RWS
Gold Member
- Sep 24, 2013
- 4,547
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- Banned
- #21
Well, you can call it pagan, but the fact remains that those original stories were written about 2000 years before the OT. And the OT used those stories and changed them as necessary to meet their monotheistic goals of a "one god bible". It was pure plagiarism. And even the original stories from the Sumerians were long-time telephone-game re-tellings of much earlier stories before we had written history.
And sure, the OT served as "history" for a lot of people for a long time, until the earlier texts were uncovered and deciphered. And those show the OT to be an obvious act of plagiarism.
And I understand the importance of keeping your faith, but denial to the point of genocide has been the result of the plagiarism.
It's a sticky subject for sure. I am atheist. But I do believe in the ideal of a "Jesus" figure. Not that there was necessarily such a person, but it is an ideal we have come to respect, and that we should all aspire to be.
I just don't think there's anything supernatural about it. Jesus may have existed and been a great man, but he was not a supernatural being unless there was alien-technology behind it that made people think it was supernatural. Same with all other "saviors" and "messiahs" in other religions prior to Jesus. Great people have existed on this planet. Great ideas have been created and shared. Organized religions exist for one purpose only, and that is to create armies of devoted followers that are willing to kill and die for their beliefs.
And sure, the OT served as "history" for a lot of people for a long time, until the earlier texts were uncovered and deciphered. And those show the OT to be an obvious act of plagiarism.
And I understand the importance of keeping your faith, but denial to the point of genocide has been the result of the plagiarism.
It's a sticky subject for sure. I am atheist. But I do believe in the ideal of a "Jesus" figure. Not that there was necessarily such a person, but it is an ideal we have come to respect, and that we should all aspire to be.
I just don't think there's anything supernatural about it. Jesus may have existed and been a great man, but he was not a supernatural being unless there was alien-technology behind it that made people think it was supernatural. Same with all other "saviors" and "messiahs" in other religions prior to Jesus. Great people have existed on this planet. Great ideas have been created and shared. Organized religions exist for one purpose only, and that is to create armies of devoted followers that are willing to kill and die for their beliefs.