Faultless (Titans)

We have been in a series where we are discussing Greek Mythological gods and how no matter how powerful or gifted they are that they all have a fault.

 

Despite what you've been told, despite any disappointments you might have encountered, despite what culture, society, or the media might have tried to show you our God is faultless.

 

Illustrate here: clash of the Titans Video

 

 

Titans are a race of godlike giants who were considered to be the personifications of the forces of nature.

They were immortal giants of incredible strength and stamina they were overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Olympians, in the "War of the Titans."

 

Gaea

Greek earth goddess and mother of the Titans.

 

Uranus

Uranus is the sky god and first ruler.

Cronus

The offspring of Cronus and Rhea were first of the Olympians. To insure his safety Cronus ate each of the children as they were born. This worked until Rhea, unhappy at the loss of her children, tricked Cronus into swallowing a rock, instead of Zeus. When he grew up Zeus would revolt against Cronus and the other Titans, defeat them, and banish them to Tartarus in the underworld.

 

Rhea

Rhea was the wife of Cronus and she tricked Cronus into swallowing a rock, saving her son Zeus.

 

Oceanus

Oceanus is the unending stream of water encircling the world. Together with his wife Tethys produced the rivers and the three thousand ocean nymphs.

 

Tethys

Titan goddess of fresh water. Tethys is the wife of Oceanus.

 

Hyperion

Hyperion is the Titan of light, an early sun god. He married his sister Theia. Their children Helius (the sun), Selene (the moon), and Eos (the dawn).

 

Mnemosyne

Titan of memory and the mother of Muses.

 

Themis

Titan of justice and order.

 

Iapetus

Titan of mortality.

 

Coeus

Titan of Intelligence.

 

Crius

Titan of astrology.

 

Phoebe

Titan of the Moon. Virgin huntress.

 

Thea

Titan goddess of sight.

 

Prometheus

Prometheus was the wisest Titan. His name means "forethought" and he was able to foretell the future. He tricked Zeus into allowing man to keep the best part of the animals sacrificed to the gods and to give the gods the worst parts, then he stole fire from heaven giving it to humankind.

 

For this Zeus punished Prometheus by having him chained to a rock with an eagle tearing at his liver. He was to be left there for all eternity or until he agreed to disclose to Zeus which of Zeus children would try to replace him. He was eventually rescued by Hercules without giving in to Zeus.

 

Epimetheus

Epimetheus was a stupid Titan, father of excuses, whose name means "afterthought." He also accepted the gift of Pandora(box filled with all evils) from Zeus, which lead to the introduction of evil into the world.

 

Atlas

Unlike his brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus, Atlas fought with the other Titans supporting Cronus against Zeus. Due to Cronus's advance age Atlas lead the Titan's in battle. As a result he was singled out by Zeus for a special punishment and made to hold up the world on his back.

 

Metis

Metis was the Titaness of the forth day and the planet Mercury. She presided over all wisdom and knowledge.

 

Dione

Titan goddess of the oracle of Dodona in Thesprotia, and the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus. Her name is simply the feminine form of Zeus.

 

 

Myth-false belief or idea. 

•                  There are myths all around us.

•                  There are false ideas, religions, half-truths trying to destroy mankind that have come straight from the mouth of the Devil whose whole mindset, career, and existence is to destroy.

•      We have to know truth.

•      We have to engage in truth.

•      When our lives disengage from truth we live just like hell itself in the fact that we try to engage those false ideas, religions, and half-truths into our lives therefore into culture, society, even the church.

 

"Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.” (John 7:24 NLT)

 

1.Many people have a surface relationship with God.

1.They simply see the things He has done for others, they have heard of the things He has done for others, or they somewhere witnessed God moving.

2.There is no depth to their relationship where they actually "know Him."

Know-be absolutely certain or sure about something, have personal experience of.

•      To "know" Him.

•      Not just His healing, not just His provision, not just His power, nor His gifts, but Him.

 

John 7:27 NLT "But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, He will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from.”

 

2. Another surface account.

•      Jesus is just gonna appear right?

•      Is that what the bible says?

•      Did it say this or did it say that? I'm confused.

•                  People get confused about God when they only have a surface relationship with Him and truly don't know Him.

•      Why should I read the bible for myself when I have someone else tell me what it says, cause that's only surface relationship!

•                  You should know Him.

•                  Not just know about Him.

 

Illustrate here: guacamole or a type of weird looking food that when you actually taste it or engage in it, you love! Or something deceptive from the outside looks great, try it and it's horrible.

 

•      Surface-the outside part or upper most layer of something.

•                  Many people never get any deeper in their God relationship than the surface.

•      Surface relationship says, "God please do what I want, when I want, your my genie in a bottle, your my wish list giver, you give me stuff, you give me things, you are just here to give, give, give.

•      God no matter how much I disappoint you, no matter how much I ignore you, no matter how much I try my very best to dodge your house, your word, your worship, or service to others you should do what I say when I say it.

