I've just spent an interesting 1/2 hour reading through a bunch of Norse mythology after Googling my favorite word for the old fashioned "dictionary game" where you present a word with several definitions and folks have to guess what it is. Back in my high school days, "yggdrasil" struck my fancy and probably won me a round or two of the game, if I ever got around to playing it.Well, today, I learned that Yggdrasil is the giant ash tree that links and shelters all the worlds. Essentially it connects and holds heaven/hell/earth together. All kinds of cool and twisted stuff goes on in Norse mythology, but there are some parallels to Biblical truth in the whole mythological hoohah. For instance, Ragnarok is the Norse equivalent of Armageddon, but here the gods get destroyed, some get reborn, some not...the bottom line is the end of the cosmos as it now is. A new world arises from the sea in this version, not a new heaven and earth from God as it will be in reality. However, some guy named Surt with a flaming sword is supposed to scorch everything...parallel to the heavens and earth being destroyed by fire this time around in the Bible.
One good parallel...wickedness and evil no longer exist in the new creation. It's kind of sketchy about any place of eternal punishment, however. Guess the Vikings got squeamish on this issue in spite of all their blood and guts theology. Leave it to Christians to introduce the Truth to the world, including "vessels of wrath created for destruction!"
Got reservation for your room in the Heavenly Mansion of John 14:2?
No comments:
Post a Comment