Monday, July 16, 2007

Thunder: The Voice of God

What could be more appropriate than a photo of lightening on the planet Jupiter, the Original Father God himself?
The little bright spots are the Jovian Lightening.
Photo courtesy NASA

Anglo-Saxon and Norse, Greek and Roman http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/frazer/james/golden/chapter15.html

“Thor presides in the air; he it is who rules thunder and lightning, wind and rains, fine weather and crops.” In these respects, therefore, the Teutonic thunder god again resembled his southern counterparts Zeus and Jupiter.

Christian http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2018&version=31

Psalm 18:13-14

13 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them.

Daoist/Chinese Folk Religion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology

Pangu, appearing in literature no earlier than about 200 AD, was the first sentient being and creator. At the end of eighteen thousand years, Pangu laid to rest. His breath became the wind; his voice the thunder; left eye the sun and right eye the moon; his body became the mountains and extremes of the world; his blood formed rivers; his muscles the fertile lands; his facial hair the stars and milky way; his fur the bushes and forests; his bones the valuable minerals; his bone marrows sacred diamonds; his sweat fell as rain; and the little creatures on his body (in some versions, the fleas), carried by the wind, became human beings all over the world.

Egyptian http://www.aelives.com/gods.htm

Baal, god of the sky and storms. The war cry of Ramesses III is like Baal in the sky, i.e. Baal's voice (the thunder) which makes the mountains shake.

Greek http://www.jonathantweet.com/religiongod.html

High above the clouds sits a bearded man on a throne, draped in flowing raiment. But this is no man. This is the supreme god, with a voice like lightning and thunder, whose unguarded visage to so terrible that it would strike a mortal dead.

Hindu http://www.khandro.net/nature_thunder.htm

Indian mythology tells us that at the beginning of the cycle of the universes, there once was only one Being whose name is Prajapati. So when we hear the roll of the thunder booming "Da, Da, Da" we can think it is the voice of the Creator repeating his instructions to all the various kinds of beings.

Jewish http://www.jhom.com/topics/voice/sinai.htm

In the second verse, a horn, or shofar is sounded, "a celestial flourish heralding the arrival of the king."[2] The verse recalls the book of Zechariah, in which God Himself poetically "sounds the ram's horn" and advances in a stormy tempest as He manifests His presence.[3] Here God similarly answers "b'kol" — in the same sound of the shofar and in thunder. The blare [kol] of the shofar grew louder and louder." As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder [b'kol]" (Exodus 19:20).

In these verses in Exodus, the loud blast of the shofar, the blasts of the thunder, and God's voice — tied together by the word kol — merge into one potent emotional experience.

[2] Nahum M. Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, on Exodus 19:19.

[3] Zechariah 9:14: "And the Lord will manifest Himself to them, And His arrows shall flash like lightning; My Lord God shall sound the ram�s horn And advance in a stormy tempest."

Native American http://books.google.com/books?id=nTgS42X9scwC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=religions+god's+voice+thunder&source=web&ots=sjzP8kwhGK&sig=OZmjCR3quydXizF7Rnc-NaXfLY8#PPA50,M1

The supreme being is at times manifest in the flash of lightening and in thunder, the latter being his voice; this belief exists among some Yuki Indians in California.

Oceania Aboriginal http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mamaragan.html

In Aboriginal belief, Mamaragan is the man of lightning who rides on a thundercloud and who throws bolts of lightning to men and trees. Thunder is his voice.

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