•                  Surface relationship is mainly about what everyone sees but not what God sees.

•      I go to church, I'm good when everyone is looking, I do all the right things, and make all the right decisions when it counts but inside your as evil, deceptive, and conniving as the Devil.

•                  When no one is looking your mind goes to places that it should never go, when no one is looking you make different decisions with your heart, your actions are shameful not faultless.

 

1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT) "But the Lord said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

 

•      God does not work for you!

•                  He is not employed by you, He is not salaried by you, He..is..God!

•      Faultless God means I can trust Him, I can confide in Him, I can rely on Him, I can expect Him to never fail me, I can expect Him to lead and instruct me.

•      Faultless means free from defect or error. 

 

Jude 1:24 (NLT) "Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into His glorious presence without a single fault."

 

John 17:3, NLT "And this is the way to have eternal life--to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth."

 

How do we get eternal life? Jesus tells us clearly here--by knowing God the Father himself through his Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Eternal life requires entering into a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ.

•      When we admit our sin and turn away from it, Christ's love lives in us by the Holy Spirit.

Faultless (Dionysus, Midas, Athena, Medusa)

We have been in a series where we are discussing Greek Mythological gods and how no matter how powerful or gifted they are that they all have a fault.

Despite what you've been told, despite any disappointments you might have encountered, despite what culture, society, or the media might have tried to show you our God is faultless.

In my study of the Greek gods I have found some crazy stuff! I have found some things so far fetched I've been astounded.

Dionysus

The god of wine, parties and festivals, madness, chaos, drunkenness and pleasure at forever young.
He was depicted in art as either an older bearded god or a pretty effeminate, long-haired youth.
Semele was a priestess of Zeus, and on one occasion was observed by Zeus as she slaughtered a bull at his altar and afterwards swam in the river Asopus to cleanse herself of the blood. Flying over the scene in the disguise of an eagle, Zeus fell in love with Semele and afterwards repeatedly visited her secretly. Zeus' wife, Hera, a goddess jealous of usurpers, discovered his affair with Semele when she later became pregnant. Appearing as an old crone, Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her lover was actually Zeus. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele asked Zeus to grant her a wish. Zeus, eager to please his beloved, promised on the River Styx to grant her anything she wanted. She then demanded that Zeus reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his godhood. Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he was forced by his oath to comply. Zeus tried to spare her by showing her minimum amounts of his power but mortals, however, cannot look upon Zeus without incinerating, and she perished, consumed in lightning-ignited flame. Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus, by sewing him into his thigh. A few months later, Dionysus was born. This leads to his being called "the twice-born". When he grew up, Dionysus rescued his mother from Hades, and she became a goddess on Mount Olympus.

Midas

Once, Dionysus found his master and foster father, Silenus, missing. The old man had been drinking, and had wandered away drunk, and was found by some peasants, who carried him to their king. Midas recognized him, and treated him hospitably, entertaining him for ten days and nights with politeness, while Silenus entertained Midas and his friends with stories and songs. On the eleventh day, he brought Silenus back to Dionysus. Dionysus offered Midas his choice of whatever reward he wanted. Midas asked that whatever he might touch should be changed into gold. Dionysus consented, though was sorry that he had not made a better choice. Midas rejoiced in his new power, which he hastened to put to the test. He touched and turned to gold an oak twig and a stone. Overjoyed, as soon as he got home, he ordered the servants to set a feast on the table. Then he found that his bread, meat, daughter and wine turned to gold.

• Thinks everything can be fixed with money, or possessions.

Matthew 6:31-34 (NLT)
"So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' [32] These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. [33] Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. [34] "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."

Athena

The goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.

• Thinks everything can be fixed through wisdom or war.
• She only fights for great causes.
• Everything can be fixed with wisdom but only from the wisdom of God.
• Everything can be fixed through spiritual warfare.
• Prayer, worship, bible reading, fasting, serving,and giving.

Proverbs 2:6-9 (NLT)
"For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. [7] He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. [8] He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. [9] Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go."

Medusa 

Medusa was once very beautiful and lived far in the north were the sun didn't visit. Being very curious, she wanted to see the sun, and asked the Goddess Athena for permission to visit the south. Athena refused to allow her to visit. Then Medusa got angry and dared to say that Athena hadn't given her permission because she was jealous of her beauty. That was it, Athena was angered and punished her by turning her hair into snakes and cursing her by making her so ugly that who ever looks at her eyes would turn into stone.

• We see jealousy, fear, lust, resentment, lies, drama, covetousness, stealing, fornication, murder, drunkenness, adultery, bad attitudes, homosexuality, anger, selfishness, deception, greed, and that's just in one myth.
• But truth calls it like the bible sees it, sin.

• Most Greek Mythology sounds like a modern day soap opera to me.

• Our God has given us the earth, our God has given us time, our God has given us seasons, our God has given us breath, and life. Our God has given us love, our God has given us His Son Jesus Christ, our God has given us the Holy Spirit, our God has given us the bible to guide and instruct us into right living.

