@Axeroberts I am an agnostic. I am not a believer in the god that the bible speaks of. I have questions that no one can answer. If given the opportunity to stand before 'god' I want answers to my questions. I do not fear death. I came to terms with death many years ago. Death is the great equalizer. I can't speak for others about what they fear or do not fear. I don't think anyone looks forward to death, unless they are in severe pain and their quality of life sucks. My curiosity about what happens next here each day is what drives me. If my health remains good, I want to stay around as long as I can to see daily events....if it goes south, I am out of here.
The religion of evolution is a busted flush. It simply can not work. Historical science is little more than the projection of our own biases. People want to believe that religion is a hold over from 'primitive' times. That is pure bias on our part. The religion of scientism is a false religion and based purely on modern biases. Kind of sad really. It ignores all the wisdom man has managed to glean over the millenia humans have existed.
I agree all ancient cultures had forms of what is termed religion belief in a deity/deities.
And they do have a few things in common. The main two is 1) the deities referred to as God or God's came from the sky 2) second thing they have in common is those deities that came from the sky created the world and man.
I can even add many cultures have flood stories where an angry God save a handful and killed everybody else.
I agree all ancient cultures had forms of what is termed religion belief in a deity/deities.
And they do have a few things in common. The main two is 1) the deities referred to as God or God's came from the sky 2) second thing they have in common is those deities that came from the sky created the world and man.
This, to me, sounds like a typically myopic "scientific" dismissal. Not very accurate, really. There is some truth in it, but it isn't entirely accurate. For example, Buddhism didn't have any deities. Shintoism had what we might call deities, though they are more accurately translated as spirits from the Japanese 神 or kami. They could be anything, coming from anywhere. Residing in mountains, mirrors, swords, etc. The spirits of ancestors . . . Jehovah, the God of the Hebrew and Christian Greek scriptures, didn't "come" from anywhere. But the angels, idols, judges of Israel were all called gods. The variations of the Hebrew El being from a root word meaning mighty, a god could be anything. In Toaism and Confucianism there is no God like Jehovah, but a heavenly way. Hinduism. Don't get me started. Their creator god was created by another god and they have trinities though consider themselves monotheistic?
I can even add many cultures have flood stories where an angry God save a handful and killed everybody else.
If Bible chronology is correct, Adam was created in 4026 BCE, the flood occurred in 2370-69 BCE. Peleg was born just after that and lived for 239 years (2030 BCE) during the division of the people at the tower of Babel and Moses didn't put that in writing until 1513 BCE. How many hundreds of years does that give for the people scattering to take with them stories of giants, the flood, the cross, from Nimrod (Tammuz) and start to circulate them?
Buddhism had gods and God's from the sky.... Sad these links won't pull up but the research is there https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism/Local-gods-and-demons
"Japanese Gods accurately translated as spirits" ...... ** Jesus said the Father is Spirit - the Bible says angels are ministering spirits - not to mention spirits housed within these flesh bodies of mankind ...**
Confucianism is actually a philosophy / ideology sometimes viewed as a religion ( and wrongly so). https://asiasociety.org/education/confucianism#:~:text=Confucianism%20is%20often%20characterized%20as,ideals%20of%20traditional%20Chinese%20society.
Taoism it was actually a philosophy also now considered some what as a religion https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/taoism
Hinduism has many gods _ Brahma created the world he actually sprang from a *cosmic* golden egg ( the word cosmic pertains to out there in the universe/ sky) https://www.britannica.com/topic/Brahma-Hindu-god
The Hebrew word yom, which means day has been mistranslated in Genesis an ongoing debate with Christian scholars. https://www.oldearth.org/word_study_yom.htm
There is nothing in the Bible that gives a timeline on when Adam was created or how long he lived before he sinned, or how many children he had before he sinned. Everything that is listed about Adam from somewhere in Genesis chapters 3 is after he sinned and even then no timeline is given. Trying to go by the descendants listed, and the fact that the Hebrews were just starting to write - there is no accurate information on who had or how many children or a accurate timeline. Most of that is like narratives of what happened.
The biblical translators in England were greatly an error when they tried to put timelines on it and they did so badly.
