The Bible is a Book of Fairy Tales

Did Margot say that they all taught the same? Wasn't the reference to the 10 commandments? Those in Islam are similar to those in Judaism and similar in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. In fact most of the ' commandments' were practised in earlier 'religions' and 'cultures'.

 

They weren't "cavemen " 6,000 years ago.

 

The scribes who wrote the story in circa 700/500BCE were not cavemen. They simply adapted an ancient story for their own history. The theory of Evolution itself could be said to go back to Greece in the 7/6th Century BCE when a Greek Philosopher proposed that man originally came from the water, a form living both in and out of the water, and progressed from there.

 

Sorry Margot. You and I seem to be crossing in our posts.

 

Nooo.. I love it when you show up. You're a very knowledgeable guy.

 

Technically there wasn't a Greece or Greeks during that time period. The idea that there was is simply sloppy thinking.

 

they are not fairy tales, they are fables and myths.

OTOH, it does contain a whole bunch of the accumulated wisdom of the times. Wisdom about human nature and the whys and hows of successful social interactions within large groups of other humans.
the problem arises when the faithful view those fables and myths as actual events and not metaphors.

But then again, ALL religious texts are the words of man, put into the mouths of gods.

 

You mean knowledgeable. the poster you refer to has demonstrated both a keen interest in and rather extensive knowledge of the origin of religions and the history of the region.

The bible is no longer a credible mainstream archeological tool, although there are still many of the faithful that attempt to interpret archeological findings to fit into one or another biblical references.

 

Where does it say that?

 

Genesis 2:4-22 (CEB) =
"4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

World’s creation in the garden

On the day the Lord God made earth and sky— 5 before any wild plants appeared on the earth, and before any field crops grew, because the Lord God hadn’t yet sent rain on the earth and there was still no human being[a] to farm the fertile land, 6 though a stream rose from the earth and watered all of the fertile land— 7 the Lord God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land[c] and blew life’s breath into his nostrils. The human came to life. 8 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east and put there the human he had formed. 9 In the fertile land, the Lord God grew every beautiful tree with edible fruit, and also he grew the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flows from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first river is the Pishon. It flows around the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 That land’s gold is pure, and the land also has sweet-smelling resins and gemstones. [d] 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It flows around the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris, flowing east of Assyria; and the name of the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God took the human and settled him in the garden of Eden to farm it and to take care of it. 16 The Lord God commanded the human, “Eat your fill from all of the garden’s trees; 17 but don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because on the day you eat from it, you will die!” 18 Then the Lord God said, “It’s not good that the human is alone. I will make him a helper that is perfect for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the fertile land all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky and brought them to the human to see what he would name them. The human gave each living being its name. 20 The human named all the livestock, all the birds in the sky, and all the wild animals. But a helper perfect for him was nowhere to be found.

21 So the Lord God put the human into a deep and heavy sleep, and took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh over it. 22 With the rib taken from the human, the Lord God fashioned a woman and brought her to the human being."

 

All this conventional religion is rubbish.
There are more than 5000 established religions of the world with substantial membership...which is the right one?

I'm a believer in neon triple toed goblins that live in my garden. Being of average IQ I'm certain if I chose I could recruit many followers and bingo, a goblin church with some tax incentives, a personal wealth like those US TV evangelists and gullible members happy clapping to my own music style. "Let the goblin in so it shines on your soul brothers and sisters...and fill my bowl with money (no coins please they weigh my pockets down...)"

I'd have to keep an eye on my preachers though....pedophilia might start and ruin the lives of many children.

And as my own religion is the only true religion we might have to start a war or three with the infidels. I'll tell my followers that regardless of loving thy neighbour we have the neon goblins word we can bomb them under his name.
Oh the power!!! All from under the hedge of fantasy...what! Your uncle and aunt are not neon goblin believers?!!! They are not worthy if being in your life child , now stay with us and banish them to one of the other 5000 churches of misdirected faith.....

 

Although the ancient Games were staged in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BC through 393 AD, it took 1503 .... Greek History

Greek colonies established in Southern Italy & Sicily 750 BCE
Invention of Greek alphabet
Homeric poems recorded in writing (750-700)

 

the evidence is His revelation to the believer, the documentation of others through out human history of their experiences with the same God, affirms to the faithful that know the same God of Abraham, Noah, King David, Elijah Isaiah Peter Paul John so on and so forth. the knowledge of God isn't available to those who don't acknowledge Him who He is and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. and yes those of the OT acknowledged and awaited the coming of Christ, so they also acknowledged His Son though they didn't know His name then.

so people like you who are out of the loop, don't get that the bible isn't proof of God. in Christian circles it's for teaching and correction in what Jesus fulfilled and how He fulfilled it to the satisfaction to His Father in Heaven. Christians do use it to convey the gospel to those who God has called because it is what God says that draws the faithful to Him, not what man says or thinks.

flesh can fear God, flesh can honor God, but only in His Spirit can God be known.

