Views Of The Cross-Greek Series

When Hercules reached adulthood he became a famous warrior. He also fell in love with and got married. He and his wife had a few children and they were a happy family. Hera made it her mission to torment Hercules. She tricked Hercules into a wild rage and in his rage Hercules killed his family.

When Hercules returned to his normal state of mind he realized what he had done and was devastated. He went to Apollo the sun god to find out how he could purify himself. Hercules was sent to king Eurystheus and was expected to serve him as laborer for twelve years of his life. The king gave Hercules twelve assignments, called his labors to carry out. After completing these Hercules got himself into more trouble. Hera continually opposed him. Zeus however was so proud of Hercules’s accomplishments that he made Hercules immortal. This story is unique because this is the only story in Greek mythology where a person is changed their mortality status from mortal to immortal. To the Greeks there was a clear distinction between the immortal gods and mortal man. That which is moral almost never becomes immortal…but for that which is immortal to become mortal…that’s impossible. By their very nature, but their definition a god was immortal, and an immortal being cannot die. It’s not that it is difficult to kill a god…it’s that a god cannot die. In the very nature of immortality is that it has no end. So for a Greek this idea of the cross is total foolishness. The way they viewed life God could not die even if He wanted to. God is infinite…and death is the end…There is no reason, no logically way in which a being that has no end could die. And yet that is what we preach. When the Greeks here the message of the cross they are thinking: what an idiot.

If the greatest pursuit of the Greek culture is wisdom then the worst thing something could be is foolish. The whole idea of God dying on a cross is absurd. It is idiotic…how can these people who love wisdom and knowledge ever be expected to accept something as foolish and stupid as the notion that God is died on a cross?

1Co 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

The wisdom of man does not lead him to God so what good is it? If God were could be completely logically understood and fathomed what place would there be for faith? God did not want us to love Him as robots with no choice, why then would He make it impossible to believe in Him by making Himself understandable by the human mind? The purpose of the Greek gods was to try and explain how things worked that they could not understand. The Greek gods were nothing special. They were just men with a little extra power. The acted and behaved just like we do. The Greek gods were great because the Greeks could understand them…because their gods were of their own making. Their gods were smaller than they were. But that is not the case with the one True God. He cannot be completely understood because He is bigger than we are. He is not like the Greek gods, and He doesn’t try to be.