Man's Search For Spirituality - E Christopher Reyes (jenna bush book club .TXT) 📗

he to had come to teach mankind, and had been at once its benefactor and its victim. Emperor Severus Alexander, Roman Emperor 222 - 235 (208 - 235)] placed a statue of Orpheus in his labarum, besides that of the Christian Messiah.” ~From: Scriptores Historiae Augustae. 
“Between Orphism and Christianity there were, indeed, analogies so evident and so striking that it was impossible to accept them as accidental. A common source of inspiration was assumed…. If on examination we find something of Orphism in every religion, it is because Orphism made use of elements common to them all, drawn from the depths of human nature, and nourished by its most cherished illusions.” ~From the Encyclopedia Religion & Orpheus A History of Religions, Salomon Reinach [1858 - 1932], Newly Revised and Enlarged, Tr. Florence Simmonds, Liveright, 1942 (1930) (1909) (1909 Paris).
The scribes in the translations of the ancient writings, to insure accuracy, would count the number of words and letters on each page and in each chapter. The letters would be counted going down as well as across the page, and the totals summed in each book, to insure accuracy of the scribes. Later Christian versions/translations are not so strict in their interpretations and accuracy. In the Akkadian mythologies, BC 2414, we have Sargon [Sharru-kin: the king is legitimate], whose father is a Semite. At birth he is placed in a reed basket by his mother and set him adrift in the Euphrates River, where he is discovered by a water pourer [the gardener Akki], who takes him home and raises him [does this story sound familiar?] He later falls in love with the goddess Ishtar. The Akkadian kings are known to prefix their names with the sign for divinity, a trait, which is to be carried on throughout history…all Akkadian kings are henceforth descendents of gods [A practice continued into Europe and all parts of the world].
It was also the custom in primitive times, when an infant's legitimacy was doubted, to throw it into the water. If it floated, that proved its legitimacy; if it sank, it was a bastard.  This may have accounted for the original story of why Moses was put in the bulrushes, rather than the legend of Pharaoh's wrath. Moses was the son of Amram, who had married his paternal aunt, which, according to Hebrew law, was an incestuous union. ~From The Ten Commandments by Joseph Lewis.
BC 1433-The Longest Day vs. the Longest Night- (?)-Aztec and Mayan civilizations report the Longest Night; the day the sun did not rise under the reign of Titu Yupanqui Pachacuti II. The natives feared it was due to disrespect to the gods and customs. -Compare this with Joshua 6:20, & 10:12, The Longest Day, half way around the world during a comparable period.
BC 1400-1250 (?)-The walls of Jericho come tumbling down. -Book of Joshua 6:20. The historical significance is that by following the word of God, one will achieve success in one’s undertakings. This criteria, will lead to many nations proclaiming that God is on their side when declaring war upon their enemies.
BC 1400-1200-Ugarit Texts describe Asherah [goddess of fertility] as the mother of the gods and consort of Ba’al. Perhaps seldom known, yet of immense significance is the religion of the Canaanites [Ki-in-a-nim], whose lands are described in Biblical lore that lends itself to our modern Bible translations in the way it is presented in not only language, but also to its poetic prose. -Numbers 34:1-12.
Texts discovered in Ra Shamrah, show a cuneiform alphabet as Phoenician in derivation and Semitic in nature. Discovered in what was once known as the town of Ugarit, now Ra Shamrah, in western Syria, these texts lend credence to the fact that the Hebrews also borrowed from ancient religions.
The Habiru are mentioned in the Legend of Naram-Sin during the Akkadian era [BC 2350-2150] and described in the Tablets of Nuzi as aliens who sell themselves in groups as slaves. They fight as mercenaries with the kings of Larsa, Warad-Sin in BC 1770-1759. Abraham is described as a Hebrew [Genesis 13, 14,] and is described as an Aramaean. ~Genesis 25, 20, 28, 31, Deuteronomy 26, 5.
BC 1350 (?)-1362-The “Heretic” Pharaoh Akhenaten introduces a strict monotheism [one god concept] that is frowned upon by the priestly class. The Ancient Egyptians had all ready delineated good and evil and the main characters were set in stone, a good world [heaven] and an evil one [underworld]. They also worshipped sacred animals and birds.
Controversy surrounds the gods of the Egyptians when the Pharaoh eliminates all but one. His decision is not popular with the populace either. The Egyptians were monotheists with the lesser gods having some attribute of their primary god. Also known as the Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, husband of Nefertiti, the Pharaoh establishes the Cult of Aton, the Sun God. He moves the capitol to a new city that he has built in the desert, Aknetaton. The Pharaoh renames himself Akhnaton in honor of the god Aton. By overthrowing all the old gods, at one time Amenhotep IV drew the wrath of the priestly craft as well as the populace who later come to know him as the “Heretic to the throne of the Pharaohs.” It was a matter of too much change at one time. He took away the power and status of the priests and upon his death; all mention of him [inscribed in stone] is removed from the idols and sacred temples of Egypt [His name is removed forever from the eyes of man and god].