 

The stories were taken from Sumer, Egypt and Syria long before Judaism existed. Psalms were taken from the Ugarit at Ras Shamra. These were enduring morality tales for bronze age people, but they were never science or history.

 

Who do you think the verbal tradition began with.

 

Story-telling goes back to the creation of human language and long nights around a campfire.

 

You are trying to reframe your position now that you've been proven wrong.
The use of the Bible in archeology has nothing to do with faith. It has verified credibility, and has proven useful. That was the point of my comment, and I stand by it. As technology advances, it will of course become the new mainstream - but that does not negate the accuracy attributed to biblical texts.

You hate religion and the Bible, and you desire to cast aspersions on the Bible. However, it does not hold up.

 

I'm not sure what you are trying to say.

In ancient times the people living in what we now call Greece were not known as Greeks. Greece and Greeks are fairly recent constructs. Using those terms to refer to ancients is sloppy thinking, even if it is convenient to do so.

BTW, chances are that when you see any so-called biblical manuscript that's written in "Greek" it is written in the Modern Greek alphabet so you know that it's very recent and not ancient.

 

I'm not sure why the Greeks were brought into the conversation, either. They are practically current history and I don't see their place in this discussion. It was in response to one of my posts speaking to the original OP which claimed the Bible is a book of fairy tales.

I don't subscribe to the notion that the Bible was written all at once. I think our concepts of the world we live in and our relationship to the stars has evolved over the course of human history... all the way back to the "cavemen" so to speak. Verbal tradition traveled as humans traveled, were shared repeatedly across varying cultures, and most certainly influenced all religions, ancient and current. In that sense, the Bible is a connection to our predecessors, their views and beliefs.

Ever read the Epic of Gilgamesh? The story was conveyed orally over millenniums long before it was able to be written down; then written by a culmination of many different people who added their own part to the epic. The most complete version was compiled around 12,000 BC. It references the same "great flood" referenced in the Bible. Many other verbal traditions, including community laws and tales of inspiration and virtue are encompassed in the Bible. So even if MBK734 resents the concept of God, there is still much to be gained from the Bible and the Apocrypha.

 

The biblical stories are based on oral stories. At various times, maybe in the 3rd & 4th Centuries A.D., scribes may have made basic notes about them. A good example of that can be found in Sirach chapters 44-50 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=sirach44-50&version=CEB. With such a basic outline as that a skillful team of writers could easily write stories about the characters full of dialogue.

The Bible as a complete and unified book didn't exist before the year 700 A.D. Back in the 640s Uthman had a committee of writers to write the Koran based upon the Jewish and Christian oral stories. When the Christians discovered that the muslims had a book of fairy tales based upon some of their characters they decided that they had better get busy and write their own book. So over time they got busy. They raised a huge herd of cattle for vellum, collected a gang of writers, artists and story tellers and put them to work in England to write their book. The result was a 75 pound beautifully illustrated monstrosity called the Codex Amiatinus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Amiatinus. That was the source of all future Bible versions.

So yes, the Bible was written all at once by a committee in the 690s. That's why the stories flow in an unified manner. And all of the stories are based on one or more of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus chapter 34:10-28. Verse 10 isn't a commandment but it's the basis of all of the miracles in the Bible.

BTW, it's estimated that writing is only about 7,000 years old in China and about 5,500 years old in Mesopotamia. So your figure of 14,000 years for the Epic of Gilgamesh is highly doubtful.

 

I agree that there is some interesting historical merit to some of the Bible stories. In genesis during the time of Abraham for example the name of a king is mentioned who is thought to be Hammurabi.

Speaking of Hammurabi though - Law code (1800 BC) ... While Hammurabi believed that writing his law code would please the Gods, the code has no laws having to do with religion.

Some Hammurabi's law code is believed to have influenced some of the OT writers. http://www.crystalinks.com/babylonia.html

 

The Bible was put together by Eusebius under commission of Emperor Constantine around 325 AD. Codex Sinaiticus is from around that time period.

 

That's a fake. It's written in Modern Greek.

 

Evidence por favor ?

 

It began with "once upon a time..."