The Greek philosopher differed on the question of the existence of the gods and their nature.

Epicurus (341_270 BC) taught that everything was made of atoms including the gods, but their bodies are quasi-bodies and quasi-blood, so their bodies did not decompose, they were immortal. But how did he know the gods existed? He thought that everything we know comes through the sense but the images of the gods are so fine bypassing the senses to strike the mind directly. The gods lived a life of tranquility, delighted in their virtue and wisdom and took no part in the governance of the world. (Cicero, Nature of the Gods, Oxford University Press, 1998, Introduction V) Other philosophers commented that if the gods were made of atoms they were mortals as follows: "Now if an atomic compound comes into being, gods did not exist earlier, and if gods had a beginning they must also die." (Ibid., Book I,68) Epecurus believed that man should show reverence and devotion to the gods. But, "What reason can you offer that men should worship the gods, when gods not merely show no regard for men, but take no responsibility or action of any kind?" (Ibid., Book I, 115)

 

 

 

 

 

Zeno of Citium, 300 - 260 BC was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy in which "God is not separate from the world; He is the soul of the world, and each of us contains a part of the Divine Fire. All things are parts of one single system, which is called Nature; the individual life is good when it is in harmony with Nature." His view admits of only One God but since his viewed God and universe as one entity, that is, God is the Mind-Fire of the universe but not separate from it-this is pantheism. It is a movement away from many gods and as such good but a defective view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cicero (c. 106-43 B.C.) in his presentation of the Nature of the Gods, takes no position but in the disputation among the philosophic schools, we find this explanation of why most philosophers believed in the gods.

Most philosophers realized that there was order and harmony in the universe which was not by chance but the working of great intelligence. "Once we recognize that the universe possess this divinity, we must assign the same divinity to the stars, for they are sprung from the most fluid and pure sector which is the aether [physics considered to be the medium through which light propagates] with no admixture of any other element. They are entirely translucent heat, so that with perfect truth we can say that they too are living beings with sensation and understanding." (Ibid., Book II, 39)

Although most philosophers believed in God (God of the stoics) and or many gods, they rejected the mythologies or made up stories of the gods (what they looked like, the clothes they were, their family relationships and human frailties). "The gods of the Greek philosophers are perfect, wise, alien to any moral wrongdoing, and the source of good but not of evil among mortals. They are not jealous, they don't get angry, they don't send false dreams, and especially they don't rape women. Good persons recognize the gods as their masters or superiors and carry out their orders, which are, essentially, to act justly and promote human virtue."

5. Socrates and the gods