Not Influenced by Surrounding Nations

Hahaha i LOL'dcaffines explanation was just what i had in mind, even if it didn't come out quite so eloquently

yes i agree with you there.And i guess if we cant prove one way or another which story is the original, we can be sure of at least one thing...that the flood left a strong impression on many people for a very very long timeno one forgot it, even if they perhaps got their facts mixed up a little.

do you really want me to answer that???ok,you win, they are related in that both contain an account about a flood.

no i dont because what you are calling 'similarities' are completely contradictory rather then similar.for example Gilgamesh himself was a demi god who was being told about the flood, by a man who was immortal, some time after it happened.The genesis account describes a world full of demi gods (Nephilim) who all perished in the flood and no humans, not even noah, were immortal.You see how the Gilgamesh account contradicts the genesis account about the Nephilim and how they all perished in the flood.It also contradicts the genesis account about immortality...no humans were immortal in the genesis account.

this is just an interesting side point...The rabbinic writings derived the name 'Nimrod' from the Hebrew verb maradh′, meaning 'rebel' So it wasnt the mans actual name
they dont know the name of the one who founded the city of Babel. We know him as a rebel or 'nimrod', and that is all we know him as.he certainly was no hero. He is presented in a negative way in the Jewish Targums, the writings of the historian Josephus, and also the context of Genesis chapter 10 suggest that Nimrod was a mighty hunter in opposition to God.

because in Msg 51 I was replying to bluescat48 who said
'If one looks at where both of these stories originated, Mesopotamia, then it can be said that they have similar origins.'i agreed. They both originated in the same region, but thats to be expected seeing all ancient writings originated in the mesopotamia i agreed with you that there are similiarities though very minimalboth accounts speak of gods, both speak of a flood, both speak of demigodsthis does not mean that Moses copied or was influenced by the gilgamesh account though. Moses may never have even read the gilgamesh account.

ok let me clear this upi do think they are describing the same event.i dont think moses stole the story from the gilgamesh account. what more specific similarities are they?

Yes any of the above could be rightbut which account is more realistic?

But there is also plenty of indication that the people there were similar to those in Mesopotamia.
There are indications of trade connections with Mesopotamia and the Middle East, the Indus providing a route to the Arabian Sea from hundreds of miles inland
Religious symbols such as the swastikas and the cross have been found in the Indus Valley, the same resemblance as the ones found in Babylonian religions.They may have developed their own form of writing, but it seems that many of their beliefs stem from the Mesopotamia. I dont think any of this information is 100% conclusive, but it certainly adds weight to the possibility that the people are somehow related.

Ahhh yes sorry,im saying Mayan but meaning Indian... Mohenjo-Daro was mentioned and this is what i was referring toBut the Mayans were still similar to the people of the mesopotamia region...they built pyramids and performed the same burial practices that the pharoahs practicedsimilarities abound no matter how far people lived and how isolated they may have been.

In 1931 when archeologists excavated sites at Mohenjo-Daro they published information about the remnants of a highly developed state culture that was in bloom long before our Common Era. Seals with familiar symbols of a religious nature were found, including swastika.V. Gordon Childe, one of the archeologists wrote "The swastika and the cross, common on stamps and plaques, were religious or magical symbols as in Babylonia and Elam in the earliest prehistoric period." (New Light on the Most Ancient East, by V. Gordon Childe, pp. 184, 185.)Swastika symbols were found at Samarra, north of Baghdad, on the Tigris, and in early settlement stratum of Susa or Shushan showing that they existed first in ancient Mesopotamia. I think that suffices as evidence and not assumption.I know that Mayan pyramids are quite different to most egyption ones,but the egyptions did build step pyramids which are quite similar as these pics show Edited by Peg, : No reason given.

Yes it did exist and there are numerous accounts of it in the OT. But it prevailed amongst individuals who went contrary to their own lawsmy argument is based on the 'Religious Laws' of the hebrews not being influenced by surrounding nations, not on the actions of individual Hebrews.