The Differences of Greek Gods and Goddesses and the Christian God

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The Greek gods and goddesses are much like people and very different from the Christian God. These different traits can be seen in all the gods with their emotions. Some apparent emotions seen in the gods and goddesses are lust, jealousy, vanity, disloyalty, and their ability to feel pain.

Lust is a human emotion not felt, and even frowned upon, by the Christian God. Yet, Zeus has a hard time controlling this specific emotion. Zeus was married to Hera, but he still has his affairs with other women, not excluding mortals. The names of some of these women are Europa, Io, Alkamine, and Semele. When he fell in love with Europa he was turned into a bull and took her across the sea. Io was turned into a cow as the result of their love. Alkamine was the mother to Zeus’s child, Hercules, and Semele was the mother to Zeus’s child, Dionysus. The fact that Zeus partook in an emotion considered so morally wrong is definitely human-like compared to the Christian God, who in his “perfect-ness,” would never even feel such an emotion.

In part, lust ties in with the next human emotion, jealousy. Zeus’s wife, Hera, was very jealous of Zeus’s other lovers. She was so jealous of Io that, upon finding out about Io’s affair with Zeus, she turned Io into a cow. Hera even punished the forest nymph, Echo, when Zeus wasn’t having an affair with her at all. She only suspected Zeus of having an affair with one of the forest nymphs and was distracted from her seeking by Echo’s chattering. Hera became angry and condemned her to never have the power to speak first. She must always be spoken to before she can speak. Hera’s unjustly punishment of women out of jealousy is human-like compared to the Christian God because, according to teachings, He is fair and fo...

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...hurt her so bad emotionally that she took all the warmth and happiness out of nature, thus bringing winter. The Christian God does not feel pain. Humans feel pain. These are only two of the many ways that the gods felt pain.

From what can be seen, the Greek gods and goddesses are very human-like and ungodly in many ways. Of the few things that even separated them from humans was their immortality and unnatural powers. Otherwise, their many emotions very much relate them to humans. Among these emotions are lust (Zeus), jealousy (Hera and Aphrodite), vanity (Narcissus and Aphrodite), disloyalty (Zeus and Prometheus), and their ability to feel pain (Prometheus and Demeter). Ironically, Zeus shows the majority of these human traits. He, the chief god, seems to be the least god-like out of them all. This is how the Greek gods and goddesses differ from the Christian God.

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