Why all the Similarities ? The Serpent and other Universal Beliefs & Symbols

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John 3:14-16 (NIV)
14 Just as Moses
lifted up the snake in
the wilderness, so
the Son of Man must
be lifted up, 15 that
everyone who
believes may have
eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved
the world that he
gave his one and only
Son, that whoever
believes in him shall
not perish but have
eternal life.

4. Confronted with Similarities from different Parts of
the World
Temple of the Feathered
Serpent, or Temple of
Quetzalcoatl, Teotihuacan
Adam, Eve and the Serpent in
the Garden

5. The Hammurabi Code Room at the Louvre
Confronted with Similarities from different Parts of
the World
"If a man has destroyed the
eye of another free man, his
own eye shall be destroyed. If
he has broken the bone of a free man, his
bone shall be broken"
(Code Hammurabi, 196-197:15).
Legal Codes
"And if any mischief follow,
then thou shalt give life for life,
eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot,
burning for burning, wound for
wound, stripe for stripe"
(Exodus 21:23-25)

6. Confronted with Similarities from different Parts of
the World
The Law Giver
God Shamash sitting on a
Mountain giving the Law to
Hammurabi
Yahweh giving Law to
Moses on a Mountain

7. Utnapishtim laid out
the boat of 120
cubits.
His relatives "all the
beasts and animals of
the field" boarded the
boat.
The flood and wind
lasted six days and
six nights,
flattening the land.
All humans had
turned to clay
"all the fountains
of the great deep
burst open, and the
floodgates of the
sky were opened".
Rain falls for 40
days, the water
rises 150 days, and
all the high
mountains are
covered
(Genesis 8:14)
We revealed to him:
"Build the Ship
under Our supervision
and as We reveal.
When Our command
comes and water
bubbles up from the
earth, load into it a
pair of every
species, and your
family-except for
those among them
against whom the word
has already gone
ahead. And do not
address Me concerning
those who do wrong.
They shall be
drowned.“
Qur'an, 23:27
Emperor Yao is
facing the problem
of flood waters
that "reach to
the Heavens".
Shujing, or "Book of
History", 500 BCE or
earlier,
Confronted with Similarities from different Parts of
the World
Over 600 Flood stories from all over the world
Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet 11:
Story of the Flood
Epic of Gilgamesh Torah Qur’an China

8. Confronted with Similarities from different Parts of the
World
Universal Patriarchy or Male Dominance
Confucianism Judaism Buddhism Islam Christianity
A woman
was to be
subordinate
to her father
in youth, her
husband in
maturity, and
her son in old
age
Mencius 372 – 289 BC
"I will make
your pains in
childbearing
very severe;
with painful
labor you will
give birth to
children. Your
desire will be
for your
husband, and
he will
rule over
you”
Gen 3:16
An appropriate
aim is for
women to
aspire to be
reborn as
male. They can
become a male by
moral actions and
sincere aspiration
to maleness.
Being born a
female is a
result of bad
karma.
https://en.wikipedia.or
g/wiki/Women_in_Buddh
ism
Men are
in charge
of women,
because Allah
hath made
the one of
them to excel
the other,..
http://corpus.quran.co
m/translation.jsp?chap
ter=4&verse=34
23 For the
husband is
the head of
the wife …
24 Now as the church
submits to Christ, so
also wives
should submit
to their
husbands in
everything
Ephesians 5:23-24
15 But women will
be saved through
childbearing…
1 Timothy 2:15 (NIV)

9. Confronted with Similarities from different Parts of the World
Universal Patriarchy or Male Dominance
Hindu sati where a Hindu woman is
burned alive with the corpse of her
husband

10. Monreale Cathedral, Norman architecture, ca. 1180 AD Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man (ca 1615) Rubens
Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve, 1504The Fall of Man and the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden by Michelangelo
You Know I want to talk about women, but I better talk about the Serpent
Joseph Campbell said, “We
find the symbolism of the
serpent, tree, and garden
of immortality already in the
earliest cuneiform texts,
depicted on Old Sumerian
cylinder seals, and
represented even in the arts
and rites of primitive village
folk throughout the
world.”

