Many people, including christians are ignorant of this. Examples from Twitter:
Oh, the irony. A reply to the first tweet said: "Yep, it's called BIBLE." Grant Vandersee is a classic example of a militant christian fundie. He spouts off indoctrinated nonsense from IDiots, blind in one eye and can't see out the other.
Unicorns are mentioned in the bible nine times. Some believers claim this is a mis-translation (so much for the inerrant word of God). Others say that unicorns were a real animal, now extinct. The people who wrote the bible seemed to believe in unicorns and so did the people who translated it.
Kentucky's proposed creationist museum park featuring Noah's Ark is expected to feature unicorns and dragons, much to the embarrassment of other christians.
Unicorns in the bible seem to have gradually changed to other animals then phased out with new translations over time. Get ready for magic - poof - unicorns change into oxen before many other changes before doing a vanishing trick.
The unicorn was a mythological creature with the head of a horse with a single, spiral horn from the forehead, the beard of a goat, the tail of a lion and cloven hooves. The unicorn was said to be too fierce to capture but it would be as gentle as a lamb if a virgin exposed her breast and waited for a unicorn to suckle.
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| Virgin with lion and unicorn |
What about dragons in the bible? Leviathan the multi-headed fire-breathing sea-serpent - the bible says God was only one capable of killing it and fed it to people. Behemoth the beast with tree-trunk legs that grazed on grass. Apologists try to say Leviathan and Behemoth (creatures of Jewish mythology) are real animals living today or since extinct.
Some say these creatures are dinosaurs even though dinosaurs died out way before humans lived. And how many dinosaurs have 7 heads? (like Leviathan and the Apocalyptic dragon that had an appetite for newborn babies).
The Catholic bible has a story of Daniel and the dragon (these verses are eliminated from the protestant bible). The dragon was bothering the village people, so Daniel fed it a mixture of pitch and fat which apparently made the dragon explode!
Dragons, unicorns, human giants and Leprechauns are creatures from folklore. Interesting that the bible incorporates mythology which followers claim is fact. The bible even features symbols and mythological creatures from Alchemy, such as the Phoenix. Ironically, believers of the bible burned Alchemists and cats in medieval Europe because of superstitions they were associated with witchcraft.
The bible starts off with a story of a talking snake that persuaded a rib-woman to eat magic fruit which made all babies born evil. How can this not be a book of mythology? How do believers expect anyone to take them seriously?
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| Artist depiction of biblical dragons |
Archaeologists and art historians are pretty much in agreement that this is the origin of the Biblical dragon and unicorn imagery:
ReplyDelete6th century B.C Ishtar Gate, Babylon
Dragon (sirrush)
http://vovat.tumblr.com/post/3749523857/dressrehearsalrag-sirrush-or-mushhushshu-on
Unicorn- actually a bull depicted in strict profile, so there appears to be only one horn.
http://historylink101.net/turkey-images/Persian-bull.jpg
This magnificent gate and other depictions of these animals would have been known throughout the ancient Middle East, and of course, the Jews were said to have been held captive in Babylon.
nazani - I researched and wrote hubs about dragons and alchemy. The dragon one has the Ishtar gate.
ReplyDeleteThere have been texts of other persian religions found that the bible has clearly plagarised off. The bible has also incorporated imagery from alchemy (unicorns, dragons, dove, etc), yet alchemists were tortured and murdered for 'practising witchcraft'. Alchemy originated from the ancient Egyptians, way before the bible was written.
http://baileybear.hubpages.com/hub/Alchemy-Influence-on-Health-Science-Religion
http://baileybear.hubpages.com/hub/Dragon-Mythology-Dragons-in-Culture-in-the-Bible
Amusing. Christians using the same translation excuses etc. as the Muslims use for parts of the Koran. You would think a god could be better at making sure his word is perfectly understood and not written down the wrong way in books that are supposed to be his instructions to all humanity!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, good post. Will include a link to it on my site.
What a terrible post. Have you bothered to research the original languages (Greek and Hebrew?). Do you even know how?
ReplyDeleteI would advise so research on your part. You disagree with the English translation of an old Hebrew Word that the early translators of the Bible were not familiar with. In fact the translation "unicorn" comes from the Greek version (Septuagint) of the Hebrew Bible. The Greek version translated one horned animal (not a mythical unicorn). The early English translators just used the word for the mythical one horned animal unicorn. Your problem is in the bad translation, not the Bible.
The same with what you call "dragons".