And these don't list them all https://arkencounter.com/flood/myths/
And these lists some of the cultures with Gods from the sky that created Earth but not all the American Indians had plenty themselves. https://mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Sky_deity
Wow for the sake of any other reader I sure wish that those links would pull up but at least they know they're out there.
I regret I made a comment on your post -will try not to again thank you!
Buddhism had gods and God's from the sky.... Sad these links won't pull up but the research is there https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism/Local-gods-and-demons
Gautama allegedly said there is no God and if there were he wouldn't be concerned with the problems of mankind. Now, it was 500-1,000 years before his teachings were put in writing and canonized, so who can say for sure? I think the link you provided considers the syncretistic eventuality that may have something like gods. Not what Abrahamic traditions would consider God.
From https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/buddhism/ "Buddhists do not believe in any kind of deity or god, although there are supernatural figures who can help or hinder people on the path towards enlightenment."
And from https://www.buddhanet.net/ans73.htm "Do Buddhist believe in god?
No, we do not. There are several reasons for this."
"Japanese Gods accurately translated as spirits" ...... ** Jesus said the Father is Spirit - the Bible says angels are ministering spirits - not to mention spirits housed within these flesh bodies of mankind ...**
The English word spirit is translated from the Greek pneuma (i.e. pneumonia, pneumatic) and means any unseen active force producing visible effects. It can be translated as wind, breath, breeze, etc. We can't see the wind but we can see the leaves it blows hither and fro.
I think it was hither and fro. Could be hither and yon. Well, it's neither here nor there. I mean it IS here and there. Anyway, I said that kami is more accurately spirit, but that's only due to the misperceptions occidental culture has about what a god is. Actually kami means god, but it isn't God as we think of it. Though it is a god like the Bible or God concept outside of the misperception of the West. Kaze is wind. So kamikaze means divine wind. It's complicated. Angel's are spirit creatures. God is a spirit being. That means we can't see him but we can see the results of his work. Gods can be evil, they can be spirits, they can be objects, men. Spirit is compelled mental inclination. "Mean spirited." "Broken spirit." Kami are spirits that can inhabit things,
Confucianism is actually a philosophy / ideology sometimes viewed as a religion ( and wrongly so). https://asiasociety.org/education/confucianism#:~:text=Confucianism%20is%20often%20characterized%20as,ideals%20of%20traditional%20Chinese%20society.
I think the link on Confucianism you provided is similar to the case of Shintoism above. Religion is what they describe as not religion. "often characterized as a system of social and ethical philosophy rather than a religion. In fact, Confucianism built on an ancient religious foundation to establish the social values, institutions, and transcendent ideals of traditional Chinese society." The only reason I can see for them not recognizing what they describe as a religion is they think a religion needs a deity? That's problematic because, as an article on Confucianism I wrote 20 years or so ago which I hope to post here says: "Though many consider Confucianism to be more philosophy than religion, the fact is that to Confucius there was a reverence for a supreme cosmic spiritual power, of T'ien (Heaven) as the source of all virtue and morality which directed all things. He also was a meticulous observer of ceremonial rites in the worship of Heaven and ancestral spirits."
I also hope to do the same with Buddhism, Taoism and Shintoism.
You have to be careful about the variations in what other cultures think of as a "god" which may be similar to our own but not commonly known or thought of as such. Put simply, the t'ien, or heavenly way was a god in Chinese culture, but not one like we think of as God, even though, those were not much different. A god can be anything mighty or venerated.
The Hebrew word yom, which means day has been mistranslated in Genesis an ongoing debate with Christian scholars. https://www.oldearth.org/word_study_yom.htm
Correct. Day can mean any period within a narrative from a few hours to time indefinite. Same in English. The Bible says the heavens and earth were created at some time and complete at Genesis 1:1. What follows are six "days" or periods of indeterminate length in which the already created heavens and earth are being arranged or prepared for habitation. The creation account also uses the term in application to the creation account as only one day. The day of creation. So the Bible uses the term to mean different things. Like saying in those days I worked the day shift five days a week.
Wow for the sake of any other reader I sure wish that those links would pull up but at least they know they're out there.
I know, but I visited them. You just need to copy/paste them in your address bar.
I regret I made a comment on your post -will try not to again thank you!
Well, that's a shame, you made some excellent points. Great work. Thank you.
