What if God was one of us?
Minus the fact that it is a song lyric, it is something that everyone has asked at some point during his or her life. What would you have done if God sat down next to you at a Starbucks to grab a cup of coffee? Would you have figured it out? Would you have been his friend? Would you have approved of his coffee choice? Would you have believed what he said? Or would you have shunned him like so many did?
In The Baachae, Dionysus was shunned because no one believed that he was a god. Pentheus repeatedly questioned him, much like the Pharisees did to Jesus. He scoffed at his ideas, thinking that they were ridiculous and walked him through how he would kill him. Dionysus calmly informs Pentheus that all of the assumptions that he is making are false and his reasoning behind his actions. This composure that Dionysus showed reminded me very much of Jesus calmly informing people of teachings and parables.
In Plato’s The Republic, Socrates asks Glaucon why Homer didn’t gather a group of disciples that would have loved him. The disciples were, obviously, very important to Jesus and his life on Earth. However, what stuck out to the most about me in regard to the disciple reference was the explanation. Socrates continues on by saying that these people would have relied so much on the wisdom of Homer that they would follow him around like school children. Since they were so invested in his teachings, they would not want to share.
The Baachae does provide a proof for Plato in the fact that Dionysus does gather a group that is definitely considered disciples: women. While they end up killing Pentheus, it was Dionysus that called upon them to deal with Pentheus. That signified to me that Euripides really believed that women should have a key role and also had a key role in the church. Look at the roles that Dionysus gave to the women and the roles that Jesus gave to women. Dionysus summoned the women to kill Pentheus and the first people to go see Jesus in the tomb after his resurrection were women. Mary Magdalene has even been called a disciple.
Another proof The Baachae provides is the fact that Dionysus appears to Pentheus multiple times. In The Republic, Plato writes, “Is (God) able to show himself on purpose in different forms at different times, sometimes really changing his appearance and passing into many transformations…Or is he really simple and never leaves his own form at all” (Plato 178). That’s what gods in Greek mythology do. They show themselves at different times in various forms.
In a way, I think God changes forms frequently. He might show himself to us in the form of a breeze on a sunny day or in a friend coming to aid you are when in need.
In a way, the question is not ‘What if God was one of us’, it is rather ‘Which one of us is God today?’.
Minus the fact that it is a song lyric, it is something that everyone has asked at some point during his or her life. What would you have done if God sat down next to you at a Starbucks to grab a cup of coffee? Would you have figured it out? Would you have been his friend? Would you have approved of his coffee choice? Would you have believed what he said? Or would you have shunned him like so many did?
In The Baachae, Dionysus was shunned because no one believed that he was a god. Pentheus repeatedly questioned him, much like the Pharisees did to Jesus. He scoffed at his ideas, thinking that they were ridiculous and walked him through how he would kill him. Dionysus calmly informs Pentheus that all of the assumptions that he is making are false and his reasoning behind his actions. This composure that Dionysus showed reminded me very much of Jesus calmly informing people of teachings and parables.
In Plato’s The Republic, Socrates asks Glaucon why Homer didn’t gather a group of disciples that would have loved him. The disciples were, obviously, very important to Jesus and his life on Earth. However, what stuck out to the most about me in regard to the disciple reference was the explanation. Socrates continues on by saying that these people would have relied so much on the wisdom of Homer that they would follow him around like school children. Since they were so invested in his teachings, they would not want to share.
The Baachae does provide a proof for Plato in the fact that Dionysus does gather a group that is definitely considered disciples: women. While they end up killing Pentheus, it was Dionysus that called upon them to deal with Pentheus. That signified to me that Euripides really believed that women should have a key role and also had a key role in the church. Look at the roles that Dionysus gave to the women and the roles that Jesus gave to women. Dionysus summoned the women to kill Pentheus and the first people to go see Jesus in the tomb after his resurrection were women. Mary Magdalene has even been called a disciple.
Another proof The Baachae provides is the fact that Dionysus appears to Pentheus multiple times. In The Republic, Plato writes, “Is (God) able to show himself on purpose in different forms at different times, sometimes really changing his appearance and passing into many transformations…Or is he really simple and never leaves his own form at all” (Plato 178). That’s what gods in Greek mythology do. They show themselves at different times in various forms.
In a way, I think God changes forms frequently. He might show himself to us in the form of a breeze on a sunny day or in a friend coming to aid you are when in need.
In a way, the question is not ‘What if God was one of us’, it is rather ‘Which one of us is God today?’.