(August 1, 2015 at 11:13 pm)vorlon13 Wrote: So, Jesus done gets Himself crucified, then what ?
Not wanting to create a diversion but . . .
The whole divinity descending into the Underworld business has a much, much older history in Middle Eastern religions (and elsewhere).
Cutting a long story short, the triple goddesses (Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte etc) all visited other aspects of themselves (they were trinities, after all) in the Underworld and were only let out when they agreed to share the consort God who, consequently, had to disappear to the Underworld for half a year then re-appear to get the whole agricultural cycle going.
So, the descent into Hell would have been something of a selling feature.
The gods did not reveal, from the beginning,
All things to us, but in the course of time
Through seeking we may learn and know things better.
These things are, we conjecture, like the truth.
But as for certain truth, no man has known it,
Nor shall he know it, neither of the gods
Nor yet of all the things of which I speak.
And even if by chance he were to utter
The final truth, he would himself not know it:
For all is but a woven web of guesses.
Xenophanes
All things to us, but in the course of time
Through seeking we may learn and know things better.
These things are, we conjecture, like the truth.
But as for certain truth, no man has known it,
Nor shall he know it, neither of the gods
Nor yet of all the things of which I speak.
And even if by chance he were to utter
The final truth, he would himself not know it:
For all is but a woven web of guesses.
Xenophanes
