Pilgrims would go past the
treasury, on the right, and walk up the
Sacred Way.
They would then arrive at the temple itself, where the Oracle would be.
The pilgrim wouldn't be able to correspond with the Oracle one-on-one,
but instead they would talk to the intermediary: the priest.
Very complicated scenario, really. The god Apollo would talk to the
Oracle. The Oracle would talk to the priest. The priest would talk to
you. Kind of like a game of "telephone" gone bad.
And the Oracle was the Dionne Warwick for the ancient world. She
predicted the future...before the 1-900 phone lines existed.
But the Greeks took the Oracle
very
seriously. They
wouldn't go into battle without her advice. They wouldn't get married
without her advice. They wouldn't take her advice without her advice.
(ok, that doesn't make sense. But I couldn't think of a 3rd example).
And so when the Bible talks about false gods - you now see that these
were some serious "gods" to
reckon with. Plus, who doesn't want to know the future? It's just human
nature. Any religion "offering" that is always gonna get bonus points.
So these false, pagan gods the Bible refers to - these weren't just mom
and pop corner-store religions. Heck, this place is so cool
that I want to ask some advice!
I mean, Delphi is an awe-inspiring place. Picture it in all its glory
nearly 2,000 years ago and it's easy to see why people believed in the
Oracle.
Lets face it - there will
always be "false gods" tempting us. The challenge is to stay faithful.
