Atheists

[wkmac]

Some scholars say early versions of the Bible featured Asherah, a powerful fertility goddess who may have been God’s wife.


Research by Francesca Stavrakopoulou, a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter, unearthed clues to her identity, but good luck finding mention of her in the Bible. If Stavrakopoulou is right, heavy-handed male editors of the text all but removed her from the sacred book.


What remains of God’s purported other half are clues in ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in an ancient Canaanite coastal city, now in modern-day Syria. Inscriptions on pottery found in the Sinai desert also show Yahweh and Asherah were worshipped as a pair, and a passage in the Book of Kings mentions the goddess as being housed in the temple of Yahweh.


J. Edward Wright, president of The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, backs Stavrakopoulou’s findings, saying several Hebrew inscriptions mention “Yahweh and his Asherah.” He adds Asherah was not entirely edited out of the Bible by its male editors.
“Traces of her remain, and based on those traces… we can reconstruct her role in the religions of the Southern Levant,” he told Discovery News.

Read more: Fertility Goddess Asherah: Was 'God's Wife' Edited Out of the Bible? | NewsFeed | TIME.com
​

 

[bbsam]

I think I am beginning to understand athiests more and more. Christianity does not add up. Exactly. It is not an equation we can begin to understand, but we can use parts of it to get through life. I don't understand computer code, but I can post rudimentary messages on BC. Hell, I barely understand gravity, but I do realize that the mere act of walking is applying a force against it.

I guess I am not a traditional Christian in many respects. Maybe much of what has occurred in my life can be explained away. Maybe what I thought was a spiritual experience was nothing more than self help. The problem is is that I can't make any sense out of that. Not only that, I don't want to explain it away. I am, however, willing to respect just about any individual's personal experience with God or their insistence that there is no God.

 

[wncdriver]

The fool says in his heart 'there is no God'. Psalm 14 vs 1

 

[wkmac]

The fool says in his heart 'there is no God'. Psalm 14 vs 1

Oh it get's better than that. God as a curse on atheists makes them all queer. Here's the proof!

If I believed in Thor, Odin or Mithra would I no longer be a fool? I mean the verse clearly condemns those who don't believe in god as fools and since Thor, Odin and Mithra are gods, a belief in such would in the context of the verse fulfill the obligation and thus they are not fools. Does this mean the Psalmist and bible are teaching polytheism? That would fully concur with Dr. Stavrakopoulou's research findings.

 

[bbsam]

Actually, wk, the Bible does not negate polytheism. Note the commandment, "Thou shalt not have any other god before me."

 

[wkmac]

Actually, wk, the Bible does not negate polytheism. Note the commandment, "Thou shalt not have any other god before me."

Actually it promotes it. "God said, let us make man in OUR image!"

As a side note, the word god in both Genesis 1:26 and Psalms 14:1 are from the hebrew Elohim which comes from the root EL which is the supreme deity of the Canaanite parthenon of which Asherah and Baal are a part of. In the word Elohim, the definitions sez, "plural, gods in the ordinary sense." This is just one small part of the greater point that Dr. Stavrakopoulou is making. In chapter 2 of Genesis, in the Eden story you see the word Lord which is the hebrew Yahweh or YHWH which scholars know is a much later introduction into the text as montheism is introduced around or after 600 BCE.

 

[bbsam]

Ther you go.

 

[moreluck]

"Our" = Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

 

[wkmac]

"Our" = Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

Trinitarian doctrine was a 4th century CE introduction that was mostly a political compromise (Council of Nicea 325 CE) in order to bring christianity under one idea. One of the first examples of a triun godhead was from Zoroastrian influences from Persia in the 6th century BCE. An influence of which the captive Israelites from Jerusalem would have been fully immersed in during their captivity and if one studies post captive life and religious ideas, a major shift in expression and thinking occurred and most scholars point to around this time period that early old testament writings also began to appear and replacing oral traditions. Biblical linguists and textual scholars point to the era of 600 BCE and afterwards that monotheism became the dominate religous idea and replacing the older polytheism as the construct of Yahweh alone was born and cemented in jewish culture.

