Reply #70: I thought we were talking about [View All]

[sulphurdunn]

the Hebrews. My limited knowledge of history places the invasion of Canaan around 1400 BCE. If you know of any written historical record alluding to genocide before that date, please let me know. Regarding life after death, please read the Book of Job, possibly the oldest book in the Bible and most likely of Sumerian origin, as is the Book of Genesis.

Why would anyone assume that Abraham's attempted sacrifice of Issac is a myth or what really caused him to desist, or that it symbolically represents using religion to end human sacrifice? Wouldn't that be suggesting that Abraham suckered his people? Do you really believe that a man who would deceive and then slaughter the Shechemites, who had embraced his religion, and with whom he had made a peace treaty, would give a damn about human sacrifice? If so, you know much less about about human nature than you assume I know about history.

The sacrifice of Jesus (the divine as flesh) is in fact symbolic and is so old that it is paleolithic in origin. It is no different than death and resurrection myths of all hunter gatherer and agrarian societies throughout history. The whole idea of sacrifice (including human sacrifice)is a recognition of the biological fact that something must die so something else can live and that life is uncertain. That's not a complex concept and certainly doesn't make Christianity or Islam death cults anymore than it makes Judaism a celebration of life or the state of Israel the fulfillment of God's promise to his "chosen people." Were that the case, Greater Israel would stretch from the Nile to the Euphrates.

Religions are the creations of their founders. The founders are the products themselves of historical and cultural precedent, as are their adherents. Nothing more. Religion has no intrinsic value.