Contrast the eternal values of pagan culture(heroism) in Gilgamesh vs. the internal values as seen in the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew (NT).

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Contrast the eternal values of pagan culture in Gilgamesh vs. the internal values as seen in the “sermon on the mountain.”
Paganism is a syndicate of people who are in a religion and have a common belief based on traditions and reverence in the natural. Hinduism is one example. Hinduism has no founder, not even the scripture to base their belief on or argue out. Sermon on the mountains had a set of characters and behavior that was right before God (Charles 67). The information meant that humans had to trust and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ about the Kingdom of God. The pagans believe in the natural world and embrace what situations and life bring across their world. It is also worthy to note that on one hand, others take it as a spiritual pathway and, on the other hand, they take it as a religion meant to bring together the long dead ancestral spirits and the current world of the living (James and Peterson 99). The Pagans know too well that many in the world need to be spiritually nourished to connect to the natural world. In fact, to them it is all about the world and spiritual connection to the ancestor. The pagan community has traditions and a lot that they adore ranging from Sacred Ecologists and Witches as well. Witchcraft to them is a common practice, and that is the reason people associate them with the dark side of life. Some simply say they are witches who do not pay tribute to God but their gods (Higginbotham, Joyce and Higginbotham 118).

Those who are not pagans hold contempt to the pagans believed that they have no supernatural being they worship. They worship their own unknown and unidentified gods. However, the pagans have a different perspective of the on-going story of them practicing the dark life (Charles 73). They claim that they are not doing ugly things in the dark, but they are paving the way for a better understanding of belief and promote precise information on the beliefs of the community. Claims are that witchcraft not only just bad but also good. They give the good spell that is benevolent to the members. Gilgamesh was a young king who keeps seeking to get to know more about life. The people from Gilgamesh had their belief contrary to the teaching of Jesus Christ on Sermon on the mountains. It is true that they believed in rituals for eternity. They had secrets and rituals done to strengthen the bonds among the pagans. They believed in their brains or the human brain that they said was made to fix issues out to work in the favor of those who reason (James and Peterson 209). They believed that there were forces that controlled the earth and the universe at large. The pagans identified the forces behind what controlled the earth, and they began to evoke them and please them by dancing to them among other entertainments. They believed in gods and spirits besides offering human and animals’ sacrifices.
On the sermon on the mountain, Jesus opposed a lot of things done by religious leaders. The information gets a hand in hand with what the pagans did (Michael 288). He said that happy were the poor in spirit for the kingdom of God was theirs. He encouraged them to seek the eyes of the Lord and avoid a lot of inequities. He preached against religion where people used their eyes to judge rather than hearts. He said God never was so concerned with the quantity of their offering rather about the quality of the heart that offered the sacrifice. God was never pleased with human sacrifices as the pagans did. In fact, it was a sin killing a human to offer them as a sacrifice to God (James and Peterson 243). He encouraged people by telling them those went through persecution for the sake of God shall inherit the kingdom of God. God would punish the lawbreakers who would want to please the external visibility as opposes to the internal visibility. Jesus further said that God in Heaven was the force behind the great occurrences on earth and not the rituals that people performed to the gods they believed worked great things out for them.
In addition to all that, the Pagans worshiped ancestors who were not right as per the teachings of Jesus Christ in the holy book of Mathew. The Pagans of Gilgamesh could gather together. They could hunt tribes and believed that the dead could come back in dreams and convey important messages about what was acceptable and what was not. They were also believed to have existed in trees and on top of mountains and landscapes (Charles 149). The ancestors who had died were believed to have been the cause of every evil and every good. It was a belief that they were part and parcel of the world and had the world on their palmtops. They consulted the ancestors in the case of calamities and gifts and sacrifices were given to cool their wrath and warm their happiness. Those who did not do as per the pagans experienced elimination from the face of the earth and became part of offered sacrifices. But Jesus said that if one is made to mourn for the sake of God, then they shall be comforted on the last day. Among some pagans, they could be consulted to offer pieces of advice to relate with fellow tribesmen to allow them share the burdens of the large society and avoid curses and improve social interactions. However, this is not what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the mountains. Jesus said that God had sent Him to preach the good news (James and Peterson 297). People were to believe in God and Him alone. Jesus was the pathway to God because He was the son of God. The dead were lifeless and could not help anybody. The dead would also be judged according to their actions when they were still on earth and therefore, making advances to them for help was very useless. The dead who were in Christ would see the kingdom. Jesus went ahead to quote that” happy are the pure in heart for they shall see God”. It is worth to not that being pure in heart meant that people were to worship only one God in heaven, the Father to Jesus Christ (Michael 325). Jesus pointed out categorically that the devil that was capable of trials and would perish on the judgment day also caused evil.
The Pagans embraced the act of killing people of different tribes by the pagans however Jesus talked of mercy and encouraged the people to have mercy, and they shall reap mercy in return from God. He was against those who do not consider humanity and mercy for heaven’s sake. He also encouraged people to be meek, and they shall inherit the earth. The humble for the sake of God were blessed among the people, and they had their blessings in heaven like every other person who was righteous in the eyes of God. All in all, one serious factor was the tribal biases (James and Peterson 306). This tribe was said to have been egalitarians. The problem meant that anybody who tried to lead the group risked losing their lives. They believed in life after death though in the form of incarnation. They said that spirits entered other bodies after the death. The belief that punishment can be carried forward before death or after reincarnation was valid to them.
The Pagans, therefore, believed in the gods and goddesses who could alter and control their lives. They are therefore said to be polytheists in nature where they consolidated their beliefs and gods together. Jesus when preaching the sermons, however, said that God is only one (Michael 331). The punishment was to be meted out to those who worshiped many gods. He said that there was life after death which was going to be eternal. It was to be good eternal life or eternal life in the fire. When he mentions the beatitudes, he is clear on a set of individuals who are bound to see the Kingdom of God and enjoy the eternal life in paradise.
It is, therefore, true to note that the behavior of the pagans does not get along with the teachings of the Bible. The Bible has a set of principles used to judge or determine whether a particular form of behavior is acceptable or not. However, the pagans also have their beliefs and what they believe is right. It, therefore, goes without saying that one’s beliefs can not only be validated by what they hold fast onto, for the pagans nor the Christians would believe in one another’s set of rules that define good and bad behavior (Michael 345). Pagans of Gilgamesh, therefore, did not behave as per the wants of the Bible were contrary to the sermons on the mountain teachings by Jesus.

Work cited
Higginbotham, Joyce, and River Higginbotham. Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered
Religions. St. Paul, Minn: Llewellyn Publications, 2002. Print.
Lewis, James R, and Jesper A. Petersen. Controversial New Religions. , 2014. Print.
Quarles, Charles L. Sermon on the Mount: Restoring Christ’s Message to the Modern Church.
Nashville, Tenn: B & H Academic, 2011. Print.
York, Michael. Pagan Theology: Paganism As a World Religion. New York: New York
university press, 2005. Print.

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