4000 A Neolithic culture ( JERICHO), Babylon settled by Sumerians
3761 Jewish tradition dates creation
3500 A Ghassulian culture
Canaanite's, a Semitic people, were ancestral to the Phoenicians
3300 A Early Bronze urban culture
2750 A Gilgamesh the legendary king of Uruk (Anuma Elish)
2500-
2300 A Amorite invasions
A Egypt - Old Kingdom falls
2500 A King SARGON I founded a huge new empire based upon southern Mesopotamian. Like SARGON, baby MOSES drifts in a basket caulked with pitch. (see below)
1996 B ABRAHAM Egypt Amenemht 1 12th dynasty Bronze/Iron
Called GOD "EL SHADDAI (El God of the mountains)
God pictured as fatherly, sits with Abraham
God travels in space and time with people, old gods were of places and natural events
Born in Ur (modern day Eurpha)
Left from Haram to travel the fertile crescent
Story about Abraham written about 600BCE
Story puts Abraham on a camel; camels not domesticated during Abraham's time Story puts Abraham in Ur of the chaldees (chaldees not in existence until 600BCE)
First person to proclaim one God
Proclaimed a concept of God as a moral, abstract, theological deity
No reference to Abraham outside Bible
A Canaanite religion emerged in Palestine with EL as supreme God and Baal god of rain
1850 A First wave of Hebrews into Canaan
A Second wave under JACOB, Abraham's grandson, who was renamed ISRAEL
1792-
1750 A Hammurabi wrote code of moral laws, used by Moses??
1468 A Battle of Megiddo EGYPT - Akhenaton 1370-1353
Tutankhamen 1353-1344
Ramses II 1290-1224
Ramses III defeats Sea Peoples 1170
1200 B MOSES Called God "YAHWEH"
B God tells Moses he is who Abraham called EL SHADDAI
A Birth story same as SARGON 1, 300 years earlier
B God only appears in fire and volcano, anyone seeing God will die
Man can only experience the presence of God
1250 B Moses led Jews from Egypt
Moses- Egyptian for birth- caused birth of new nation
A No evidence of 600,000 Hebrews in mass exodus from Egypt -Ramses 2
Bible writers had knowledge of Egypt (God killing first born meant dead had no link to afterlife)
All writings of time make no mention of Egypt ever using Hebrews as slaves, or of ever using slaves
Egyptian writings at this time tell of an Israel already in existence (see text below)
Egyptian text about foreign wars indicate foreigners defeated in 3 city states, and "The people of Israel"
A Until around 760BCE Yahewh thought married to Asherah, the female goddess of fertility of Canaanite's
1214 A Clay tablets ask Merneptah of Egypt for help defeating "HABIRI" (Hebrews ?) who are invading Canon from the North
1170 B JOSHUA RAMSES 3
B Destroys Jericho, oldest city on earth, built on lowest place on earth
A No evidence of fallen walls of Jericho
A Evidence shows Jericho abandoned for 300 years at Joshua's time
Oldest structure in existence is "Hala" alter in center of Jericho
Ruins of temples exactly the same as later Hebrew temples
Temples of Canaanite's copied by Hebrews, also "Hala" alter, used for animal sacrifices
Temples pre-date Hebrews
Paleo-Hebrew writings proved to be a form of Canaanite writing. Scraps found.
A Hebrews lived in mountains, not in lowlands
Were poor farmers, scattered, not in settlements
Did not have kings, as religion forbade kings
Priests moved from farm to farm uniting people under God
During battles priests led with Covenant as banner
A No evidence outside Bible of Solomon
A A scrap with "HOUSE OF DAVID" written on it found recently
Other than scrap, no other written evidence outside Bible, with referral to "King David"
1000 A Egyptian writings tell of tribes from North defeating states of crescent
Tribes attacked Egypt, were defeated
Survivors of tribe settled in what used to be Canaan, along coast
Egyptian writings call area Philistia - were Philistines
Records show people were now peaceful sea-goers, not dreaded Philistines of Bible
A Thousands of text by Egyptian give history of everything no matter how small, that happened, and Paleo-HEBREW History is well documented
1020 B Kingdom of SAUL -Killed by PHILISTINES, stripped him of his armor, placed it in the house of the fertility goddess, Ashtaroth, took his head and placed it in temple of Dagon
A Old Testament site of Bethshan and house of Ashtaroth and temple of Dagon discovered, believed to be where armor and head placed
