RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Know the Gods:

Nergal is the Babylonian name for Mars, the Roman god of war. Nergal represents the element of fire, hatred, death and destruction. Nergal also represents violence and frenzy, the wild warrior, unpredictable. Nergal is Ishtar's brother.

Ishtar is the Babylonian name for Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Ishtar represents the element of earth, peace, life and creation. Ishtar also represents the guardian and warrior mother who uses planned formations and calm, organized warfare. Ishtar is Nergal's sister. Ishtar is also called Inanna, Astarte, Aphrodite, Hera and other names throughout history.

Nebo is the Babylonian name for Mercury, the Roman god of astrology and prophecy who acts as a messenger to the gods or anunnaki.

Nanna is the Babylonian moon deity, representing the element of night, seasons and changing tides. Nanna is sometimes called Sin in moon worship.

Shamash is the Babylonian sun deity, representing the element of day, seasons and change. Shamash has been called Utu by the Sumerians, Tutu by Akkadians, and is sometimes associated with Marduk as the god of light. Aya or Sherida was Shamash's consort as mother.

Marduk is the Babylonian name for Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods. Marduk represents the element of order, justice and temperance. Marduk is the supreme judge. Marduk is sometimes associated with An, Anu, or Anum the sky father.

Ninib is the Babylonian name for Saturn, the Roman god of priesthoods. Ninib is father time, who represents the life cycle and balance. Ninib is sometimes called Ninurta, the lord of the plough.

Enlil is the Babylonian name for Uranus, the Roman god of winter, winds, air, storms and science. In some accounts, Enlil is older than Marduk, or else Marduk is Enlil's father. Enlil is the Babylonian devil or rainbow serpent, often associated with Ninlil the wind goddess.

Enki is the Babylonian name for Neptune, the Roman god of seas, waters, oceans, rivers and poetry. Enki is usually associated as Enlil's brother. Enki is sometimes called Ea, and is associated with the fresh water Apsu.

According to the Sumerian inscriptions on clay tablets, the primeval sea¹ gave birth to a cosmic mountain in which Anu (sky) and Ki (earth)² were interlocked to create Enlil (wind).

¹ Tiamat the salt water sea, or Nammu the formless abyss.
² Ge or Gaia, Aya, Sherida, Ninhursag the earth mother.

Nammu represents the great void, absence, nothingness. Some accounts suggest that An-Anum was the first god, the oldest, the father of the gods. An means "sky". An is Gugalanna the "great heavenly bull", creator of all lesser sky-gods; Enlil, Nanna, Shamash, Marduk, Ninib, the goddess of heaven (Ishtar) and even the minor weather deity (Adad), all connected with the symbol of the bull.

Nergal has also been associated with the bull or ram. Nergal is also associated with the Semetic, Chaldean, and Egyptian god Resheph the lord of plague and war. Resheph of the garden was a deer horned hunter whose name in Hebrew means "flame" or "plague". Nergal is also associated with the Egyptian god Set, Setesh or Sutekh whose name means "red". Set was the god of sand storms and desert caravans. Nergal has also been associated with the Spartan vulture god Ares Enyalius or Marmar, the Celtic god of war Camulos or Cocidus, the Slavic god Perun, the Roman god Mars, and the Hindu god Pashupati.

The word "God" comes from the Latin word "Deus" for the Greek god Zeus, father and king of the gods. Zeus gets his name from the Aryan sky god Dyaus, whose own pre-Hindu sanskrit name means "bright" or "shining". Therefore the Latin name "Deus" means "day". Dyaus Piter, or Zeus Pater, means "Sky Father" which was the name for Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods. Dyaus is the cloud gatherer, lord of lightning, the thunderer. Later poets describe Uranus (sky) as the father of Zeus, but originally Dyaus was first. Uranus was the name for the Aryan sky god Varuna whose breath was wind, voice was thunder, and whose responsibility was the changing of seasons, the order of the universe, and the moral codes of men. His seed was rain, and he was also a fertility god.

Egyptians worshipped their own sky god Horus, depicted as a falcon. Nergal was associated with the Aryan god Indra, the Hindu war god with thunderbolt arrows and rainbow as a weapon. Monotheism (sky worship) is actually older and predates polytheism. The sky's eyes are the stars, and the wind is his breath, which is "life". The holy sky father fertalizes the earth mother in the spring time with his rain. Since the air cannot be seen, humans started worshipping more relateable deities such as objects in the sky; the sun, moon, storm clouds, etc.

