1254 lines
49 KiB
Plaintext
1254 lines
49 KiB
Plaintext
From: Hagbard Celine
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***********************************************
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June 1993
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I make no claims of being a Biblical scholar. However, through my experiences
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in a class at San Francisco State University earlier this year, I can share the
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following bits of info, which I believe may be of interest to EarthRite users.
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If you disagree with any of the information in this posting, I encourage you to
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respond as you see fit (short of violence, ridicule, miscel- laneous mayhem,
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etc.). What follows is simply a semi-refined version of my classroom notes; I
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am not the original source for any of what follows. If there are factual errors
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below (there are probably a few transpositions and typos, too), they are the
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result of my trying to write down as much information as I could, as fast as I
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could, while I had access to the information. This stuff comes from Biblical
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scholars all over the world and I will try to include recommended reading at
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the end of this scroll.
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In large part, this posting is about how the Bible is a highly derivative
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collection of unrelated stories cannibalized from other, older religions, then
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stitched together clumsily by later scribes, most of whom had political,
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xenophobic agendas.
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(Funny how such writings could eventually inspire the violence and hatred so
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many of us have experienced at the hands of supposedly spiritual people. The
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price of monotheism is apparently xenophobia.)
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I have been assured that the most historically and linguistically accurate
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translation of the Bible is the James Moffatt translation, published since the
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1930s by Harper & Row. All references in this text (unless otherwise indicated)
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are references to the text as it appears, correctly translated, in Moffatt.
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Since I'm typing this at EarthRite Central, roughly 900 miles from my reference
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library, and the low-end word processor I'm using here cannot flag any
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potentially misspelled words, there may be some English language errors below,
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either ridiculous or sublime. If so, mea culpa.
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Please post any comments, responses to Hagbard Celine, c/o EarthRite
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(93:9060/208).
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Thanks!
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=====1
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There are several creation stories in the Old Testament, not just one. One of
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these stories is actually a retelling of the Babylonian myth known most
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commonly to the Western world as Enuma Elish. If you are familiar with that
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myth (or even if you're not), you might want to read the following Biblical
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passages in Moffatt:
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Genesis 1:1-2 \
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Psalms 74:11-17 \
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Isaiah 27:1 \ Enuma
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Job 26:5-14 / Elish
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Isaiah 51:9-10 /
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Psalms 89:10 /
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This myth is roughly the same age as the myth of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, which
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was adapted in the Bible as the story of Noah's Ark and the flood (written
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roughly 1,500 years before Homer).
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=====2
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The King James version of the Bible is so poorly translated that whole sections
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of it are riddled with structural and historical errors. For example, Isaiah
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9:1 in the King James version says precisely the opposite of what it says in
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the original Hebrew. And in Isaiah 1:10, the King James version mistranslates a
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metaphorical reference to the story of Sodom as being a literal reference.
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The New World translation mixes up past, present and future tense, so that
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nothing in it makes any logical sense whatsoever.
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=====3
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Despite popular belief, David wrote no more of the Bible than 1/2 of one psalm.
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Solomon, too, wrote virtually none of what is attributed to him.
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=====4
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Much of the Bible was written thousands of years before there was any such
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thing as a Bible. In fact, the word Bible is derived from the Greek word
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"biblion," so the stories of the Bible were not compiled in their more-or-less
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familiar form until Alexander the Great had conquered what was left of Israel.
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The Old Testament (Tenach) was written before there was any concept of a Bible.
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Until the time of Jesus, what few of these writings had been compiled were
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known as The Law and The Prophets.
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=====5
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Parts of the Bible contradict one another because they were written by warring
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tribes who worshipped different gods -- Yahweh and Elohim being the most
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obvious example of such gods -- that were blended together by later redactors.
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=====6
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The first chapter of Genesis was written 500 years after the second chapter of
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Genesis. They feature entirely different creation stories because they weren't
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written by the same people or about the same god. In the second chapter, man is
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created in desert conditions, not in a garden. Question for xians: If the Bible
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tells stories that are mutually exclusive, how can it be inerrant?
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=====7
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The second chapter of Genesis was written several hundred years after the
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biography of King David that's found in 2 Samuel. That's why there's no
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religion in the biography story: it was never meant, when written, to have any
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religious context, content or interpretation.
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=====8
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God has at least 15 names in the book of Genesis because the stories in Genesis
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actually come from many different and distinct mythologies. And remember, even
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these individual mythologies were mostly polytheistic. God uses the so-called
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"royal we" in Genesis, even though the "royal we" wasn't created until the 17th
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century. That's because more than one god is speaking at a time. Yahweh was a
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single deity, but "Elohim" translates as the plural "gods."
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=====9
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Chapters 1 and 5 of Genesis were written by the Priestly astronomers who were
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Elohim worshippers; chapters 2, 3 and 4 were written by their enemies, the
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farmers who worshipped Yahweh.
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=====10
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The serpent in the Genesis story is not the Devil. No such character exists in
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Old Testament writings. The serpent is actually the hero of the story, saving
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his consort, Eve, from a life of ignorance. But her creator is afraid of having
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equals.
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Although Joseph Campbell has been accused of many horrible things, he does
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present accurate and non- hateful information in "The Serpent's Bride and the
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Mother-Goddess Eve," a chapter in his book The Masks of God: Occidental
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Mythology. The serpent is Eve's (Havah's) consort. (Havah=Yahweh). This was
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originally a story of goddess worship.
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Also, the god in this story is not the creator of all living things and the
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text says as much in chapter 3 of Genesis, verse 1; the text says plainly that
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this god did not create the serpent.
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=====11
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Ishtar = Eve = Havah = Astarte = Ashtarot, etc. All the same character
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originally. The Tetragramaton has been translated as JHVH and YHWH, which is
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where we get names like Yahweh and Jehovah (written Hebrew has no vowels).
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=====12
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Although Yahweh as a character is derived largely from the Midean god Yah, the
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word "yahweh" is very closely related to the Hebrew verb "havah," meaning "is."
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The goddess Havah (Eve) preceded Yahweh as a Hebrew diety.
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=====13
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Genesis 2:16-17 -- god's first words to humanity are a lie. This doesn't bode
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well. Compare to heroic serpent.
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=====14
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Genesis 2:15 -- god says the garden needs to be protected, but from what? What
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is this god afraid of?