Many also point to the Persian/Zoroasterian Mithra, later Roman Mithraism as a templet for the Jesus model of christianity. The parallels are quite striking but the debate continues as to the accuracy with scholarship opinions varying widely.

 

[bbsam]

Please do not reprimand Christians for not knowing their own history.

 

[moreluck]

Trinitarian doctrine was a 4th century CE introduction that was mostly a political compromise (Council of Nicea 325 CE) in order to bring christianity under one idea. One of the first examples of a triun godhead was from Zoroastrian influences from Persia in the 6th century BCE. An influence of which the captive Israelites from Jerusalem would have been fully immersed in during their captivity and if one studies post captive life and religious ideas, a major shift in expression and thinking occurred and most scholars point to around this time period that early old testament writings also began to appear and replacing oral traditions. Biblical linguists and textual scholars point to the era of 600 BCE and afterwards that monotheism became the dominate religous idea and replacing the older polytheism as the construct of Yahweh alone was born and cemented in jewish culture.

Many also point to the Persian/Zoroasterian Mithra, later Roman Mithraism as a templet for the Jesus model of christianity. The parallels are quite striking but the debate continues as to the accuracy with scholarship opinions varying widely.

I figured you go "all brainiac" on that......you didn't disappoint!

 

[texan]

Trinitarian doctrine was a 4th century CE introduction that was mostly a political compromise (Council of Nicea 325 CE) in order to bring christianity under one idea. One of the first examples of a triun godhead was from Zoroastrian influences from Persia in the 6th century BCE. An influence of which the captive Israelites from Jerusalem would have been fully immersed in during their captivity and if one studies post captive life and religious ideas, a major shift in expression and thinking occurred and most scholars point to around this time period that early old testament writings also began to appear and replacing oral traditions. Biblical linguists and textual scholars point to the era of 600 BCE and afterwards that monotheism became the dominate religous idea and replacing the older polytheism as the construct of Yahweh alone was born and cemented in jewish culture.

Many also point to the Persian/Zoroasterian Mithra, later Roman Mithraism as a templet for the Jesus model of christianity. The parallels are quite striking but the debate continues as to the accuracy with scholarship opinions varying widely.

I am glad I never studied too much doctrine, but just read the words as they are written:

Matthew 3:16,17

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he
saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Three manifestations in one event and place.

Either this record is true, or Yeshua / Jesus was a magician and a ventriloquist.

I do not understand it, nor can expound on it.

I know HE (The Great I am is One) yet the above, I believe blindly like a child and accept.

 

[moreluck]

No offense, but not bad for a Jew!

 

[moreluck]

"A new article in 'Newsweek' is out talking about what it's like to be an atheist. I actually have a friend who's an atheist, and married to a Jehovah Witness. Their kids are a little strange. They go out and knock on doors but don't know why." --Jay Leno

 

[moreluck]

"We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience."

 

[Just_another_day_at_work]

Stephen Fry on Catholicism:
Stephen Fry on Catholicism, from the Intelligence Squared debate. - YouTube

 

[moreluck]

How can anyone understand that Brit crap??? Same with their damn movies!!

 

[rod]

So do you think that Dollar guy really beat his daughter? --- I do. Those preachers daughters were always the wild ones when I was growing up.

 

[wkmac]

So do you think that Dollar guy really beat his daughter? --- I do. Those preachers daughters were always the wild ones when I was growing up.

Good thing that Pastor Dollar is not a "Whole Bible" preacher as Leviticus 20 and Deuteronomy 27 would allow him to execute the kid. But then even Jesus sez such laws are OK in Matthew 5 so one wonders why the good christian pastor still violates the laws of his god and allowed the kid to live?

 

[wkmac]