I read in a myth that the gods are mortal and eat magic golden apples to not age until Ragnorak, so I am ab it confused and alto of things I say in this question may insult people and I am sorry.
But why do you worship mortals, shouldn't the gods be immortal?
So are the gods kind of like super heroes? though one of them is in a comic (good oil Thor)
The Norse gods were mortal, and they had to eat I?unn's golden apples in order not to age until Ragnar?k when most of them would die.
Here is a image
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Idun_and_the_Apples.jpg
my my hasn't someone got their religions in a twist? golden apples pertain to Gregor-roman mythology, Ragnarok belongs in the Scandinavian department. and gods are mortals? that sounds like an idea out of The Sandman (aw some comic)
Edit: my apologies sir. it's been a while since i meddled in Norse mythology. but surely, just the one apple is enough. and does it matter? Ragnarok is going to be one hell of a bloodbath and will result in the death of a great many gods.
answer: There's a theory that the gods were actually humans, some of the earliest humans recorded orally among the Northern people and over time they were elevated to deity status - something that occurred naturally, unlike the Emperor cult of ancient Rome.
The Asatru I know, and myself, think it's an interesting theory, one that might be factual but it wasn't for our ancestors. They believed totally in the gods.
So do I. Like most Christians, I can't give evidence or proof. Personal interaction and such is not proof, I know that. I could offer up thousands of testimony of personal interaction with the Northern deities but that's not proof either. So, we know they're gods and goddesses and work to revive and reconstruct the religion.
Idunna's tale is fascinating but it's in one source and not in the others we know of. It is theorized that the story is an attempt to rationalize why the gods/goddesses are very human in behavior but don't grow old and die as we do. Unlike deities of other pantheons, ours do grow emotionally and mentally - therefore, why didn't they age? This myth was an attempt to explain that. Many feel this isn't a story from the deities but a human insertion into the lore. We think it's interesting and a fun tale but not really part of the gods.
It's like Creation Myths - it's man's attempt to explain the unexplainable. In the Northern lore the realms and life were created when the realm of ice crashed with the realm of fire and the resulting explosion created everything.
There's also the tale of Baldur, which is VERY reflective of the Christ myth and most likely an attempt by early monks to relate to the Northern lore and convince the Heathens to convert to the new and VERY foreign religion.
And can you tell that I'm a research junkie? LOL I have years of study with this stuff.
And my opinion are my own. I don't speak for all Asatru throughout the world. Ask three Heathens for an opinion and you'll get four. I have discussed this with renowned members in Asatru, though.
The Germanic gods are immortal, yet they can still die. That is the best explanation. Idunn's apples are just a coloration of the myths, found in almost every world body of folklore. They enhance the gods' ability to live until Ragnarok, but they are not required.
The Norse gods of Reginn as we prefer to cal them are not immortal. They are the far distant ancestors of the northern European people who have ascended to a higher plane of existence (Asgard). They are capable of death, but are kept from aging by the apples of Idun. They are simply further along the scale in their development as beings with a soul.
For this reason, we do not bow and scrape before them, nor do they expect fawning flattery from us. As our ancestors they are showing us the way for our own further development.
Even they continue to develop. After Ragnarok, it is said, according to the Voluspo (Prophecy of the Wise Woman), they they will go into a new world called Gimle, the Golden-Roofed.
To answer lavampdarkblade's remarks: They were never referred to as golden apples...just apples
There are varied degrees of immortality lest we forget, to cite an example in contemporary myths a vampire is immortal, yet shine a bit of UV light on em and they die, in short they are free from some deaths (injury, disease, aging) but never the less vulnerable to others (impaling, sunlight, poisoning with garlic).
The gods are no different, they are free from the deaths caused by illness or aging but can still be killed by a weapon or the teeth of a large unhappy wolf or an enormous snake, that still makes them immortal.
If you want to pick on them for anything it's fair to point out that the gods still rely on the wisdom and knowledge of giants who are older than them and of course the wisdom and knowledge of people who have died (the wise one in Voluspa is a female corpse visited by Odin) so not only can they die but their not omniscient either.
To my mind it is their lack of "Omani"s and the fact that they too can die that makes them worthy of our respect and access able to us unlike the Omani everything distant god of others
Asatru:The gods?
