Oddbean

No, I would rather you did, as I have the opposite view since it's rather one of the most reliably cohesive books ever compiled in all of what I know to be human history I'm very unafraid of discussing these things, as long as it doesn't devolve into serious names calling. (petty name calling us perfectly acceptable. 😁)

The bibles started as a plagarized version of Sumerian texts. Baby set afloat in a river to become a great person... Sumerian. Great flood with an ark ... Sumerian. "We created you in our image."... Sumerian. Stories were taken from a polytheistic believe system, and bent into lies. Btw, I fully beieve in a devine consciousness of pure love that is (mostly?) reaponsible for our existence. I just see religion as evil, and the bible as a tool for religion.

And the stories of Sumer were passed down from the civilization before. One of the most interesting explorations I have done is the history of how humanity survived the "great flood", really the asteroid impact of 10,800 B.C. and the subsequent rising of the Persian Gulf to it's current level along with the rest of the oceans of the world. The people in the Gulf area escaped and founded Sumer and Ur.

Why do you think the authors of those stories "plagiarized" what was commonly understood history? Did Plato plagiarize his account of Atlantis? No. He wrote down what he was told. Once a person starts to poke at things, I think it's more remarkable that the Bible shares a very remarkable similarity to all mythologies that I'm aware of, from the whole world over. So, I can't agree that the Bible is "plagiarized." As for the divine consciousness you believe responsible for our existence, why is it that you would reject the God of the Bible as that being? Religion is evil. I agree. The Bible certainly has been misused. I don't think I'm religious. Most organized religion (well, probably all) is certainly off the mark or just outright evil. But... That's still got nothing to do with God's purpose for humans and very specifically for you.

The beef I have with the original authors is that they took what they knew to be true, then twisted it into something else. They didn't write down what they were told, they straight-up fabricated aspects in the re-telling. In terms of the "God of the bible", versus what I believe; Jahova is a total shitbag. Yahweh, Elohim, et. al. aren't so bad, but the desires and needs of Jahova are extremely immature, and beneath my own needs and desires. I could never whorship someone that isn't worthy of my presence. I believe the God of the bible (in most depictions) is the demiurge. He certainly acts like it.

This is from a post-modern mindset and honestly pretty silly. The categories are really ridiculous and show both a lack of understanding of human history (what is generally accepted), modern "morality" (which absolutely is not moral), and rather vague "standards." So... I'm not sure what point you're trying to use this to make.

I can't find the edition that I read. It was written to spur new interest with their youth, since the only way to be Zoroastrian is if both of your parents are. I'm not sure how much that's enforced though. The first 3-5 chapters were free online to entice you to buy the full version. Anyway, what I remember is that it starts with people living on the north pole, but it's summer all the time. They're following rules from God/Maza, which is similar to rules in other cultures related to keeping the species healthy. One that stands out for me is that each family is to have a sacred fire in their homes. One day, a messenger from Mazda arrives and says, "The Dark One is coming, and when he does, you'll need to move from here, so start packing and getting ready now. When it starts to snow, the Dark One has arrived, and it's time to head ... that way." and points toward Iran. They claim they are the original Aryans, which is how the country got the name Iran. Oh yeah, they claimed to all be of fair skin, blue eyes, blonde hair. It starts to snow, everyone starts to caravan down. The Dark One also brought the arrival of insects and cats. I can't remember if that info was from the messenger, or if it's an observation of the members of the caravan. While trekking south, a band of barbarians attacked them and took some of their women, and went back to Norway (my assumption). The caravan settled in Iran, where it seems, everyone else was told to find "their land". Meanwhile, it's peaceful in Lapland. :P