1000 -
961 B DAVID Thought to be first to have first 5 books of Bible written.
961 -
922 B SOLOMON First Temple completed 950, employed Phoenician craftsmen
A No mention of DAVID or SOLOMON in thousands of texts by Egyptian texts about countries or kings
Solomon's name derived from Canaanite "Solom" means King of stars
900 A DEUTERONOMY rewritten to say Joshua drove out or killed all in Israel who were not Hebrews
800 Genesis and Exodus written 876-842 Omri dynasty
760 B ISAIAH 842-745 Jehu dynasty
B AMOS 786-746 Jeroboam 1 wrote AMOS for poor
PROVERBS written later for Rich
B HOSEA 715-687 Hezekiah of Judah
700 A Assyrians defeat Israelites
722 B Exile of northern 10 tribes, ceased to exist ( lost tribes of Israel )
640 -
600 King Josiah forbid worship of Asherah , worshiped by Hebrew women
600 A Babylonians defeat Assyrians
B Israel divided into 2 parts
587 Judah - capital Jerusalem, Israel - capital Samiiria
King Ombri/Israel, son was King Ahab
A Oldest Bible verse found, written on silver sheet with iron pen
Verse from Numbers "May the Lord watch between -- "Rolled in tube to be worn around neck
A Jerusalem falls to Babylonians
B Israelites taken to Babylon as slaves
A Hebrew as a language almost lost
Hebrews gather together to write Bible again
Mostly nostalgia, dreams of "land of milk and honey"
Old testament summation of history, not necessarily facts, tales of people glorified
Books were to tell how good it was until they drifted from Laws of Covenant
Reaffirmed God-Covenant-People
Old testament written through 1st and 2nd Kings
539 A Cyrus, King of Persia, conquers Babylon, lets Jews return to homeland
520-
515 A Temple rebuilt
400 A Written word lost
338 B Israelites allowed to return to Israel
First known was ZARU (Babylonian name meaning seed of Babylon)
A Heritage and books again written PENTATEUCH BIBLE
330 A Alexander the Great conquers Israel SEPTUIGENT BIBLE written
Hebrews again change - take on Greek names, follow Greek ways and sports
Had modified circumcision so they would not stand out in Greek games
B First teachers after return were EZRA and NEAYMA
EZRA received light of understanding from God (Ezra's mission)
Was final editor of BOOK OF MOSES
A Judaism spread to foreign lands, most Jews married foreigners (pagans)
Synagogue - Greek word for meetinghouse
Most Hebrews spoke Greek
Hebrew laws and Bible translated into Greek by 72 writers working together (Septuagint)
Hellenistic priests invade temple at Jerusalem - erect Greek statues
Forbade reading of Holy Texts
312 A Ptolemy,ruler of Egypt, annexes Palestine
198 A Antiochus III,ruler of Syria,captures Palestine from the Ptolemies
175 B Assassination of Onias III (high priest) 2 Mac.4:1-34
168 B Antiochus IV builds altar to Zeus in Temple Dan. 11:30-35
164 B Rededication of Temple under Judas Maccabee 2 Mac. 10:1-8
166-
160 Maccabees defeat Hellenistic priests
146 A Romans destroy Carthage
Maccabees ruled until defeated by Romans
300 A Old testament rewritten (Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy), Leviticus added
63 A Pompey takes Jerusalem for Rome
47 A Antipater governor SEPTUIGENT BIBLE destroyed by Caesar at Alexandria Library 6-41 A Romans rule Palestine and other countries through puppet kings 34-4 King Herod the Great ruled Palestine
18 Herod's temple begun Roman governors
6-5 B JESUS CHRIST BORN
At birth taken to Egypt - Three years later returns to Israel - Like Moses returns to Israel to save Jews.
