# Who throughout history has believed they were a deity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581 "2004-11-08T03:32:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/41 "2004-11-08T23:32:50Z")
> [@Shade](#): > > Are we sure Jesus considered himself a deity? I thought people disagreed about whether he was aware, during his life, of his status as God, as opposed to “just” son of God, even leaving aside people who think “son of God” was a description of \everyone\ (still assuming he was divine). This issue has inspired much debate in modern theological study. For example, in _The First Coming_, Thomas Sheehan makes the argument that Jesus never considered himself divine, and that his elevation to godhood was a strategem by the struggling first-century church. But there is, of course, abundant evidence on the other side as well. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/42 "2004-11-09T00:30:08Z")
> [@Jomo Mojo](#): > > From what I understand of **Jovan** ’s explanation of _kami_ theology, the Hindu belief in avataras is pretty similar. For the Hindus, all beings are divine, but the avatara shows the divinity through more clearly and strongly, therefore they pay devotion to access plenty of this divine mojo. The differences being, though, being that in Shintoism humans aren’t particularly important. Trees are often worshipped as Shintoism values life greatly and anything that lives for over 800 years _has_ to be very pure and worthy of worship. Also, greatness isn’t achieved by spiritual practice but by simple excellence. That’s where you get slightly erroneous belief in the west that sumo wrestlers are seen as demi-gods. They’re men of extra-ordinary strength and that makes them great, from a religious point of view. The same thing can be said of great artists, businessmen, rulers, etc. The emperor’s link to divine purity is really a special case that wasn’t even all that central until the Meiji era. > [@](#): > > There are stories about Sufis who said things like “_Ana al-Haqq_” (I am the Truth, i.e. Allah) or “There is nobody inside this robe except Allah”, which would seem to contradict the monotheism of Islam, but the meaning is much more subtle than that. The Sufis weren’t claiming that _they_ were God, but that their individual existence had been annihilated, so nobody remained, and since Allah is everywhere, that’s what remained. I’m reminded of Zen Buddhists’ favourite Christian, master Eckhart’s “The eye by which I see God is the same as the eye by which God sees me.” Of course, he wasn’t claiming that _he_, personally, was God. ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/43 "2004-11-09T02:26:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think that that’s correct. For the sentence “I am a god”, “a god” would go in the nominative, since the verb is “to be”. The same might be the case for “I am becomming”, though I’m not sure we ever covered that in any of my Latin classes. Ah, but once you add the “I think” the rest of the sentence is an indirect statement. I think that I am becoming a god." The grammatically correct way to say this would be "_Vae, puto me deum fieri_. According to Suetonius the quote is _“Vae” (inquit) “puto, deus fio”_. This is just more colloquial and conversational, literally: "Woe, " (he said) “I think, I am becoming a god.” More like two unconnected ideas than a full out indirect statement. Let’s forgive the guy, he was on his death bed and as a native speaker I’m sure he knew how to say it best. You are right, btw, that _fieri_ can take a predicate nominative just like _esse_. [iend hijack] ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/44 "2004-11-09T02:34:19Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Didn’t Louis the XIV of France consider himself a God or Sun God? Nope. He was only nicknamed (or nicknamed himself, don’t remember) the “sun king”. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/45 "2004-11-09T03:38:18Z")
I think you will find that many less than sane people believe they are a god. As I understand it, numerous people announce this in Jerusalem in particular (they call it “Jerusalem syndrome” if I recall the guidebook correctly). Whether there is any difference between these persons and the others who have received more widespread credit for being a god is debatable. ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/46 "2004-11-09T03:43:39Z")
The Rev. Jim Jones, the guy that moved his congregation to British Guiana and had them drink poisoned cool-aid? I don’t recall if he was reported to claim to be God, but it’s God’s business to decide when anyone dies. Not any person’s. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/47 "2004-11-09T04:03:53Z")
Pharaohs were notorious for this. According to the Qur’an, Pharaoh proclaimed: “_Ana rabbukum al-a‘la_” (I am your Lord the Most High). ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/48 "2004-11-09T08:57:25Z")
A very topical news story just showed up on [Yahoo!](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041108/wl_nm/chile_sect_dc) > [@](#): > > VILLA BAVIERA, Chile (Reuters) - A religious cult of German immigrants has broken decades of isolation from a world shocked by sex-abuse scandals in the group, the flight of its secretive leader and reports it once helped Chile’s military government torture political prisoners. > > (snip) > > The sect came here in the 1960s following Paul Schaefer, a charismatic World War II German army nurse, who cult members thought was God on earth and who preached an unnamed religion that said harsh discipline would draw them closer to the supreme being. > > “Everyone saw him as a celestial being and no one dared doubt him. People were blind here. It was a huge shock to discover the truth,” said Michael Mueller, a 47-year-old member of the community’s newly elected reform committee. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/49 "2004-11-09T09:20:21Z")
It should be noted that, especially once you get out of any monotheistic mindset, the word God (or god, if you prefer) can be defined just about however you want it. Being non-religious, I can easily call myself god and be just as correct as anyone else, and I don’t even need to be crazy to do it. Merriam-Webster also has some interesting definitions of the word: > [@](#): > > 3 : a person or thing of supreme value > 4 : a powerful ruler The Mona Lisa is god. George W. Bush is god. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/50 "2004-11-09T21:55:07Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Many Mesoamerican natives, including the Aztecs and Mayans, had cultural phases in which the leaders did not just speak for the gods but claimed to be (and were worshipped as) gods themselves. I’ve been researching this a bit and [the article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_mythology#Kings...) is really good but I don’t see any references to anyone who _actually_ lived. There is a section for humans, and [Mayahuel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayahuel) is listed, but it seems she only existed in mythology. Know any for sure? ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581/51 "2004-11-09T21:56:43Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I think you will find that many less than sane people believe they are a god. As I understand it, numerous people announce this in Jerusalem in particular (they call it “Jerusalem syndrome” if I recall the guidebook correctly). > > Whether there is any difference between these persons and the others who have received more widespread credit for being a god is debatable. Wikipedia has an _excellent_ article on this, [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_syndrome). > [@](#): > > For example, an affected person may believe themself to be an important historical religious figure, or may be influenced by important religious ideas or concepts (such as causing the second coming of Christ). No mention of any of them specifically claiming to be a deity. > [@Cisco](#): > > The Mona Lisa is god. George W. Bush is god. I chose the word deity carefully =) Also, I think you would have to say, “The Mona Lisa is a god,” and “The Mona Lisa is God.” > [@jovan](#): > > A very topical news story just showed up on Yahoo! thanks I added him to [the list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_believing_themselves_deities)! (it’s getting long now) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-throughout-history-has-believed-they-were-a-deity/273581.md?page=2)