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=====15
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Genesis 2:18-20 -- having noticed that the other animals are having wanton
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sexual relations, Adam "examines" every single animal in the garden during his
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search for potential sexual partners. When he's worn out all the wombats,
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weasels and wildebeasts, he asks his creator to invent just one more animal.
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According to Rabbinical interpretation and revision of this story 1,000 years
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later, the mate provided to Adam was Lilith (also a goddess -- the goddess of
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newborn children -- from the fading matriarchal society crushed by the rising
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patriarchy), not Eve.
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=====16
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The first 5 books of the Old Testament are often misnamed the Books of Moses,
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as if he wrote them, which he most certainly did not. These stories were part
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of the oral tradition for so long that they were distorted from matriarchal to
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patriarchal stories over time.
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=====17
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Genesis 6 and Genesis 7 are two different stories, written hundreds of years
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apart, that have been intertwined. In the Moffatt translation, this
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contradictory doublet has been separated into italicized and Roman type. Both
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of these stories are about Noah and the flood, but each serves the distinct
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political agenda of its time.
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(Note that the door to Noah's ark is closed by Yahweh, with his anthropomorphic
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hand. At the time these stories were written, Yahweh was not yet invisible, or
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in any other significant way different from human beings.)
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=====18
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The oldest myths are the (a)etiological myths, which served in their time the
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same function served now by science. Etiological myths are myths of origins.
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"Where did women come from?" is a completely different etiological myth than
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"Where did men come from?". Other such myths: Why does humanity have to work so
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hard? Why is childbirth painful? Why don't snakes have legs? Why do we work on
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a set schedule? Why do we wear clothing?
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Most of the stories in Genesis 2,3 and 4 are etiological stories, and were used
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to educate children. Most of these stories were at least several hundred years
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old before anybody knew how to write them down -- and in those hundreds of
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years, the etiological myths spread from one population to another, mutating
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and contorting to suit the agendas of the story-tellers in each of those
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communities. That's one of the reasons why so many of the same basic themes are
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repeated in the myths of many societies/religions (and perhaps why virtually
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every religion begins with giants and a flood).
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=====19
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Genesis 1 is not as etiological as Genesis 2, which explains the work week and
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the origin of matter. Anthropomorphic deity needs to rest at the end of a week.
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=====20
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Genesis 3:8 -- god tromps through the garden, unaware of where Adam and Eve are
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hiding. This is omniscience?
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=====21
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Genesis 3:21 -- god guts and skins animals for Adam and Eve to wear tunics.
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(God has to sew?)
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=====22
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Genesis 3:22 -- the god in the Garden of Eden is vengeful, arrogant, vain,
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fearful, a liar, and jealous of human beings.
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=====23
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Genesis 6: 1-4 -- angels can fornicate with the best of 'em.
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=====24
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Genesis 6: 6-8 -- god makes a gaffe, has regrets/ self-doubt.
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=====25
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Genesis 6:19 contradicts Genesis 7:2, re: number of animal-pairs Noah should
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bring upon the ark.
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=====26
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Genesis 8:20 -- animal sacrifice -- God likes the smell of burning flesh.
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Later, in Leviticus, god explains the proper way to offer him an animal
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sacrifice for his maximum enjoyment. But then, in Isaiah 1:11, he changes his
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mind and gets huffy about it.
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=====27
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Genesis 9: 18-27 -- very confusing trying to determine whether Canaan is the
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son or the grandson of Noah, because the story was partially re-written to
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justify the genocide of Canaanites (Phoenicians/Palestinians). In the original
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version, Noah's sons were Canaan, Shem and Japeth. But the revision introduced
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a new son, the cursed Ham, and made Canaan Ham's son. This hateful myth gained
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a new lease on life in the 19th century when it was combined with an
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unscientific study of differences in language and used to justify the vicious
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mistreatment of African black people in the western world (because the 19th
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century theory said dark-skinned people were the cursed descendants of Canaan).
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This ridiculous theory is still in use in S. Africa.
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Ham/Canaan's crime, as revealed in Robert Graves' book, Hebrew Myths: When a
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drunken Noah exposed his genitals to his children, an outraged Canaan (Ham)
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castrated his father.
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=====28
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Genesis 11:6-7 -- spiteful god
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=====29
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Genesis 1:29 is pro-vegetarian; Genesis 4:4 is pro- carnivore -- so guess
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which chapter was written by the agrarian society and which chapter was written
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by people into animal husbandry (no, not the kind Adam practiced).
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=====30
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Daniel is underground, revolutionary, political propaganda, -- wholly fictional
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-- from whence Jews derive their belief in an afterlife. Daniel was written
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several hundred years after the Babylonian captivity and about 170 years before
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the birth of Jesus. Also, Daniel is unusual for having been written partially
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in Aramaic (from the word "Aramaic" in Daniel 2:4 through the end of chapter
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7).
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Daniel provides the first references in hundreds of years to political action,
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and so represents the beginning of a new political state in Israel. In many
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ways, Daniel is a "modernized" version of the story of Joseph in the final 14
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chapters of Genesis.
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Scholars know Daniel is fictional because it was written several hundred years
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after it says it was; we know more about the events it claims are contemporary
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than the author knew. Daniel makes no historical sense because it was actually
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written between 168 and 165 BCE. The character Daniel is a fictional version of
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Judas Maccabeus, intended to inspire pious loyalism to Judas Maccabeus. The
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references in Daniel to Babylon are actually sly, coded references to Greece.
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=====31
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\
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2 Samuel 1:26 \
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1 Samuel 20:41 \ Was King
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1 Samuel 20:1-4 / David gay?
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/
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/
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=====32
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Some of the lost books of the Bible include the Book of the Wars of Yahweh, and
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the Book of Nathan, both of which are referred-to in Biblical passages.
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=====33
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Genesis 12: 10-20 (Yahwist) is a doublet with Genesis 20:1 and Genesis 26
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(Elohist), re: Abram & Sarai. Genesis 12 is Yahwist mythology and Genesis 20 is
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Elohist morality.
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(An interesting side note to this doublet: Recent archaeological excavations in
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Syria have proven that at the time the Yahwist version was written, wives were
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called "sister to the brother," because of patrilineal inheritance rights. But
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500 years later, the Elohist writer didn't have that knowledge and -- thinking
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the older story was accepting of incest -- changed it.)
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When Abram's name changed to Abraham in the stories, it was because Abram means
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"Ram is my father," and indicated his family's worship of a non-Hebrew deity.