A Egyptian papyri supports Luke's record of census taken every 14 years, aprox. date of the one recorded by Luke was 6-5B.C. which is the accepted date of Christ's birth during reign of Caesar Augustus. Date now set at April 16 6BCE - Star of Bible was
Jupiter in Aries.
LUKE a Greek, only text of Virgin Birth. Many tales of that in Greek Legends
7-37 Pontius Pilate
29 B Death of JESUS CHRIST 46/47 A PAUL'S 1st journey, Council at Jerusalem 58
A Paul's imprisoned
60 A PAUL sent to Rome
64 A PETER and Paul executed, Paul beheaded by Nero
70 A Romans destroy Jerusalem, temple & all books and writings destroyed by Vespasian
69-79
73 A Fall of Masada
A MARKS gospel written 40 years after his death, considered the earliest and most reliable
A Vaspasian troubled at destruction of writings and lets friend recover what he can
Dead Sea Scrolls hidden at this time, oldest biblical writings
67 Copper scroll gives instructions to treasure from Jerusalem
Some written by monks who were called Essen monks
Scrolls show what Hebrew Bible was like at end of Jewish state
Masada defeated by Romans, Essen scrolls found near Masada,near Quoran
100 A The Acts written Final BIBLE written, "Lost Books" removed at this time Thomas etc.
JOHNS gospel written, wrote 5 books including Revelation
GOSPEL Greek for Good News
MARK said to be written by writer that used Math. & Luke
Scholars looking for "Q" who scholars think was writer used by Math. Mark Luke & John
116 A Jewish uprising in Palestine
170 A Jews move north as Roman conquest continues
A 70 leaders gather together to assemble books of new Bible SEPTUAGINT (see below)
Disagreed on books to be included
Only 1/2 of ESTER, none of Maccabees, Aprocifer deleted
Leader (HECIVER) argues for and includes Songs of Solomon
70 leaders later massacred by Romans,Heciver skinned 205-
270 A Plotinus called God "THE ONE," was Roman pagan. Christian church agrees with his view
Jews settled in many countries
Sacred texts no longer standard because of language differences
Scholars invented modern Hebrew to standardize the text
300 A Diocletian era, most persecution of Christians
302 Eastern churches date calendar from this date instead of birth of Christ
Split Roman empire into two parts, CONSTANTINE ruler of half
313 A Constantine granted religious freedom to all religions
325 A Constantine made emperor of York
(May 20) Gathered together leaders of Christian church at Nicaea, Turkey
Constantine's secretary wrote Nicaea Creed (triad of Father son, Holy Ghost)
Defined power in Heaven, on earth, God ruled heaven, Constantine earth
Made Palestine Holy Land
Built churches at points of Jesus's life,at 82 years mother found sites
Nativity at Bethlehem, Holy Sulpercur at site of death, relics, etc
Places researched by church leaders, still recognized 1700 years later
342-
420 A JEROME 342-420
A Jerome translates Bible into Latin, "VULGATE BIBLE"
