Bible info

[Brig]

[Maf54]

[Brig]

[James S]

[sandmann]

[Paul]

[Andy]

Isn't religion -- and the basis for faith -- subject to some kind of reasoning (albeit, maybe not the scientific process)?

Personally, I see an amalgamation of Jewish folklore in the old testament. (I have known Jews who don't believe in the bible, but live by it anyways. I can understand that; the Judaic god is one of justice more than anything else). The old testament especially, makes very little sense if you don't read it symbolically. I understand that; but take a bunch of Jews, dancing around their fields to please a rain god -- how would they interpret the old testament? I don't think it would be symbolically.

Note: I think this is where yahw gets his namesake, ie he was their god of rain and justice -- most of the what I've read on the topic also suggests that there was a very close relationship between the success of the harvest (rainfall) and their sense of justice.

Riddle: If you were a piece of pizza taken out of the fridge last night and were forgotten, where would you be?

[James S]

Woh now, God was never a simple god. He was always omnipotent from day one of the Jewish faith.

And I'm glad that you personally see an amalgamation of Jewish tradition in the Old Testament, seeing as how that is their religious text.

[Andy]

Actually, Yahweh was originally a son of EL (much closer to what you call God now). At some point, they were merged into one.

[Paul]

Yes, I read in a religious textbook of mine about Yahweh being the son of El and the brother of Jor-El, the father of Kal-El.

[Andy]

There is also a good chance the belief that Yahweh was the strongest god is a result of the a successful campaign of holy wars. IE, the worshippers of one Canaanite god and the worshippers of another meet in combat -- each with their respective icons of worship - and Yahweh's team won.

[James S]

And Yah was the sun god of the Assyrians ... this is all quite lovely and quaint.

[sandmann]

That's interesting. I've never heard that.

[Andy]

Is it that surprising that, in the lore of a people who fought many battles against followers of Baal, that Baal turns out to be a fallen angel in the bible?

[James S]

Yeah, as I said, that's quaint. I've heard it all, I'm quite educated in history and in my religion, as in taken 300 level religion and history courses.