RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
January 9, 2013 at 9:07 pm
(This post was last modified: January 9, 2013 at 9:50 pm by A_Nony_Mouse.)
(January 8, 2013 at 9:07 am)Aractus Wrote: ...
They STILL have the 22 "books" (ie scrolls). How do you not comprehend this? Do you intentionally ignore the lunacy of your arguments.
Etc. Before going further lets see if we are on the same page.
1)There are only two candidates to have written the OT. Greek educated people in Alexandria or Greek educated people in Judea.
2)The contents are completely fictional without exception or mental reservation regarding campfire stories or traditions and such. They are fiction in the sense of Buffy the Vampire Slayer not in the sense of Band of Brothers.
3)Whoever created these books did so not earlier than the 2nd c. BC.
Do we agree? Because if we agree there several times in the supporting articles I say it is immaterial if it were actually written in Alexandria. I also point out that "Hebrew" did not exist (no evidence for existence) in the 2nd c. BC and as such Greek or Aramaic are the only candidate languages for the initial version. As there is no sign of an Aramaic that leaves Greek by simplest hypothesis. Is there evidence the simplest is not the most likely?
(January 8, 2013 at 7:36 pm)Minimalist Wrote:Quote: The ancestors of New Testament Galileans were forced to convert to Judaism.
Yes. And I was amazed to find out how recent that was when I first looked into it.
The OT tells the bullshit tale about how the entire population of the northern kingdom was deported ( Sargon II of Assyria himself only records some 20,000+ people moved) but the other side of the coin is that the Assyrians moved others in. Those brought with them whatever religion they had from elsewhere in the Assyrian empire.
And the myth of Babylon captivity. Supposedly "corroborated" the actual few words from the conquest do not relate to the essential point of exporting any population to Babylon. Any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental.
Quote:It was not until the very end of the second century that King Alexander Jannaeus conquered Galilee ( c 101 BC) and forcibly converted the inhabitants to Judaism...including circumcision! However, a mere 38 years later the region was "liberated" when Gnaeus Pompey overran the Hasmonean kingdom. One does wonder how deeply a forced religious conversion could have taken root in a such a short period of time, huh?
The Galileans had spent the preceding 250 years under Hellensitic rule either from Seleucia or Alexandria. One imagines that Greek thought was far more deeply ingrained than jewish horseshit especially when brought at the point of a sword.
And also conquered Samaria. What the bible believers present as some ancient kingdom from the OT fantasies did not come into existence until the Hasmonean conquests. But even then far more limited than the OT fantasy kingdom.
Quote:As with so much else, I think the xtians are full of shit.
And Jews are neck and neck for being shitful. It makes a bit of sense of the indications of Jewish/Christian competition for converts being Galilean/Judean. It suggests Galilean success by having several major economic centers courtesy of Herod (who politically converted to the Judean cult) was born an Idumaean, neither Galilean nor Judean. And as the Judeans had also conquered his ancestors the hatred without cause from day one is easily explained.
In addition to the economics they had geography blocking the northern route into empire from the Euphrates to the Med whereas Judea was always landlocked hill country. There external connections are limited to Egypt and Babylon. The former is not a bad limit but the politics of the Roman empire don't go its way.
Given the late creation of an empire sort of resembling the one in the Septuagint it mitigates towards those stories having been written after the conquests, around the time of Pompey, as backstory to create the "ancientness" criteria Rome used to establish legitimacy of rule.
May not be bad but it leaves Daniel as an outlier as its prophecies go from true to false in the 2nd c. BC not the 1st.
(January 8, 2013 at 11:25 pm)Minimalist Wrote:Quote:"The Septuagint is the original Old Testament" REALLY??
So it seems. Certainly there is no older hebrew version of the story in existence. But, as Mouse says, kindly present actual evidence of an older hebrew version of this jewish bullshit story.
Don't expect us to wait. Better minds than yours have already failed to do so.
Yes, argumentation is available by the pound but physical evidence is non-existent. From experience the arguers are trying to salvage something such as the stories are not complete fiction or a literate culture in Judea or some other groundless belief of the faithful.
(January 9, 2013 at 6:18 am)pocaracas Wrote:(January 8, 2013 at 7:36 pm)Minimalist Wrote: However, a mere 38 years later the region was "liberated" when Gnaeus Pompey overran the Hasmonean kingdom. One does wonder how deeply a forced religious conversion could have taken root in a such a short period of time, huh?With an average life expectancy of under 50 years and new generation with every ~18 years, it shouldn't be that difficult to do such conversions in short periods.
Except that Judaism is a ritual/taboo religion. It is a front for a hugely repressive totalitarian dictatorship of the priests. Summary public execution for any violation which one presumes means those which cannot be bought off. So what is the "conversion" to? Submission to the tyranny of the priests. It is not the kind that wins voluntary adherents. It is the kind that keeps its head down and looks for serious revolutionary leaders. Were not the Iscaria killing Judean priests? Makes a lot more sense if the were Galileans.