1 Thessalonians 2:10-13 (NLT)
"You yourselves are our witnesses-and so is God-that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. [11] And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. [12] We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory. [13] Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn't think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God-which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe."

• How did these men and women of God know how to live their lives devout, honest and faultless?
• Because our God is devout, honest, and faultless.
• "This word continues to work in you who believe."
• There is something to be said of a devout, honest and faultless person.
• There is a value, a character, a quality that has has entered into the soul of a person of this caliber.
• One of the things we can see through all of these Greek gods is their jealousy, their desires over running their character, and their sense of immorality.
• Something else we can see is how nearly every college in the world has sororities, sorority parties, and many of these teach immorality, illegal acts, and unethical behavior.
• Their thought process is that you can be anything you want in the daytime then nights, weekends live a mythological lifestyle.

Myth-false belief or idea.

• There are myths all around us.
• There are false ideas, religions, half-truths trying to destroy mankind that have come straight from the mouth of the Devil whose whole mindset, career, and existence is to destroy.
• We have to know truth.
• We have to engage in truth.
• When our lives disengage from truth we live just like hell itself in the fact that we try to engage those false ideas, religions, and half-truths into our lives therefore into culture, society, even the church.

Faultless (guest blog by Caitlin Etoh) goddess Aphrodite

Greek mythology was based off many gods, goddesses that represented the things of human culture, society, and how the world functioned.

However, these Gods and goddesses were everything but perfect for they within their own divinity fought, killed, committed adultery, stole from others, tricked, and destroyed whatever kept them from what they wanted.

Aphrodite
The story goes that Cronus who was the son of Uranus, had a fight and Cronus castrated Uranus and threw his parts into the sea. Sea foam began to form and from it, a beautiful woman raised, which would be known as Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and beauty.

She had the ability to make anything beautiful, and she could make humans fall in love with someone else or something else, put in the feelings of desire and lust for things that people coveted.

She will help you for a price whether it is money or just you being faithful to her in worship.
She did things no matter if it was deceitful, dishonest, or hurtful.

James 3:14-16
"But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."

Everyone has desires and hopes, and wishes for things that they don’t have.
But when you are filled for only your own selfish desires, it’s hard to attain the things that God has for us.

When we fill ourselves of only things we lust for, we get blinded then things that are wrong seem right and things that are right seem unnecessary.

So when Aphrodite would do the things she did, it will affect not only the people she made fall in love, but it affected the people who they were their spouses, parents, children, sometimes even the whole Greek society because of fulfilling wishes of the selfish and giving tainted hope.

(*Note to self: Talk about summer camp how students were filled with the holy ghost, the vision and calling from God, how easy it is to see things clearly and how we are more receptive and accepting to the things God tells us when you’re isolated with nothing but the presence of God.)

James 3:17 "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."

When you fill yourself with God’s word, His dreams and vision, your desire will turn into His desires He has uniquely equipped for you.

Our God is about our best interests and what’s best for our lives.

He doesn’t have to scheme and be deceitful in order to give us the desires of our hearts.

Psalms 37:4 "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

But the key to this is that you must take DELIGHT, gladness, acceptance in God himself, not only for the things He can do for you or just His blessings; only then will He give the desires of your heart, as long as the glory is Kingdom driven and not motivated for your own selfish reasons.

So how can a god who was only born for beauty, lust, love, and desire have the best interest for you?

SHE CAN'T!

But there is good news our God is FAULTLESS!

He never had to be created for He always was, He didn’t have to create love because He is love.

John 1:1,3-5 (NLT)
"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. [3] God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. [4] The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. [5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."

Since God is already these things and He is our creator, in which we are created in His image, He created us with those things inside us as well.

Aphrodite encouraged people to covet and had no problems of breaking covenants between people.

She had a favorite son named Eros; also known as Cupid.
•Eros was equipped with a bow and arrow and the arrow was dipped in a love poison.
•Whoever Eros shot, that person will fall in love with the first person they see.

Aphrodite used Eros to make people fall in love with the person or the person that someone coveted over. But only sometimes will be it be out of good measure.

Difference between covet and covenant
•Covet: to desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others: to covet another's property. to wish for, especially eagerly.

•Covenant: an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified.
•the conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in Scripture

When your God’s child there’s no need to covet over someone else’s stuff, husband, car, or whatever it is because He already has the things that are meant for you that He wants to give you.

When you put your own selfish desires and wants before His, you compromise the promises He gave us when we accepted Jesus as our savior.

Of course, there had to be a price paid in order for Aphrodite to call upon her son for your need. If you were that desperate for that love of the other person, you did everything you could to pay the price that Aphrodite gave for you to pay.

But God paid the ultimate price then showed the greatest love when He sent His only son Jesus Christ to die for our sins to give humanity everlasting life.

All we have to do is accept it!

It’s a gift, we don’t have to buy love from God, God is love and He already loves us.

For that reason alone makes Him FAULTLESS!