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It was politically expedient when the stories were being transcribed to change
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his name to Abraham, which means "father of many."
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Abram/Abraham was probably not an individual person -- in the stories, some
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scholars believe he represents a tribe of at least 70 people, all fairly
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closely related. (This isn't as strange as it may sound. In the Old Testament
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the word "Israel" can represent Jacob, or his descendents, or all Israelites,
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or their land/country, or just the northern part of their country.) However, a
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post-WWII archaeological dig in Syria seems to confirm the historical existence
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of Abram.
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=====34
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Genesis 19 -- story of Sodom is about middle eastern hospitality laws, not
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homosexuality.
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=====35
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Adam
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Noah
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___________|___________
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Ham Shem Japeth
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Canaan Abram Lot
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| _____|____
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| Moab Ben-Ammi
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Itzchak
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(Isaac)
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Ishmael
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(Jacob)
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Judah
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(Had 11 brothers;
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12 tribes of Israel)
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(eventually)
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Jesus
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Assuming that these characters were ever real people, they were almost
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certainly not related by blood. But for the sake of continuity and for the sake
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of simplifying religious bigotry, the Bible says they WERE related by blood.
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Stories of characters descended from OFF the center line are xenophobic stories
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about people who are not Hebrew. Judah is in the center line so Jesus will
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descend appropriately (for dramatic impact, etc.). Since Abraham, Isaac and
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Jacob worshipped three different gods, it's unlikely that they were
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grandfather, father, and son.
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=====36
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Genesis 32:2 is from the Yahwist account; Genesis 32:7 is from the Elohist
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account -- these offer conflicting explanations for why Joseph's brothers
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despised him. Elohist account describes behavior offensive to Elohists; Yahwist
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account describes behavior offensive to Yahwists.
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=====37
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Genesis 34 is two stories, not one. These stories were later interleaved. The
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Priestly version of the story is the later of the two, and begins with a
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marriage broker, NOT a rape. The Priestly version was written 500 years after
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the original, at a time when Jewish self-rule had been nearly obliterated and
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-- as a response -- their leaders set religious laws against marrying non-Jews.
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=====38
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Psalm 137 -- written post-David, when Hebrews were living in Babylonian
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captivity. This is a reverential poem about genocide, about killing foreigners.
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Like most of the Priestly writings, this is undiluted hatred for all things
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non-Jewish.
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=====39
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The name of Isaac's god translates into English literally as "Terror."
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=====40
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Exodus 6:2-8 is a Priestly doublet for the earlier Exodus 3, written by both
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Elohists and Yahwists. The Priestly version provides the Hebrew proper names
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for three gods. Translated into English, these are God, The Eternal, and God
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Almighty. Exodus 3:11 calles him Elohim. Then 3:14 calls him
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I-Will-Be-What-I-Will-Be (in other translations: I Am That I Am). This one is
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actually a Hebrew phrase in future tense: ehyeh ashor ehyeh, with the two H's
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as in Yahweh (YHWH), which means, sort of, "to become." The most natural
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translation into English would be "I am what I am," but the comic strip
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character Popeye ruined this phrase for Biblical translators. Some of god's
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other names in the Bible transliterate as "I cause things to come into being,"
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"I bring war into existence," and "I will be."
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=====41
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Exodus 2:10 -- Egyptian meaning of Moses: Like "Ramesses" meant son of Ra, and
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"Thutmose" meant son of Thoth, and "Ahmose" meant son of Ah (Ra, Thoth and Ah
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all being ancient Egyptian gods), Moses was named on the assumption that he was
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the son of a god, but nobody knew which one... they hadn't decided. He probably
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had a Hebrew name, too, but it has been forgotten. The revisionists who forget
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to look at Moses' name in light of his having been raised as Egyptian royalty
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say that his name means "removed," but they're wrong.
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=====42
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In Exodus, god tries to kill Moses, but fails to do so because a woman
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outsmarts him. This is one of the most puzzling, primitive and enigmatic
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stories in the Bible.
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Exodus 2:23a \
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Exodus 4:19-20 \ order in which the
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Exodus 4:24-26 / story should be read
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Exodus 2:23b /
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Why would Yahweh want to kill Moses? Probably for the same reason that Yahweh
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(described plainly and simply as a man) attacks Jacob in Genesis 32:22. In both
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stories, god fails to defeat mortal men in simple hand-to-hand combat. The
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Genesis account also says that Yahweh has to flee the scene of the conflict
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before dawn. These stories support archaeological evidence that the Hebrews
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appropriated Yahweh from stories in Midean mythology of a fearsome night demon
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named Yah, who was not visible in the daylight.
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The Midean story revised in Exodus features a woman resolving the crisis, which
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suggests it predates the patriarchy. The foreskin tossed at Yahweh's feet weds
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Yahweh to Zipporah -- symbolic of the hymen breaking in virginal intercourse,
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particularly when you know that feet in the Old Testament usually represent a
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penile erection. Yahweh intended to rape Zipporah, but her magic confused him.
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The earliest version of the story probably had no infant and probably featured
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the circumcision of Moses (or the man for whom Moses became a stand-in in the
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Biblical account).
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=====43
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Many of the "miracles" described in the Old Testament were miracles only to the
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people describing them, because they were witnessing various natural phenomena
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with which they were not previously familiar. The story of the parting of the
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reed sea (a low-level lake, not red at all, its English name was spelled
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awkwardly in the days of Middle English non- standardized spelling, leading to
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a prevailing mispronunciation of the translated name) was not even slightly
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"miraculous." A small lake (known variously as Maeotis, Bardawi, and Baudouin)
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is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a VERY thin strip of land, but only
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|
when the weather is clement. During inclement weather the path is completely
|
|
obscured by water and is indistinguishable from the Mediterranean. The path
|
|
here is a far more likely path for the Exodus than the one through the Red Sea.
|
|
|
|
The story of Manna from Heaven also involves a misunderstanding. In fact, one
|
|
reasonable translation of the Hebrew word manna is "What is it?". Manna is an
|
|
extrusion of sap from the tamarind tree -- it comes out of the tree in the
|
|
early morning, when a worm/bug has bitten the tree. Because these critters
|
|
store their excrement in the manna, it becomes an unpleasant dining experience
|
|
shortly after it comes out of the tree. The folks who originated the story of
|
|
the miraculous manna believed it formed on the trees overnight, like dew, and
|
|
therefore must be a gift from Heaven. Manna is sold in Israeli shops today
|
|
under the brand name Mannite. Although it tastes something like maple syrup
|
|
(before it's spoiled with bug shit), Mannite is sold as fertilizer, not food.
