The Sun God

[B-DizL]

For thousands of years people have worshiped the sun as a creator God, for the obvious reasons that its light provides nourishment for plants and so on up the food chain...

Im not sure how many people here know that the sun(or stars) are also responsible for creating the very elements that make up our bodies, the carbon, iron, etc... so without stars no life would exist in the universe(presumably).

Therefore in a very real sense the sun is our creator, so therefor worshiping the sun as a creator is true!

It seems strange that the first form of religion that we know of was actually more correct then they could have realized, what do you guys think?

[The Count(er)]

I think worshiping inanimate objects is weird.

[B-DizL]

I think worshiping inanimate objects is weird.

I wouldnt necessarily call the sun and inanimate object, its a tad bit more complex than say a brick, it has a life span, its born and it dies and in the mean time creates life...

[The Count(er)]

It doesn't possess the necessary qualities to be alive so it fits the description of inanimate object, just as much as a car, a rock, a plane, a boat, a puddle on the ground, it's not alive. Although I wouldn't suddenly disagree with my statement if inanimate was changed to animate, so it doesn't really matter to me.

[B-DizL]

It doesn't possess the necessary qualities to be alive so it fits the description of inanimate object, just as much as a car, a rock, a plane, a boat, a puddle on the ground, it's not alive. Although I wouldn't suddenly disagree with my statement if inanimate was changed to animate, so it doesn't really matter to me.

Ok fair enough but still doesnt change the fact that the sun directly or indirectly created us does it?

[The Count(er)]

Ok fair enough but still doesnt change the fact that the sun directly or indirectly created us does it?

In some way perhaps, although you could look at the various chemicals and acids that formed into the first life as a creator of life, which could have been formed from simpler compounds which could have been formed by reactions in stars which could have been formed by... it's just another link in the chain as far as I see it.

[MaximiIian]

Ancient peoples never worshipped the sun per se. Rather, they worshipped gods that were represented by the sun or used the sun as a vehicle. In actuality, the sun itself was rarely seen as a deity itself.

PS) the god I worship happens to be a sun god, though he wasn't considered that by the Celts that originally described and worshipped him. Later devotees in the 19th century, however, amended his traditional associations to include the sun and sky.

[Lysimachus]

Was Sol Invictus actually the sun or perhaps a God that manifested itself as the sun?

[The spartan]

I'd buy that the sun was a creator. Do I have to worship it as it were sentient? Or can I just appreciate it from afar?

[Keravnos]

I believe that even the Sun, powerful and illuminating as it is, was itself created.
You might want to read up on Bible, Genesis for more. It's on the first chapter, can't miss it.

Genesis, 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

[MehemtAli_Pasha]

well, scientifically, the Sun has a life span and is expected to die (more like explode just like any other star).

IMO, death simply can't be applied to God, and so the Sun is ruled out for me. i know some would disagree.

[Sumonious]

The sun doesn't go around scaring children or torturing people. That's leave masochistic *cough*religious*cough* people unsatisfied.

I believe that even the Sun, powerful and illuminating as it is, was itself created.
You might want to read up on Bible, Genesis for more. It's on the first chapter, can't miss it.

Genesis, 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Yeah, and gods, omnipotent and omniscience as they are, were them self created as well. You might want to look up on TWC, internet for more. It's piratically throw into your face from every where, can't miss it.

Random Atheist quote taken from chrisbeach: "God was invented by cave men... to explain thunder." by bumper sticker.

[CtrlAltDe1337]

You might want to look up on TWC, internet for more.

[Ummon]

The sun is just a material item.

[Veni]

For thousands of years people have worshiped the sun as a creator God, for the obvious reasons that its light provides nourishment for plants and so on up the food chain...

Im not sure how many people here know that the sun(or stars) are also responsible for creating the very elements that make up our bodies, the carbon, iron, etc... so without stars no life would exist in the universe(presumably).

Therefore in a very real sense the sun is our creator, so therefor worshiping the sun as a creator is true!

It seems strange that the first form of religion that we know of was actually more correct then they could have realized, what do you guys think?

We are all made of stardust.

-Carl Sagan

[Ummon]

Sure, but not our Sun's. That of previous ones.

[Blau&Gruen]

True, however

[Ummon]

A child is the joy (hence, light) of his/her parents.

[MaximiIian]

The people he mentioned don't/didn't worship the objects he mentioned.
In every example he mentioned.

[Keravnos]

The sun doesn't go around scaring children or torturing people. That's leave masochistic *cough*religious*cough* people unsatisfied.

