Wednesday, May 17, 2017

... on whether Bible mentions Krishna and Other False Gods


Q
Does the Bible talk about Krishna?
https://www.quora.com/Does-the-Bible-talk-about-Krishna


I
Joseph Koppenhout
studied at Ewell Castle School (2017)
Answered May 7
No.

There is no direct reference to Krishna in the bible. Any person who suggests such a thing would have to be reading a huge amount into passages of the bible. They would also probably be regarded as heretical by all established churches, as well as Hindus.

There are a very, very small number of people who like to draw links between religions and these people, coupled with the desire to compare religions would probably be able to draw links between the bible and various Hindu scripture. Overall though there is, of course no link.

Hans-Georg Lundahl
“Any person who suggests such a thing”

That would be me. See my answer. (V, here)

“would have to be reading a huge amount into passages of the bible.”

I was actually trying to figure out where in Biblical history Mahabharata war fits best.

This also takes care of pre-Flood nephelim being “great men of renown”, supposing Lamech’s sons were both nephelim contaminated and supposing the more demonic strain was through Tubal-Cain as father to Kauravas.

“They would also probably be regarded as heretical by all established churches,”

Not by Catholics, I hope, at least I have not yet been excommunicated for my theory.

“as well as Hindus.”

Well, aren’t we all as Catholics regarded as “heretics” by Hindoos? So what?

“There are a very, very small number of people who like to draw links between religions and these people, coupled with the desire to compare religions would probably be able to draw links between the bible and various Hindu scripture.”

My motive is not finding links to Hindu RELIGION. I expressed a hope Bhagavadgita was a later addition.

My motive is that Mahabharata is accepted as history, and that Krishna was appearing as a human person in this history.

People will say “it was all made up” and some of them will go on and say “and so were Exodus, Genesis and the Gospels”. That is what I cannot accept. Trojan war is of course less of a challenge, since clearly post-Flood and post-Babel.* This goes for Aeneid and Odyssey too, in which “gods” are either “behind the scenes” (not visible to the human actors, thus part of explanation, not of history) or, when most active, active in ways which can be attributed to demons and angels.

* Traditional chronographers like Syncellus and historians like Petrus Comestor place fall of Troy in the time when Eli was judging Israel.

II
Bruce Byers
Retired Navy Chaplain
Answered May 8
Here is a list of the gods mentioned in the Bible: How many Pagan/false gods does the Bible mention? Krishna is not mentioned. But 35 others are.

All listed gods are ones the Jews would have had familiarity with because of trade or cultural relations.

The origin of Krishna appears to be about 1000 BC in Bengal area, but the actual development of a large belief in Krishna developed in our middle ages, according to the Wiki, so it would not have been known in Palestine. Krishna - Wikipedia

Hans-Georg Lundahl
I noticed that the list lacked Nebuchadnessar (a false god who repented*), Augustus, and if you accept Maccabees as Bible books, also Alexander.

* I have hopes Zebedee was a penitent former Thorr, returning to his role as human and to Holy Land from where his father Odin had posed himself and him as false gods - but this is speculation, these three cases are known.

Hans-Georg Lundahl
added later
I also saw, the list does not mention Apollo.

We have certainly Baal Zebub (confer Iliad A), Apollyon / Abaddon (confer Oedipus Rex, all of it), pythonic spirit (confer Aeneid VI) as names for Apollo.

It is possible that the early Christian names Apollo in the passage about schism was mentioned last as a pun on the demonic version of Apollo.

I Cor 3.

For while one saith, I indeed am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollo; are you not men? What then is Apollo, and what is Paul?

Meaning, perhaps, sth like “a schismatic starts looking to apostolic authority of some kind” (Paul being less high in hierarchy than Peter), “and ends up following Apollyon/a pythonic spirit”

Names of real Christians who were not schismatics were probably substituted for names of the real ringleaders, but Apollo was perhaps chosen as substitute name for more than one reason.

III
Michael Pedigo
A born-again Christian of over 20 years who has studied and believes his Bible
Answered May 8
The Bible does not talk about Krishna because Krishna is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible declares that he created all things. All other gods are idols according to the God of the Bible. As another pointed out, God gave mankind 10 commandments, the first which is:

Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

This is why Judaism and Christianity only worship one God, and it is the same God in fact which is beyond the scope of your question, but I’d be more than happy to elaborate if you would like to understand more.

Hans-Georg Lundahl
The Bible even so talks about 38 false gods by name, other answerer gave a list, and I add Nebuchadnessar, Alexander and Augustus to that list.

Hans-Georg Lundahl
added later
Make it 39, Bible gives at least 3 demonic identities of Apollo.

IV
Gordon Stanger
PhD Earth Science & Climate Change, OU, UK (1986)
Answered May 8
Not specifically, but there are many verses warning against false gods in general

Hans-Georg Lundahl
A good reason not to worship Krishna and not to believe Bhagavadgita.*

Not a good reason to dismiss Mahabharata* as pure invention, though, and Krishna is an actor in it, as benefactor of Pandavas, as charioteer or Arjuna.

Since he is a flute player, he could well be Jubal.

Jabal would be father of Pandavas, therefore Pandu, Tubal-Cain of Kauravas, and the Mahabhrarata war would be briefly mentioned in Genesis 6:

[4] Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown. [5] And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, ... [11] And the earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. [12] And when God had seen that the earth was corrupted (for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth,

A prelude to war** in which a bride is gambled away, in which the enslaved bride is repeatedly denuded to humiliate her (though angels, misidentified as pagan gods, clothe her at lightning speed each time), and a war in which at last the deeds were so wicked that even the good men (Pandavas) could not be (morally) distinguished from the bad (the Kauravas) seems to fit VERY well with this description.

* Mahabharata is an epic in which Krishna figures both as a god and as showing human life signs and a human character - Bhagavadgita is one very religious portion of Mahabhrata, in which he "reveals his divine identity" to his friend Arjuna, and of course I hope he did no such evil thing.

** Also, the time when Pandavas live "in the woods" could refer to Jabal being father of shepherds who live in tents, these latter being adapted to "woods" by Hindoos later lacking reference of nomadic shepherds.

V
Hans-Georg Lundahl
Studied religions as curious parallels and contrasts to Xtian faith since 9, 10?
Answered Tue
Krishna under “his own name” - no.

The Bible does talk about some siblings who could be Pandu, Kauru and one more. I think Jabal and Jubal may well have been Pandu and Krishna, opting the flute player for the role as Krishna.

I consider Tubal-Cain was the most probable candidate for Kauru, and his sister Noema for the reason why these things are remembered after the Flood, since she was married to Ham, one of the sons of Noah and probably ancestor, via Kush and Rema, to the darker part of India’s population, the Dravidians, though the places associated with Ramayana are further North.

One of Ham’s sons was named Kush, which, like Krishna, means “the black one”. I think* he was ancestor of black Africans and of Indians, and that he was named after his mother Noema’s brother, who had died before the Flood, if Jabal or Jubal was nicknamed Kush, i e in Sanskrit Krishna.

I obviously do not believe as a Bible believer, that Krishna was a god. And I hope for his sake he was not pretending to be either, but was later elevated to godhood after the Flood by people who loved him a bit too much.

* I think means : I guess, I reconstruct, a novel about it could be as likely to be true as the bare conclusion - but even so I think there is something to it. Have you ever wondered about the "men of renown" if anyone remembers their renown now? If they are heros of Mahabharata, the answer is yes.

VI-IX
Basically synonyms to IV, except one or two more Hindoo or New Age minded.

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