What's with the fish?

[iviary]

Grand Moff Locket

puresilver

Dathu

Cause Jesus was a fisherman?

He was a carpender. They should have use a nail or something.

That fish thing is a good question, though I can't think of a time when the christians were prosecuted as a whole, just their factions prosecuting each other.

He was NOT a carpenter. The language the bible was written in(latin, right?) doesn't have a word for "carpenter." Back then people weren't that specialied. Jesus was just "blue collar."

Hebrew.  

[Sanguvixen]

In the bible..(I also so read this somewhere else), he supposedly told some of his followers that they were to become fishermen of men.

Jesus was looking for followrs, so he had people go look for more people to follow his preachings. They fished for men, get it?

Kind of silly if you ask me...what would fishermen know of gathering followerers?

 

[Freebird4077]

I never understood what the fish meant?  

[Angel Panda]

Heres the best i could do while playing a game (World of Warcraft if anyone was interested) http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_symb.htm
its kind of interesting whats written there.  

[_C r y s t a l_RB]

Maybe it's not supposed to be a fish. That's also the shape of an alpha sign.  

[Amphex]

I've seen the symbol vertical with the "tail" facing down. I don't think its supposed to be a fish, but something else. I think people just used the fish idea, since that's what it sort of looks like.  

[iMito]

The MoUsY spell-checker

I've been told that it's their secret code. The Romans persecuted Christians, so the Christians had to do all their meetings in secret, and they'd have half of the fish symbol drawn out. Other Christians would know what it means and complete it.

This is more or less accurate, at least this is where it comes from. It was simple and easy to draw, and it relates to the fisher of men analogy. Today it's just a symbol of Christianity like the cross is and the pentagram was.  

[PickleBoy]

SPMito

This is more or less accurate, at least this is where it comes from. It was simple and easy to draw, and it relates to the fisher of men analogy. Today it's just a symbol of Christianity like the cross is and the pentagram was.

The pentagram was a christian symbol? Funny.... I dunno, maybe I just hung out with crazy christians, but isn't that like a sign of the devil or something? So... whats that say about that? *snort*

Moving on

iviary

The fish logos that irk me are those that show the darwin-fish being eaten by a fish with the word "TRUTH" on it. Now, certainly, the darwin-fish might be mocking theirs. icon_stare.gif However.. what the hell? Has anyone else seen these?

Yeah I have, and thus, in retaliation, I want one that has a larger darwin fish eating a "Truth" fish and in the darwin fish it says "Reality Bites" xd Yeah, I totally am jealous of whoever said they have a darwin fish. *sigh* I can't get one till I trade in my old car for a new one.  

[iMito]

PickleBoy

SPMito

This is more or less accurate, at least this is where it comes from. It was simple and easy to draw, and it relates to the fisher of men analogy. Today it's just a symbol of Christianity like the cross is and the pentagram was.

The pentagram was a christian symbol? Funny.... I dunno, maybe I just hung out with crazy christians, but isn't that like a sign of the devil or something? So... whats that say about that? *snort*

Ironic, no? Seeing as they hate it so much. Yes, it was a symbol of Christianity a while ago, the five points being the five wounds of Jesus.  

[PickleBoy]

SPMito

PickleBoy

SPMito

This is more or less accurate, at least this is where it comes from. It was simple and easy to draw, and it relates to the fisher of men analogy. Today it's just a symbol of Christianity like the cross is and the pentagram was.

The pentagram was a christian symbol? Funny.... I dunno, maybe I just hung out with crazy christians, but isn't that like a sign of the devil or something? So... whats that say about that? *snort*

Ironic, no? Seeing as they hate it so much. Yes, it was a symbol of Christianity a while ago, the five points being the five wounds of Jesus.

*snorts* Thats so ridiculous. I like the pagan belief of the symbol better. The four elements and the top is spirit. Yeah...  

[I2aichu]

Back in the time of the romans, after and durring jesus's death I think they were expecting the "rapture" at any moment, so they made up all kinds of codes. One was that if you were Christian, you would draw a half fish with a walking stick when talking to someone. If they completed it, then they were Christian as well and could be told all the recent gossip. However, to the Christian's disapointment, the rapture still hasn't come even all these years after.  

[caustic 0_0]

mindcaster

Back in the time of the romans, after and durring jesus's death I think they were expecting the "rapture" at any moment, so they made up all kinds of codes. One was that if you were Christian, you would draw a half fish with a walking stick when talking to someone. If they completed it, then they were Christian as well and could be told all the recent gossip. However, to the Christian's disapointment, the rapture still hasn't come even all these years after.

3nodding
They were persecuted by the Romans too, so I guess they'd probably just need more secrecy in general to be safe.
Someone earlier said they were never persecuted as a whole, but they were. And I'll go look it up quickly because I'm curious now xD
http://www.unrv.com/culture/christian-persecution.php

Some people always think the rapture is about to come. Just like some people always say the current generation is the worst ever.. while their own is better of course. xD

[Satan] 2.0

I think it has sort of switched to a symbol of white trash, rather than a symbol of Christianity. Maybe I have formed this stereotype because I always see them on minivans, pickup trucks, and trailers.

