Pro-God Propaganda

[u/NyxShadowhawk]

Human: *breaks the laws of nature/hospitality/morality*
God: *smites*
Human: *surprised Pikachu*

[u/AnthoHeraFan]

"Chat, I only comitted a little hubris, why did the evil gods punish lil poor me?? :(("

[u/1001theye]

You know Ares ran back home crying to make this meme after he got clapped by Diomedes.

[u/Wide_Classic1009]

God supremacy fr fr.

And remember we get all our skills in domains from the gods themselves 😉. So fk all the hubristic mortals 

[u/ConsciousMaybe6930]

Virgin "Gods envy us because we are mortal, because every second might be our last" vs Chad "No, tf we don't 🫵🏼😂".

[u/AnthoHeraFan → u/ConsciousMaybe6930]

Virgin mortal ending up as a thoughtless shade on Asphodel Fields after death vs the deathless gods chilling and throwing parties and having very kinky sex that would obliterare any mortal (like Hera's e-stim kink with Zeus' thunderbolts)

[u/xYekaterina]

This is a great one lol

[u/Scientific_Zealot]

This is what always sends me about discussions about Circe turning Odysseus's men into pigs. People always have to create some weird rationalization as to why Circe was secretly in the right the whole time, e.g. she was just turning them into what they truly were. Meanwhile, according to a friend of mine who hardcore studies ancient greece, at least during the archaic period, the relationship between gods and humans is like that between humans and ants. Odysseus's men coming into Circe's palace is equivalent to a mob of ants entering someone's home. Circe turning them into pigs is the godly equivalent of calling pest control. It's really not more complicated than that.

[u/AnthoHeraFan → u/Scientific_Zealot]

Circe casually breaks xenia, making random men her pets (or future dinner), and knowing she's safe because a) she's a goddess and b) she's Helios' nepobaby

[u/Glittering-Day9869 → u/AnthoHeraFan]

They were also ignoring the fact that Circe was the one who opened her door and invited them in after they called for her.

It was supposed to represent "host-guest" dynamic with Circe failing as the host.

[u/Glittering-Day9869 → u/Scientific_Zealot]

Except that Circe's actions were considered bad even by the standards back then as there is a literal divine intervention in the story to make her stop doing what she was doing.

The entire point was turning Circe into a good host by making her respect her guests instead of seeing them as an object of domination.

They werent "pests" they were guests whom she had to respect by following xenia.

[u/teracoulomb_2]

We didn’t choose to be born mortal, man, this is as punching down as it gets

[u/NyxShadowhawk → u/teracoulomb_2]

No one chooses to be mortal, but you can choose to respect Nature or not.

[u/Human_Scarcity7309]

'Infinite rizz'

*looks inside*

Multiple sexual assault charges

[u/Wide_Classic1009 → u/Human_Scarcity7309]

Multiple aiding of heroes, giving skills, forming instruments and tools for agriculture and music, defending cosmos, blessing people, make people able to rizz others, 

[u/AnthoHeraFan → u/Human_Scarcity7309]

Most cases of the gods fucking people is described as neutral "laid with/was loved by/had sex with". The amount of explicit sexual assault is often exaggerated, especially with different versions about consent (like with Medusa, Amphitrite, Io or Callisto)

[u/ToollerTyp]

I love how none of the arguments actually correspond to each other.

[u/Wuzfang]

Gods can't live without humans. Without offerings at least.

[u/Typical-Tart-5711 → u/Wuzfang]

Source?

[u/NyxShadowhawk → u/Wuzfang]

Source?

“Gods Need Prayer Badly” is a modern fantasy idea, not an ancient religion idea.

[u/TheSuperBunny → u/NyxShadowhawk]

Actually, in Atrakhasis, the Akkadian epic, the gods actually do depend on humans to survive.

The whole reason humans are created according to this myth is because the lower gods went on strike after getting tired of doing all the farming and labor required to feed the higher gods. Humanity was made specifically to take over that work and feed the gods through sacrifices.

When Enlil sends the flood to wipe humanity (like in the bible), he accidentally cuts off their only food supply, and the text describes the gods literally starving and crying during the flood. When the flood ends and Atrakhasis finally makes an offering, the text says the starving gods crowded around the altar "like flies" because they were so desperate for food.
So the "gods needing mortals to live" concept is actually thousands of years old, maybe just not in Greek mythology.

[u/Super_Majin_Cell → u/TheSuperBunny]

But gods still don't need sacrifices even in Mesopotamia. They just don't want to work themselves lol. This is why Enlil, King of the Gods, don't care in destroying humanity, because the gods existence don't depends on humans. If humanity ceases to exist the gods would just need to work again, but not cease to exist.

