Parallel Gods

[Copper Scroll]

Have you considered the possibility that those pre-Christian cultures received divine revelation from God about what would unfold in the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior--the same way Israel did--and practiced their cults or worship or what have you in their own way in light of that revelation? Keep in mind, that after God had revealed Himself to the Israelites in delivering them from Egypt, the Iraelites too turned to idol worship--because they lacked the proper guidance at the time. Could the same thing have occurred in those cults you describe?

[Observer of dreams]

2 cents

I do know that Adonai was the name given to God because they believed his name to be unmentionable, there is a theory that says YHVW or YHWH was made without vowels in the first place so people could not utter the name of God, but this is silly since Hebrew doesn't contain vowels at all. At least not the way we think of vowels

A‧do‧nai  /Seph. ˌɑdɔˈnaɪ; Ashk. ˌɑdoʊˈnɔɪ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[seph. ah-daw-nahy; Ashk. ah-doh-noi] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

[secondeve]

Have you considered the possibility that those pre-Christian cultures received divine revelation from God about what would unfold in the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior--the same way Israel did--and practiced their cults or worship or what have you in their own way in light of that revelation? Keep in mind, that after God had revealed Himself to the Israelites in delivering them from Egypt, the Iraelites too turned to idol worship--because they lacked the proper guidance at the time. Could the same thing have occurred in those cults you describe?

This is a theory which, while possible, makes little sense to me. Why, if the Israelites were God's chosen people, would he reveal anything at all to other groups/cultures/nations? If God's word is perfect enough to transcend a human scribe, why would all these other religions have gotten the wrong idea? Why even prophecy to such nations, if you knew that they would turn your words around and make idol gods out of them to later tempt the nations of Israel? Why sow the seeds for rival religions? Why not give the commandments to more people than the Israelites, the better to spread your word, if you're going to take the time to reveal certain things to other nations - why ensure instead that confusion reigns not just then, but in later centuries? I just can't see this happening.

One thing that has always bothered me about the Bible is the idea of the Jews as God's chosen people. Presumably, if you created the entire world and everyone in it, you'd want everyone to know the right moral laws and the right way to live, yes? So why only give the perfect world to one - just one - people, who then spend much of the next several thousand years falling in and out of slavery, defending the temple from invading armies, battling with idol gods and generally behaving in a scapegrace manner? Given that the nature of humanity is already apparent from before the Flood, why not reveal the truth in a dream or something to every king of every nation on Earth, so that they can fix things from the top down, rather than just speaking to Moses out in the desert? I mean, yes, God wants mankind to have freedom of choice and all that, but knowing that our eternal souls are at stake, why not give better odds that people will know the truth and save themselves, rather than just enlightening the Middle East in the hope that it'll radiate out from there? I mean, it was thousands of years before the Pacific Islanders, the Australian ABoriginals, the Native American Indians or the Eskimos even heard of Christianity or Judaism, so thousands of generations of them alone would've died unsaved, let alone non-believers in the area. It just flabbergasts me.

[secondeve]

yes it is true that "christianity" did not exist before Christ, however, God was still God before and after the cross. Abraham worshipped the same God Christians worship today. He didn't know as much about the Lord as we do now that we have an extra 3500 years of history behind us, but he was worshipping the same God. As I already stated, false religions arose through unbelieve or other forms of error over time.

Well, I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree.

I actually happen to be quite familiar with Santorini. The Minoan civilization is the one that was wiped out in that disaster, and it was NOT the origins of the flood story, though it is commonly believed to be the origins of the atlantis story, at least at the moment. We know this for several reasons:

1) The disaster of Santorini is recorded in Egyptian writing at one of their burial chambers (I saw this on National Geographic just a few weeks ago). This enscription describes the minoan civilization, its location, and the nature of its downfall.

2) Based on #1 above, The timing of the event was not far enough back in history to be the origin of the great flood story. In fact, it is believed to have happened as recently as about 1200 B.C. which was about the time of Moses, and nowhere near the time of Noah, and further, it is often even cited as a "cause" for the parting of the red sea, that somehow a tidal wave from Santorini might have causes the parting, etc. I do not believe that story, but many people have tried to use it to explain the red sea crossing because the timing is very similar.

3) The Santorini event does not even remotely fit the bill for explaining the Biblical account of a great flood, In the Biblical account, the flood happened about a thousand years before Moses, and it destroyed EVERY LIVING SUBSTANCE that was not in the ark. It does not adequately explain flood myths in North America or the far east either, as there is no possibility of santorini having produced cataclysmic inland flooding in the far east.

4)The santorini event flooded a few islands, and blew a VERY large crater/caldera out of the heart of the main volcano, but the people on the islands even survived for at least 50 years after the eruption. This is known because there are burial sites that were made AFTER the event, as well as change in pottery style, and other indicators which show that the civilization's full downfall did not happen till at least one generation after the volcano erupted.

I'm by no means an expert on the subject. You'll have to tell me which flood myths are in North America? I do know, though, that the explosion was so savage that there was a massive cloud of ash from it, so that there are ancient trees in China with rings through the middle that are sodden with ash, which date to the eruption. In my mind, that equals one big wave.

[Copper Scroll]

Have you considered the possibility that those pre-Christian cultures received divine revelation from God about what would unfold in the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior--the same way Israel did--and practiced their cults or worship or what have you in their own way in light of that revelation? Keep in mind, that after God had revealed Himself to the Israelites in delivering them from Egypt, the Iraelites too turned to idol worship--because they lacked the proper guidance at the time. Could the same thing have occurred in those cults you describe?

This is a theory which, while possible, makes little sense to me. Why, if the Israelites were God's chosen people, would he reveal anything at all to other groups/cultures/nations? If God's word is perfect enough to transcend a human scribe, why would all these other religions have gotten the wrong idea? Why even prophecy to such nations, if you knew that they would turn your words around and make idol gods out of them to later tempt the nations of Israel? Why sow the seeds for rival religions? Why not give the commandments to more people than the Israelites, the better to spread your word, if you're going to take the time to reveal certain things to other nations - why ensure instead that confusion reigns not just then, but in later centuries? I just can't see this happening.

What made Israel "chosen" was the faith and humility and obedience of their patriarchs, who were able to pass on their knowledge of and relationship with God to their children and so on--which allowed their culture to provide the proper context for the person and event of Christ. They were not "chosen" because they were the only people who knew anything about God or anything True. God's Word means essentially the Truth. I can't see one people having a monopoly on that.

I sorta explained why "other religions" might have "gotten the wrong idea"--the same way the Israelites did... over and over again througout the OT. People--regardless of ethnicity--are fallible. The Israelites certainly weren't perfect--far from it. They weren't any more perfect than anyone else. Confusion and rivalry are only products of our fallibility and freedom--our humanity. If God were to prevent these, we would cease being human--cease being fallible, yes, but also cease being free and conscious and ourselves. There would be no us and no such thing as relationship with God.

In short, the person and event of Christ is the Truth eternally. I can conceive of a people at a time and in a place revealed this Truth by God (who is the God of all--not just the Jews) and choosing to express it in the ways you've described. I choose to express it in my way. I certainly would not be one to pass judgement on these people and say anything about their eternal fate. Only God judges rightfully.

...why not give better odds that people will know the truth and save themselves...

How good "the odds" are is completely relative. If there is any chance of failure--meaning, if failure is at all possible--someone will complain that it ain't easy enough to choose the right or that it's too easy to get confused.