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Popol Vuh Vs Genesis

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The stories, Popol Vuh and the Book of Genesis, are from different cultures. Many individuals believe that ‘different’ means varying opinions. However, each one could display similarities in beliefs. On the other hand, similarities may also reveal some slight differences in each culture. Creation stories have changed significantly throughout each individual culture, but each story may also come with various similarities. In each story, the people worship some God; maybe even more than one. The text Popol Vuh states “Name now our names, praise us...speak, pray to us, keep our days.” Genesis does not contain an unequivocal quote that involves them worshipping God, but it can be implied by the command he gives them to take care of all his …show more content…

In response to not meeting their expectations, the Gods each respond differently; yet negatively at the same time. In Genesis, the deity exiles Adam and Eve for eating from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. However, in Popol Vuh the deity elects to only leave animal but kill all people. These responses from each deity reveal what each culture thinks will happen upon disobeying their creator. Each story also displays a difference in the way which the deity resolves the complication. In Popol Vuh, the deity decides to limit the extent of their knowledge and vision; meaning they would not be any better than their respective deity. In Genesis, the deity does not only exile Adam and Eve; he later ends up deciding to create a flood that wipes out mankind. These differences reveal that not every god response the same to each failed expectation. In reading both texts, the spiritual essences is show through their common theme of worshipping the individual deities. In Genesis, the deity is presented as an individual who is all powerful; making not a single mistake. On the other hand, in Popol Vuh it is evident that each deity can make mistakes. Being able to recognize the similarities and differences between cultures provides us with a deeper understanding of each belief and how it varies with others prior to

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Discussion Week Two Questions 1. Similarities: In both versions of the myth, with the group of gods in the Sumerian version and the one God in the Israeli version, the gods view the world as being corrupt and in need of cleansing. In the Sumerian version of the myth it reads, “The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible. So let the gods exterminate mankind.”

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Popol Vuh is different because it has a completely different background than Genesis. In Popol Vuh the Gods created three different types of people while in Genesis they only had one set of people. An example is they created three different people out of three different materials. The first was mud, the second was made from trees and these both did not work so they were destroyed. The third was made out of dirt but had a secret ingredient which was corn and this made these people come to life and were the right ones.

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Each work shows how the relationship bet ween the gods and the humans work. In the Indian culture the gods is someone who can show the people the way but in the Hebrew culture their god test the loyalty of the humans. In both cultures from the works the people will seek their gods for guidance and wisdom but the outcomes are not the same in both places. There are similarities and differences between how the relationships between people and the gods work in the different cultures. Each work the main character has a problem that is troubling the throughout each work.

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Divine and Earthly Interactions The interplay between the divine and the earthly is a central theme that dominates the themes of certain world literature. Within these themes lie a myriad of narratives that explore the complexities of human existence, belief systems, and cultural values. Two such literary masterpieces, Sundiata and Popul Vuh, offer profound insights into the dynamics between gods and mortals, shaping the destiny of individuals and societies. Sundiata, the epic tale of the legendary hero of the Mali Empire, and Popul Vuh, the Mayan creation myth, transport readers to worlds where gods walk among men, shaping the course of history and offering glimpses into the sacred and profound dimensions of human experience.

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The Popul Vuh is a creation story written by the Quiche peoples of Guatemala translated by Christian missionaries. To the casual observer, one may see obvious parallels to the Jewish and Christian Books due to the influences of the conquistadors over the region, exemplifying the interaction and integration of beliefs between two extraordinarily different cultures (Norton 520). Such elements of interest included a rather more mythical version of the creation of Earth, where the thought of soil, water, and animals were brought into existence. In addition, the trials the Heart-of-Sky encountered in creating a being to worship him as well as the imagery accompanying each attempt had strengthened the mythical impression of this story of creation

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It is surprising how many characteristics these completely unrelated gods had in common and how many they didn’t. Comparing them, their territory,

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The judeo-Christian story is very well known creation story. The Christian religion is very familiar to this story. The other story is called Iroquois creation this is a Native American story of how the Earth came to a beginning. There is many similarities and differences in this story. One of the differences is that in the Christian story the Earth was made by God.

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Each every creation myth is unique in its own way. Of course, creation myths have their similarities, but each of them has at least one detail that separates them from every other myth. The question is how those similarities came about, considering for some of these groups that didn’t even know that each other existed. It would have nearly impossible and extremely unlikely for them to communicate with each other let alone, share their stories with each other. Yet, despite this there are some extremely common themes and events throughout these myths.

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In the epic poem The Odyssey, Homer portrays Greek gods and goddesses as possessing human qualities and faults. Through their actions and emotions, Homer emphasizes the detrimental effects of lust, envy, wrath, and greed in ancient Grecian society. He also never fails to remind readers of the importance of respect for holy figures because of their powerful abilities to create chaos and wonder". Homer wants to prove that gods and humans share a variety of traits, and the only difference is that god don’t allow these flaws negatively to impact their society. To help further his argument, we can compare Greek gods and goddesses to that of Christianity.

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Whereas, in Genesis God is referred to in third person and his actions, as commands. Stories and characters different, they might contain. The message did not change all that often throughout these texts. As Harrison in Creation of Universe notes, “we begin by turning to the creation myths that might offer insight into the views of earlier societies on the birth and death of the universe.” It is interesting to see scriptures written for different religions through different times contain such similarities in their theme.

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Every religion has its own way of describing how life and earth came to be. It is a very disputed topic. The stories Genesis and Popol Vuh are two religions way of explaining this controversial idea. They come from the religions Christianity and the Quiché Maya. There are many differences between the two tales; however, there are also quite a few similarities.

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And in The Iroquois Creation Story it states “ Among the ancients there were two worlds in existence. The Lower world was in great darkness;- the possession of the great monster; but the upper world was inhabited by mankind”(David Cusick). Now these two sections of writing are abundantly similar. Especially when the bible states that God created the Heavens and the Earth, The Iroquois Creation

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Many with a modern, Christian worldview believe there is only one God and He created the world. The Mesopotamians, according to the Enuma Elish, believed in multiple gods and they seemingly were constantly fighting amongst themselves. Tiamat was the name given to chaos and it was through her defeat that the world was created. Later in the story, Marduk creates humans to essentially be servants to the gods.

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Not only do these shared themes point to an innate psychology present in all people in every culture, but perhaps even to a direct influence of “The Epic of Gilgamesh” on these holy texts. In the book of Genesis, the creation story of The Old Testament, God creates all things, the earth and the Heavens. He makes the animals and then finally mankind to watch over it all, as God says, “Let us make a human in our image...to hold sway over the fish...and all the crawling things that crawl upon this earth” (2. 1-4). Depending on the variation of the story, God either creates both Adam and Eve from soil, or Adam from soil and then Eve from his rib to be his companion.

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This can make life difficult for humans as the gods tend to believe they are to be worshipped by all, but merely worshipping them does not give their divine aid or protection and should you scorn them you would face their wrath.

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