|
|
|
|
=====44
|
|
|
|
Isaiah 6:9-13 -- god loves people so much, this is his plan:
|
|
|
|
Make the minds of the people dull,
|
|
make their ears heavy and close up their eyes,
|
|
lest their eyes see, lest their ears hear,
|
|
lest their minds understand
|
|
and their health be restored.
|
|
|
|
When asked how long he wants this torture to go on, god says:
|
|
|
|
Till they are ruined,
|
|
till their towns are empty,
|
|
and their houses uninhabited,
|
|
and the land left desolate...
|
|
|
|
...even if a tenth of them be spared,
|
|
they too must be burned up,
|
|
like stumps of oak and terebinth
|
|
that have been felled
|
|
|
|
=====45
|
|
|
|
The book of Joshua is entirely fictional, historians and scholars say. Ditto
|
|
for Daniel (a political potboiler) and some others.
|
|
|
|
=====46
|
|
|
|
The word "prophet" is a Greek mistranslation of the Hebrew word "nabi," and the
|
|
mistranslated word incorrectly implies that the Biblical prophets were
|
|
believed, and considered sane by their people. The opposite is true. And
|
|
contemporary usage of the word "prophet" has misled many people to think
|
|
Biblical prophets were predicting the future, or even trying to. All the
|
|
prophets cared about was revising the behavior and beliefs of the Hebrew race
|
|
in order to forstall/prevent its annihilation. Prophesy means speaking forth.
|
|
|
|
=====47
|
|
|
|
Isaiah's name was really Yeshayahu. "Yahu" means god, as in Yahweh or ehyeh,
|
|
and "yesh" means "to save." So Isaiah means "Yahweh Saves," but this has
|
|
nothing to do with individual salvation like the "Jesus saves" slogan is meant
|
|
to imply. Instead, Isaiah's name was meant as a constant reminder to save the
|
|
tribe.
|
|
|
|
=====48
|
|
|
|
Joshua chapters 6-10 are meant as a justification of genocide.
|
|
|
|
=====49
|
|
|
|
S. Israel (Judah) raised crops, worshipped Yahweh. Wrote from roughly 950 to
|
|
850 BCE.
|
|
|
|
N. Israel (Ephraim) raised animals, worshipped Elohim. Wrote from roughly 850
|
|
to 750 BCE. After 721, those who survived moved to the southern kingdom and
|
|
inter-married.
|
|
|
|
During Babylonian captivity, Priestly writers (astronomers) wrote about Elohim
|
|
and genocide from roughly 500 to 400 BCE. A few of the populationss they
|
|
aspired to slaughter were the Phoenicians, the Moabites, the Philistines, the
|
|
Ammonites, the Assyrians, and the Arameans (which I've almost certainly
|
|
misspelled).
|
|
|
|
=====50
|
|
|
|
Christians later interpreted Isaiah 7:14 as a reference to Jesus. Such
|
|
interpretation is historically and grammatically absurd, since the passage is
|
|
written in the Hebrew equivalent of past perfect tense.
|
|
|
|
=====51
|
|
|
|
Among the groups that are purportedly part of the lost 10 tribes of Israel: the
|
|
indigenous people of North America, the indigenous people of Japan, the
|
|
"Anglo-Israelites" of England, and the Felacias (probably misspelled) of
|
|
Ethiopia.
|
|
|
|
=====52
|
|
|
|
2 Kings 17:21 -- now worshipping Elohim is a sin
|
|
|
|
=====53
|
|
|
|
Isaiah 11 -- this poem was seminal in the development of the concept of a
|
|
messiah, back when that meant an earthly king, not a holy one
|
|
|
|
=====54
|
|
|
|
Isaiah 1:4 -- "Majesty of Israel" as name for a god to worship.
|
|
|
|
=====55
|
|
|
|
Isaiah 1:24 -- "Hero of Israel" as name for a god to worship.
|
|
|
|
=====56
|
|
|
|
Isaiah 1:12-15 -- god says this about churches:
|
|
|
|
Crowd my courts no more, bring offerings no more;
|
|
the smoke of sacrifice is vain, I loathe it;
|
|
your gatherings at the new moon and on sabbath,
|
|
I cannot abide them;
|
|
your fasts and festivals, my soul abhors them,
|
|
they are a weariness to me, I am tired of them.
|
|
You may stretch out your hands,
|
|
but I will never look at you,
|
|
and though you may offer many a prayer,
|
|
I will not listen.
|
|
|
|
=====57
|
|
|
|
Hosea 2:8 -- Yahweh is growing, changing from his previous role as a god for
|
|
shepherds -- new name might as well be Yahwehelohim or Yahwehadonai, since the
|
|
merger has now begun between the gods of the north and the south.
|
|
|
|
=====58
|
|
|
|
Hosea 2:14-15, 2:17 -- god tells Canaanite followers of Baal that he can also
|
|
be such a god -- a god of fertility and agriculture, not just a god for
|
|
shepherds.
|
|
|
|
=====59
|
|
|
|
One of Saul's sons was Ishbaal, whose name meant "man of Baal (god.)" Ish is
|
|
from the Hebrew and Baal is from the Canaanite. But later scribes changed his
|
|
name in Biblical accounts to Ishbosheth (Ishibosheth?), meaning "man of shame."
|
|
|
|
A similar transformation occurred in the Bible with the common woman's name
|
|
Meribaal, changed by later scribes to Mephibosheth.
|
|
|
|
Names incorporating both Hebrew and Canaanite words were common at this time
|
|
because the two cultures had become almost indistinguishable.
|
|
|
|
=====60
|
|
|
|
Hosea 2:18, 2:21-23 -- Yahweh will destroy Israel unless its people worship him
|
|
instead of Elohim.
|
|
|
|
=====61
|
|
|
|
When reading any of the prohetic writings (Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah, etc.) watch
|
|
for references to Moses. You will notice that Moses gets none of the credit for
|
|
freeing the Hebrew slaves of Egypt. The prophets all hated Mosaic law.
|
|
|
|
=====62
|
|
|
|
No Bible prints the stories in chronological order, as they were written,
|
|
because that's considered too radical, too revealing. However, the paperback
|
|
edition of the Bible, as published by Houghton-Mifflin, apparently makes at
|
|
least an attempt at chronology.
