Origin of Gods word

The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament both are ancient writings of two different civilizations. The Sumerians of the Fertile Crescent, Mesopatamia created the Epic of Gilgamesh so it predates any text created by the Israelites of course.

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the epic of gilgamesh even pre-date the bible, and contains a few of it's elements, such as the flood.

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Their culture was based strongly around floods because of their dependence of the Tigris and Euphrates which they often flooded. Civilations had to have a river and that river had to overflow sometime. A civilization having a flood story does not mean it was copied from the earliest civilization.Saying that other ancient literature is better than another is simply an opinion. The Illiad by the way was not written by Homer to be truth. The Old Testament was. This underlying difference between the two means something. The Bible is also more consistent historically.

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-porcelain

you're right, no it doesn't. however, the genesis legend contains elements also found in the gilgamesh story: one survivor, a big wooden boat with all the animals, and a repentant god who puts something in the sky as a reminder that it won't happen again. and your evidence for this is? and your evidence for this is?see, you have a view biased by modern perspectives. the iliad may have absolutely be written as a factual historical count. it doesn't read like greek mythology, it reads like epic history. yes, there are mythical figures, but they are treated in a very real way.genesis, like the iliad, is based on ancient legends and some actual events. some of it's stories are really old. much of the torah was written by different people, at different times. genesis is ancient legends, exodus the tradition, leviticus and deuteronomy church (levite) law, and numbers a census, all interspliced into historical narrative. the rest of the old testament was written seperately for many various purposes: poetry, music, a love letter, prophesy, propaganda, traditional history, etc. it is not one book, like the iliad. the trojan wars happened.if the exodus happened, there is no evidence for it.i would argue that the iliad is more consistant historically.

If that is the case, why do different chrisitan sects disagree with what is canon?

The story of Genesis was a rip off from the old Ugartic creation myth,
with all the names of the different gods assimulated to be one god.If you look at the Ugartic bible, Yahwey was the Son of God (El), and the various other names of God were Yahweys brothers.

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Originally posted by Arachnophilia

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Hello Arachnophilia,

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. . . however, the genesis legend contains elements also found in the gilgamesh story: one survivor, a big wooden boat with all the animals, and a repentant god who puts something in the sky as a reminder that it won't happen again.

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And, one of the most startling parallels, that Zuisudra/Utnapishtim released a dove, a swallow and a raven to see if they would find a place to perch or come back.In all fairness, this story was fairly widespread at an early date. Along with the Sumerian, Akkadian and Babylonian versions, there were also Hittite (likely rather Hurrian) and other versions. Thus, rather than being a case of strictly adoptionism, the Genesis Noah story was likely just one more cultural rendition among the many.Amlodhi

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Originally posted by ramoss

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If you look at the Ugartic bible, Yahwey was the Son of God (El)

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Hello ramoss,While I do agree with the gist of what you said in your post, in the interest of fairness and accuracy, I'm not sure that the descripton in your post concisely represents the Ugaritic texts.This is strictly from memory, but IIRC, the god you are making reference to is "Yaw" rather then "Yahwey". And again, IIRC, Yaw is depicted as being the sea.Amlodhi

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and your evidence for this is?

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I have the impression it was an epic but not an historical text. I thought Homer wrote it not with the intentions of displaying history but creating a fantastic story. I feel this way because if you actually view the Illiad for what is said, didn't parts of the Illiad come from his imagination? Am I wrong in saying this?

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you're right, no it doesn't. however, the genesis legend contains elements also found in the gilgamesh story: one survivor, a big wooden boat with all the animals, and a repentant god who puts something in the sky as a reminder that it won't happen again.

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Is there more evidence for it being copied than it actually happening? No. It can only create a major coincidence of similiar stories. Especially judging that there wasn't much cultural diffusion between the Israelites and the Sumerians. The chinese were isolated from all other civilizations, they contain similiar features in their flood myth, very close to the Israelites myth. This can only show that flood myths were similiar in ways seemingly impossible without it actually happening.

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and your evidence for this is?

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the trojan wars happened.

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if the exodus happened, there is no evidence for it.

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i would argue that the iliad is more consistant historically.

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Much of what it is is historically sound. The nations, the events most are recorded as of happening. Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon is one for instance.The exodus is being taught as happening it history textbooks. This however cannot be good evidence. Outruling the exodus leaves the other historically correct information which there is a good quantity of.This message has been edited by CHRIS PORTEUS jr, 09-30-2004 05:17 PM

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-porcelain

Hi Chris, Care to name a few?Cheers.Brian.

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The exodus is being taught as happening it history textbooks.

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Brian beat me to it! But yes I'd like to see the Name of any such history book.

The Exodus Case ?

World HistoryIt's in my bookbag right now.

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-porcelain

The author of this book is? and that's the full title? just "world history"?

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World History?Any biographical details? Date, author, things like that?

N ew YorkPrentice HallWorld History------------------
Connections to today.There is another caption that says "Discovery Channel School"Authors are Elisabeth Gaynor Ellis and Anthony Esler