VII. 

                                                                           
                                                             The Deluge: Part 2
                                                                                   


I love the nighttime
I love to boogie
Disco the night away.

Alicia Bridges
"I Love the Night Time"

I'm getting rid of my collected vinyl so some the old titles strike me as appropriate for a description of the antediluvian civilization.

By the way, for a look at the way the world works;

an·te·di·lu·vi·an

ˌan(t)ēdəˈlo͞ovēən/

adjective

1. of or belonging to the time before the biblical Flood.

   "gigantic bones of antediluvian animals"

   synonyms:

   out of date, outdated, outmoded, old-fashioned, antiquated, behind the times, passé "her antediluvian attitudes"

   • humorous

     ridiculously old-fashioned.

     "they maintain antediluvian sex-role stereotypes"

     synonyms:

     out of date, outdated, outmoded, old-fashioned, antiquated, behind the times, passé "her antediluvian attitudes"

Our Fallen Flesh takes a term meant specifically for a Biblical situation and makes it into an over the top exaggeration.

Back to the vinyl, I'm letting it go because it has become too much of a worldly thing to me.  I began with the stated intention of collecting for my grandkids, but realize the idea of vinyl records will be antediluvian to them, (Yes, I did.)  More, they are pretty much idolatrous items, certainly in that they carry the music of folks who were or still are singing idols.  Worse, the sleeves (the sleeves!!! )which were the paper covers the records came in under the album cover itself,  are often regarded as the collectible item. One guy who collected all the Apple label music told the appraiser on Antiques  Roadshow, that he paid more for some of the sleeves than he did for the actual records.   In antique collector circles, the boxes for old items are sometimes seen as being more valuable than the items.  In our world, we come to value the valueless because it has been almost universally discarded and so it is rare.  I have never been able to listen to a note of music, good or otherwise, coming from a scrap of paper.  But dealers build a whole mystic around the sleeve, as carrying a picture, something of value, to them and therefore the collector.  And so they can deal in scraps of paper instead of the music which should be what matters.  The piano of Dave Brubeck, the voice of Ray Charles, the wide-ranging music of the Beatles.  Their talent made them idols; human idiocy made the sleeves of their record valuable, idiot idols, if you will.  Dealers and collectors  make up a myth by giving value to shreds of paper.

Before we deal with the Flood directly again, this lecture is introduction for what also lies behind God's decision: the myths of the day.

Lamech decried himself as a god.  That was the implication of his statement that anyone who hurt him would suffer ten times the pain God would give to the ones who hurt Cain.  Recall Lamech was Mr. Macho with two wives and now has killed as a sign of power.

In the book Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine, researchers posthumously compiled the latter day lectures of Joseph Campbell, who I mentiuoned a few times in my blog on John's Gospel http://www.thefailureofmythjohnsgospel.com/.  They wanted to let readers know that Campbell, a Harvard professor who was a disciple of Jung who also studied as a young man on a cruise from Europe to America with Krishna Mirtha who claimed to be a Messiah,  was also concerned with feminine mythology since he was primarily known for his masculine concerns which were the basis of the Star Wars paternal conflict between Darth and Luke.  Much of what follows was influenced by the work of Marija Gimbutas on the great goddess of the Neolithic World of Old Europe (7500-3500 BC).  What is of interest to us is the notions of both the gods and goddesses early on. I touched on it briefly.  Please realize that we moderns do somewhat biased work when looking at the ancients.  That goes for me and ever ,modern observer.  My one focus is definitely slanted by the realization that these gods were substitutes for the real God.  That this section of Genesis offers a glimpse and only a glimpse of the world outside the Lord's "birth family."  Research like Campbell's which suffers from his own weakness of not seeing any god as God because he has a totally humanistic goal.  His life and death really speak to me since I was fascinated with the Greek and Norse gods when I was preteen and could have ended up gong a rout similar to his had I somehow come under his influence in my youth.

An outline of some godly traits from an article on Prezi:

Transcript of World Mythology: The Male and Female Divine

Elevated Ideal of Masculinity

Male deities often engage in combat and earn their positions/status through war.

Gods often fight mythic creatures in a show of strength, authority, and dominion.

The clashing of the gods reflects order conquering chaos.

Divine hunting reflects human hunting - elements of nature are conquered through strength.

Gods' Place in the Pantheon

Gods often correspond to realms:

Sky gods - associated with heightened vision or insight, e.g. Ranginui in Maori mythology

Sea gods - associated with changing natures (tides, cycles), e.g. Neptune

Land gods - associated with riches, resources (gems, metals, etc.) and the dead, e.g. Pluto

Collaborative Activity

What is "masculinity"? What are some masculine ideals prevalent in modern culture? Where do you think those ideals come from? 

Collaborative Activity

Elevated Ideal of Femininity

Goddesses reflect the social role and function of human women.
They often represent beauty, nature, fertility, nurturing/motherhood, and life cycles.
Three forms of goddess reflect life stages: the maiden, the mother, and the crone/hag.

