There are so many things in common between the reformed Norse religion (which is based off of the Old beliefs) and X-unity.
For instance:
Odin is the equal of God
Thor is the equal of Jesus
Tyr, Freyja and Baldr are the equals of archangels
Loki is Satan
Jormungandr (the world serpent) is Sin
Fenrir is evil
Hel is the entrance to Hell
Any others?
Oh, feel free to flame me, you will just be showing biased ignorance.
They do contradict one another, but they would all fail without one another. There is no one true religion, there are just many opposing ideas. Christianity would not exist without pulling from all the religions before it.
Well, One Valhalla, One Thor, One Odin, so says the will of the Norse.
They did, but the religions faded. Christianity has thrived through bloodshed and fear.
To be chronologically accurate, the Norse religion was here first, and the Christians changed their images to appease the Norsemen in an effort to convert them. So I did not give anything new names, the Christians did.
Steadfast, you are wrong. Thor did sacrifice himself to defeat sin (the world serpent). Jormungandr encircles the world to eat its own tail and crush the earth. He also breathes poison to kill the people. Thor knows that to destroy Jormungandr he will be lethally dosed with the poison and die, and he kills Jormungandr, and he dies.
Incommun, while you are right, I am not wrong. I am not debating the conversion, I am debating the similarities between the 2 religions. However, you have given the best unbiased, studied answer.
And I am also not trying to argue details but rather the symbolism of each deity. Thor is the son that must end sin. Odin, while not the creator, still governs all. Freyja, Tyr and Baldr all act as archangels. Tyr avenges Odin after Fenrir kills him and Baldr promotes peace. Loki is evil, and so is Satan. The stories of them are not the point, the ideas of them are.
I thought all religions contradicted one another? Oh well, another false atheist hypothesis.
If all these people like Mithras, Horus, and Asatru were equal to Jesus, then why haven't they been able to make sure people follow them even after their death? Clearly they don't have power in the spiritual world.
My biased ignorance? Well, X-squeeze me!
God and Jesus Christ, God the Father and God the Son, have no equal. One Lord, One God, One faith....so says the word of God.
Why did you say Christianity in your question, but the other in your details? As for the question, I am a Christian, and I feel that things are the way they are. If they gave new names for the others, its their choice.
I'm not flaming you, just answering your question. If it came off harsh, I'm terribly sorry.
(no flaming intended)
There is rarely a one-to-correlation in mythological figures like this. For example, the story of Jesus, without being born incarnate as a human, and dying for the sins of the world, is just not Jesus. You don't see that parallel with Thor.
Just the same, I have no problem were there are real parallels, even ones which predate Christianity. The early church understood them as satanic counterfeits. Some of the more enlightened realized that if the biblical stories were true (lets use as an example the Flood and Noah) then one would expect parallels to that story, with some variations, to be spread throughout other cultures, such as what we see with the Gilgamesh Epic.
Flame you? Nah. you have shown enough ignorance on your own to do it yourself.
Bias, Nah. Just point/counterpoint.
Thor was never of human birth. not equal
Thor did not die for any sins. not equal
Thor did not raise himself from the dead. not equal
Thor and Loki could not defeat each other without help-Jesus beat Satan with His word. Not equal.
I can go on..............
Your entire premise is in error, you claim commonality that is no more related than the moon and the sun because both are astral and appear to radiate light.
This is a good question? I am possible looking into Asatru.
It seems both are different and similar. I am trying to understand both but they maybe so confusing to me.
I thought Baldur is the closer analog to Jesus. Some myths say he's even resurrected after Ragnarok. In Xtianity God is first cause. In Asatru before Odin is even born there are stories of cows giving life to titans by licking blocks of salt. The Midgard Serpent (Jormagund) could be like Leviathan. Xtianity typically has a fiery hell. Norse Hell is cold.
They really aren't that common though.
Odin isn't God. Odin didn't create the universe, and is not all-powerful at all. Also, the Norse deities are capable of death.
Thor certainly isn't Jesus--Thor isn't a teacher, savior or leader of any kind.
Angels are messengers (that's what its root word means), traditionally having no free will. Tyr, Freyja and Baldr are quite human in their attitudes and actions.
Loki is similar to Satan only in that both are archetypal adversaries; such figures appear in many different mythologies, because the adversary is such an essential storytelling device.
So, similar but not equivalent characters.
EDIT: So really what you're saying is that there are common themes and archetypes in the mythologies. Well, why not? They were both created by humans, to answer human needs for story, for philosophy, and for spiritual guidance. That's what makes them archetypes--they are universal in human experience. Similar things crop up even in the oldest, and still in the newest, of human narratives. It has nothing to do with adherents of one faith necessarily stealing from another; they are all human.
Ok it is true that my ancestors called Jesus the white Christ as opposed to Thor being the red but aside from that the ONLY things Christianity and ?satr? have in common are things Christianity appropriated from Germanic paganism in order to facilitate conversion.
It's worth pointing out that the invading Norsemen and Danes of the 700 and 800s didn't have even the beginning of a concept of what the churches they were ransacking were since Christianity bore no resemblance to any practices or beliefs they were familiar with. They simply saw them as easy sources of gold, silver and slaves who wouldn't resist (monks etc etc).
You obviously haven't really thought this question through.
Addendum-
I feel I haven't clarified enough on some of your points, so here goes.
Loki isn't all bad like Satan, he is a trickster and on more than one occasion in the Icelandic sources Loki's trickery has benefit ted the Aesir (Thor's hammer was made by dwarfs at Loki's behest for one thing). Jormungandr, Fenrir and Hel are all his children by his relationship with a Jotun princess and none of them are especially evil in their own right, Hel hosts the dead (including Baldur and his wife Nana), Jormungandr doesn't crush the earth he's simply so big that he can bite his own tail when wrapped around the world and Fenrir has every right to be angry with Odin and Tyr for tricking him into his bondage.
If there's any correlation with Angels it would be the Valkyriur not the GODS Tyr, Freyja and Baldur. Tyr was at one point in germanic history the ruler god of the sky (aka Tiwaz) later supplanted by the berserker god of death Odin during the viking age (what use is a god of justice during raiding expeditions?), also it is Odin's son who will avenge him at ragnarok not Tyr.
If anyone is evil in Norse myth it is Sutr and the Muspel hoardes who care for nothing but the burning of everything and who will eventually burn Midgarth and Bifrost in spite of the Aesir and Einherjar's brave defence.
Asatru vs. Christianity?
