# Is God a vampire? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 3, 2000, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968 "2000-08-03T08:07:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ted)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/1 "2000-08-03T08:07:33Z")
Seriously, think about it. Think about all the religions of the world that require blood sacrifices. From the Mayans to the Jews to the Aztecs to Romans. All of this to appease some god or another? Even more so, think about how one becomes immortal in the Christian faith. One drinks the blood of christ, yes? Just as one drinks the blood of a vampire to become the same. =] The connection between the heart, blood and life force should be obvious, yes I know this. None the less it raises all sorts of _interesting_ ideas to think that a good many of the worlds Gods are in fact vampires. Ok, I’ll stop posting now these random thoughts now =] ---
**Author:** ![PaulGGa2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PaulGGa2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulGGa2)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/2 "2000-08-03T21:30:41Z")
I think that God perfers a nice wine to blood…though now I wonder what would happen if in heaven they found out…THE CHAMPEIGNS NOT CORBEL. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/3 "2000-08-03T21:33:34Z")
There is a book out there called “The Last Days of Christ the Vampire” ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/4 "2000-08-03T21:40:11Z")
Okay, seriously now. The reason why blood sacrifice was so common is that blood was seen as the essence of life. Rightfully so, in that if you lose too much you die. If you give your blood to a god you have symbolically died for said god. That is a very high tribute. The connotation of bloodletting=death is so strong that the phrase ‘bloodshed’ means ‘death, usu. by violence’ in the English-speaking world (and doubtless beyond). So the answer is this: You give blood, you are symbolically making the ultimate sacrifice while still being able to hunt afterwards (the ancients may have been supersititious, but they weren’t stupid). ---
**Author:** ![Ted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ted)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/5 "2000-08-04T00:02:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\*Okay, seriously now. The reason why blood sacrifice was so common is that blood was seen as the essence of life. Rightfully so, in that if you lose too much you die. If you give your blood to a god you have symbolically died for said god. That is a very high tribute. The connotation of bloodletting=death is so strong that the phrase ‘bloodshed’ means ‘death, usu. by violence’ in the English-speaking world (and doubtless beyond). So the answer is this: You give blood, you are symbolically making the ultimate sacrifice while still being able to hunt afterwards (the ancients may have been supersititious, but they weren’t stupid). \*\* Yes, of course this was mentioned. But we are not just talking about symbolic blood shed. We are talking bout human sacrifice excetera. What I wonder though, is why such a sacrifice would be requried in the first place? Historicaly speaking has there been any cases where such blood compacts were made on a social level? How does one expain the requriemnt of such sacrfices in the first place? It is one thing to belive in a powerfull being, it is quite another to sacrifice to said being. I realize there are a number of ways to approach answering this, I’m curious as to any answers. ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/6 "2000-08-04T00:30:38Z")
Except that to a vampire, Human blood is the best (some say only), and to YHVH, Human blood is an abdomination. And 'blood" wa not required, the sacrifice could be grain, if that is what you had. ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/7 "2000-08-04T01:34:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Danielinthewolvesden \* > \*\*Except that to a vampire, Human blood is the best (some say only), and to YHVH, Human blood is an abdomination. > > And 'blood" wa not required, the sacrifice could be grain, if that is what you had. \*\* How can human blood be an abomination to YHVH if he accepted human sacrifice? -Ben ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/8 "2000-08-04T03:21:40Z")
[hijack] DanielITWD, why is it that you use a hyphen in god, but you have no qualms about writing the Latin transliteration of the name of god? I believe you have stated that you are deferring to the wishes of Jewish posters who might be offended by using the name of god. Here’s one Jewish poster who wonders if you might be misunderstanding the prohibition against using god’s name. Please, I mean no offense, I hope you see my point. And sorry about the hijack. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![lastgasp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3bc359/32.png) [@lastgasp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lastgasp)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/9 "2000-08-04T04:04:27Z")
Or you think of it metaphorically, so that God feeds on us in some other tangible or more likely intangible way. I’ll give you the honour of creating your own examples. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/10 "2000-08-04T16:02:34Z")
God a vampire? Well, OK, there WAS that thing about him coming back after he was dead… ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/11 "2000-08-04T20:53:23Z")
Kyla, I simply assumed, since letters were omitted, that it was similar to “G-d”. I am truly sorry if I offended. Would “Y” be OK? (Sometimes there seems to be a need to differentiate the OT “G-d” from the Christian “G-d”, so I used the OT version). But, altho I do not follow that stricture, I do not want to offend, needlessly, my brethren here. If, however, the post needs to have the Name, I will use it; EG, we are discussing the names of G-d. So let me know. ---
**Author:** ![Ozone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e95f7d/32.png) [@Ozone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ozone)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/12 "2000-08-04T21:41:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Just as one drinks the blood of a vampire to become the same. > \*\* Doesn’t one become a vampire by getting bitten by a vampire, not so much from drinking the vampire’s blood? > [@](#): > > \*\* > DanielITWD, why is it that you use a hyphen in god, but you have no qualms about writing the Latin transliteration of the name of god? > \*\* FWIW, “God” is **NOT** his “name”. It’s his title. IIRC, His name can be found in the KJ version of the OT. Something like “Elloheme”. IMHO, not a name to be taken lightly. BTW, I don’t want to show my ignorance, and I in no means wish to offend, but what is _ **YHVH** _? And back to the OP, our good friend _ **Webster** _ says: “vam-pire [\< Slavic] 1. In folklore, a reanimated corpse that sucks the blood of sleeping persons. 