I've told the truth the whole time you fucking moron. I said repeatedly: it's the first religion anywhere in the world that we know about that was based on a written text (i.e. the Pentateuch).
Stop making straw man arguments. I didn't say that Judaism didn't take from the surrounding Babylonian etc. religions, of course they did, but none of those were based on a written text.
The Pentateuch is the first text that we know about that forms the basis of a religion. And my comments were that it wasn't the work of a single author (i.e. Moses) - it was written down in collaboration. The Samaritans had their own version of the Pentateuch that formed the basis of their religion, and both they and the Palestinian Jews justified their differences from their texts. By the time of Jesus there were Rabbis that specialised in the reading, reciting and understanding of the 22 temple scrolls. You also had lawyers - the "scribes" that the New Testament talks about, that studied the scrolls (in particular the Pentateuch) to understand and apply the Law of Moses.
Stop making straw man arguments. I didn't say that Judaism didn't take from the surrounding Babylonian etc. religions, of course they did, but none of those were based on a written text.
The Pentateuch is the first text that we know about that forms the basis of a religion. And my comments were that it wasn't the work of a single author (i.e. Moses) - it was written down in collaboration. The Samaritans had their own version of the Pentateuch that formed the basis of their religion, and both they and the Palestinian Jews justified their differences from their texts. By the time of Jesus there were Rabbis that specialised in the reading, reciting and understanding of the 22 temple scrolls. You also had lawyers - the "scribes" that the New Testament talks about, that studied the scrolls (in particular the Pentateuch) to understand and apply the Law of Moses.
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
