OH MY G*D!

[ifcar]

Fun fact for you guys, before the Parsi invasion and the intermingling with Zoroastrians, Judaism was originally a polytheistic religion, and YHWH was not a universal god, but a tribal god of the Jews.  The Zoroastrians had the idea of a universal god, and that was passed to the Jews during the time of their intermingling.  This partly explains why the earth was populated by Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel, and after Cain killed Abel, he became the last person on earth, but in Genesis 3, he came to know his wife.  In Genesis 2, which was written before Genesis 1, you can see the evidence of YHWH as a tribal god molding humanity and the earth out of materials, but in Genesis 1, god was all powerful, and therefore "Let there be light" was all that was needed.

God was always universal according to the Jews, but it was only the Jewish tribe that believed in him to be universal.  Everyone else at the time where pagans and worshipped idols.  And Judaism was never, EVER, a polytheistic religion.  Everything in Judaism deals with the "oneness" of God.

It's entirely possible that the earliest form of historical, if not Biblical, Judaism was in the form that Raza was discussing.

Raza, I imagine that historically, the Torah and other religious documents emerged to set this new tone for the one-God form of Judaism? Did your professor discuss that aspect?

Judaism was never a polytheistic religion as Raza is describing....it always dealt with the oneness of God.  But after the generations of Adam and Noach, the world was almost entirely polytheistic until Abraham came along.

I specifically said historically. The Bible is not a historical reference book.  

[ifcar]

You don't need to star out the O in "God," if he gives a shit it's more or less the same sentiment =P

I know it's a Jewish thing, but I didn't think Chistian was Jewish.

In any case, very nice.

Jews typically write it like this "G-d."  Chris is not Jewish, but his father is, so maybe thats why he did it.

Is it because Jews can't say God?

They're not supposed to write the name of god on anything that might be destroyed or thrown out.  And they can't say the true name of god, so they substitute "Adonai" for "Yahweh", if I recall correctly.

Yahweh? Can't say I've ever seen that before.  :blink:

Adonai is one accepted substitute, "hashem" (The Name) is another. There's another that's simply a set of Hebrew characters that is read as Adonai.

Yahweh (pronounced "Yah way" comes from the ineffable "YHWH", the vowel sounds stemming from Hebrew accents found within the actual Hebrew letters themselves.  Other popular forms are "Yahveh", "Yehovah", and "Jehovah".

That may very well be the set of Hebrew characters I was referring to pronounced phonetically.  

[Raza]

Fun fact for you guys, before the Parsi invasion and the intermingling with Zoroastrians, Judaism was originally a polytheistic religion, and YHWH was not a universal god, but a tribal god of the Jews.  The Zoroastrians had the idea of a universal god, and that was passed to the Jews during the time of their intermingling.  This partly explains why the earth was populated by Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel, and after Cain killed Abel, he became the last person on earth, but in Genesis 3, he came to know his wife.  In Genesis 2, which was written before Genesis 1, you can see the evidence of YHWH as a tribal god molding humanity and the earth out of materials, but in Genesis 1, god was all powerful, and therefore "Let there be light" was all that was needed.

God was always universal according to the Jews, but it was only the Jewish tribe that believed in him to be universal.  Everyone else at the time where pagans and worshipped idols.  And Judaism was never, EVER, a polytheistic religion.  Everything in Judaism deals with the "oneness" of God.

It's entirely possible that the earliest form of historical, if not Biblical, Judaism was in the form that Raza was discussing.

Raza, I imagine that historically, the Torah and other religious documents emerged to set this new tone for the one-God form of Judaism? Did your professor discuss that aspect?

We didn't discuss fully the texts of the Torah, or if we did, I missed some of it.  I could ask him (I've kept a good relationship with him) and come back and tell you what I found.  It was a summer course, afterall.

[ifcar]

That's all right, I was just curious if you'd covered that. It sounds quite interesting.  

[Raza]

That's all right, I was just curious if you'd covered that. It sounds quite interesting.

I took 16 credits over the summer, and then ran straight into a 15 credit semester.  Everything I learned over the summer is a blur.  I remember a little art history, much of my religion stuff, some Spanish, little sociology (as I call it, Marxism 101), and speech wasn't even worth having a full class.  I still have my textbook here somewhere...I'll flip through it.

[Fire It Up]

In the book Angels and Demons, two character make an experiment  to try and fuse science and religion. The books says that from the experiment they found that God is just pure energy, and that matter can form from it. Its hard to explain without the book on hand, but it almost makes complete sense. And the weird part....is that in the beginning of the book is that the information not relating to the scheming plot is real. I'm not sure if that's in refrence to just the Illuminati and CERN, or if it actually includes the experiment.

