Religious Stories

Though whatever religion you belong, your childhood must have been full of religious stories and fairy tales. It’s something taking us to a new world to discovery. Stories build a huge place in our memories. We love to listen to them, and love to tell others. It didn’t matter that those stories were short or long, but the gods, the mythical creatures, that hero or those ghosts made a huge impact on our mind then. As the time continues our memory even fades. And most of all, we lose interest in these.
If you see carefully, these stories are usually full of supernatural phenomenon, and fiction. Almost all the religions have their own stories in a huge numbers. Some are unique, some are regional copy of same stories. And most importantly, they all show that the good and the truth always wins. But our matter of interest today is, why these stories?
Now let’s cast the name to a more suitable nomenclature, Mythology. Mythology is a great aspect of every religion. However, there is a great difference between these two objectives. According to Wikipedia, -“Religion and mythology differ in scope but have overlapping aspects. Both terms refer to systems of concepts that are of high importance to a certain community, making statements concerning the supernatural or sacred. Generally, mythology is considered one component or aspect of religion. Religion is the broader term: besides mythological aspects, it includes aspects of ritual, morality, theology, and mystical experience. A given mythology is almost always associated with a certain religion such as Greek mythology with Ancient Greek religion. Disconnected from its religious system, a myth may lose its immediate relevance to the community and evolve—away from sacred importance—into a legend or folktale.”
So why these folktales? …. It’s because as a scared creature, human we need to believe in someone, a hero to be more accurate. Superheroes accomplish something outside of simply following mythic structure—they augment mythology itself. The creation of superheroes and the books in which they are found function as part of our own modern mythology; just as folktales, fairy tales, and ancient myths say something about the cultures from whence they spring, superheroes are part of a uniquely American mythology. While comics and superheroes are no longer solely an American property, the invention of these things says a lot about the culture and attitude of our culture. Comic books are the American mythology, and, much in the same way Zeus and Poseidon and Perseus come down to us from the Greeks, Superman and Batman and the X-Men represent the culture that birthed them. These are our Gods and Heroes, our stories—and our commentary on our society.
Now just try to imagine, that if all the mythical stories were written with the same aspect as modern comics and manga are written. These religious stories, travel centuries through era to era. For me myths are generally stories that have been handed down for generations, popular tales that embody a collective knowledge. While some may have originated with shamans, priests, or poets, myths belong to a primitive or pre-scientific people as their cultural heritage. Usually they have been shaped by the folk imagination. 
And this is why, I think, religions try to adapt myths and make a part of their own. The main objective of the very existence of religious stories, are to convey some message or warnings within words. But as the time passes the real messages start to disappear, and from their ashes born superstition. Very often myths are accepted as the literal truth. They are not presented as engaging fictions but as fact. Even in the sophisticated, intelligent culture of classical Greece myths were frequently viewed as actualities. And when they were regarded skeptically writers reshaped them to make them more probable and humane. Forget for the moment that the myths of other cultures are considerably more bizarre and savage. It must seem incredible to us, conditioned as we are by materialism and scientific rationality, that the ancient Greeks for the most part could take seriously a philandering deity like Zeus, an incredible hero like Perseus, or a monster like the Medusa. It would seem to presuppose much ignorance and gullibility. However, the primary appeal of myth is to the imagination, to man's intuitive faculty. In a society where reason is poorly developed or nonexistent, the imagination is the only arbiter of truth. And even where reason is predominant, as it was in classical Greece, the imagination still exerts a strong hold on one's beliefs. A culture, after all, can never abandon its age-old traditions without undergoing disintegration.

In their vital stage, when they are accepted as truth, myths represent the learning of a society, its accumulated knowledge and wisdom. Anybody of myths tries to give a comprehensive account of the world and of the people to whom it belongs. It does this through narrative, through memorable stories that deal with matters that perplex and intrigue primitive man. The crude mythology of an Australian tribe; the priestly mythologies of Egypt, Babylonia, and India; the liberating mythology of Greece and Rome; and the heroic mythology of Scandinavia — all offer a way of apprehending reality, of making sense of nature and human life, no matter how irrational they might appear to us. Every mythology has its obscurities, inconsistencies, and absurdities, but the crucial point is that myths attempt to give form to the cosmos and meaning to human life.
Now for some example, let’s talk about a very common Hindu belief. There are many stories in Hinduism (actually in most of the religions) that state ghosts live in big trees at night. Many people out of superstition actually believe that to be true. But there is actually a very good scientific explanation to this. Trees produce carbon dioxide at the time of night. Therefore sleeping under trees at night can actually cause death. But how could you explain someone that sleeping under trees is dangerous at night time, before even discovery of carbon dioxide to explain the true face. The way I see is to make him frightened to do so. So… ghosts live on big trees at night. "More than Half of Brits Believe Sherlock Holmes Was Real ".
Thus I actually believe that each of these religious stories that are told to us must have some good message buried inside them. As smarter creatures we should try to discover them, not just believe, that whatever is said is true. Secondly, these stories are our assets, our culture, and our legends. Don’t let these legends die.  Mythology is a way to reconcile the real world with how people saw it and themselves in it. It's used to explain partly, but poorly understood phenomena as well as society itself. So read them, not only your own, but also of other religions. Who knows, someday you might write a mythology of your own.
So… What’s your favorite mythological story?