According to pre-biblical texts, Yahweh was originally a storm god whose identity was merged with a warrior god. He had a wife, the goddess Asherah. The frequent negative sanctions against worshipping Asherah in Hebrew Bible are evidence of how popular such worship was.
Historical evidence that the concept of God evolved does not invalidate it. Nor is the superimposition of modern conceptions of God onto ancient ones justified.
The Hebrew Bible is an anthology of books not unified linear historical account. The documentary hypothesis explains the composition of the Torah by suggesting that the books were written by multiple authors: the Yahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomic and the Priestly. Each of these five sources Had its own language, style theology, and politics. They contributed different names which reflect the syncretistic origins which the texts integrate into a singular God.
It seems highly relevant that Justin Sledge says that the trinity is an achievement of early Greek philosophy, causing a smirk on OāConnorās face. The fact that Sledge encourages those who study Greek philosophy to read Athanasius of Alexandriaās treatise on the trinity is telling.
Justin Sledge brilliantly covers a lot of ground on the subject of āGodā as an evolving concept. Historically, the Christian concept of the Trinity is many centuries downstream from pre-Judaic concept of Yahweh. The impact of Greek philosophy on Christian theology is undeniable, though Evangelicals do deny it especially with regard to the New Testament which already shows its influence. I took that as high praise for Athanasiusā treatise coming from Sledge who states he is no Christian.
ā¦a controversial finding I know of which I came across the other day, but medical evidence has revealed that those born to consanguineous marriages have a high propensity for irrational rage, a lower IQ, and fanaticismā¦ which pretty-much describes ISIS and other such similar groups.
That depends on your point of view. Since you havenāt read it itās not relevant. What I was describing was a spiritual malady. What you posted is biological. According to religion the spiritual is the root cause of everything. Thatās what the perennial philosophy at the core of the worldās religion teaches. The four yogas are the paths of healing. The way of knowledge, the way of action, the way of devotion and the way of meditation. These practices are in Judaism, Christianity and Islam as well. The emphases are different. Yahwism and Gnosticism, Hermeticism and Neoplatonism also share that common core. The divides are illusions. Religion is universally human.
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ā¦and you think biology has nothing to do with spirituality?
The spirit is a manifestation of the physio-biological self, not something independent of it but is itā¦ hence the physical factions along with the mental/spiritual ones.
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ā¦even within each religion, individuals hold individual beliefs, becauseā¦ no two minds/spirits are the same.
Religious homogeneity is a cultural one, becauseā¦ all is one. And what holds these differing factions together is religious fervour.
I disagree. Do you suppose that God is a biolgical entity? Do you think that God depends on anything let alone human physical strength or prowess? The spirit a āmanifestationā of the physical-biological self? It is, rather, the other way around. God is Being Itself, absolutely Self-existent, unmanifest, dependent on nothing and no one. We depend on God for existence every nano-second. The Gospel of John Chapter 1 says āBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.ā Natural religious fervour, on the other hand, leads to fanaticism which is a blight on humankind and life on earth.
I was referring to (hu)man not God, in the opening statement of my prior postā¦ of the spirit being a manifestation of the physio-biological self, not something independent of it but is it.
The spirit is literally what animates Allā¦ an internal catalyst, to our converter,
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Wellā¦ biology class wasnāt a thing back then, so the explanation of the existence of all living things was that āGod did itā until we started to become knowledgeable on the matters of all things cellular. https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/meet-the-ancestors/80599?u=magsj
How does the Joe Rogan article relate to the topic of Yahwism?
As far as John chapter 1, if the principles outlined there have been superseded by science as you propose, then Christianity is overā¦moreā¦monotheism is over. Now, obviously there are people who believe that. Evidence indicates that the Yahwists were henotheists.
Second Temple Judaism and Rabbinical Judaism are emphatically monotheistic; however, its predecessorāthe cult of Yahweh as it was practiced in ancient Israel during the 9th and 8th centuries BCE (Yahwism)āhas been described as henotheistic or monolatric. For example, the Moabites worshipped the god Chemosh, the Edomites, Qaus, both of whom were part of the greater Canaanite pantheon, headed by the chief god, El. The Canaanite pantheon consisted of El and Asherahas the chief deities, with 70 sons who were said to rule over each of the nations of the earth. These sons were each worshiped within a specific region. Kurt Noll states that āthe Bible preserves a tradition that Yahweh used to āliveā in the south, in the land of Edomā and that the original god of Israel was El Shaddai.[31]
ā¦a controversial finding I know of which I came across the other day, but medical evidence has revealed that those born to consanguineous marriages have a high propensity for irrational rage, a lower IQ, and fanaticismā¦ which pretty-much describes ISIS and other such similar groups.
Right. Yahwism was polytheistic. Yahweh had a wife who was worshipped as a Goddess. The Judaic push to limit ritual worship to the Jerusalem temple was motivated by desire to stamp out widespread goddess worship through the countryside. The trees worshipped were called Asurah after Yahwehās Goddess wife. Idol worship is the number one taboo of Biblical Judaism. In the northern kingdom of Israel it was the norm. Why is that? Itās analogous to multiculturalism versus nationalism that is driving politics today. Nationalism is a form of monoculturalism. So is monotheism, obviously. Polytheism is a form of multiculturalism. The gods, manifest though local original experiences were arranged into couples and then family groups and then tribes or pantheons. Why is this arrangement which is accepted in some societies like ancient Greece and India, and rejected in others like Judah and Islamic states?
Curiously, you mention this again. We had a conversation some time back, and as a result, I put together an essay that was more for me than anyone else, using various sources that I didnāt make a note of. It is a bit long so Iāve posted it here.
Yes the four practices are core to theistic and nontheistic religions alike. Bhakti devotion may be directed toward oneās ideal even if not conceived of as a god.
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Yahwism seems to be an amalgamation of pre-existing religions, like all religions areā¦ āThe most widespread belief among Archeologist and Historical scholars is that the origins of Judaism lie in Bronze Age polytheistic Canaanite religion . Judaism also syncretized elements of other Semitic religions such as Babylonian religion, which is reflected in the early prophetic books of the Tanakh.āOrigins of Judaism
. āCanaanite religious practices included: Worshiping deities in shrines and sacred groves, Animal sacrifice, Veneration of the dead, Sexual fertility rites, and Human sacrifice.
The Canaanite religion was influenced by neighboring cultures, particularly ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian religious practices.
The Bible refers to the Canaanites negatively, and God encouraged the Israelites to ward them out of the city.ā
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Because ofā¦
The Prophetic Movement, which took place from 750ā550 BCE, claimed that Yahweh should be worshiped exclusively. The movement attacked polytheism and the Yahwist establishment.
Yahwism evolved into Second Temple Judaism after the Babylonian captivity and the establishment of Yehud Medinata in the 4th century BCE. Second Temple Judaism gave rise to modern Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, and Islam.
Right on!ā as the hippies say. The Hebrew bible creates a sacred history from a range Judaic perspectives. Compared with what the archeologists report, itās revisionist history.