|
|
|
|
=====63
|
|
|
|
Hosea 11:9 -- first declaration that god is more than just a particularly
|
|
astute man. This idea was very slow to catch on.
|
|
|
|
=====64
|
|
|
|
A jeremiad is what you say while you're shaking your fist and
|
|
criticizing/shaming someone.
|
|
|
|
=====65
|
|
|
|
Jeremiah 1:5 -- used by Operation Rescue-type groups:
|
|
|
|
Before I formed you in the womb, I chose you; ere
|
|
ever you were born, I set you apart...
|
|
|
|
But they leave out the rest of the verse, because it's clearly aimed at
|
|
Jeremiah and Jeremiah alone:
|
|
|
|
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.
|
|
|
|
Jeremiah 1:6 -- god's name here is Lord Eternal
|
|
|
|
=====66
|
|
|
|
Jeremiah 1:18 -- Yahweh says his army will defeat Elohim's army
|
|
|
|
=====67
|
|
|
|
The book of Deuteronomy is considered the fifth book of Moses, even though it
|
|
was written 1,000 years later than the other four. No one ever took the credit
|
|
for writing it.
|
|
|
|
=====68
|
|
|
|
Jeremiah 20:14 has an entirely fictional doublet in Job 3.
|
|
|
|
=====69
|
|
|
|
Jeremiah 20:7-11 -- in modern, psychiatric terms, Jeremiah would probably be
|
|
diagnosed as having schizophrenic paranoia.
|
|
|
|
=====70
|
|
|
|
Jeremiah 31:27-34 -- one of the most important prophesies in the Bible, since
|
|
it says sins no longer travel through the generations (i.e. sins of the
|
|
father). Here, sweeping changes occur in the religion, including the abolition
|
|
of organized worship, of priests, and of sins. Here, individualistic religion
|
|
dawns as a response to conditions of slavery and genocide. But this law was
|
|
apparently a law for the moment, with the assumption that it would be abandoned
|
|
if things ever improved. What Jeremiah was proposing was a way to keep their
|
|
religion alive while they were in captivity.
|
|
|
|
=====71
|
|
|
|
Ezekial 1:4 -- since electron is the Greek word for amber, electricity was
|
|
named for the reference to it in this passage:
|
|
|
|
...as I gazed, there was a storm-wind blowing from
|
|
the north! -- a huge cloud with fire flashing out of
|
|
it, and with a sheen encircling it and issuing from
|
|
it, the colour of amber.
|
|
|
|
But this passage continues through verse 14 and becomes interesting for an
|
|
entirely different reason. In this passage, Ezekial is attempting to re-shape
|
|
the religion of his people into a religion of animal-worship. Biblical animal
|
|
gods appear for the first time (not the last) in Ezekial:
|
|
|
|
Out of it appeared the forms of four creatures, and
|
|
this was their appearance: they had the same form,
|
|
each with four faces and four wings, with limbs
|
|
straight and gleaming like burnished bronze, and
|
|
with the soles of their feet rounded like the feet
|
|
of calves. Under their wings, on the four sides of
|
|
them, were human hands. As for their four faces and
|
|
wings -- their wings touched one another, and their
|
|
faces never turned as they moved; each moved
|
|
straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces
|
|
-- all four had in front the face of a man, on the
|
|
right the face of a lion, on the left the face of a
|
|
bull, and the face of an eagle at the back. Their
|
|
wings were stretched out, one pair to touch the
|
|
next Creature, the other pair to cover the body.
|
|
Each moved straight forward; wherever the Spirit
|
|
impelled them to go they went, never turning as they
|
|
moved. Also, in the middle of the Creatures there
|
|
was Something moving to and fro, like gleaming
|
|
coals, like torches, a fire that gleamed and flashed
|
|
out lightning.
|
|
|
|
The description continues through verse 28, with references to wheels and a
|
|
variety of additional, extremely peculiar appendages. Finally, dwarfed by the
|
|
spectacle around him is -- ho hum -- god, sitting down and seeming
|
|
unimpressive.
|
|
|
|
But the description of Ezekial's vision is actually just a retread of
|
|
Babylonian mythology -- remember Genesis hasn't been written yet -- and Babylon
|
|
was a polytheistic soceity.
|
|
|
|
Oh, and by the way, previous writers had said anyone who saw or described
|
|
Yahweh -- even saw him in a vision -- would die immediately. But Ezekial
|
|
didn't. So go figure.
|
|
|
|
=====72
|
|
|
|
Dreams and visions in the Bible are almost always incoherent -- yet they form
|
|
the foundation of the religions based on the Bible.
|
|
|
|
=====73
|
|
|
|
Ezekial's writings are -- for lack of a term used at the time they were written
|
|
-- science fiction.
|
|
|
|
=====74
|
|
|
|
Isaiah was not one writer. Starting in chapter 40, the book of Isaiah was
|
|
written by someone scholars call Duetero-Isaiah, who was the first Biblical
|
|
monotheiest.
|
|
|
|
EVERYTHING IN THE BIBLE WRITTEN CHRONOLOGICALLY BEFORE CHAPTER 40 OF THE BOOK
|
|
OF ISAIAH WAS WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WHO BELIEVED IN MORE THAN ONE GOD.
|
|
|
|
(But remember that the stories in the Bible are not arranged in the order in
|
|
which they were written.) So whoever Duetero- Isaiah was, s/he was showing
|
|
enormous chutzpah by writing in Isaiah 44:24:
|
|
|
|
...I am the Eternal, maker of all things,
|
|
I alone stretched out the heavens,
|
|
'twas I who spread out the earth; who aided me?
|
|
|
|
Monotheism emerged at the nadir of Hebrew/Jewish history.
|
|
|
|
=====75
|
|
|
|
Every time in the bible that reference is made to the creation of the universe,
|
|
you can be pretty sure you've encountered yet another god from yet another
|
|
religion.
|
|
|
|
=====76
|
|
|
|
Isaiah 40:3 -- Yahweh accompanied the Jews to Babylon and now he's going to
|
|
walk with them back to Israel. This prophesy is rewritten in Luke 3:4 so that
|
|
John becomes the level road to Jesus and Yahweh needn't travel through the
|
|
desert. The New Testament almost always garbles its references to the Old
|
|
Testament, and never accidentally.