2. One who preys ruthlessly on others.” I don’t think that accepting blood sacrifices constitutes vampirism. Also, IIRC, when you partake of the sacramental water (or wine), you are doing so in the remembrance of the blood of Christ that was shed for you… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/13 "2000-08-04T21:51:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ben \* > How can human blood be an abomination to YHVH if he accepted human sacrifice? > -Ben \*\* Where? I don’t recall him ever doing this one. ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/14 "2000-08-05T01:22:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ozone \* > \*\*Something like “Elloheme”. \*\* Actually, it’s Elohim. “Elloheme” is a substance found in God’s blood, specifically within molecules of Ellohemoglobin. And as for human sacrifice, Leviticus apparently contains instructions for how to carry them out. The only time in the OT where a human sacrifice is described is when Jephtah made a deal with Yahweh that if he won a big battle, he would sacrifice whatever or whoever came out of his house first. His daughter ran out to greet him, and so he sacrificed her. -Ben ---
**Author:** ![Ted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ted)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/15 "2000-08-05T02:14:14Z")
Ben - LOL funny. Let us also not forget Issac. (depending on who you ask) He never did come off the mount hmm… =] Ozone - YHVH would be one of the names attributed to God in the old testiment. HVH is a single tense to be/ to become and I believe the Y is terminology for the self (correct me if I’m wrong on that one… or any of em =) So the name basicaly means “I am what I do” or merely “I Am”… it first comes up when mosses is led to the burning bush. He’s asked… well, told (this IS God we’re talking about here) to lead the people out of egypt, and mosses being a sort of chicken shit at the time makes a number of excuses including “Who shall I say is sending me to do this?” likely thinking no one was going to believe a man going on the orders of a burning bush. God spoke back (and if there’s anything that shows God has a sense of hummor, this is it) “I am”. The name as it were, stuck. As far as drinking christs blood is concerned, it depends on who you ask. For some it’s merely symbolic, for some it’s still the wine molecularly but somthing more spiritualy, and for some it is completely turned into christ’s blood. ---
**Author:** ![Ted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ted)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/16 "2000-08-05T02:20:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Danielinthewolvesden \* > \*\*Kyla, I simply assumed, since letters were omitted, that it was similar to “G-d”. I am truly sorry if I offended. Would “Y” be OK? (Sometimes there seems to be a need to differentiate the OT “G-d” from the Christian “G-d”, so I used the OT version). > > But, altho I do not follow that stricture, I do not want to offend, needlessly, my brethren here. If, however, the post > needs to have the Name, I will use it; EG, we are discussing the names of G-d. > > So let me know. \*\* When you write YHVH you’re not leaving out letters. The hebrew alphabet didn’t have written vowles if I recall. Hmmm… interesting idea. Is it more profane to write “God Damn’t” or merely “G-d Damn’t” if everyone knows what you’re talking about… ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/17 "2000-08-05T02:35:22Z")
There are doubts about the jephtah “human sacrifice”, see the thread in GQ. Yes, I know that early written hebrew has no vowels per se, but I will point out then when you write G-D, you are leaving out the vowel. So, I will use what will not upset our Observant brethren, and still be understandable. ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/18 "2000-08-05T03:07:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Danielinthewolvesden \* > \*\*There are doubts about the jephtah “human sacrifice”, see the thread in GQ. > > \*\* I checked, and I don’t see how it can be explained away. The vow is specifically and explicitly to offer a burnt sacrifice. Jephtah exclaims that he cannot break his vow, and his daughter tells him to do to her precisely as he promised. It seems a little shaky to me to say that she was really consecrated to be a nun or something, in the absence of any indication that that is the case, and in the presence of overwhelmingly explicit statements that Jephtah was carrying out his vow to the letter. As for human sacrifice in Leviticus, I appreciate the citations you give, but I haven’t had time to check them out. What I will point out, vis a vis Jephtah, is that regardless of whether such a sacrifice was sanctioned by Leviticus, regardless of whether it was approved by the priests, it certainly was approved by God, if the Bible was to be believed. Jephtah made a bargain, God kept his half of the bargain, and God let his daughter greet him. There are any number of ways God could have prevented the daughter from being sacrificed, but he didn’t take any of them. -Ben ---
**Author:** ![Ted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ted)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/19 "2000-08-05T03:18:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Danielinthewolvesden \* > \*\*There are doubts about the jephtah “human sacrifice”, see the thread in GQ. > \*\* Two things: Jephthah was overcome with the Lord’s spirit. Jephthah explicitly states he will make a burnt offering out of whatever comes from his house. The second should leave little doubt that his daughter was sacrficed in such a manner. The first questions just what God will allow when he’s infused within a persons spirit. Whatever the laws might say about human sacrfice, there was no intervention of God in this, and there were no repercussions for Jephthah (aside from having to kill his daughter because of a promise he made). And of course, God has been known to recind the laws he gave. > [@](#): > > 11:29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. > 11:30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, > 11:31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” > [@](#): > > \*\* > Yes, I know that early written hebrew has no vowels per se, but I will point out then when you write G-D, you are leaving out the vowel. So, I will use what will not upset our Observant brethren, and still be understandable. > \*\* Ah. Ok. I’m not trying to be offensive to you (really I’m not) but out of curiousity do you know anyone who would get offended if you wrote the word “God” instead of “G-d”? I’m curious. It just seems a bit to R.C. to me. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968/20 "2000-08-05T09:21:18Z")
Okay, forgive me, because because G.D. isn’t one of my normal forums to post, but wouldn’t we consider **Jesus** to be a human sacrifice? Did he not accept his own son, as it were, as a human sacrifice to cleanse the sin of all of humanity? Food for thought. ::runs away:: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-god-a-vampire/27968.md?page=2)