Goddesses' Place in the Pantheon

While gods rule over realms, goddesses tend to rule over phases or cycles:
Underworld goddesses represent life stages
Earth goddesses represent the four seasons
Sky goddesses represent the phases of the moon

Common Traits of Deities

Ultimate power: immortal, in control of "lesser" life forms, divine knowledge, divine strength

Behavior and relationships reflect and/or explain human behavior, existence, and aspects of everyday life

Often embody psychological polarities, e.g. good vs. evil, happiness vs. sadness, light vs. dark, agony vs. extacy, masculine vs. feminine

Deities can often change forms

https://prezi.com/rge7w1ub38i4/world-mythology-the-male-and-female-divine/

The Bible suggests the reason these gods and goddesses had such human traits is that they had human models.  (This has some import in a future episode.)  

Please be patient as we are getting to a revelation about a lot of what we have read.

From Goddesses:

"There are, however, two major orders of primal mythology. (The earlier myths of any record. W) One is that of the planting, agricultural people, and it is with this order that the Goddess is primarily associated; the other is that of the masculine gods, who are actually associated with herding nomadic people. In early societies, women are generally associated with the world of the plant.  In early hunting and collecting traditions, the women are the ones who typically collect the plant food and the small game, while the men are associated with the major hunting.  So the male becomes associated with killing and the female with the bringing forth of life.  That's the typical A-B-C association in primal mythologies."

Then Campbell spends time discussing the migration from Siberia down to North Africa and the grassland that was the Sahara, never thinking that the migration may actually have been the other way even though the so-called fossil record suggested those earliest "hominids" came from Africa. But he does arrive at an interesting place when  coming to the part where the hunters arrive in the equatorial area.

"In the equatorial zone, however, well, anybody can pick a banana, so that celebration of individual achievement (The mighty hunter image. W) is way down.  Furthermore, since the biological functions of a woman orient and associate her in a mythological way with the Earth itself, bringing forth life and nourishment, her magic is the magic that is particularly powerful in the tropical zones."

Concerning her "magic", he earlier pointed out: "In  the art of the stone age...the female is represented in those now well-known little "Venus" figurines, as simply naked.  Her body is her magic: it both invokes the male and is the vessel of all human life."

Step back into the story of Jesus' line.  

Let's rethink that image of Cain.  I saw him as someone who broke ground, grew things, worked for the food he placed before God.  Suppose we see him more as the equatorial Cain Campbell suggests, with food growing everywhere, the long term effect of sin on the Earth not yet imposed completely.  So he didn't even work at being a farmer. The food was what he picked from the available trees.  If Campbell is correct, he did 't have to break ground.  He was also lazy in his sacrifice.  He picked a few berries and oranges and available things, didn't hunt or raise and anumals for the sacrifice.  He treated God as not even good enough to break ground for.  Not only was hs sacrifice not one of blood, but was also one of laziness and disinterest.  Ever have a conversation with your wife while you were watching ...say a football game.  Did your wife seem to be a bit annoyed by the fact you weren't listening exclusively to her...Okay, you weren't listening at all?  Or try listening to your husband when he talks about work while you are trying to make the meal or talk about your won problems at work or...Everyone get the idea?  

God wants our best and our total attention and we, being human, tend to have problems with focus.  But this is worse.  This is as if God wasn't even in second place.  This sacrifice would be an insult and it would go a longer way to explaining God's displeasure.

Now look at the agricultural guy.  If God appeared as Jesus then, appeared to Cain in the Final Flesh, now consider what may also have been explained in the scene of Cain leaving the lineage and going off to found another society.

Ge 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

 9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

 10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. {blood: Heb. bloods}

 11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

 12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

 (KJV)

He killed Abel and that blood fell o  the ground.  Reconsider that as a possible human sacrifice, not to God, but to the Earth.  Mother Earth.  See it now in verse 11?  If we see that as a sacrifice, we see the immensity of what would have been going on.  This would have been the point at which Cain's line left God, before his exile not after.  Not only murder but murder to please an imaginary goddess.

Cain was insulted by the male God.  If  He appeared in the flesh, then the image Cain would have hated, would have been fleeing, was  a male image. 

Perhaps the origin of goddesses began with Cain hating a male God and seeking a god-type who suited him even as he sought a sacrifice that suited her,  it the male god got an animal, how much more exalting to sacrifice a human, the image of god, to the goddess!  

Then we saw that Cain's line produced:

Ge 4:20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.

 (KJV)

Campbell suggested the nomads were the founders of masculine gods.  Only  few generations removed from Cain who seems to have brought the goddess to people, whose son took two wives to establish his power by their "magic" and then used murder as his power cement, the kids rebel and found new gods who suit them better: those children of woman, the goddesses, and non-humans, Edenic or angelic.  Beings seduced by women treated as "magic" for their sexuality, who would have found their social power and influence in that seduction.   

