Biblical allusions in Beast Wars

[7Knight-Wolf]

Hey, has any body else noticed the similarities between Beast Wars and some Bible stories? In season one, remember the floating island thing? It was a paradaise which evil destoryed, and Optimus says, "It's an old story." Sounds like the Garden of Eden to me. And did anybody notice that Optimus died to save his friends, and came back to life after three episodes? (Like the three days...) It makes me wonder if the writers were Christians.

[artemis-lady-warrior]

yeah I noticed that too. but the Optimuses of the tf universe always have had the "jesus guality"
I don't think they were christians because the humans go through the evolutionary process instead of being created human form the very beginning.

[SkyxDB]

Really, I didn't even think that. Though I remember once in an AP English class, when were disgusing the book A Tale of Two Cities, my teacher brought up how a lot of stories seem to have a Jesus-like figure which is true. Like for DBZ, some consider Goku to be a Jesus like figure, But for the Narnia series, Aslan the Lion is meant to be an analogy of Jesus. I don't know maybe, just lots of writers are influnced by Christianity.

[Wonko The Sane]

I always wanted to do an essay about Transformers and it's close association to religion,since I am highly using it in my FanFic.

Of course,The Nemesis,Parts I and II were based off Teh Revelation of St.John,where Megatron played Satan,Inferno,Quickstrike,and Waspinator playing the Four Horsemen,Primal playing God,Transmetal II Dinobot playing St.Michael the Archangel,and Tigerhawk playing Jesus.Lines from The Revelation were also appaarent,but not all of it was there,such as the Lamb of God,the Holy Spirit,the Destruction of Earth,or Scroll Eating.

The Trigger talked about The Garden and the Fall of Man,or,in this case,the Fall of the Transformers,as they used the forbidden items to gain knowledge,pride,and power,and Blackarachnia played the part of Eve well,mocking God's first line 'Let there be light',resembling how proud man has become.

The falling of the Stasis Pods refers to falling stars,as quoted in the Revelation of St.John.

The Beast Modes used for them had religious symbolism as well(As continued in the next post)

[Wonko The Sane]

Okay,here we go.The Beast Modes in Christian mythology

Ant(Inferno)-Frailty and brevity of human life;a hint of our cosmic insignificance;to promote humility,modesty,and industry in their listeners;Old Testament models of prudent foresight,and wisdom.

Dragon(TMII Megatron)-Long been associated with the"serpent of old,"the devil,also known as Satan.He is the deceiver who"deceives the whole world"and the"accuser of the brethren"(Rev 12:9-10).Cast out of heaven by St. Michael and his angels,the enraged dragon attempts to devour the church and the children of God by defiling the innocent(Rev 12:13-17);the image of one,like Satan,who,consumed with some rage or desire,blindly strikes out,destroying himself in an effort to satisfy it;the Devil makes the dragon the symbol of hate and wicked inclinations;Dragons are popular attributes of many saints including:St. George of the Cappadocia,St. Philip the Apostle,St. Martha of Tarascon,St. Radegund of Poitiers,St. Victor of Marseille,St. Andrew of Aix-en-Provence,St. Armentaire of Draguignan,and St. Michael the Archangel.These saints and Christ are often shown crushing a dragon under foot and thus representing the triumph of Christianity over the forces of evil,and the banishment of paganism from a land.stands for the devil,the Antichrist and the one who gives power to the beast;because of its breath of fire, the dragon also represents the Word which was in the beginning and which created and now sustains all things


Eagle(Half of Silverbolt)-Vanity of earthly strongholds;prophecy and of prayer;The inspiration,speed,and power of the Gospels is symbolized by the eagle's wings which are often used in the design of the lectern.This bird's association with divine contemplation and transcendence make it an emblem of St. John the Evangelist and his gospel which concentrates on the divine and eternal nature of Jesus Christ;would carry their souls to God when they died;were able to restore their own youth every ten years by flying into the sun and then, after their wings had caught fire,diving three times into the water of the sea or a fountain;immortality and the Resurrection;emblem of the Messiah; triumph over persecution and paganism;represents Christ and His kingship;Christ triumphing over Satan as it ascends;a symbol of Satan or the Antichrist who devours the human soul in the form of helpless creatures such as rabbits or birds.This is especially true when the eagle is pictured making off with a fish.(The fish is one of the earliest symbols of Christianity)


More to come.

[Razor One]

yeah I noticed that too. but the Optimuses of the tf universe always have had the "jesus guality"
I don't think they were christians because the humans go through the evolutionary process instead of being created human form the very beginning.

While there are someChristians that believe the bible is literal, there are others that believe it to be allegorical.

Being Atheistic myself, I feel that the bible does have some good lessons to teach provided that the stories therein are not taken literally.

Back on the topic at hand, the whole "Died for three days and comes back to life" mythos is even older then most think appearing quite often in ancient texts.

The reason for this can be seen in astronomy. During the winter, the sun sets lower and lower in the sky. At it's lowest point, the winter solstice occurs, and in the northern hemisphere, occurs at any point from December 20 to December 23. After this, the sun begins to rise higher in the sky as summer approaches. For the southern hemisphere, this occurs June 20 - 23.

Ancient people were a lot closer and in tune with the rhythms of nature then people are today. Survival of course was one of the primary motivating factors for this. The sun rising higher in the sky meant the promise of new life or "Rebirth" and as a result developed very strong significance in ancient communities.

[guruhamboy]

While there are someChristians that believe the bible is literal, there are others that believe it to be allegorical.

Being Atheistic myself, I feel that the bible does have some good lessons to teach provided that the stories therein are not taken literally.

Agreed. Whether one reads the Bible literally, symbolically or mythically does influence their choices.

A majority of the links made in this topic I saw the first time round, especially those in Nemesis. The three days connection I didn't see though.

[artemis-lady-warrior]

Razer One I doubt everything in the Bible is allegorical. People and places are more literal than allegorical...

Wonko... O.O I think you might have a little too much time on your hands. I never eve thought of it THAT way..

[SkyxDB]

I never thought of it that way either. But one the other hand I've never really taken the time to read the Bible. ^^; But still I knew Christianity had an influence on a lot of things but whoa! O.O

[Wonko The Sane]

Wonko... O.O I think you might have a little too much time on your hands. I never eve thought of it THAT way..

Hey,I only work now,when University comes,then I can barely have time to be here.

But some of the stuff from the Bible is based on fact,however science is still working on it.I researched a lot of Christianity lately and everything is connected.I know Christians adopted some Pegan stuff and turned it to their own,and they believe in the Greek and Roman philosphy(Roman Catholics embrace it).

I read Genesis a while ago and I could have sworn that evolution has been mentioned in the Bible,I just have to look for it,but some of the things in there is completely metophoriacal...not to mention that Genesis was made in the Iron Age(When swords were established)


However,if you see some of the stuff from Judaism,you know that some the stuff has truth to it,particularly the Exodus.The plauges are proven to be possible,and that God does not control,He manipulates.The Egyptians also talked about the Exodus story,saying that Moses was the villian.


Of course,Christ can be barely proven true,since a lot of stuff was hidden during Rome and altered by the time of St.Gregory,so finding Jesus' tomb,bones,or whatever is hard and/or difficult.

[Razor One]

The Religious debate taking place in this thread has been split off to Here

All further religious debate will occur there. This topic is now to be used for biblical allusions in Beast Wars Only.

It's possible that posts containing on-topic material may have been moved with the debate posts. Feel free to repost them here.