You can be amazingly narrow minded/stereotypical at times x.x
Or else that was meant as a bad subtle joke sweatdrop  

[~Screwed_Up_Emo~]

I have no idea... neutral  

[Lesilrok]

You guys are pretty far from the answer because I taken several multi-cultural history classes. look it up for yourselves because there is more behind the history of the so called "chritian fish"

For many pop-culture Christians, the "fish" decal on the back car bumper, or attached to a key chain or door is a symbol of their religion, and a feel-good statement about Jesus Christ. Early Christians used the fish as a recognition sign of their religion. It is also identified as the "Ichthus," an acronym from the Greek, "Iesous Christos Theou Uios Soter," or "Jesus Christ the Son of God, Saviour." Oxford English Dictionary (C.E.) defines "Ichthyic" as "of, pertaining to, or characteristic of fishes; the fish world in all its orders."

But contemporary Jesus worshippers might be surprised, even outraged, to learn that one of their preeminent religious symbols antedated the Christian religion, and has its roots in pagan fertility awareness and sexuality. Barbara G. Walker writes in "The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects," that the acronym pertaining to Jesus Christ was a "rationale invented after the fact... Christians simply copied this pagan symbol along with many others." Ichthys was the offspring son of the ancient Sea goddess Atargatis, and was known in various mythic systems as Tirgata, Aphrodite, Pelagia or Delphine. The word also meant "womb" and "dolphin" in some tongues, and representations of this appeared in the depiction of mermaids. The fish also a central element in other stories, including the Goddess of Ephesus (who has a fish amulet covering her genital region), as well as the tale of the fish that swallowed the p***s of Osiris, and was also considered a symbol of the vulva of Isis.

Along with being a generative and reproductive spirit in mythology, the fish also has been identified in certain cultures with reincarnation and the life force. Sir James George Frazer noted in his work, "Adonis, Attis, Osiris: Studies in the History of Oriental Religion" (Part Four of his larger work, "The Golden Bough") that among one group in India, the fish was believed to house a deceased soul, and that as part of a fertility ritual specific fish is eaten in the belief that it will be reincarnated in a newborn child.

Well before Christianity, the fish symbol was known as "the Great Mother," a pointed oval sign, the "vesica piscis" or Vessel of the Fish. "Fish" and "womb" were synonymous terms in ancient Greek,"delphos." Its link to fertility, birth, feminine sexuality and the natural force of women was acknowledged also by the Celts, as well as pagan cultures throughout northern Europe. Eleanor Gaddon traces a "Cult of the Fish Mother" as far back as the hunting and fishing people of the Danube River Basin in the sixth millennium B.C.E. Over fifty shrines have been found throughout the region which depict a fishlike deity, a female creature who "incorporates aspects of an egg, a fish and a woman which could have been a primeval creator or a mythical ancestress..." The "Great Goddess" was portrayed elsewhere with pendulous breasts, accentuated buttocks and a conspicuous vaginal orifice, the upright "vesica piscis" which Christians later adopted and rotated 90-degrees to serve as their symbol.



Along with the fish used as a code sign for early Christian communities, the ichthys also found its way into the ritual and decor of church rites. One case in point is the church mitre worn by prelates. Where did this originate? Dr. Thomas Inman discussed this phenomenon in his two volume opus, "Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names," (1869). He included a representation of a sculpture from Mesopotamia, observing "It is the impression of an ancient gem, and represents a man clothed with a fish, the head being the mitre; priests thus clothed, often bearing in their hand the mystic bag..."

"In almost every instance," added Inman, "it will be recognized that the fish's head is represented as of the same form as the modern bishop's mitre." The fish also appears in another sacred iconograph, the Avatars of Vishnu, where the deity "is represented as emerging from the mouth of a fish, and being a fish himself; the legend being that he was to be the Saviour of the world in a deluge which was to follow..."

From its focus of worshipping a god-man born of a virgin to the selection of holidays and symbols, Christianity appropriated the metaphors of earlier pagan religions, grafting them into its own account of the creation and beyond. Few Jesus worshippers are aware of this. Even fewer know that when they flaunt the "Ichthus" or Ichthys on a tee-shirt, car bumper or even the door of a state legislative office as a representation which originated in Christianity, they are in fact, displaying a more ancient symbol indicative of female anatomy and reproductive potency -- the very sign of the Great Mother.

So I think by using the fish the christian folk are commiting blasphemy for using another cultures icon and idolizing it. Which according to the bible is a sin.

enjoy mrgreen  

[PickleBoy]

Wah hahahahaha! That was brilliant! I read every bit and have to say enjoyed it all thoroughly. Thats pretty interesting that the fish was associated with the female genetalia... I knew that water was usually associated with women but... not that fish were. Huh, learn something everyday.

Well at least now we can all smirk silently a** they walk/drive by on the streets, flaunting their fish clad chests and minivans.