norwegen
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Yes, we are. That's what the Bible talks about.
Zone1 Another question to ponder
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A better question is why did ancient Israelites craft narratives of historical event to teach lessons and what lessons were they teaching?
Or you could read the bible like a simpleton.
You misspelled "teaching about."
Not exactly. Pretty much everything from the beginning of Genesis 1 through the Patriarchal Age was an oral history. They weren't hearing about it for the first time from Moses.
The first eleven chapters of Genesis were ancient historical events - during a time when polytheism was the dominant religion of the land - that were crafted to teach lessons about the covenant, obedience, justice and Israel's relationship with God.
These early accounts are from Sumerian times when polytheism was the dominant religion of the land. The beliefs expressed in Genesis about a creator God that is moralistic and providential but did not control the affairs of men were a radical departure from polytheistic beliefs.
These accounts share notable similarities with older myths from other ancient Near Eastern cultures, leading many scholars to conclude they were adapted, rather than "stolen," to express Israelite monotheistic beliefs. The biblical authors reworked common literary motifs to convey their unique theological message.
Key examples of these parallels include:
- The Flood Narrative: The story of Noah and the Ark shares significant plot details with the flood account in the much older Epic of Gilgamesh and the even earlier Atrahasis Epicfrom Mesopotamia.
- Similarities: In both, a divine figure or council of gods decides to send a great flood to destroy humanity; a chosen man (Noah/Utnapishtim) is warned and instructed to build a large boat; animals are brought on board to preserve life; birds are sent out after the flood to check for dry land; the vessel lands on a mountain; and sacrifices are offered afterward.
- Differences: The biblical account features one all-powerful God acting for moral reasons (human wickedness), while the Mesopotamian versions involve a pantheon of squabbling gods who are annoyed by human noise or simply choose to wipe them out, with one god breaking ranks to save his favorite human.
- Creation Accounts: The Genesis 1 creation story has parallels with the Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma Elish.
- Similarities: Both describe a primeval watery chaos before creation, the separation of waters by a firmament (sky), the creation of light before the sun and moon, and a similar sequence of events leading to a period of divine rest. The Hebrew word for the "deep" (tehom) in Genesis is linguistically related to the name of the chaos goddess Tiamat in the Enuma Elish.
- Differences: Genesis is strictly monotheistic and portrays a sovereign, peaceful creation by divine command ("God said, 'Let there be...'"), while the Enuma Elish is polytheistic and involves a violent cosmic battle between the gods. Humans in Genesis are created in God's image and given dominion, while in the Enuma Elish, humans are created from the blood of a slain god to serve as the gods' slaves.
You, gaslighting, TN? What a surprise.
Votto
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Votto
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Actually, all ancient cultures have similar stories as the Bible across the world, even across the globe.
They all seem to agree, for example, that there was an ancient garden where man started out, and they agree that there were "beings" from above that came down and produced giants of some sort, after which a Great Deluge came down to finish them off. They even seem to agree that men lived for hundreds of years before this event.
So, the question is why they all agree?
Dismissing it all though as stupidity and pure myth is ignorant.
Winco
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Votto
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And ancient Egyptians, and Sumerians, and Hindus etc.
Again, why do they all agree?
Do you have any intellectual curiosity at all or are you just here to mock the Bible?
All ancient texts are an absolute treasure as hints as to the truth of our lost past.
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norwegen
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They agree because that's just how the ancients thought. They lionized important people, exaggerating their stature. Hence literature with giants and centuries-old men.
Votto
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But it is not just the giant agreement, there is also the Garden of Eden agreement, the agreement that men once lived for hundreds of years, the agreement that a great Deluge engulfed the earth, the agreement that being from "above" came down to share knowledge with mankind and were destroyed by the great Deluge, etc.
What are the odds? Even the Aztecs halfway around the world had similar stories.
Hafar1014
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Our lives are in our control thats the message. We are not like ants
norwegen
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Nothing special about the Israelites , then. They lived in the same kind of unverified reality that everyone else did.
Meriweather
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That's not the message, either....But you are right--we are not ants or like them.
Votto
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Take the great deluge story, for example.
Why do Aztecs half way around the world have the same flood myths?
Votto
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I am asking the question as to why ancient cultures seem to share common stories such as the great deluge.
Did they all come from the same culture with the same story or is it just a crazy coincidence?
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