I only ever really played through the very first 2 games, and it's been years, but I don't remember Ares even being a huge part. Which is weird considering it was Greek myth and had the name "God of War." The Greek god of war should have been a big thing (or at least memorable).
The short of it is that Ares dies at the end of the first game.
The game was originally supposed to be a one-off and was never intended to have a sequel, so Kratos kills Ares and becomes the new God of War at the end of the first game. The ending scene even has Kratos on Ares' throne and talks about how he, as the new god of war, is responsible for all sorts of heinous acts throughout history while footage of modern wars like Vietnam flash by.
But the game did so well that the studio execs demanded that they make a sequel, and then another, and another, and another, etc. They had to keep coming up with new gods to kill and ways to up the stakes by casting Kratos off of his throne, so by the third game, Kratos just murders the entire Greek Pantheon and causes the apocalypse. And then they had to figure out where to go from there. The "reboot" was probably one of the smartest things they could've done for the series. Don't have to keep upping the stakes with gods to kill if Kratos just goes to therapy and deals with his issues.
We need a Kratos religious movement. Those who believe in Kratos to slaughter the gods brining subjugation of the people upon us. It is against our beliefs to not be against people who follow God's that subjugate the populace. Sometimes it may be ourselves, but that's fine too.
It's also been quite some time for me, but I have the impression that there was a plot reason for it, like the games being a war on the gods, which started with taking the place of Ares? Thus the title (but in a roundabout way)
True, it's just a little too magical for my brain to process. To me he was a prophet and probably a good dude.. but that's probably about it.
To worship a guy as a literal God because his mom had a tale to tell about why she was pregnant, was the beginning of the end of religion making sense for me.
Literally is, at least according to trinitarian doctrine. Handy diagram:
Which of course implies that "isness" is non-transitive which mathematically speaking is bonkers. I mean it's not that you can't have intransitive relations but calling them equivalences is going to raise eyebrows.
"Isness" definitely doesn't need to be transitive.
It can be used to give properties to a subject. An apple is crisp, red, and 100g. Crisp isn't red, red isn't 100g, and 100g isn't crisp.
It can also be used to specify a general case. Honeycrisp is an apple. Golden Delicious is an apple. Fuji is an apple. All three of Honeycrisp, Fuji and Golden Delicious are distinct.
Some Gnostics went pretty quickly down the road of "he's the real god, here to expose the demiurge (Yahweh, formerly known as Ba'al, according to them... But not according to Canaanite religion)"
Supposedly. I think a lot of scholars are in the process of reexamining what the Gnostics actually believed.
Never met him. Read his stories, can't say I care for any of the servitude required, and his followers are the worst humans you'll run into around here.
I hate him in the sense I hate any fictional character.
Don't think he was really fleshed out, didn't see the point in the larger narrative, and he has the worst fanbase. Even Rick and Morty has a better behaved fandom.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
John 3:18
In other words, if you aren't a Christian (which most people in history and alive today are not), you go straight to hell.
The "Prince of Peace" was all about kindness because your sinful ass would get tortured forever, so you might as well have a few nice years here.
Hmm before or after he unleashes mass murder and torture on earth? This is an important thing for me. I try to tell people I like them before they slaughter humans, not after.
Of course the best part never get mentioned:
Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
Jesus turns a woman into a sex slave forced to make rape babies and watch said babies get murdered.
Another day, another Atheist taking the Bible out of context.
Revelation 2:18-29 ESV
“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
If you actually read it in context and have an ounce of intelligence and honesty, it's referring to someone who's seducing men within the Church of Thyatira. But of course, if you read it in context, you won't be able to make the weird conclusion you were trying to make. This is low, even for an Atheist argument.