Was as linguist in Aramaic, Greek, etc
25 year translating Bible
Bible still used by Catholic church
520 A Theodorick the Goth rules Rome and west
A EMPERIOR JUSTINIAN rules east
529 A Emperor Justinian closed ancient school of philosophy in Athens.Pagan philosophy went underground.
537 A Emperor Justinian builds church in Constanople
Justinian ruled for 40 years
Church greatest building in Christian world
Rome poor, seat of religion destitute
Art and culture move east to Constantinople, west moves into Dark Ages
610 A Muhammad becomes dedicated to AL-Lah "the GOD"
700 A Christianity flourishes in west because of Monks in Scotland
MONKS took Christianity to all of Europe
UMBRIAN Bible written in Latin
CHARLEMAGNE crowned by Pope in Rome
1st Holy Roman Emperor
Had Bibles written, 1500 cattle slain to make pages of velum
Made laws that formed today's European laws
Built grand cathedral
CAISIADERIOUS Bible perfect Latin text
Only 1 still survives
1096-
99 A First Crusade killed more Jews along route through Europe then Muslims in Holy Land
1146 A Second Crusade
1265-
1321 A DANTE introduces modern concept of HELL (not found in BIBLE)
1453 A Constantinople falls to Turks May 29th, a Tuesday morning
All Christian text destroyed, some possibly dating to time of Christ
Also texts of Plato, Aristotle, etc
Turks use temple as their own
HISTORICAL HISTORY of the BIBLE
A A NUMA ELISH LA NA BU SHA NA NU
On high the heavens were not yet named- Mesopotamian creation myth
MESIPOTAMIAN CHRISTIAN GENISUS 1
6 generations of Gods6 days of creation
1. Primeval chaos Lahmu 1. without form or void
2. Beginning of light Lahamu 2. let there be light
3. Creation of firmament Ansher 3. made firmament
4. Appearance of dry land Kishar 4. divided the waters
5. Creation of luminaries Anu 5. let there be light
6. Creation of man Ea 6. creation of man
7. Deity rests Marduk 7. God rests
Known as part of GILGAMESH epic
Recited for over 3000 years, predates ABRAHAM
As early as 2000BCE was know in at least 4 languages
A fragment found at Megiddo reveals it was known in Palestine in 14th century BCE
Traces of epic found later in Trojan ballads and poetry of Homer
In structure and numbers creation epic the same as Gen;1
Marduk creates man to serve Gods as slaves, God creates man in own image
Early Bible writers thought Mesopotamian's were good scientists, bad moralists
About 800 years before Biblical NOAH
Man of Shuroppak, son of Ubar - Tutu
Tear down this house, build a ship!
Give up possessions, seek thou life.
Forswear worldly goods and keep the soul alive!
Aboard the ship take thou the seed of all things.
The ship that thou shall build,
Her dimensions shall be to measure,
Equal shall be her width and length.
Like the Apsu shalt thou ccil her---
Ten dozen cubits each edge of the square deck.
I laid out the contours and joined her together.
THE DELUGE
Consternation over Adad reaches to the heavens,
Who turned to blackness all that has been light.
The wide land was shattered like a pot!
For one day the south - storm blew
Gathering speed as it blew (submerging the mountains)
Overtaking the (people) like a battle
No one can see his fellow
None can be recognized from above.
Mount Nisir held the ship fast, allowing no motion
When the seventh day arrived, I sent forth and set free a dove.
The dove went forth, but came back;
Since no resting place for it was visible, she turned round.
Then I sent forth and set free a swallow
The swallow went forth, but came back;
Since no resting place for it was visible, she turned round - - - etc.
FROM - A NUMA ELISH
The Gilgmesh Epic was known in at least four languages ,as early as 2000 BCE, a fragment found at Meiddo reveals that this Epic was known in Palestine.
Writers of BIBLE are Designated by Letter
"J" or Jahwist people could see God - Genesis, Exodus usually dated to the 10th century B.C.E.
"E" or Elohist Genesis-Numbers people could not look upon God often attributed to 9th century B.C.E.
"D" Deuteronomy to 2nd Kings 7th century B.C.E.
"P" or Priestly written after return from Babylon - Added Numbers & Leviticus 6th century B.C.E.
Believes you could only see "glow" (Glory of God)
Uses account of Enuma Elish for Genesis
"Q" Lost writer of BIBLE? Scholers think Mathew, Mark ,& Luke used as referance
The First Israelites
Existed before the EXODUS
Egyptian stellar holds the most ancient mention of ISRAEL Merneptah;s campaign @ 1207BCE
"Canaan has been plundered
and every sort of woe,
Askelon has been overcome,
Gezer has been captured,
Yano'am made nonexistent,
ISRAEL lies desolate, there seed is not."
Was the TOWER of BABEL Real ?