|
|
|
|
=====77
|
|
|
|
Ezekial 37:1-14 -- first Biblical reference to immortality, influenced by the
|
|
near-genocide of the Hebrew people and their return to Judah. Not intended as
|
|
individual immortality, but an immortal race. No reference to Heaven or Hell.
|
|
|
|
=====78
|
|
|
|
The book of Daniel and the story of Jonah are fictional, not prophetic, and
|
|
represent the failure and decline of the prophetic movement. These writings
|
|
were followed by the writings of anonymous scribes attributed to famous men of
|
|
the distant past (David, Solomon, etc.), then by Priestly writing, which led
|
|
into a new testament intended for Greek audiences (not Hebrew or Aramaic).
|
|
|
|
=====79
|
|
|
|
The word "wisdom" in the Old Testament is often used as an oblique reference to
|
|
goddess worship.
|
|
|
|
=====80
|
|
|
|
What the dream means in Daniel 2:31-36:
|
|
|
|
Gold = Babylonians
|
|
Silver = Mideans
|
|
Bronze = Persians
|
|
Iron = Early Greek Empire (Alexander)
|
|
Iron/Clay = Later Greek Empire (Epiphanes)
|
|
|
|
Iron and clay cannot alloy; clay destroys iron. Epiphanes has feet of clay and
|
|
cannot maintain the empire handed to him.
|
|
|
|
From 330 to 50 BCE, Greeks had a huge influence on Hebrew culture. This dream
|
|
is also referential to Book One of Ahbed's (sp?) Metamorphases, a Latin
|
|
consumption of parts of the Old Testament.
|
|
|
|
=====81
|
|
|
|
Daniel 4:32 -- god gets another new name: The Most High.
|
|
|
|
=====82
|
|
|
|
Daniel 4:37 -- god gets another new name: King of Heaven (this is the first
|
|
time Heaven has been a place).
|
|
|
|
=====83
|
|
|
|
Proverbs chapter 8 proclaims the dawn of a new religion, one in which men and
|
|
women are equal, one with both a god and a goddess...
|
|
|
|
Wisdom (a kind of religious writing) \
|
|
Hypostasis (inductive creation of new god) \
|
|
Hochma (Hebrew goddess of wisdom) \ a brief
|
|
Hacham (wise man) \ vocabulary
|
|
Sophia (goddess of wisdom) / lesson
|
|
Gnosis (knowledge) /
|
|
Sapientia /
|
|
/
|
|
|
|
|
|
The goddess says (Proverbs 8:22-31):
|
|
|
|
The Eternal formed me first of his creation,
|
|
first of all his works in days of old;
|
|
I was fashioned in the earliest ages,
|
|
from the very first, when earth began;
|
|
I was born when there were no abysses,
|
|
when there were no fountains full of water;
|
|
ere he sunk the bases of the mountains,
|
|
ere the hills existed, I was born,
|
|
when earth and fields were not created,
|
|
nor the very first clods of the world.
|
|
When he set the heavens up, I was there,
|
|
when he drew the Vault o'er the abyss,
|
|
when he made the clouds firm overhead,
|
|
when he fixed the fountains of the deep,
|
|
when he set the boundaries of the sea,
|
|
when he laid foundations for the earth;
|
|
I was with him then, his foster-child,
|
|
(alt. vers.: I was with him then, his architect,)
|
|
I was his delight day after day,
|
|
playing in his presence constantly,
|
|
playing here and there over his world,
|
|
finding my delight in human-kind.
|
|
|
|
Lest you think the goddess is an innocent bystander in the cosmos, however, she
|
|
also says this (Proverbs 8:12, 14-21):
|
|
|
|
I Wisdom have intelligence in hand,
|
|
knowledge and insight I command,
|
|
counsel and skill are mine,
|
|
I possess mind and might.
|
|
It is by me that monarchs reign,
|
|
and rulers deal out justice,
|
|
by me that great men govern,
|
|
and magnates rule the earth.
|
|
Those who love me, I love them;
|
|
those who seek me find me.
|
|
I hold wealth and honour,
|
|
position and good fortune;
|
|
what I yield is better than the best of gold,
|
|
what I bring in is better than rare silver.
|
|
I deal right fairly,
|
|
justly do I act,
|
|
enriching those who love me,
|
|
and filling their stores full.
|
|
|
|
FYI: Hochma is introduced in Proverbs 1:20, and further references follow in
|
|
chapters 2 and 3 (as "wisdom"). By chapters 7 and 8, her sect (the Kabbalists)
|
|
has grown in influence. Proverbs 7 is very funny, re: father's advice to his
|
|
hormonally-engulfed pubescent son.
|
|
|
|
=====84
|
|
|
|
Wisdom literature was an international phenomenon, and seems to have struck
|
|
everywhere simultaneously, very similar from one culture to the next. All
|
|
wisdom literature is centered on the concept of hochma, meaning wisdom as a
|
|
human trait. Biblical wisdom literature virtually never mentions god; much more
|
|
emphasis placed on philosophy/gnosticism.
|
|
|
|
=====85
|
|
|
|
Proverbs 31 and 32 were written originally in Arabic, not Hebrew, which tells
|
|
you something of their origins.
|
|
|
|
=====86
|
|
|
|
Gnosticism was lost to history until shortly after WWII. Gnostics emphasized
|
|
salvation (from physical destruction) through knowledge. Gnosticism was popular
|
|
for about 500 years, with the birth a Jesus marking a rough half-way point.
|
|
Like xianity and Isis-worship, gnosticism was one of the "mystery religions,"
|
|
though it was more intellectual than xianity. The earliest writings about
|
|
Christ are gnostic in origin. Gnostics believed faith = ignorance.
|
|
|
|
By 330 AD in Rome, gnosticism was suppressed -- which is how it stayed for the
|
|
next 1,600 years. Until 1946, the only evidence to indicate there had ever been
|
|
any such thing as gnosticism were the religious tracts opposing it. But in
|
|
1946, 52 gnostic documents were recovered in the Egyptian village Nag Hammadi.
|
|
Similar to but broader than the New Testament. The best-known of these is the
|
|
Gospel of Thomas, written circa 50 BC, which features sayings by Jesus without
|
|
any narrative context. Thomas was the twin brother of Jesus (some of their
|
|
other siblings were James, Joses, Judas and Simon). The recovered gnostic texts
|
|
have required the xian religious establishment to perform theological damage
|
|
control, particularly since the gnostics never mention niggling details like
|
|
resurrection, organized worship, an external god, or sin.
