I am availible to answer some questions

[Bucky Ball]

I would have to respectfully disagree with that as the origins of the serpent in Genesis. Most of the imported things came from the Babylonian myth system. There is a myth of Gilgamesh and the Serpent, which fits perfectly with the rest on the imported material.
(Sorry this is so long).
There was a precedent for a snake (and plant) that conferred immortality.
http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/forum/...ins?page=2

I'm sticking with the Egyptian Pharaoh as the talking snake because Egypt was always an adversary of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. All three empires controlled Egypt at various times and the Israelites/Hebrews/Jews were always claiming that Egypt was the bad guy. Plus, as I pointed out, the Egyptian Pharaoh's headdress had a snake on it.

You can do/say whatever you like. There were images of snakes all over the known world. The fact than any one culture has a snake image somewhere does not mean it got imported into Hebrew literature. We KNOW they used Gilgamesh for their flood myth, and other stories. There is no Egyptian myth about a snake involved in grating or taking away, eternal life. Scholars know that the Hebrews imported Babylonian themes from their literature when they wrote the Bible during the exile in Babylon.
There are imported Egyptian myth themes, in the Bible, but not about talking snakes.

[Minimalist]

Egypt was always an adversary of the Assyrians

You do understand that then...as well as now...



political alliances can change, right? At the end of the 7th century the Egyptians were allied with Assyria against Babylon.

They lost but Babylon failed to overrun Egypt.

[Bucky Ball]

I would have to respectfully disagree with that as the origins of the serpent in Genesis. Most of the imported things came from the Babylonian myth system. There is a myth of Gilgamesh and the Serpent, which fits perfectly with the rest on the imported material.
(Sorry this is so long).
There was a precedent for a snake (and plant) that conferred immortality.
http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/forum/...ins?page=2

I'm sticking with the Egyptian Pharaoh as the talking snake because Egypt was always an adversary of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. All three empires controlled Egypt at various times and the Israelites/Hebrews/Jews were always claiming that Egypt was the bad guy. Plus, as I pointed out, the Egyptian Pharaoh's headdress had a snake on it.

Sorry about resurrecting a dead thread. I've been busy.
We know where the snake theme came from. It wasn't Egypt. It was the Babylonian system.

"From the Babylonians also comes the legend of of Adapa. The son of the God of Wisdom (Ea, also called Enki), broke the wing of the Storm bird, who had attacked him in what is today, the Persian Gulf. Ea summons Adapa, and warned him about his behavior, and told him he would be offered food and drink which would be deadly, and he must refuse it. When Anu, (one of the council of three highest gods), found out about the disclosure, attempted to foil Ea, by offering Adapa the bread of life, and the water of life, instead. He, Adapa, refused, and Anu sent him to earth as a mortal.

In the myth of Gilgamesh and the Serpent, Gilgamesh heard about a plant that held the secret to immortality. By much effort, he pulled it up from the bottom of the ocean. On the way back to his peeps, he set the plant aside at a spring where he stopped to take a bath. A serpent came up from the water and grabbed the plant. As it returned to the water, it shed its skin. In so doing, the serpent robbed humans of the potential for rejuvenation and acquired an ability to renew itself by shedding its skin.

So we have poisonous plants, ribs, Eve, death by eating stuff, bread of heaven, water of life, plants which offer immortality, and snakes which bring about death, and most important, Chaos and Order."

From my : (post 12) http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/forum/...=salvation

[Minimalist]

http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Adapa.htm


More interesting than the fucking bible, Buck.

[Dystopia]

Give me reasons to convert without committing logical fallacies

[ignoramus]

I hope that poor woman wasn't a nun living a sheltered life or something!
She must think we are ogres! Has anyone seen donkey?

[Esquilax]

For the record, this person was, in fact, a poe.

[Whateverist]

.. a banned and evicted poe, at that.

[ignoramus]

I reckon it's one of our mods!
They can hide the dupe ip address.
They're just keeping us on our toes and keeping us entertained for a while.
Common Miss Meng, pull that mask off! Who are you!

[Bucky Ball]

For the record, this person was, in fact, a poe.

Well I guess we'll just have to pray and ask Jebus for the gift of discernment.