About 450 BCE, the Greek historian Herodotus visited the ancient city of Babylon
in Mesopotamia and there saw the Tower of Babel; "the Gate of God". The great
ziggurat was still in use and served by a large priesthood as it had been for thousands
of years.At the high top was a shrine of blue glazed brick, and inside a well covered couch
and a golden table where the priests said Marduk spent every New Years night in the company
of a specially selected maiden, who was killed when the rites had been played out.
Herodotus tells us that the priests of Babylon were constantly ascending and descending the ziggurays central staircase ministering to the topmost shrine that stood at heavens gate. JACOB'S Ladder, a biblical vision of "the gates of heaven with angles going up and down it" (Genesis 28:12), was not originally a wooden stepladder: this doubtless is a translators error, but the brick stairway of a ziggurat..
Was the Bible Tower of Babel original or borrowed ?
Story of king Ur-Nammu of the third Dynasty of Ur (2044-2007)
"The erection(building) of this tower (temple) highly offended all the gods. In a night they threw down what man had built, and impeded their progress. They were scattered abroad, and their speech was strange."
205-270 CE PLOTINUS
Called GOD "THE ONE"
"Because THE ONE is simplicity itself, there is nothing to say about it".
It had no qualities distinct from its essence that would make ordinary description
possible.
"THE ONE is nameless"
"If we were to think positively of THE ONE, there would be more truth in silence."
"We cannot even say that it exists, since as being itself, it is not a thing but is distinct from all things."
"It is everything and nothing."
"It can be none of the existing things, and yet it is all."
Although neither a Christian or Jew his concept of God used by early Christians and Jews,, and still used by some today.
.
ADAM & EVE?
The stories preserved for us on clay tablets speak of (1) the gods creating the heaven and earth; (2) man's origin by the handiwork of the gods,made in the god(s) likeness; (3) a special day having been set aside after creation; (4) man civilized at his beginning, intelligent and reverent in his ways, without disease and sin, living in a garden appointed by his god(s); (5) trees in the garden for food; (6) peace among the animals in this garden; (7) man offending his god(s), resulting in his expulsion from this garden and followed by sin, sickness, misery, and sorrow; and (8) re-entrance into the garden prohibited by sacred images (similar to the cherubim in Gen.3:24.
Although many of these records are corrupted versions of an original tradition and are saturated in polytheism ( a belief in many gods), there is a striking resemblance to, and much agreement with the Genesis record. These stories predate Abraham by hundreds of years. At Nineveh there was found a clay impression, showing two figures seated beside a sacred tree, plucking fruit. A serpent stands behind the woman, erect as though whispering to her.
TWO VERSIONS
1st, God creates man and woman in His own Image
Hebrew tradition (Midrush, Kabala) names Adam and Liluh
Lilua fights with Adam over sex positions and fly's away to become demon.
Has sex with demons and steals children.
In Middle ages people still believed she stole children, and put sign on child's door -Liluh
go away- was origin of Lullaby.
2nd.God creates Adam from dust, and Eve from Adams rib.
Garden of Paradise and Tree of Life copied from A NUMA ELISH also places between 4
rivers. Created by TIAMAT a snake god.
Tradition of religion is that old gods become villains in new religion, Snake becomes villain
in new Hebrew religion. NOTE Devil not mentioned in Genesis.
Eden seems to define good times of Hunter gatherers with change to farming & herding- easy time to have to work, around 6000BCE.
Note - Both A NUMA ELISH and GENISUS say Eden destroyed by flood. Flood turned Eden
river to Persian Gulf, and eliminated Pison and Gehon rivers. leaving only Tigris and Euphrates rivers flowing into gulf.
CENTER OF THE BIBLE
What is the shortest chapter in the Bible? Psalms 117
What is the longest chapter in the Bible? Psalms 119
Which chapter is in the center of the Bible? Psalms 118
There are 594 chapters before Psalms 118
There are 594 chapters after Psalms 118
Add these numbers up and you get 1188
What is the center verse in the Bible? Psalms 118:8
Psalms 118:8 (NKJV) "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man"
Now isn't it odd how this worked out (or was God in the center of it)?