Whoever spoke of human sacrifice? In the one instance it was asked, it was just a test of faith. On another occasion, a victorious Hebrew general swore he would sacrifice the first thing he would see when returning home (Unfortunately it was his daughter). He wasn't asked to do it.

"scaring children", "torturing people" I think someone is trying to judge a book by a single page, never mind the fact toat someone hasn't gone past the cover.

As for religious people being masochistic, the only thing I can say is that morality, if you have it, requires some sacrifices, but not of blood. It demands the real ones, the limits one imposes on ones' self, not other people's blood and tears. Which is why morality always wins in the end. Moral people, use their own self imposed limits to everything they do. This in turn, makes most of what they do righteous, even if I will admit that many a religious leader tried to justify falsehood, lies and blatant abuse of the power bestowed to him just to get rich.

I was reading a book the other day, in which the communist mentality for ethos was simple... "If it is good for socialism it is ethic, if it isn't good for socialism it isn't." Guess what? It doesn't work that way. Look up USSR on a map, today, as proof.

Yeah, and gods, omnipotent and omniscience as they are, were them self created as well.

Whoever spoke of god-s? I didn't.

You might want to look up on TWC, internet for more. It's piratically throw into your face from every where, can't miss it.

You will excuse me if I put my faith on a Good Book that existed millenia before me and will continue to do so millenia after I am dead and gone.

Random Atheist quote taken from chrisbeach: "God was invented by cave men... to explain thunder." by bumper sticker.

... and therefore modern atheists who know how thunder forms try to disprove them. Tell you what, consider for an instant that the dust mite and the sun that this thread speaks of were created by the same Being. How insignificant would that make you feel?

We are all products of our education and experiences. That much is true. We can choose to explain all around us by just logic and just faith. In older times faith demonized logic, right now it is the opposite that happens with logic trying to deny God's existence and faith denying the process which led to the present world, otherwise known as evolution.

Personally, I think that things are a bit different, therefore would need to be put into perspective. We are all human beings, or at least that is what outward appearances say. (Some of us can be the foulest beasts). To all of us, a small insect, which lives 2 days and then dies is a small insignificant time, but for that insect, so far as its limited existence allows to understand, if indeed it can, it could seem like a century. Therefore let us suppose for the sake of argument that on two different living beings 2 days in one equals a century in the other.

In the same sense when the Good Book speaks of the world being created in 7 days, it could mean the 13 Billion or so years it took for the universe to form in the exact way we know of today, seen through the eyes and intellect of God, as He would speak them for our inferior intellect to understand. Especially so, many millenia ago, when our own cognitive skills weren't excellent. I believe that Prophets and Holly men weren't university or college graduates, they were simple people who were trusted with a nearly impossible task, to try and put into words what Lord God entrusted to them.

It is up to us, to use science and technology and the near infinite interconnections between them to try and figure out the messages left in the Good Book by the Prophets, Jesus Christ and His Apostles. You may not believe it and that is your choice. I do. You see, science is the creation of Human intellect. What is written in the Good Book is Gods' will, as translated by our own human intellect. The combination of both will do wonders, I believe. I also believe that by using science we will make good on what the Good Book says we must do.

As for the Sun not being a god, but a creation of God, one final argument.

If we believe in the projections of science fiction authors and space scientists that an expansion towards the stars is very far in the future but unavoidable, how silly would a "sun god" sound to a people spanning tens and hundreds of solar systems in every direction from Earth? Each one of them will have a sun, therefore there couldn't be any one sun that is god, nor would it matter as some of them will live in areas with artificial light.

To them, as to us, we the people are the penultimate reason for the creation. We are the image of God's grace, created in His form. God created Heavens and Earth, (Genesis 1:1), Light (Genesis 1:2), land and sea, populated the land with animals and finally (Genesis 1:27)

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Genesis+1

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

In that sense, yes I believe that everything around us was created for us, waiting for us to mature into the human beings we are today so that we could respectfully exploit what we have in order for us to ameliorate our lives and progress towards the future. In that sense, a small group of people can in a sense be more important than the sun because it is we, the people, that are created by God in His image, not sun. The sun is just a very useful tool that we must use to its full potential. That isn't to say that we can live without the Sun, no way. It shines over Earth, the cradle of Humanity, giving life and warmth to it and has done so ever since we were apes. Even so, we are infinitely superior to it, as we are infinitely superior to a rock. Both are inanimate, lifeless objects. We are not.