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Studying Greek and Roman myths. Right or wrong?

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jcfaith

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Jun 7, 2004
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I'm busy with a Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing. Two of the modules from which I have to select my credits is "Roman myths and legends" and "Greek myths and legends". I've been interested in mythology since high school but never saw it as anything other than literature / fables / stories.

Now that I'm a Christian I don't know if it will be 'right' to study something that can be defined as Paganism. God is a jealous God and his commandments tell us not to worship any other gods.

If I study these myths as part of the literary course will I be breaking God's commandment?

Is it better to stay away?

Blessings to all
 
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rogsr

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jcfaith,
Lilly in the valley is correct I believe. It's ok to study anything you want as long as you are strong enough to handle it. I've studied atheistic philosophy in college, as well as witch craft and satanism. I learned a great deal of the enemy. Sun Tzu, the great Chinese strategist once said, "...if you know yourself but not your enemy you will only win half the time; if you know yourself and your enemy alike you will win all of the time." Since we are engaged in a war against the evil one, it is good to know his side of the story as well as ours. In order to defeat him.
 
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mina

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I agree with those here that say there is nothing wrong with studying it. Studying something for knowledge and worshiping something are two very different things. God has given us brains and thought processes and the desire to learn and understand. He has also given us the intelligence and the guidence of the Holy Spirit to distinguish between his truth and the myths of men. I enjoy reading Greek and Roman myths for literary purposes. I believe that as long as you know what the real truth is and are in no danger of being swayed by empty stories by looking to them for all truth, then it's ok to read them as a study or simply because you enjoy good literature. Literature is a good thing.
 
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bliz

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Studying the Greek and Roman myths will give you a much better understanding of how much our culture has been influenced by them. You will see better how many people come to God assuming that He will act like the Greek and Roman Gods did.

Christians do not need to run away from non-Christian ideas. Part of our role in life is to redeem the culture. It is impossible to redeem a culture you are running away from.
 
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Yitzchak

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A lot of fine christians have studyed such things.... I even hear illustrations in sermons which comes from mythology and read in christian books examples of such knowledge.......
Only the lord knows what the true history is of these things.... if there is some basis in fact that has been modified over the centuries or they were just made up like parables to make a point.........When I read in genesis about the times before the flood and consider the giants and such strange stories in the bible concerning angels and men having children together, I see the possibilities for some partial truthes in some of the myths passed down to us........ The bottomline though is at best these are partial turths and at worst made up........ I don't try to sort all that out.
I suggest you have fun studying these things in the context of man's ideas. Of course God's ideas are always better than man's but that is true in every subject area........
 
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Caelum

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You answer the question for yourself:

jcfaith said:
God is a jealous God and his commandments tell us not to worship any other gods.
Click to expand...

Studying does not mean worshipping. Being a Christian doesn't mean being ignorant to the world outside of Christianity, let alone our past as humans.
 
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