11. Worship of serpent-gods existed among the Israelites
during the period of the Judges and Kings
4 ”He (King Hezekiah) removed the high places, and brake the
images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the
brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days
the children of Israel did burn incense to it”
2 Kings 18:4
http://www.godawa.com/chronicles_of_the_nephilim/Articles_By_Others/Moorehead%20-%20Universality%20of%20Serpent%20Worship.pdf

12. Cylinder seal depicting a Garden of
Eden story. A man and woman
sitting under the seven
branched Tree of Life with
the snake on the right.
Akkadian Cylinder Seal, 2330-2150
B.C.E.
Mesopotamia
2330-2150 B.C.E.
The "libation vase of Gudea " with the
dragon Mushussu , dedicated to Ningishzida.
The caduceus is interpreted as depicting the
god himself.
Ningishzida is the earliest known symbol of
snakes twining around an axial rod.
Sumeria
2100 BC, short chronology
http://www.nobeliefs.com/DarkBible/darkbible2.htm

13. Gilgamesh had the branch of life in his hand; all he had to do was return
home. But half-way across the desert an oasis lured him to take his rest. A
snake ate the plant and he lost immortality
Old Babylon, 18th century BC
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=picture+gilgamesh+losing+plant+of+immortality&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-003

14. https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=Cobra+frieze+from+Saqqara%2C+Egypt&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-003
Cobra frieze from Saqqara, Egypt
Apep: an evil Egyptian god: the
deification of darkness and chaos.
Isis and Nephthys as serpent goddesses, c.
1300 B.C., Tomb of Seti I, Valley of the Kings, Thebes.

15. tumblr_m9jfj1Vxbo1retgeoo1_1280.jpg

16. Gorgon, pediment of the Temple
of Artemis in Corfu
590-580 B.C
The Hesperides in the garden with apples on a tree,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis,_Corfu#/
media/File:Close_up_of_Gorgon_at_the_pediment_of_Art
emis_temple_in_Corfu.jpg
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/apples.html

17. Asclepius,
God of Medicine and Healing
using snakes
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asklepios_-
_Statue_Epidauros_Museum_2008-09-11.jpg
Asclepius with his daughter Hygieia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepius#Sacred_places_a
nd_practices

18. Hercules stealing the golden apples from the Garden of the
Hesperides. Detail of The Twelve Labours Roman mosaic from
LIiria (Valencia, Spain). between 201 and 250 AD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesperides

19. The early, pre-Canaanite Phoenicians
serpent god called the Basilisk.
https://inannafilm.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/5-basilisk.jpg
Astarte - Consort to Baal,
she is here depicted with two
foals in ecstatic dance, her
typically upraised arms
grasping serpents

20. The most famous divine serpent in Viking or
Norse mythology was Jormungand, the Great
Divine World Serpent. Jormungand is the son
of Loki, the Teutonic Satan. 's arch-enemy
is the god Thor.
Jormungand,
the Great Divine World
Serpent
Thor in battling the Midgard Serpent" (1788) by
Henry Fuseli

21. Kukulkan (Snake God, Chichen Itza, Maya
Temple of the Feathered
Serpent, or Temple of
Quetzalcoatl, Teotihuacan

22.  Hinduism,
 Buddhism,
 Jainism and
 Sikhism
Lord Krishna dancing on the serpent Kaliva;
while the serpent's wives pray to Krishna
Krishna dancing over snake Kaliya
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Naga2.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliya

23. https://www.flickr.com/photos/albill/364164595/?ytcheck=1

24. Snake God Worship

25. Azhi Dahaka is the Sky Serpent of Iranian creation mythology.
pinterest.com

26. Mami Wata, "serpent priestess"
painted by German by Schleisinger
Mami Wata, "serpent priestess“ ,
venerated in West, Central, and
Southern Africa, and in the
African diaspora in the Americas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mami_Wata

27. The Rainbow Serpent is a common deity, often a creator god, in the
mythology of Aboriginal Australia. It is named for the obvious identification
between the shape of a rainbow and the shape of a snake. The Rainbow
Serpent is one of the oldest continuing religious beliefs in the world
The Rainbow Serpent is considered to be the ultimate creator of
everything in the universe
Australian Aboriginal rock painting of the "Rainbow Serpent".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Serpent

28. Damballa
serpent spirit and "The
Great Master“ who created
the cosmos
Sky Father and the
primordial creator of all
life. He rules the mind,
intellect, and cosmic
equilibrium. Damballah La Flambeau, by the Haitian
artist Hector Hyppolite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damballa

29. http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_brotherhoodsnake08.htm

30. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent
called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world
astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Revelation 12:9 (NIV)
“2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and
bound him for a thousand years, “Revelation 20:2
http://doubleportioninheritance.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-serpent-seed-doctrine-true-or-false.html

31. Apep- an evil Egyptian god (He appears in art as a giant serpent) :
the deification of darkness and chaos. Opponent of light
and Ma’at (order/truth).
Set speared Apep

32. http://doubleportioninheritance.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-serpent-seed-doctrine-true-or-false.html
“…He said to the woman, "Did God really
say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the
garden'?"Genesis 3:1
Ancient painting
ofNuwa and Fuxi
Naga Figure Gasa
Dzong

33. Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of
the wild animals the LORD God had made. (NIV)
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild
animals the LORD God had made (NLT)
2 Corinthians 11:3
|
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtlety,
"be ye therefore wise as serpents “
Matt 10:16]

34. Believers are poor, culturally isolated; awareness of
other religions is minimal. Few have traveled more than
a few miles from home. Little more than the Bible is
read. Life revolves around the church.
80 have died due to snake bite
West Virginia and Beyond
Picking up snakes is a demonstration of one’s faith in God.
"And these signs shall follow them that believe; In
my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
They shall take up serpents; and if
they drink any deadly thing, it shall not
hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they
shall recover," (Mark 16:17-18).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_handling

36. “Then the LORD
said to Moses,
"Make a fiery
serpent, and set
it on a standard;
and it shall come
about, that
everyone who is
bitten, when he
looks at it, he
will live.“
Numbers 21:9
4 He (King Hezekiah) removed the
high places, and brake the images,
and cut down the groves, and brake
in pieces the brasen serpent that
Moses had made: for unto those
days the children of Israel
did burn incense to it
2 Kings 18:4
Worship of serpent-gods
existed among the Israelites
during the period of the
Judges and Kings

37. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,
so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:14-16 NIV

38. Gorgon, pediment of the Temple
of Artemis in Corfu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis,_Corfu#/media/File:Close_up_of_Gorgon_at_the_pe
diment_of_Artemis_temple_in_Corfu.jpg
Historically, serpents and snakes represent fertility or a creative life
force.
Because they resemble phallic symbols, snakes often represent fertility in myth and literature, according
to the Myths Encyclopedia.
http://www.wikisymbol.com/246/sobi2details
Fertility Goddess. She carries snakes

39. Ouroboros as emblem of
mortality and new life,
from George Wither's A Collection of
Emblems, Ancient and Modern, 1635
Death
New life
Eternal recurrenceOuroboros, the Greek symbol of eternity, consisted of
a snake curled into a circle or hoop, biting its own tail.
The Ouroboros (serpents) eat
themselves and are reborn from
themselves in an endless cycle of
destruction and creation.
"The power of life causes the snake to shed its skin, just as the moon
sheds its shadow to be born again. They are equivalent symbols.
Sometimes the serpent is represented as a circle eating its own tail.
That's an image of life. Life sheds one generation after another, to
be born again. The serpent represents immortal energy and
consciousness engaged in the field of time, constantly throwing off
death and being born again. There is something tremendously
terrifying about life when you look at it that way."
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

40. Greek - Pelasgian creation myth
Eurynome "The Goddess of All Things spontaneously generates
the serpent Ophion, who mates with her. She bids Ophion to
incubate it by coiling seven times around until it splits in two
and hatches "all things that exist ... sun, moon, planets,
stars, the earth with its mountains and rivers, its trees,
herbs, and living creatures".
Australian Aboriginal rock painting of the "Rainbow Serpent".
The Rainbow Serpent is considered to
be the ultimate creator of
everything in the universe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Serpent

41. Buddha’s best friend was a snake that
shielded him from sun and storms.
Buddhist legends say Buddha got his
deep understanding from the
king of the serpents.http://www.drachen-fabelwesen.de/drachen-arten/indische-
veden-naga-schlangen-drachen.html

42. Snake statue guards Thailand's Patong beach
https://biblescienceguy.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/snake-smaku.jpg

43. The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man
(about 1615) by Rubens

44. In honor of Asclepius, a particular type
of non-venomous snake was often used
in healing rituals, and these snakes —
the Aesculapian Snakes — crawled
around freely on the floor in dormitories
where the sick and injured slept.
These snakes were introduced at the
founding of each new temple of
Asclepius throughout the classical world.
From about 300 BC onwards, the cult of
Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims
flocked to his healing temples
(Asclepieia) to be cured of their ills.http://gnosticwarrior.com/healing-centers-asclepius.html

45. Many cultural universals were diffused through
 travel,
 migration,
 and other forms of transcontinental communication.
Cultural universals are basically human responses and occur
inevitably because all humans
 have things in common,
 birth
 death,
 need food,
 need shelter
 need fertility
Cultural universals are basically human responses to
 social
 institutional needs
People may have experienced certain Global Events
“Noah’s” or Utnapishtim Flood
"What does it say about what all of us have in common that so many of these stories contain similar
elements-the forbidden fruit, the woman?. . . After years and years of reading these things, I am still
overwhelmed at the similarities in cultures that are far, far apart. . . . How do you explain these
similarities?" Bill Moyers in 1987 interviewed Joseph Campbell , http://www.worldmag.com/2006/08/snakes_on_the_brain