[BMWDave]

Fun fact for you guys, before the Parsi invasion and the intermingling with Zoroastrians, Judaism was originally a polytheistic religion, and YHWH was not a universal god, but a tribal god of the Jews.? The Zoroastrians had the idea of a universal god, and that was passed to the Jews during the time of their intermingling.? This partly explains why the earth was populated by Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel, and after Cain killed Abel, he became the last person on earth, but in Genesis 3, he came to know his wife.? In Genesis 2, which was written before Genesis 1, you can see the evidence of YHWH as a tribal god molding humanity and the earth out of materials, but in Genesis 1, god was all powerful, and therefore "Let there be light" was all that was needed.

God was always universal according to the Jews, but it was only the Jewish tribe that believed in him to be universal.  Everyone else at the time where pagans and worshipped idols.  And Judaism was never, EVER, a polytheistic religion.  Everything in Judaism deals with the "oneness" of God.

It's entirely possible that the earliest form of historical, if not Biblical, Judaism was in the form that Raza was discussing.

Raza, I imagine that historically, the Torah and other religious documents emerged to set this new tone for the one-God form of Judaism? Did your professor discuss that aspect?

Judaism was never a polytheistic religion as Raza is describing....it always dealt with the oneness of God.  But after the generations of Adam and Noach, the world was almost entirely polytheistic until Abraham came along.

I specifically said historically. The Bible is not a historical reference book.

To me it is, if I didnt believe it was history, why would I follow Judaism?  

[Run Away]

Haha, I walk into this thread and had to check the title a couple times.:P

[SaltyDog]

Haha, I walk into this thread and had to check the title a couple times.:P

Did it hurt?

[footoflead]

Haha, I walk into this thread and had to check the title a couple times.:P

:D  

[Raza]

In the book Angels and Demons, two character make an experiment  to try and fuse science and religion. The books says that from the experiment they found that God is just pure energy, and that matter can form from it. Its hard to explain without the book on hand, but it almost makes complete sense. And the weird part....is that in the beginning of the book is that the information not relating to the scheming plot is real. I'm not sure if that's in refrence to just the Illuminati and CERN, or if it actually includes the experiment.

As entertaining as Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code were, it's still largely fiction.

[thewizard16]

In the book Angels and Demons, two character make an experiment  to try and fuse science and religion. The books says that from the experiment they found that God is just pure energy, and that matter can form from it. Its hard to explain without the book on hand, but it almost makes complete sense. And the weird part....is that in the beginning of the book is that the information not relating to the scheming plot is real. I'm not sure if that's in refrence to just the Illuminati and CERN, or if it actually includes the experiment.

As entertaining as Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code were, it's still largely fiction.

Agreed. Anyone can find something if they're convinced it's there, it's just a matter of time and effort. Don't put too much stock in people who "discover" hidden things in historical texts. They wouldn't have found them if they weren't looking to find something.

[ifcar]

Fun fact for you guys, before the Parsi invasion and the intermingling with Zoroastrians, Judaism was originally a polytheistic religion, and YHWH was not a universal god, but a tribal god of the Jews.  The Zoroastrians had the idea of a universal god, and that was passed to the Jews during the time of their intermingling.  This partly explains why the earth was populated by Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel, and after Cain killed Abel, he became the last person on earth, but in Genesis 3, he came to know his wife.  In Genesis 2, which was written before Genesis 1, you can see the evidence of YHWH as a tribal god molding humanity and the earth out of materials, but in Genesis 1, god was all powerful, and therefore "Let there be light" was all that was needed.

God was always universal according to the Jews, but it was only the Jewish tribe that believed in him to be universal.  Everyone else at the time where pagans and worshipped idols.  And Judaism was never, EVER, a polytheistic religion.  Everything in Judaism deals with the "oneness" of God.

It's entirely possible that the earliest form of historical, if not Biblical, Judaism was in the form that Raza was discussing.

Raza, I imagine that historically, the Torah and other religious documents emerged to set this new tone for the one-God form of Judaism? Did your professor discuss that aspect?

Judaism was never a polytheistic religion as Raza is describing....it always dealt with the oneness of God.  But after the generations of Adam and Noach, the world was almost entirely polytheistic until Abraham came along.

I specifically said historically. The Bible is not a historical reference book.

To me it is, if I didnt believe it was history, why would I follow Judaism?

There's nothing that I can say to you then. Whatever I say, you'll just point out where the Bible differs. Treating an ancient document as an accurate or even adequate account of thousands of years of history is ludicrous, not religious.  

[BMWDave]

Fun fact for you guys, before the Parsi invasion and the intermingling with Zoroastrians, Judaism was originally a polytheistic religion, and YHWH was not a universal god, but a tribal god of the Jews.? The Zoroastrians had the idea of a universal god, and that was passed to the Jews during the time of their intermingling.? This partly explains why the earth was populated by Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel, and after Cain killed Abel, he became the last person on earth, but in Genesis 3, he came to know his wife.? In Genesis 2, which was written before Genesis 1, you can see the evidence of YHWH as a tribal god molding humanity and the earth out of materials, but in Genesis 1, god was all powerful, and therefore "Let there be light" was all that was needed.