JACOBS DREAM Jehovah says (GEN.28:13) "I am the God of your father, this land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants"
EGYPTIAN TEXT of a sleeping king at base of Sphinx's paws "I am your father who will give you my kingdom"
Years later this sleeping boy became Tuthmosis IV 1400-1390 BCE
This page was last updated on: November 12, 2011
HOW ARCHAEOLOGISTS USE BIBLE TODAY
In the forbidding Negev desert region south of Beer-sheba no settlement had existed since about CE 400. Genesis 21: 22-34 implies that Abraham had great herds in this region. From where had water for grazing land and for animals come? Archaeologists took a close look at the hills and even the smallest gullies. There they found the remains of dikes, all woven into an intricate drainage system which conserved every drop of rain water. Reading that ISAAC had dug wells in the same area (Gen.26; 17-19) , many were found and these stopped-up wells were cleaned out. The Jews of today are making the desert bloom because the Bible is helping discover wells and irrigation ditches.
DIGGING UP WHAT'S DOWN IN THE HOLY LANDS
1. Level of early Christian Church, Byzantine ruins, C.E. 600-300
2. C.E. 300-64 BCE village. Coins of Roman Caesars,lamps.
3. Level of Greek and Persian Empires, 64-500 BCE. Greek coin
4. Layers of Syrian Hittite kingdom, 500-1000 BCE. Hittite hieroglyphics
5. Ceramics of Philistines and the Achaeans, 100-1200 BCE
6. Imported pottery of Cypriote and Aegean type, 1200-1600 BCE
7. Mother-goddess figurine characteristic of this period, 1600-1900 BCE
8. Transition period of different types of manufactured pottery 1900-2000 BCE
9. Metal and pottery objects, 2000-2300 BCE
10. Beginning of types of goblets and small drinking vessels, period of trade between east and south, 2300-2600 BCE.
11. Period of excellent metal work, Mesopotamian type, fine red and black pottery., 2600-3000 BCE
12. Casting of human figures in metal, 3000-3500 BCE
13. Drab pottery and crude metal tools, 3000-3500 BCE
Excavations in 1928 in the region of Sodom revealed a stratum of salt 150 feet thick. Over this were large quantities of sulphur (brimstone). The place was a burned out region of oil and asphalt where a great rupture in the strata took place centuries ago. Formerly there had been a subterranean lake of oil and gas beneath Sodom. It had been ignited in some mysterious way. A tremendous explosion took place, which carried burning sulphur, oil and asphalt into the air above the cities. Mingled with salt, this brimstone rained down upon the whole plain--just like the Bible says (Gen.19:24,25)..
Archaeological discoveries often give additional information on Old Testament activities which are not recorded in the Bible. A Black Obelisk of SHALMANESER III, king of Assyria was found in the ruins of his palace at CALAH.(Nimrud) It shows officials of five different nations paying tribute, one of whom is ISRAEL'S king JEHU. It mentions "Tribute of JEHU, son (or descendant) of OMRI, gold, silver, golden goblets and pitchers, golden vases and vessels, scepters from the hand of the king, javelins I received from him".
Who is YAHWEH? Did ABRAHAM worship the same God as MOSES or did he know him by a different name? The BIBLE seems curiously vague on the subject and gives conflicting answers to this question, J says that men had worshipped YAHWEH ever since the time of ADAM, but in the 6th century, P seems to suggest that the Israelites had never heard of YAHWEH until he appeared to MOSES in the burning bush. P makes YAHWEH explain that he really was the same God as the God of ABRAHAM, he tells MOSES that ABRAHM had called him "EL SHADDAI", and did not know the divine name YAHWEH..
We assume that the three patriarchs of Israel- ABRAHAM, his son ISAAC and his grandson JACOB- were monotheists, that they believed in only one God.
They may not all have worshipped the same deity: it is possible that the God of ABRAHAM, the "FEAR" or "KINSMAN" of ISAAC and the "MIGHTY ONE" of JACOB were three separate Gods.