 Ge 6:4 ¶ There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of renown.

Campbell's "imaginary" gods and goddesses give credence to the stories in the Bible and tend to substantiate the Bible by fleshing out a bit the surrounding story.

But our society tends to also substantiate some of those notions.  Pornography celebrates the sexually available woman, reduces women to their sexual parts, often features people with surgically enhanced bodies and chemically enhanced performances.  Women are almost the only "stars" of the genre.  Their "fans" never hear any stories of sexual transmitted diseases or the deaths that come from them, never hear of the physical toll taken on the women by various sexual acts with various partners.  Simply put, women in the industry get very old very fast.  

Yet pornography is said to "power the internet."  Producers of such videos have suggested it helped the development of HD and 3-D media.  Some old "news' on the industry:

Globally, porn is a $97 billion industry, according to Kassia Wosick, assistant professor of sociology at New Mexico State University. Between $10 billion and $12 billion of that comes from the United States. Revenue from traditional porn films has been shrinking, though, because of piracy and an abundance of free content on the Internet.

"DVD sales are barely alive at this point," says Steven Hirsch, founder of Vivid, one of the industry's largest and best-known studios. "We've seen probably an 80 percent reduction in sales over the past five years—to the point where fairly soon it's not going to make sense to put movies out on DVD. It's not going to happen tomorrow, but we are certainly marching towards that day."

Porn diversifies
Diversification is a fast-growing trend in the industry. Studios who rely solely on DVD sales have generally gone out of business. Some of the survivors have beefed up their video-on-demand offerings to take advantage of the growing online market. Others have branched into physical products.

Few have grown in as many directions as Vivid, though. The studio perhaps best known for its ongoing line of celebrity sex tapes launched a satellite radio channel on Sirius this year, saw its Vivid TV become available in 70 million homes and licensed its name to a series of nightclubs in Charlotte, N.C., Miami, Los Angeles and (later this month) New York City.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/porn-industry-feeling-upbeat-about-2014-n9076

From CNBC:

Women are, of course, the main attraction in mainstream porn (Think of it:  there is mainstream porn now. W)— and, as you might expect, the amounts paid to actresses span a wide range. A superstar performer — one who has name recognition that extends beyond adult entertainment — earns considerably more than a newcomer or someone who is well-known only among porn enthusiasts. 

The performer's representative/agent is also important. There are a number of top agencies, such as LA Direct and Spiegler, whose actresses (again, excluding the top stars) earn what could be called the industry average. But some naive or desperate performers will associate themselves with fly-by-night individuals or agencies, who ask a much lower rate, often in hopes of earning a quick buck.

And the men:

Men might be a critical part of porn films, but this is one industry where the balance of pay certainly leans toward women. 

We have modern "Venus" statues, carved in light waves, images of sexual creatures performing sex act after sex act.  Men and women doing the humanly unusual, pushing every possible "button" of satisfaction.  And men, being visually oriented, are the "fans",  the obsessive fans.

As I said earlier. "We haven't changed all that much, have we?"

Realize that we are learning from the "outside"of the Bible that the "inside" truth  is the truth.  Joseph Campbell could never see that.  He was lost.  He had a heart for his myths but a heart untouched by the true God. He loved his mind, his intellect. His genius in his field formed the thought patterns for modern study of myth, but reached beyond the myths for subconscious truth not for support of the reality of God over the myths meant to disguise Him from us.  Campbell never saw the underlying truth which was Satan lying under the guise of pretext, under the veil of legend.   There are millions like that, so lost, so unwilling to listen, to see, to grow into what they are meant to be.  

Do you see it?

God was destroying a disease, the first STD and genetic weapon,  and the perfect "lab" of free sex and false gods and goddesses to incubate it.  With no restraint of God's Word, with the Spirit offered freely but not revealed as such, things failed quickly.  The spiritually ruined sexual and physical violence of the human race against itself, the depth of the infection;  humanity was already dead.  They worked toward a world where Christ would not be born.  

One traditional way to handle epidemics is isolation, setting the infected apart so they can't harm others.  In animal populations like cattle, it is sometimes necessary to separate and kill infected animals so the disease will  not spread to the rest of the herd. A classic scene of this action was in the Movie Hud where it was necessary to put down cattle with hoof and mouth disease to keep it from spreading throughout the herd.  Paul Newman, as the lead character, shot any cattle that showed  foaming mouth which signaled the disease.  Obviously no one would be sure who had the "giant 

gene" until the child was born or maybe until it was grown and we also realize that such children would have been seen as a blessing and not a curse, that they were also worshiped, became the "gods".   Human values perverted by physical prowess as he idea of the goddess perverted the "magic" of childbirth.God had to act.

But He had preserved a remnant.  This time it was a very small remnant.  He gave humanity then the freest rein to find Him, the longest rope with which to hang itself.  But things had to changes.