prophets: a western civ. paper
Throughout history, people struggled to understand the physical world around them. When the questions could not be answered by their contemporary science, they looked to the supernatural for explanations. Therefore, people's understanding of the natural world was directly effected by what they knew of the spiritual realm. In order to gain knowledge of the divine, human society has required interpreters and authorities to give religion strength, stability, and a sense of direction. Prophets attempted to gain an insight as to the purpose of God(s) and the role of mortals. People's beliefs and religions were based on what they had learned about the supernatural world. These learning were sent to the prophets from the God(s) of each religion. The Prophet Moses received the voice of God in the form of the burning bush. This sign from God, and other prophecies, triggered events that lead to the establishing of the Hebrew religion. Similarly, the revelations of the prophet Muhammad and the messages of Jesus led to formation of Islam and Christianity respectively. Even before the time of Moses, though, Prophets existed and were trusted to interpret the signs from heaven. In order to be a successful prophet, one needed to have extraordina
Many different prophets sought to gain knowledge of the divine. By communicating their visions and revelations to the people, they hoped to give a better understanding of humans' role in life, the nature of God, and explanations about the physical world. Their methods for communicating with God(s) varied and some simply received the messages inadvertently. To be notable, the prophets needed to have the same qualities that remain constant through the different cultures. Prophets gave advice to individuals to allow them to live a virtuous life. They tried to answer questions that could otherwise not be solved. In gaining insight to a deity, often new and more challenging problems presented themselves. The question of how a just God could allow a moral and honest person to be dealt tragedy remains unanswered still today. Throughout history it has caused the questioning of religion, as it did in the middle ages after the Black Death hit the clergy especially hard. This ties in to the constant theme with all of the prophets: that humans have little or no influence on the actions of the Gods. Once a prophet makes a prediction, it is destined to be and there is absolutely nothing that can be done about it. The understanding of the physical world continually changed as new information became available to better explain natural phenomena. Until modern science was able to explain the natural world, people looked to prophets for supernatural justification. The ancient prophets gave the people a foundation to rest their lives upon, based upon their knowledge gained through divine communication. In Antigone, Creon did not heed the warnings of Tiresias and calls him a false prophet who traffics in poor advice. He accuses all prophets to be power-hungry fools, but Tiresias turns the insult back on tyrants like Creon. Creon's disregard for Tiresias' prophecies would later haunt him. Tiresias possesses the special qualities needed to be a prophet. He prophecy that predicted the Gods' vengeance, after Polynices was not buried, was completely accurate. In his dramatic stage entrance he accuses Creon saying, "And it is you your high resolve that sets this plague on Thebes," (Antigone 111). This type of bold speaking was necessary to captures peoples' attention and causes them to listen. We hear of the grotesque ways that Tiresias was able to receive the prophecies. By burning a bird he was able to detect a warning from the Gods. Perhaps though his loss of sight he is now able to "hear" the Gods. Because of Tiresias' reputation as an excellent prophet, the chorus advises Creon to follow his advice. The chorus knows that th
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Approximate Word count = 1768
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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