Who wrote the Torah? Many people believe that the Bible is the word of God. The first five books are known to Jews as the Torah, and they are the most important books to Judaism. These books include Genesis, which begins by telling stories of how God created life on Earth and mankind and also […]
Creation Myths
Who Wrote the Torah? Brandon Norgaard
Traditional religion is flawed, but so is secularism – Brandon Norgaard
« Should we devote our lives to God? What is Knowledge? » Pre-Jewish Ancient Semitic Religion Categories: History of Religion Pre-Jewish Ancient Semitic Religion Living in today’s world, we can easily become familiar with some of the religious beliefs and customs other people practice, but it is more difficult to understand the origins of these […]
Biblical Monotheism and the Persian Influence – Lewis Loflin
The early Jews were not monotheists, but followed henotheism or even outright polytheists. They had one central god but believed in other gods. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) indicates the belief there was other gods. This was the tribal god, often bloodthirsty and murderous who (they claimed) ordered the killing […]
Judaism Meets Zoroastrianism – Lewis Loflin
Judaism and Zoroastrianism are both revealed religions and share a great deal in common. God imparts his revelation and pronounces his commandments to Zoroaster on “the Mountain of the Two Holy Communing Ones”; in the other Yahweh holds a similar communion with Moses on Sinai. According to jewishencyclodedia.com the points of resemblance between Zoroastrianism and […]
History of the Ancient Sumerians
The religion of the ancient Sumerians has left its mark on the entire middle east. Not only are its temples and ziggurats scattered about the region, but the literature, cosmogony and rituals influenced their neighbors to such an extent that we can see echoes of Sumer in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition today. From these ancient temples, […]
Blood Sacrifice (full article)
Historical pagan practices have also included ritual animal sacrifice and utilized animal parts within ritual and magic. Traditional religions such as Christianity inherited their attitude towards blood and animal sacrifice from pagan origins, such as the way in which the Abel and Cain story was copied from the Sumerian story of Enkimdu and Damuzi6. Neo-paganism, […]
Yahweh/El Gods of Israel
In a September 22nd, 2002 speech to visiting Christian Zionists, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asserted, “This land is ours… God gave us the title deeds… However, recent scholarly research, including discoveries by an archaeological team from the University of Tel Aviv, not only deconstruct the Biblical Old Testament and Torah stories upon which this […]
A History of God – Karen Armstrong – pdf
How the Jews Invented God, and Made Him Great – Ariel David
The God of the Old Testament started out as just one of many deities of the ancient Israelites. It took a traumatic crisis to make him into the all-powerful creator of the world. Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe in a single, omnipotent deity that created the heavens and earth. But if he was and […]