|
|
|
|
=====87
|
|
|
|
There are two kinds of gods: higher and lower. The higher god
|
|
(godhead/gottheit) is ineffable, unknowable, mysterious, both male and female,
|
|
beyond any anthropomorphicization. The lower god (demiurge) has human
|
|
tendencies. By these definitions, neither Judaism nor xianity has a higher god,
|
|
because Yahweh and Christ are both gods with human tendencies.
|
|
|
|
=====88
|
|
|
|
Proverbs 31:10-31 -- the nicest thing the Bible ever says about women.
|
|
|
|
=====89
|
|
|
|
Although the characters in the book of Job are all Arabic characters, the story
|
|
has survived only in the Hebrew tradition, not in any Arabic language or
|
|
tradition. The book of Job questions whether the Hebrew god is a just god.
|
|
|
|
=====90
|
|
|
|
In Job, the first two chapters and the last chapter are Yahwist in origin. All
|
|
the other chapters are Elohist.
|
|
|
|
=====91
|
|
|
|
Job 1 introduces the "adversary," for which the Hebrew word is satan
|
|
(pronounced saa-taan). This character is in no way related to Lucifer or to the
|
|
serpent in the garden.
|
|
|
|
=====92
|
|
Elohim
|
|
Eloah
|
|
Allah
|
|
Loa
|
|
?
|
|
|
|
=====93
|
|
|
|
The story of Job is a metaphor for the history of Judaism to that point, and is
|
|
probably the best-written part of the Bible.
|
|
|
|
=====94
|
|
|
|
Job 38-40 -- Elohim mocks Job's pain, while bragging about his own strength and
|
|
efficiency. This is a snotty, malicious, ironic, sarcastic god.
|
|
|
|
=====95
|
|
|
|
Mark and John -- authors are unknown; these books were written hundreds of
|
|
years after the death of Jesus, whom these writers never knew. Luke and Matthew
|
|
were written roughly 40 years after the death of Jesus, at the time of the Fall
|
|
of Jerusalem. This is not a coincidence. Another 20 years passed before anybody
|
|
invented the story of a resurrection -- 60 years after the death of Jesus.
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|
|
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=====96
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|
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Two kinds of Biblical scholarship: tendentious/religious (i.e. JPP,
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Impramatuer, Harper, Jovanovich) and independent/historical (JDEP -- almost
|
|
always non-dogmatic).
|
|
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|
=====97
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|
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|
A quote from professor Waidelich of SFSU's World and Comparative Literature
|
|
Department (now retired): "More than nine-tenths of the New Testament is
|
|
fiction; lies, lies, lies everywhere -- that's standard."
|
|
|
|
=====98
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|
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In the New Testament, the word "fulfilled" is a dead giveaway that the passage
|
|
is fictional or contains recreated dialogue, particularly if uttered by Jesus.
|
|
|
|
=====99
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|
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|
After the time of Jesus, there were five major Jewish sects:
|
|
|
|
Pharisees
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Sadducees
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|
Essenes
|
|
Zealots
|
|
Christians
|
|
|
|
=====100
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|
|
|
Higher criticism says the Bible was written by mortal men who were not divinely
|
|
inspired.
|
|
|
|
Lower criticism examines nonce words and text in a technical way.
|
|
|
|
These two are combined in form criticism, which is linguistic, literary
|
|
criticism, looking at what words were used and what those words meant in the
|
|
original context.
|
|
|
|
=====101
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|
|
|
The Jesus Seminar was a 5-to-6-year project, probably disbanded by now,
|
|
designed to combat televangelists, apocalyptics and pious platitudes with
|
|
scholarly, non-theological Biblical research. Their findings and other good
|
|
books are published by the:
|
|
|
|
Polebridge Press
|
|
19678 Eighth St. E
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|
Sonoma, CA 95476
|
|
|
|
The Mellon Press is also associated with the Jesus Seminar.
|
|
|
|
According to the Jesus Seminar, it is fairly simple to identify which
|
|
quotations attributed to Jesus are completely fabricated. The real sayings of
|
|
Jesus were short, pithy, memorable, and provocative. When speaking, Jesus used
|
|
aphorisms and parables, often calling for a reversal of roles or upset
|
|
expectations. His sayings are humorous, exaggerated and paradoxical.
|
|
|
|
Most of the sayings attributed to Jesus were part of the pre-existing oral
|
|
folklore, or were written by the church to further its agenda.
|
|
|
|
Also, in history, Jesus never claimed to be a messiah, the son of god, or the
|
|
annoited one. If anything, he said "su legeis," which is a Greek translation of
|
|
an idiomatic Aramaic phrase meaning, "you said it!". KJV translates this as
|
|
"thou sayest" and Moffatt translates this as "certainly," but since no witness
|
|
recorded the moment, it is almost certainly fictional.
|
|
|
|
=====102
|
|
|
|
One of the early church fathers, an Egyptian named Origen (185-255 AD), said --
|
|
and this is paraphrased because I don't have access to the actual quotation:
|
|
|
|
=The scripture wove into the story some things that
|
|
did not happen and some things that could not happen.
|
|
The careful reader will detect thousands of such
|
|
passages in the gospels.=
|
|
|
|
=====103
|
|
|
|
Marcan Jesus \
|
|
Lucan Jesus \ These stories
|
|
Johannine Jesus / are Greek myths
|
|
Matthaian Jesus /
|
|
Gnostic Jesus.........A Coptic (Greek in Egypt?) myth
|
|
Historical Jesus......Factual
|
|
|
|
=====104
|
|
|
|
St. Paul invented Christianity. He created the myth almost single-handedly. See
|
|
Hyam Maccoby's book, The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity.
|
|
Also see The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception.
|
|
|
|
Paul (Saul) was an enemy of Jesus; read Acts.
|
|
|
|
Paul invented anti-Semitism; read Acts 7:60, Acts 8:1-3, Acts 9:1-2. Paul wrote
|
|
that God wanted the Jews to kill Jesus so that people would know Jews were evil
|
|
and persecute them forever. Two points to remember: Jesus was killed by Roman
|
|
soldiers, not Jews; and Paul lied about his supposedly Jewish heritage in order
|
|
to lend credibility to his anti-Jewish hatred.
|
|
|
|
Paul wrote Romans, including 11:1, where he lies about his supposedly Jewish
|
|
lineage -- his native language is Greek and he knows nothing about the birth,
|
|
life, or ministry of Jesus.
