So this is how "god" spoke to the bible writers?

Question

"For many centuries, both Christian and Jewish theologians believe that the stories were given by God and thus owed their origins purely to divine inspiration. However in the 19th century, British archaeologists unearthed seven tablets containing the Babylonian myth of creation known as Enuma Elish. Like the famous Epic of Gilgamesh, archaeologists have assigned the date of composition of this work to around 2000 BC. Although the story differs in specifics to that told in Genesis, the similarities in the general tone has convinced archaeologists that the Genesis account had been fundamentally derived from the Babylonian one. Some of the similarities include:

•The reference to the initial state as being a disordered chaos of water.
Genesis 1:1 refers to the “darkness” upon the face of the deep. In the Babylonian myth, in the beginning there was only Apsu, the sweet water ocean and Tiamat, the salt water ocean. In fact, archaeologists have generally acknowledged that the Hebrew word for the chaos of the waters or “the deep”, tehom, is actually derived from the Akkadian Tiamat.

•The creation of a firmament to separate the waters above from the waters below.
In Genesis 1:6-8 God is said to have created the firmament on the second day of creation. In the Babylonian myth, Marduk, son of the Ea the god of wisdom, killed Tiamat and split her into two. The upper half of Tiamat was fixed onto the sky to keep the waters above in place.

•The sequence of successive acts of creation.
In the Babylonian myth, after Tiamat was killed, the firmament was created by Marduk to separate the waters above from below. Then he created the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars. Finally man was created. This order is very closely paralleled in Genesis I where the firmament was created on the second day, the sun, moon and stars on the third day and man on the sixth day.

It thus cannot be denied that the creation myth from Genesis must have been derived from the Babylonian one.

The garden of Eden and the story of Adam and Eve is also derived from older Sumerian and Akkadian myths. It is important to recall the story of Adam and Eve from the second and third chapters of Genesis in order to compare this with the Sumerian version. The Sumerian paradise is called Dilmun. (It should be noted that Eden (edinu) was also originally a Sumerian word, meaning ‘plain’ or “steppe’.) Dilmun was a divine garden where sickness and death do not exist. By the Sumerian paradise myth:

According to Sumerian myth the only thing Dilmun lacked was fresh water; the god Enki (or Ea) ordered Utu, the sun-god, to bring up fresh water from the earth to water the garden. In the myth of Enki and Ninhursag it is related that the mother-goddess Ninhursag caused eight plants to grow in the garden of the gods. Enki desired to eat these plants and sent his messenger Isimud to fetch them. Enki ate them one by one, and Ninhursag in her rage pronounced the curse of death upon Enki. As the result of the curse eight of Enki’s bodily organs were attacked by disease and he was at the pain of death. The great gods were in dismay and Enlil [the chief god] was powerless to help. Ninhursag was induced to return and deal with the situation. She created eight goddesses of healing who proceeded to heal each of the diseased parts of Enki’s body. One of these parts was the god’s rib, and the goddess who was created to deal with the rib was named Ninti, which means “lady of the rib”.

The similarity betwen the above myth and that of Genesis’ is obvious to see. The similarity include:
•The setting- a garden in paradise.
•The watering of the gardens with water from the earth.
•The consumption of forbidden fruits, by Adam and Eve in Genesis and by the god Enki in the Sumerian myth.
•The curse upon the person (s) who ate the fruit.
•The creating of a female from the rib of the male in Genesis and the creating of a female to heal the rib of the male in the Sumerian precursor.
•The name of the female thus created. In Genesis, Eve, or in its original semitic form Hawah, means life. In the Sumerian myth, the word ti from the name Ninti has a double meaning; it could mean either ‘rib’ or ‘life’. Thus Ninti can be rendered as “lady of the rib” or “lady of life”.

The Babylonian myth, the Epic of Gilgamesh also no doubt influenced the writers of Genesis. In it Gilgamesh, in his quest for immortality, was told by Utnapishtim (the Babylonian “Noah”) about a plant at the bottom of the sea that could make the old young again. Gilgamesh dived into the sea and brought up the plant. However the plant was stolen while he was taking bath. The thief who stole the plant of everlasting youth away from him was none other than the serpent!

That Babylonian myths should influence the stories in the Bible is really not surprising. The Babylonian empires were influential throughout the whole middle eastern region for over 3000 years."

Answer 1

If you look at the Victory Stele of Naram Sin of Akkad 2254–2218 BCE out of ancient Mesopetamia, many archaeologists believe it to be the source of the story of Moses. It has golden calves, gods at the top of mountains and Naram Sin climbing the mountain after victory over his enemies to talk to god.

Answer 2

Many bible scholars also see a definite parallel. Though there is a fundamental difference. While the Babylonian writers were influenced by demons, the writers of the bible were influenced by the Spirit of God. It should come as no surprise that the events of the world's creation were ineffably linked to the spirit world, which inspired many to tell the tale of a similar event. There are hidden stories just waiting to be told, ones which gnaw at men's hearts until they are written down. This is through spiritual inspiration. One must be careful, however, to interpret where the inspiration is coming from.

Answer 3

That's Babylon for you.... the world's false religious system that was set up by that serpent of old that deceived the entire world and continues to do so.



Satan, who posed as the serpent in the garden of Eden, caused doubt to come into the minds of Adam and Eve. He also told them that they wouldn't die (bringing in the idea of the immortality of the soul) when God clearly said that they would die if they disobeyed Him. Next, he said to them that they could become gods themselves if they disobeyed him and began to "know" of good and evil.



Since man turned his back on the one true God, his creator, he has ever since been trying to make his own gods and save himself. Hence, throughout the ages, there have been numerous fables and myths, with worship of the creation (sun gods, moon gods, astrology, etc.)



I guess, like always, we need to determine who is telling the truth and who the master deceiver is.

Answer 4

He liked to use "ancient book."





PS: Go look at the rare, long question I posted a few minutes ago.



Notice how it's light, full of holes (white space), and air?

 

Answer 5

You lost me at," in the Babylonian myth, madox" (something like that, it's a bit fuzzy).



Key word: myth.

Answer 6

excellent!

christianity is a roman invention

a HORROR STORY to frighten the slaves and children.

a MAN NAILED TO A CROSS is intended to frighten into submission to abusive pastors.

nothing to do with religion!

Answer 7

This has been the subject of unending debate - what influenced what - with no satisfactory conclusion.

Answer 8

Bravo! if you read all of this and still have enough interest to post an answer, bravo!

Answer 9

You honestly think people here are going to read all that?

Answer 10

Too long; didn't read

Answer 11

Maybe.

Answer 12

And...........