Satan’s spirits of lust emerge in the pagan gods Baal, Molech, and Chemosh that are all mentioned in the Bible; specifically, their practices often included distorted sexual acts, human sacrifices, cannibalism, and the eating of blood that were distinctively traits of ‘devil’ worship. Baal worship became abundant throughout much of the ancient Middle East; concurrently, in early societies Baal has a long history of perverted sex that is akin to Pan Worship within his cult rituals. Mount Hermon turned out to be one of the major centers of Baal/Pan worship that involved the brutality of human sacrifices. Baal obtained other god’s identity, such as the horned Molech; well known for child sacrifices. The various names and epithets of Baal occurring in the Old Testament and elsewhere became produced from his various aspects and the localities of his worship. For the majority of people, the cruelty of tormenting and murdering children becomes too devastating, believing that it just could not have happened. On the contrary, the Bible’s staunch position states numerous times concerning these killings, and references how the Israelites served the idols of the heathen.
In 1870, Sir Charles Warren happened to be exploring in the Lebanon region on the summit of Mount Hermon and found the ruins of a temple believed to belong to Baal. Similarly, this could be relevant to the Bible’s stating they
The Philosopher’s Great God of Lust
Imagine this, all around you there's death. You taste death, you smell death, you hear death, and you fear death. In the book, Touching Spirit Bear, Cole is sent to an island and is there all alone by himself. He has trouble finding food and had also got beat up by a bear. He is trying to survive on the island. Hannah, on the other hand, from the book The Devil's Arithmetic, was sent back in time and has to go through the horrors of the holocaust as a jew.
C. S. Lewis, one of the greatest spiritual writers the world has known, wrote the Screwtape Letters to mock the evil works of the devil and give us an understanding of spiritual warfare that is constantly going on all around us. Many people refuse to believe their lives are being interfered with by spiritual forces, but it is not something that should be ignored. Lewis saw the importance in recognizing spiritual warfare in order to learn how to fight it, and that is one of his inspirations for writing this book. Although we aren’t sure how demons attempt to lead us away from God, Lewis gives a detailed account on what he believes is a way they could go about it.
Thus the Nephilim came from the interbreeding of the angelic beings with the daughters of Cain, the Martians. As well as, through the Nephilim the surface of the Earth became filled with wickedness and violence before the great flood. These giants were wicked and having been born of corrupted angelic beings, they dominated the surface of the Earth filling it with wickedness and violence. In addition to causing violence and sin on the Earth, the Nephilim was corrupting the Earth with the worship of the serpent, the Anannage angelic beings or gods and corrupting the Earth with the worship of the Demiurge (Saturn). The Demiurge (called the Hebrew Saturn god El), and his biblical Elohim (sons of God) are the Gnostic Lord Archon/Demiurge, who are under many different names for God. The Nephilim offspring of the Anannage gods has corrupted the Earth by building monuments and pyramids. Furthermore, they used the created genetic man (Hu/man) to slave for them and as a food source.
The great American scholar, William Foxwell Albright was an American Biblical archaeologist, and is considered to by many to be the “father of Biblical archaeology,” because of his contributions to the archaeological historicity of the Bible. “More than any other scholar Albright’s astounding corpus of books, articles, and public lectures defined a new relationship between archaeology and Biblical studies.”
Author John N. Oswalt begins The Bible Among the Myths: Unique Revelation or Just Ancient Literature? with a concise and well-written introduction that whets the reader’s appetite, compelling one to continue reading. He begins by informing the reader that his novel has been in the works dating all of the way back to the 1960s, when he attended the Asbury Theological Seminary. Oswalt quickly points out that one of the main points that the book will focus on is determining if “the religion of the Old Testament [is] essentially similar to, or essentially different from, the religions of its neighbors.”1 Oswalt is swift to acknowledge a major difference between the Old Testament and the religions of the Israelites Near
John Oswalt, in his book The Bible Among the Myths, presents his position to the reader that the bible is different and separate from other writings of the Ancient Near East. He asserts the Bible is both historically accurate and theologically sound. He makes the defense the Bible was divinely inspired and revealed to humanity and unique from other Ancient Near East literature. There was a time when the Bible, and the Israelite religion was different from its neighboring societies. But as times have changed, many people now lump the bible with other Ancient Near East myths.
The Bible Among the Myths begins by stating that while the information since the 1960s has remained unaffected, the scrutiny has altered. The author, John N. Oswalt, begins his text by introducing the relative understanding of the Old Testament and Ancient Near East’s way of life and religion. Oswalt addresses the change of Israelite religion in comparison with other religions that were once believed to be unique by scholars. It is presently believed that the Old Testament is practically indistinguishable to the other religions of its time.
Using binaries, Oates is able to shed light on the past and how religion was a key factor in the short story. Throughout the story, “where are you going and where have you been” Oates shows the religious binaries are extensive and methodical. Such as the connotation of right and wrong threw Connie’s eyes, and the adverse effect of fighting against your moral judgment. In the beginning the first insight to the religious binary is the music Connie listens too. “music that made everything so good: the music was always in the background, like music at a church service; it was something to depend upon”. Connie’s interpretation of the music in the background is very church like, which in a literal since means she’s been to church if not goes to church.
John H. Walton’s Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible is broken up into fourteen chapters. Those fourteen chapters are each part of one of five sections. This book also contains over twenty historical images. Before the introduction, the author gives readers a full appendix of all images used in this published work. The author then gives his acknowledgements followed by a list of abbreviations.
An examination of Israelite theology goes beyond finding similarities and differences, it should articulate the relationships which existed and clarify the cultural context. Otherwise, the mere interpretation of text may lead to interpretation with a theological significance based on our understanding.
John H. Walton is a professor of the Old Testament at Wheaton College. He is known for his intelligence of the Bible but especially of the Old Testament. Inspired by Joseph Free, a former Wheaton professor; Walton read a book called Archaeology and Bible History. After reading this book, he decided to not become an archaeologist. He switched his focus to comparing the culture and literature of the Bible and the Ancient Near East. With passion for the Old Testament, Walton finds it important to help others understand it better. Walton has been acknowledged for stepping on people’s toes by making them question what they know to be true in their mind. He is very firm in his beliefs. When it comes to his book The Lost World of Adam and Eve, there were many people that criticized it but also those who enjoyed it. This book talks about the first three chapters of Genesis and makes many various propositions
Religion plays a critical role in the lives of many people across the world. Some of the responsibilities of following a religion include understanding its history and knowing the stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. However, it isn’t always clear about how historically accurate some of these stories are. While some of the accounts may in fact be true, it is possible that some of the people and stories found in the bible were written as a symbol, with the intention that the morals of the stories would be understood.
More evidence that supports the Bible’s authenticity is its historical
The Kolbrin Bible is a 3,600-year-old manuscript that speaks about many things. Among these things, it speaks about the creation of humans. It also narrates stories about ancient civilizations that existed on Earth before the arrival of Adam and Eve. This bible is one of the most debated ancient texts. The reason behind the interest in this manuscript is the mentioned existence of advanced ancient cultures that is not recorded in the written history that we know.
Looking back, we can see glimpses of the lives of those who lived in the Ancient Near East, known as the ANE, through their stories and myths that have survived over centuries of time. Many of these stories contain unique elements that make each one personal to the civilization that they belong to, but there are common themes and ideas that are virtually shared between the traditional stories stemming from this region of the world. In fact, these parallels even extend into Old Testament literature; laced within the stories that we’ve come to know and love. It is not surprising that the Old Testament contains similarities found within ANE tradition, seeing that