God was always universal according to the Jews, but it was only the Jewish tribe that believed in him to be universal.  Everyone else at the time where pagans and worshipped idols.  And Judaism was never, EVER, a polytheistic religion.  Everything in Judaism deals with the "oneness" of God.

It's entirely possible that the earliest form of historical, if not Biblical, Judaism was in the form that Raza was discussing.

Raza, I imagine that historically, the Torah and other religious documents emerged to set this new tone for the one-God form of Judaism? Did your professor discuss that aspect?

Judaism was never a polytheistic religion as Raza is describing....it always dealt with the oneness of God.  But after the generations of Adam and Noach, the world was almost entirely polytheistic until Abraham came along.

I specifically said historically. The Bible is not a historical reference book.

To me it is, if I didnt believe it was history, why would I follow Judaism?

There's nothing that I can say to you then. Whatever I say, you'll just point out where the Bible differs. Treating an ancient document as an accurate or even adequate account of thousands of years of history is ludicrous, not religious.

I'm not saying its an adequate document for historical purposes, but I certainly dont believe its not true, as you seem to have suggested.

[cawimmer430]

Chris, you're ok with it having more than 100 horsepower and a petrol engine? <_<    

If it had 99-hp, it would have been acceptable. But 100-hp makes it such a gas guzzler. Think of the environment man!  :P  

[cawimmer430]

You don't need to star out the O in "God," if he gives a shit it's more or less the same sentiment =P

I know it's a Jewish thing, but I didn't think Chistian was Jewish.

In any case, very nice.

I just left out the "o" in God so I wouldn't offend anyone.  

BTW, my mom's 1/2 Jewish, my father is 100% Roman Catholic.    

[cawimmer430]

Wow, this has gone so off topic. Interesting that Christian started this thread, eh?  :P

Don't worry, I just learned something about Judaism. Must forward this to my mom, she'd be very interested.    

[ifcar]

Fun fact for you guys, before the Parsi invasion and the intermingling with Zoroastrians, Judaism was originally a polytheistic religion, and YHWH was not a universal god, but a tribal god of the Jews.  The Zoroastrians had the idea of a universal god, and that was passed to the Jews during the time of their intermingling.  This partly explains why the earth was populated by Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel, and after Cain killed Abel, he became the last person on earth, but in Genesis 3, he came to know his wife.  In Genesis 2, which was written before Genesis 1, you can see the evidence of YHWH as a tribal god molding humanity and the earth out of materials, but in Genesis 1, god was all powerful, and therefore "Let there be light" was all that was needed.

God was always universal according to the Jews, but it was only the Jewish tribe that believed in him to be universal.  Everyone else at the time where pagans and worshipped idols.  And Judaism was never, EVER, a polytheistic religion.  Everything in Judaism deals with the "oneness" of God.

It's entirely possible that the earliest form of historical, if not Biblical, Judaism was in the form that Raza was discussing.

Raza, I imagine that historically, the Torah and other religious documents emerged to set this new tone for the one-God form of Judaism? Did your professor discuss that aspect?

Judaism was never a polytheistic religion as Raza is describing....it always dealt with the oneness of God.  But after the generations of Adam and Noach, the world was almost entirely polytheistic until Abraham came along.

I specifically said historically. The Bible is not a historical reference book.

To me it is, if I didnt believe it was history, why would I follow Judaism?

There's nothing that I can say to you then. Whatever I say, you'll just point out where the Bible differs. Treating an ancient document as an accurate or even adequate account of thousands of years of history is ludicrous, not religious.

I'm not saying its an adequate document for historical purposes, but I certainly dont believe its not true, as you seem to have suggested.

I consider it similar to a set of proverbs with which some pieces of history can be tracked, and that is useful for studying the historical period in which it was put on paper. Not any sort of worthy historical record.

Raza is talking about Judaic history in relation to other known historical activity, not what the Bible says. Which do you think is a more accurate way of analyzing history, looking at research into the last few thousand years or reading the Bible?

[93JC]

The bible! Historians are godless heathens, destined for eternal damnation in the fiery inferno of hell!

Attend weekly religious sermons and tithe a signifcant portion of your income to the church and you shall be saved!

[J86]

LUCKY

Maybe. Maybe not.

I'm fucked if there is a God.  

You an me both!

[Raza]

According to historians, very little, if any of the Bible is historic.  The only accounts of many Biblical happenings (such as Jews in Egypt) only occur in the Bible itself, and therefore cannot be considered fact.

[autom?vel]

So if i prayed to God for a zillion dollars, i'd get it?

No. Its not easy, and I cant explain to you how G-d works, no one knows that. Sometimes god answers, and sometimes not.

Judaism is a very complicated thing, I've spent all my life studying it and I still have loads to learn...I surely cannot tell everything about it on a web forum.

From a Catholic perspective, I've always assumed you were supposed to meet G-d halfway or at least to some proportion. Even then, who knows.

Basically do it yourself, and pray for the best.   ^_^