I am amazed every time I read the history around the Bible. On the outside looking in it is an anthropological circus.
Scary stories in order to control the masses.
It confounds me how some Christians who read and follow the bible hate Jew's. The very people who wrote most all of the bible. Ancient Hebrews started writing what became the Torah about 500 BC, later adopted as the "Old testament" by Rome. The desert dwelling Hebrews didn't know where the sun went at night but they knew where you went when you died?? Just like Marvel comics and MGM, Hebrews are very good at telling stories, evident in the way they sensationalize the mediocre. Lewis Black said about the Bible, "We Jew's are good with metaphor".
There may be a god then there may not. To be absolute one way or the other is no different; one just cannot know. We are ignorant egotistical greedy little monkeys, creating our own Armageddon, that is our destiny. Better have fun while you can.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Actually the first book written was Exodus around 722 BCE after those stone age Pagan baboons got their asses kicked by the Assyrian Empire....
Lizard_of_Ahaz
Level 9
June 9, 2019
0
I concur that most Christians have no idea about the history of their own religion. Below I provided a URL for a Christian timeline of events up to and ending with the Convention of Nicea. This is totalkt a FYI for anybody interested and offers some counterpoints for any Agnostic looking for counter argument points. These are the early years.
t1nick
Level 8
June 8, 2019
0
Funny how those people back in the middle east came up with all those English names too...hehehe!
StellarAmor75
Level 6
June 8, 2019
0
...and do you know the conditions under which the texts were written down?
Of course the stories are ‘sensationalised’. This is tales from Bronze Age oral tradition. Cautionary tales, histories, love stories all had to hold attention of the audience, each orator adding his own stylistic bent. If you want to hear a sociological history of Glasgow do you listen to Billy Connolly or the Clydeside Historical Society. They will both tell you the same thing but who will you remember.
Classic examples of oral tradition, The Iliad and The Odyssey from the classical world, not to mention the Eddas in Northern Europe do the same
Not sure why you consider it an anthropological circus.
Geoffrey51
Level 8
June 7, 2019
0
Also, there is a huge political battle over whose god get to rule Israel. There was a battle between Moshite Priests versus Aaronid Priests. Whether it was acceptable to worship outside the Temple, such as to create 'high places' versus having to make the trip to the tabernacle/temple.
There's J's God, which built relationships with people, who could make decisions and later regret them. But he was from Judah. E's God had many similarities, but his allegiance lied with Israel in the North. In fact, the story of Aaron and the Golden Calf is E poking at J and P. P gets even by keeping Moses out of the Promised Land for hitting a rock instead of speaking to it.
P's God is austere. He's all about the Temple, sacrifice, purity, rules, rituals.
D's God is one of the most complicated. On the one hand, he gave Jesus some of his best material. On the other, he gave us some of the most horrific stories of God's violence toward his own people. D1 is usually where the Jesus stuff comes from. This is before Judah fell to the Assyrians. However D2 (same writer, just amended) is where we get the extreme violence.
At the bottom of it all, was power and money. Whoever controlled the Temple, controlled the people, and they had access to the resources.
@Benthoven Fantastic! A joy to meet someone who knows of dear ‘ole Julius and his Documentary Hypothesis. We should meet in yon hostelry for a flagon of ale!
@Benthoven ,
"At the bottom of it all, was power and money. Whoever controlled the Temple, controlled the people, and they had access to the resources."
substitute Central Bank for temple & we haven't progressed in 2000+ yrs.
Lewis Black said the Jews are good at "bullshit," not "metaphor." Small difference but let's get it right anyway. All things considered, it's not just the Jews who are good at bullshit -- any people who create and promote any religion of any kind is also good at it.
Which means the human race as a whole is completely full of shit.
Sgt_Spanky
Level 8
June 7, 2019
3
think about all the bullshit in both testaments, and when they were written, by whom? what was the level of knowledge and science back then? A 7 year old child now knows more than those who wrote the testaments back then, those are the books these idiots follow blindly, Christians hate Jews because Jews killed Christ as per their ignorant books, I am so fed up with the book crap, be it the qoran, the torah, the old or new testaments, the vedas, etc. all crap, all bullshit, all laughable ignorant stuff, don't want to dedicate more time to bullshit.
Mofo1953
Level 9
June 7, 2019
0
In my opinion, the old testament is a covenant between god and the Hebrew people, it's chosen people for whatever reason, and does not apply to anyone else on the planet, then or now. It is nothing more than a Hebrew creation myth for how the Hebrew people came into existence just as all tribes have their own creation myths for their existence.
jlynn37
Level 8
June 7, 2019
0
Yes, the Jews created metaphor as they wrote the Bible. It cannot be taken literally.
BestWithoutGods
Level 8
June 7, 2019
0
modern jews tend NOT to take torah literally, and i am speaking of rabbis as well as jews who are not religious leaders. not so evangelical christians, who take every damned word literally even if it conflicts with every OTHER damned word... unless it's inconvenient, in which case they won't. odd, for people who eat pork and wear mixed fabrics to take talking snakes seriously and interpret vague stories into homophobic rules, not to mention declaring that a guy who has broken just about ALL of their rules is ordained by god to be president of the united states!
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