After the heresies of Akhenaton/Amenhotep the priests declare the Trilogy of three main gods [three gods in one]: Amen, Ra, and Ptah. Upon his death, his son-in-law [King Tut, Tutankhamen the boy King] moves the capitol back to Thebes. King Tut dies mysteriously at age eighteen, and upon his death he is buried with full honors deserving of a god with his coffin inlaid with god, skin of the gods. ~Note: Sigmund Freud concludes, in his 1939 book, “Moses and Monotheism,” that Moses was not an Israelite but an Egyptian whose teachings derived from Akhenaton's belief in pure monotheism [which he had imposed for apparently imperative economic reasons].
Recent examination of Tut’s remains shows a distinct split at the base of the skull. It is now believed that the high priest, who later became Pharaoh, may have murdered the boy king and the queen to gain power and the seat of the pharaoh. His reign [the high priest] however, was short lived.
BC 1301 (?)-1207 (?)-“The Healing Place of the Soul” A magnificent library located inside the palace of Pharaoh Ramses II with many manuscripts from all parts of the known world. Later to be destroyed to protect the teachings of a new faith. With the increased tensions along the delta region, Ramses relocates the capital and names it after himself “City of Ramses.” The Biblical cities Tanis and Avaris are the same… “City of Ramses.”
BC 1300-1000-Veda: ancient Sanskrit [not of human origin] literature of Hinduism. Thirty-three Devas are said to govern the three regions of heaven, earth, and air. The Vedas describe a variety of evil creatures, including the “Asuras” and the “Panis,” who harm people and work against the Hindu gods. God of the Hindus, says, “Of Him whose Glory is so great, there is no image.” ~Veda.
He “Illumines all, delights all, whence all proceeded; that by which they live when born, and that to which all must return.” ~Veda.
In the “Institutes of Menu,” he is characterized as “He whom the mind alone can perceive; whose essence eludes the external organs, who has no visible parts, who exists from eternity... The soul of all beings, whom no being can be comprehend.”
BC 1300 (?)-Runes, the casting of stones with markings are used as a means of divination in the Scandinavian countries. Bishop Wulfila in his 4th century Gothic translation of the Bible mentions runes in Mark 4:11.
King James and later Christian versions delete mention of the runes [stones] in their Bibles. King James I said: “No Bishop, no king,” but he might as well have said, “No cross, no crown.” “The king owned the bodies, and the priest the souls, of men. One lived on taxes, the other on alms. One was a robber, the other a beggar, and each was both.” These robbers and beggars controlled two worlds. ~From The Great Infidels, 1881, by Robert Green Ingersoll.
‘The Gothic religion, taught the being of a supreme God, Master of the Universe, to whom all things were submissive and obedient.” ~Tacit. de Morib. Germ.
The king made laws while the priest made creeds. With bowed backs the people received the burdens of the one, and with wonder's open mouth the dogmas of the other. If any aspired to be free they were crushed by the king, and every priest was a Herod who slaughtered the children of the brain. The king ruled by force, the priest by fear, and both by both.
Herod has his own wife murdered in a fit of jealousy, “His passion also made him stark mad and leaping out of his bed he ran around the palace in a wild manner. His sister Salome took the opportunity also to slander Miriam and to confirm his suspicions about Joseph [Miriam's alleged lover]. Then out of his ungovernable jealousy and rage he commanded both of them to be killed immediately. But as soon as his passion was over he repented of what he had done and as soon as his anger was worn off his affections were kindled again... Indeed, the flame of his desires for her was so hard that he could not think she was dead but he would appear under his disorders to speak to her as if she were still alive...”~ Flavius Josephus.
The king said to the people: “God made you peasants, and he made me king. He made rags and hovels for you, robes and palaces for me. Such is the justice of God.”
And the priest said: “God made you ignorant and vile. He made me holy and wise. If you do not obey me, God will punish you here and torment you hereafter. Such is the mercy of God.”

“God made the male and female for the propagation of the human race.” ~ Saint Irenaeus Against All Heresies, 180 C.E.
Infidels are intellectual discoverers. They sail the unknown seas and find new isles and continents in the infinite realms of thought. He is an intellectual capitalist, and for that reason excites the envy and hatred of the theological pauper. Willing to trust logic to that of blind faith. Especially the blindness which is being created by a superstitious clergy to enrich themselves at the expenditure of the poor masses. Is it necessary that Heaven should borrow its light from the glare of Hell? ~From the works of Robert Green Ingersoll
BC 1225-Assyrians capture Babylon and there is an assimilation of the Babylonian culture and religious beliefs. The temples are subordinate to the king who often appoints his own children to high positions in the priesthood [a practice later adopted by the Christians]. Cuneiform type of writing is established.
Winged Creatures [Angels?], those having special powers and capabilities first appeared around the 9th century BCE. Assyrians began depicting spiritual creatures [kari-bu] that were half man, half animal. Western civilization would later portray angels [cherubs and seraphim] with wings about the 4th century AD. ~Job 38:4-7, Daniel 7:10, Jude 9, Hebrews 1:14, Revelation 14:6, 22:8, Matthew 9:32, 12:22, 17:15, Timothy 4:1.
Angels are made a part of Christian dogma in AD 325 with the Council of Nice. The Roman winged goddess of victory, Victoria, is also portrayed