The supreme being lives in the sky; he is the sky. Humans fear thunder, but they welcome rain. God flooded the earth for fourty days, then set a rainbow in the sky as a promise to Noah never to flood the earth again. God appeared to Moses as a storm cloud and spoke to him with thunder and lightning. Romulus the founder of Rome was lifted up to the sky by Jupiter, just as Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, while "a cloud took him out of sight".

Neanderthals buried their dead with flowers, possibly an early sky/earth belief in reincarnation. Lucifer the "morning star" and God's "beloved cherub" was thrown out of the sky and cast down to earth. Satan appeared as a snake in the garden. Satan is associated with the Voodoo god Damballa, a rainbow colored serpent who acts as mediator between heaven and earth. Hopi shamans handle snakes to cause rain, probably related to the African worship of Dan, the tail eating cosmic snake.

Birds and flight have also been connected to sky worship. Mountains are associated with the sky, since they tower above the clouds. Astral bodies, the souls of stars, ghosts and dragons all have a link to sky worship. Egyptian pharoahs were given burial rites to help unite them with their sun god, Amon.

Gaia was the Greek name for the earth mother, or the earth mother's reproductive energy (womb). Gaia is not the whole planet earth, but rather the power in the ground which produces plants. She is the goddess of seeds and the goddess of the dead, which were both buried underground. Gaia gave birth to the sky god Uranus. Gaia is associated with the Roman goddess Venus, the Pagan goddess Cybele, and the Babylonian queen mother Ishtar. Ki was apparently the first "Earth Mother", and consort of Anu the king of heaven.

An and Ki were the first supreme beings, the parents of all gods and goddesses in history. In some myths An is the sky or fire, Ki is the earth, Ea is the sea or water, and El is the wind. Therefore, we have a name for all the original four elements; wind, water, earth and fire. Ki is also the Japanese name for "breath", or life's invisible energy. To the Chinese it is Chi or Qi, the eternal life force included in all things.

Reincarnation can be described in terms of good and evil. A good person will be reincarnated as a bird or flyer of the sky, while an evil person will be reincarnated as an earth bound worm or snake. This is along the Hindu buddhist lines of "karma", action and reaction, cause and effect. This explains the worship of Sky father and Earth mother.

Who is Christ?

The word "Christ" comes from the Greek word Christos, meaning "savior". This itself has roots in the sanskrit name of the Hindu god "Krishna". Hebrews used the term "Meshiah" or Messiah meaning the same thing as Christ or Krishna. Christ also means "the annointed one" in some texts, while Buddha means "the enlightened one". Some believers jokingly say that the Christ and the Buddha were brothers.

To eastern students "Christ" is either Krishna the demon slayer and lord of heaven, or else the reincarnated Buddha of compassion. To the western ethos no doubt this is Emmanuel or "God with us", implying the angel or deity who walks on earth with humans in plain sight, healing people and driving out demons. To most people in the west this is Yeshuvah Bin-Yehoseph or the Jewish messiah, Jesus Christ son of Joseph the carpenter. He is also called Yeshua Hameshia, or Yeshu; Joshua or Josh is his Greek counterpart. Christ is God in physical human form who appears at a set time to save the world from poverty, death, destruction, draught, flood, fire, thirst, hunger, sickness, disease, hatred, greed, and all the disasterous things in the world which seperates us from heaven. This includes Satan and his demons.

Brahmanism: (Mahabharata 5;1517)
"This is the sum of duty; Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you."

Buddhism: (Udana-Varga 5;18)
"Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful."

Confucianism: (Analects 15;23)
"Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you."

Taoism: (T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien)
"Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss."

Zoroastrianism: (Dadistan-i-dinik 94;5)
"That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself."

Judaism: (Talmud Shabbat 31A)
"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the entire Law, the rest is commentary."

Christianity: (Matthew 7;12)
"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets."

Islam: (Sunnah)
"No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself."

I do not believe in religion, but I believe that every great religion stresses the Golden Rule of ethics and human morals. It is this Law that all religions are based on. Even the lesser known Satanic Bible says: "Do unto others as they do unto you". I call it the "Golden Religion", and basically that is all I am allowed to know for certain as an agnostic. If you are not quite sure what Agnosticism is, basically it is the worst of beliefs one could have. Theists know for sure that there is a God, while Atheists know for sure that there is no god. Agnostics aren't sure of anything, we do not have the answers, we only have questions. We ask ourselves: "Can this be true? Can that be false?" But we do not truly know the answers. As an agnostic, I can only provide this information and allow you as the researchers to find your own personal answers for yourselves. I wish I could say that there is a God, or that there isn't. But before you can even begin to understand Divine principles, one must first learn to understand and practice Human principles.