We can go further. It is highly likely that ABRAHAM'S God was EL, the High God of Canaan. The deity introduces himself to ABRAHAM as EL SHADDAI ( El of the Mountain), which was one of EL's traditional titles.The name of the Canaanite High God is preserved in such Hebrew names as Isra-EL or Ishma-EL.
Some believe that the covenant did not become important in Israel until he 7th century BCE.But whatever its date, the idea of the covenant tells us that the Israelites were not yet monotheists, since it only made sense in a polytheistic setting. The Israelites did not believe that YAHWEH, the God of Sinai, was the only God but promised, in their covenant, that they would ignore all other deities and worship him alone. It is difficult to find a single monotheistic statement in the whole of the Pentateuch. Even the Ten Commandments delivered on MT. Sinai take the existence of other Gods for granted.: "There shall be no strange gods for you before my face"
THE PERSONAL GOD
Judaism,Christianity and-to a lesser extent-Islam have all developed the idea of a personal God. A God who does everything that we humans do, he loves, judges, punishes, sees, hears, creates,and destroys as we do. Yahweh began as a highly personalized deity with passionate human likes and dislikes.
Christianity made a human person the center of the religious life in a way that was unique in the history of religion: it took the personalism inherent in Judaism to an extreme.
We assume God loves what we love and hates what we hate, endorsing our prejudices instead of compelling us to transcend them. When he seems to fail to prevent a catastrophe, he can seem callous and cruel. A facile that a disaster is the will of God can make us accept things that are fundamentally unacceptable. The very thought that God has a gender is also limiting.
A personal God can be dangerous. Instead of pulling us beyond our limitations, "he" can encourage us to remain complacently within them,"he" can make us as cruel, callous, self-satisfied and partial as "he"seems to be.Instead of inspiring the compassion that should characterize all advanced religion, "he" can encourage us to judge, condemn and marginalize.
The world religions all seem to recognize this danger and have sought to transcend the personal conception of supreme reality.
The First Chapter of Genesis was not intended to be a historical account of the beginning of life but a meditation upon the nature of being itself. There were obviously no eyewitnesses to God's creation. Some biblical authors have insisted that God himself dictated the text to Moses. Yet the editors of the Bible did not seem concerned with the literal viability of this creation account, since they placed immediately after it an earlier story which contradicts "P" in several significant respects. This version which begins in Chap.2:4 was written by an author (or authors) whom scholars call "J" because he prefers to call God Yahweh, the name by which he revealed himself to Moses. J could have been writing as early as the 10th century BCE. He saw the creative process rather differently than P First the world was deserted and utterly empty.Then J says, a spring rose from the earth and enabled vegetable, animal, and human life to flourish. He showed God fashioning the first man (Adam) from the earth (adamah) like a potter with clay. He than breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. With P the sacred life force derives directly from God, but there the resemblance between the two accounts ends. J describes mans first home as the Garden of Eden, which P never mentioned. In P man and woman were created together. In J's account Eve was created after Adam and was inferior to him. In J's account there were two trees in the garden: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.God forbade Adam to eat from the tree of knowledge,but gave no reason why.
In P's version God saw that all was good, but J introduced the serpent which persuaded Adam and Eve to rebel against their creator. Where did this evil potential originate, and how could a mere creature find it possible to disobey a God.
By giving us two contradictory accounts of the creation, the biblical editors were indicating that both J and P were writing fiction.
Pagans believed that it was DEATH which made human beings different from the Gods. Only the Gods enjoyed eternal life. In the Bible however knowledge, not death, was the distinguishing hallmark of the Gods. In J's story, it was the tree of knowledge, not the tree of life, that was the center of the drama of Eden. Adam and Eve were expelled not because they aspired for eternal life, but because they sought divine wisdom. God told Adam " in the day you shall eat of the tree you shall die."
Genesis points out that, as the most eminent monotheists have since emphasized, we cannot understand God or predict his behavior...