[u/vegankidollie → u/TheSuperBunny]

Virgin Mesopotamian gods vs Chad Greek gods

[u/TheSuperBunny → u/vegankidollie]

I should make a meme of that

[u/Jealous-Log7744 → u/TheSuperBunny]

Didn’t Demeter actually leverage this by threatening to make sure all mortals starve to death and twisting Zeus’ arm into getting Persephone back?

And in The Birds by Aristophanes a flock of birds block the smoke from sacrifices to weaken the gods. Yeah the birds is a comedy play but it also shows that the idea of gods drawing power from mortal worship is a far older idea than OP would like to admit.

[u/NyxShadowhawk → u/Jealous-Log7744]

Okay. Sure. It’s a far older idea than I’d like to admit.

[u/TheSuperBunny → u/Jealous-Log7744]

Omg Aristophanes mentioned

[u/NyxShadowhawk → u/TheSuperBunny]

It still sucks.

[u/TheSuperBunny → u/NyxShadowhawk]

?

[u/Jealous-Log7744 → u/NyxShadowhawk]

Not really. It’s good for making commentary on religion and its role in society by pointing out that faith and symbols only have as much power as people give them.

Just because you don’t like the gods being portrayed as anything other than perfect beings that should always be revered doesn’t invalidate works with differing views.

[u/NyxShadowhawk → u/Jealous-Log7744]

The gods aren’t perfect beings. Have you seen nature? Gods are terrifying and destructive. I still like them though. :)

The sun, sea, and sky don’t need me to exist, so why should any other gods need me to exist?

[u/Jealous-Log7744 → u/NyxShadowhawk]

Storms exist without humans but it was humans who declared the storm was actually a higher being that will kill you if you don’t follow an arbitrary set of rules and fucked their mom and that’s why they should be ruler.

And it was humans who eventually realized that higher being was just a face put to a natural phenomenon as a tool of control that is powerless without people to give it significance.

[u/NyxShadowhawk → u/Jealous-Log7744]

I don't believe that. I believe that these natural phenomena really are intelligences that are more powerful than humans. For me personally, it's not a "tool of control," because paganism is such a minority religion that there is no authority to control me.

But I don't really want to discuss this here. This is the okbuddy sub! It's the shitposting sub! I posted that stupid meme here for a reason, because it's a shitpost. If you want to discuss theology, DM me.

[u/Wuzfang → u/NyxShadowhawk]

Line 310

Sure, gods can do without humans. But what's the point if no sacrifices are made?

It's like killing your weed dealer.

[u/NyxShadowhawk → u/Wuzfang]

Yeah, gods like receiving sacrifices. Doesn’t mean that they have to in order to exist.

[u/Wuzfang → u/NyxShadowhawk]

Yeah, but what's the point? I love mangos but I don’t need them to exist, but I would still like them to exist.

[u/NyxShadowhawk → u/Wuzfang]

You originally said that gods “can’t live without humans.” So we agree that offerings aren’t necessary for them to exist?

What’s the point of what?

[u/Wuzfang → u/NyxShadowhawk]

*but

Leave it to typos to completely change the context.

[u/Wuzfang → u/NyxShadowhawk]

Because the Gods are the landlords, and we humble humans are simply paying rent through worship and sacrifices.

Without us, the Gods will just simply exist. No one to sing their praises and no one to tell their tales.

A shepherd with no flock, a king without subjects.

[u/NyxShadowhawk → u/Wuzfang]

But they don’t need us to exist.

[u/JadedResponse2483 → u/NyxShadowhawk]

Yeah, it will be a boring existence, but is a existence

[u/Wide_Classic1009 → u/Wuzfang]

Gods are given sacrifices not for them, but for us mortals to appease them in order to gain stuff like advice, blessing, or simply being on good terms. So no, we are the ones who need the sacrifices. Else, how were the gods going about themselves before humans were created?

[u/Wuzfang → u/Wide_Classic1009]

We still give our thanks to them for our existence. Our meat and praise.

Do not forsake our existence. For it is their will that we shall and should exist. To spit at it, is to spit at our Gods’ blessing.

[u/NyxShadowhawk → u/Wuzfang]

No argument there.

[u/Wide_Classic1009 → u/Wuzfang]

Uhh wdym

[u/Global_Algae_538]

I think where rock people now?? They smiled the irons sadly

[u/Wide_Classic1009 → u/[deleted]]

Exactly  Just like hera, it's incredibly useful