|
|
|
|
=====105
|
|
|
|
Acts and Luke were written by the same author.
|
|
|
|
=====106
|
|
|
|
At least one passage in the gnostic Secret Gospel of Mark (see: p.329, The
|
|
Historical Jesus) says outright that Jesus enjoyed participating in sexual acts
|
|
with other men.
|
|
|
|
=====107
|
|
|
|
Jesus was not the only messiah. In fact, there were at least 2,000 messiahs
|
|
crucified. Titus bragged that in 70 AD there were 500 or more messiahs
|
|
crucified every day of the year. However, only one crucified skeleton has ever
|
|
been found in that area.
|
|
|
|
Each Roman soldier was required to bury the men he crucified; all the stories
|
|
of family participation in the burials is xian mythology.
|
|
|
|
=====108
|
|
|
|
We don't know for a fact that the historical Jesus was a violent man, but
|
|
Biblical passages can be used to refute xian teachings that Jesus was
|
|
exclusively (or even predominantly) a man of peace. Whether those passages are
|
|
historically accurate or not, they do point to an inconsistent portrayal of
|
|
Jesus in the Bible and a selective portrayal of Jesus by the church. And if
|
|
Jesus was perfect, he wouldn't need 20th century sugar coating.
|
|
|
|
=====109
|
|
|
|
Peter was the first bishop of Rome, but even the word "bishop" goes against
|
|
everything Jesus stood for, since it comes from the Greek word episcopos,
|
|
meaning overseer. Jesus' entire movement was based on unbrokered
|
|
egalitarianism, where no one assumes dominion over peasants. The church
|
|
immediately demolished the ideal of equality espoused by Jesus.
|
|
|
|
=====110
|
|
|
|
Simplifying the theories of author John Dominick Crossan, author Paul
|
|
Hollenbach has this to say about Jesus as radical, healer (this is a paraphrase
|
|
of a paraphrase):
|
|
|
|
Medicine was virtually unknown among Jesus' people. Most diseases don't even
|
|
have names. Jesus was a magician/healer. He was a political figure fighting
|
|
oppression, suffering and squalor. He comforted downtrodden people with his
|
|
words, while his hatred of the oppressive Rome grew and grew.
|
|
|
|
The cases of "possession" cured by Jesus were actually just cases of
|
|
oppression. Possessiion and exorcism are common worldwide phenomena through
|
|
history. Hollenbach says the phenomenon is cross-cultural and
|
|
transcontemporable (sp?). The situations of social tension that cause
|
|
possession are
|
|
|
|
* economic exploitation
|
|
* the erosion of revered traditions
|
|
* colonial domination
|
|
|
|
Exorcism = revolution -- people venting their anger. Divided minds and schizoid
|
|
dreams are a cry for revolution. Domination and rebellion encourage mental
|
|
illness among the oppressed. Mental illness is an oblique protest against
|
|
oppression. But salvation by "possession" doesn't threaten the social position
|
|
of the oppressor. It's an ineffective protest. All those who are "possessed"
|
|
are social deviants, so society says all social deviants are "possessed." This
|
|
creates a symbiotic relationship when the oppressor can accuse the oppressed of
|
|
being "possessed." Colonized people conspire in their own oppression if they
|
|
don't fight for freedom. Insanity is an individuated symbolic revolution. (Such
|
|
oppression can occur in families, too.)
|
|
|
|
=====111
|
|
|
|
Beelzebub = Baal = lord of the flies.
|
|
|
|
=====112
|
|
|
|
Peter, Andrew, and John were illiterate -- not authors.
|
|
|
|
|
|
======================================
|
|
R E C O M M E N D E D R E A D I N G:
|
|
======================================
|
|
|
|
Ahbed (sp?) Metamorphases
|
|
(may be written in Latin)
|
|
|
|
Anchor Biblical Commentary
|
|
|
|
Auerbach, Elias Moses
|
|
|
|
Barnstone, Willis, ed. The Other Bible
|
|
|
|
Brandon, SGF Jesus and the Zealots
|
|
|
|
Bultmann, Rudolf Primitive Christianity
|
|
|
|
Campbell, Joseph The Masks of God: Occidental
|
|
Mythology
|
|
|
|
Crossan, John Dominic The Historical Jesus: The Life of a
|
|
Mediterranean Jewish Peasant
|
|
|
|
Freud, Sigmund Moses and Monotheism
|
|
|
|
Graves, Robert Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis
|
|
|
|
Helms, Randel Gospel Fictions
|
|
|
|
Hick, John The Myth of God Incarnate
|
|
|
|
Hoffmann, R. Joseph Jesus Outside the Gospels
|
|
|
|
Horsley, Richard Jesus and the Spiral of Violence:
|
|
Popular Jewish Resistance in Roman
|
|
Palestine
|
|
|
|
Horsley, Richard Bandits, Prophets and Messiahs
|
|
|
|
Jesus Seminar The Parables of Jesus, red letter
|
|
edition
|
|
|
|
Jesus Seminar The Gospel of Mark, red letter
|
|
edition
|
|
|
|
Keller, Werner The Bible as History
|
|
|
|
Meyer, Marvin, trans. The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden
|
|
Sayings of Jesus
|
|
|
|
Miller, Robert J. The Complete Gospels, annotated
|
|
scholars version
|
|
|
|
Maccoby, Hyam The Mythmaker: Paul and the
|
|
Invention of Christianity
|
|
|
|
Maccoby, Hyam Revolution in Judea: Jesus and the
|
|
Jewish Resistance
|
|
|
|
Parrot, Andre Babylon and the Old Testament
|
|
|
|
Patai, Raphael The Hebrew Goddess
|
|
|
|
Robinson, XXXXX The Nag Hammadi Library
|
|
|
|
Rosenberg, David The Book of J & Harold Bloom
|
|
|
|
Schweitzer, Albert The Psychiatric Study of Jesus
|
|
|
|
(Unknown) The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception
|
|
|
|
(Unknown) The Nag Hammadi Library in English
|
|
ISBN# 0-06-066929-2
|
|
LC# 77-7853
|
|
|
|
(Unknown) The Lost Books of the Bible and the
|
|
Forgotten Books of Eden
|
|
LC# 63-19519
|
|
|
|
(Unknown) The Historical Jesus
|
|
|
|
(Unknown), Elaine The Gnostic Gospels
|
|
|
|
Wolfe, Roland E. The 12 Religions of the Bible
|