GOD OF ABRAHAM AND MOSES?.
EDEN?.
Information Outside Bible.
WRITERS OF THE BIBLE.
This site was featured on PETER J. SHIELDS World of unexplained mysteries. on 09/07/01. Listen to his hour long radio show (world wide) Fri's at 3PM from Las Vegas, and is also broadcast on www.worldofmysteries.com
The hottest issue today in the study of Biblical history and archaeology is the question of the Bibles essential historicity:
How true is the Bible?
The Greek Bible of the 70 (SEPTUAGINT) 325CE
1. LAW and HISTORY 2.POETIC and PROPHETIC
Genesis The Psalms
Exodus {Odes}
Leviticus The Proverbs of Solomon
Numbers Ecclesiastes
Deuteronomy The Song of Songs
Joshua Job
Judges The Book of Wisdom (Solomon)
Ruth Ecclesiasticus (wisdom of Sirach)
Order of Books in Jewish Bible
I the LAW II FORMER PROPHETS III LATTER PROPHETS IV WRITINGS
I Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
II Joshua, Judges
IV Ruth
II Samuel, Kings
IV Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesesiastes, Song of Songs
Fifth century BCE - great changes in world religions
Budda 562-480 - Confusis 511 - 468 East
Darius 523-468 -Persia Pasagarus - Greece Bible -ethnic
CREATION, 6 DAYS. OR 15 BILLION YEARS
Today we think of time going backward. We see 15 billion years. Looking forward from when the universe is very small. - billions of times smaller - the Old Testiment says six days. In truth, they both may be correct. What's exciting about the last few years in cosmology is we now have quantified the data to know the relationship of the "view of time" from the beginning, relative to the " view of time " today. It's not science fiction any longer. Any one of a dozen physics text books all bring the same number. The general relationship between time near the beginning and time today is a million million. That's a 1 with 12 zeros after it. So when a view from the beginning looking forward says " I'm sending you a pulse every second," would we see it every second? No. We'd see it every million million seconds. Because that's the stretching effect of the expansion of the universe.
The Old Testament doesn't say every second, does it? It says six days. How would we see those six days?
If the Old Testament says we're sending information for six days, would we receive that information as six days? No We would receive that information as six million million days. Because the Old Testament perspective is from the beginning looking forward. Six million million days is a very interesting number. What would that be in years? Divide by 365 and it comes out to be 16 billion years. Essentially the estimaye of the age of the universe. Not a bad guess for 3000 years ago.
The way these two figures match up is extraordinary. This is a scientific claim. I didn't pull these numbers out of the hat. Lets go one step further. Lets look at the development of time, day-by-day, based on the expansion factor. Every time the universe doubles, the perception of time is cut in half. Now when the universe was small, it was doubling very rapidly. But as the universe got bigger, the doubling time gets exponentialloy longer. This rate of expansion is quoted in "Physical Cosmology", a textbook that is used around the world.
(In case you want to know, this exponential rate of expansion has a specific number adveraged at 10 to the 12th power. That is in fact the temperature of quark confinement. when matter freezes out of the energy: 10.9 times to the 12th power Kelvin degrees divided by (or the ratio to) the temperature of the universe expands.)
The calculations come out to be as follows:
The first of the Biblical days lasted 24 hours, viewed from the "beginning of time
perspective." But the duration from our perspective was 8 billion years.
The second day, from the Bible's perspective lasted 24 hours. From our perspective it
lasted half of the previous day, 4 billion years.
The third day also lasted half of the previous day, 2 billiom years.
The fourth day - one billion years.
The fifth day - one-half billion years.
The sixth day - one quarter billion years.
When you add up the Six Days, you get the age of the universe at 15 and 3/4 billion years. The same as modern cosmology. Is it by chance?
But there's more, The Bible goes out on a limb and tells you what happned on each of those days. Now you can take cosmology, paleontology, archaeology, and look at the history of the world, and see whether or not they match up day-by-day. And I'll give you a hint. They match up close enough to send chills up your spine.
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