds exactly like descriptions of Zeus throwing his thunderbolts down from Mount Olympus, or Indra doing similar things on Mount Meru.

Plus fire was also central to many Indo-European religions, particularly Persian religion, which influenced Judaism at the time when a lot of the Old Testament was written. Often there was an eternal flame that was sometimes found at the Omphalos / World Axis (like at Delphi in Greece and the temple at Jerusalem). Fire was also one of the four Classical elements and was an important element of ancient cosmology;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_temple

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_flame

I think you're taking a piece of mythological descriptive writing in Exodus and Deuteronomy (such as 'And you came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the middle of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness') and translating it far too literally, without understanding the importance of Holy Mountains or Sacred Fire in ancient religion. To me, that seems no different to trying to explain the Flood myth as an historical deluge that actually happened. Just like your mountain of fire, it's written in the Bible!

The Bible (particularly the Pentateuch) is a book of mythology, and probably shouldn't be interpreted quite so literally. To say that 'Moses clearly worshiped a Volcano as GOD' is ridiculous. Moses is a mythological figure and the description of him receiving the laws from Yahweh on the Holy Mountain in Deuteronomy is as mythical as the description of Zeus and the Greek gods on Mount Olympus in the Iliad. It never actually happened, no Moses and no fire decending on the mountain from the heavens.

If you're going to interpret the description of Yahweh decending on Mount Sinai in a column of fire quite so literally as Moses worshipping a volcano, I think you also have to take other parts of the Exodus story literally such as the parting of the sea, sticks that turn into snakes, the plagues of Egypt (or even the idea of the Exodus out of Egypt in the first place) and I'm assuming that you probably don't.

[Too Few Lions]

gotta confess I don't buy any of this volcano deity hypothesis. Holy mountains are found all over Eurasia, and they're always the home of the god/gods. Mount Sinai, Olympus, Meru, Fuji and Potala are all good examples. Yahweh was always going to be depicted on a mountain, just like Zeus or Indra. The Holy Mountain is usually a mythical way of depicting the idea of the axis mundi at the centre of the universe. To me, Yahweh on his mountain of fire doesn't seem very far away from Zeus firing off thunderbolts from on top of his mountain...Another big problem with this hypothesis would be that I don't think there are any active volcanoes in the Levant / Sinai area, and I'm not sure there have been any in the past 3000 years (although I'm no vulcanologist!

Frankly, the volcano god hypothesis is more plausible due to the fact that in those times other peoples worshiped mountain/volcano gods. It is my understanding that the region in those times did have active volcanos. But at the moment, I cannot find my sources.

I'd like to see those sources, because I don't think there were any active volcanoes in the area at the time (but like I said, I'm no vulcanologist!)

[Too Few Lions]

oops, my computer seems to have duplicated one of my posts, how do you delete a post?