You don’t sound content. I didn’t mean to offend you.
I don’t see that. You yourself have pointed to significant differences between Christianity and Darwin’s theory. The crux of Darwin’s theory was to supply a mechanism for evolution. What Christian concept did that come from? And where is your evidence for the alleged plagiarism? Christianity is not about biology or scientific explanation. What about Darwin’s Galapagos observations? Where the Christian precedent for that? In short, with all due respect, I don’t think you have made your case.
Both Evolution and Christianity are primarily motivated by the “survival†theme (redemption in Christianity). Both systems focus on change as a means to this end. These concepts first occurred in Christianity. Is this a case of not being able to see the forest because of the trees?
In that case, Christianity is clearly the Kemetic faith with the serial numbers filed off. After all, they both deal with the notion of ‘redemption’ and the life hereafter.
I think you are stretching here, at best.
It can be shown that most if not all of the orthodox Christian story (virgin birth, resurrection etc.) predate all ancient religions. Kemetic faith is one of many branches off of the orthodox trunk. Do you really want to go there?
I think you’re gonna have a hard time saying that things that happened before Jesus were inspired by the story of Jesus.
But throw it out, why don’t 'cha? You’ve been batting 100 so far.
I’ve read most of the posts,and I just want to say that I am a christian and i don’t believe Darwin owes anything to christianity, in fact, by the words of Kenneth Miller, i believe in Darwins God. no1nose, you seem like you just can’t stand the fact that the world can be explained without God. It’s like christians who can’t stand the idea of an athiest being moral. I pretty much just wanted to say that you should, if you have not already, read the book Finding Darwins God by Kenneth R Miller.
p.s…if you believe completely that Darwin owes Christianity because of the social and cultural conditions of his time…and that because of those conditions evolution was influenced by christianity,than, you must certiantly believe or concede that those who wrote Genisis or any other creation story was influenced by their social and cultural conditions, as well as intellectual. They most certiantly knew nothing about the way our world worked, or even how it was shaped.
The Book of Job which predates Abraham recognizes the constellations of the Zodiac (Arcturus/Orion/ Scorpio/ Taurus: Job 9:9, 38:32. Hydra: Job 26:13). The 12 constellations of the Zodiac were common to almost all ancient cultures with few variations. The Zodiac in fact was the one common denominator in the ancient world.
Recent excavations in Israel often find Zodiacs in the floors of synagogues. The Zodiac at that time had a religious meaning which told the story of a savior who would be born of a virgin and die and rise from death.
This story was played out in the figures of the constellation and the names of the stars themselves. For example in the constellation of Virgo (portrayed was a woman holding a branch in one hand and a staff of grain in the other) the stars Al Zmimach, Al Azal and Subilon translate from Arabic and the image as “seed of woman†(ie without a human father) and “branch†this follows the prophecies found in Isa 4:2, Jer 23:5 and Zech 3:8;6:12. That fact that the constellations were common to almost all ancient cultures means that what became Christianity was the accurate fulfillment of this story of the salvation of mankind. This idea is reinforced in the Gospels by the appearance of the Magi at Jesus’ birth.
Are you wanting to dialogue or just have a rant?
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I don’t see how that supports your claim. The OT has always been understood by Christians to have numerous references to Jesus and it undeniably has many references to a messiah. Saying that the OT has such a reference doesn’t bring any information about the topic “Christianity predates all other religions”.
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Everything I’ve ever read has suggested that the zodiac began in Egypt/Mesopotamia and wasn’t brought into the modern form, until around 500 BCE by the Greeks. You are going to need some sources beyond a reference to the Zodiac (which the Hebrews would have been aware of).
This was a topic of debate in the late 19th century and there are several books that survive into the present time (The Gospel in the Stars, by Seiss) in which the issues you have raised are dealt with in detail.
For many Christians the Zodiac cannot be separated from Astrology and the idea of a separate Gospel all amounts to heresy. But if one reads the sources carefully these issues can be eliminated. There is clear evidence that all the features of Christianity were expressed in some way or another in the religions of the ancient world. And these are doubtlessly present in the Zodiac. My guess is that the original Zodiac served as a way for nomadic peoples to record their beliefs. That is the Zodiac was to them what tablets and scrolls were to the settled peoples. Later the Zodiac came to be seen as a way to predict the future in general and Astrology grew out of that (Astrology is often associated with Gypsies who are by chance nomadic).
You’re gonna have to provide better evidence. A quick google suggests that the Gospel in the Stars demands several things which simply aren’t true.
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That there are 12 Zodiacs. As I said before, that number wasn’t codified until circa 500 BCE.
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That the constellations are somehow ‘real’ rather than constructs. Many different cultures have both seen different zodiac symbols and interpreted them differently.
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The Earth’s position changes, meaning that the positions of the constellations (and, by extension, their relation to each other) changes.
And this still in no way demonstrates that all other faiths are from a Jewish (let alone Christian) root. You are more than stretching here.
Your questions are valid. I would suggest having a look at the book itself for the answers. This could be a really interesting topic for discussion but the chances of that happening have been ruined by those with their own agendas. I would suggest that based on observatio the natural flow of these myths is from nomadic peoples to those who are settled. The nomadic people spend their nights out in the open and have the opportunity and need to assign pictures to star formations.
That sounds plausible.
Thanks