Since the christian bible and most of the myths in it are taken directly from other religions...?

Question

Shouldn't it be considered plagerism at best?
Look at the story of creation for example. Taken, almost verbatim from the story of Gilgamesh. Flood myth and all.
Honestly, if more christians knew the history of their cult, there would be a LOT more atheists.
But knowing requires research and reading. I guess it's FAR easier to allow a con man at the pulpit to tell them what to think.

Answer 1

ALL religions "borrow" from prior religions. I'm not sure if plagiarism was a concern in those days.

You're right, though. With the Internet, there's not much excuse left for not informing oneself about the things that matter. Of course, there's the very real possibility that, to some, the FACTS don't matter as long as they have faith . . .

. . . "They must find it difficult . . . those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority." ~Gerald Massey

This, in fact, seems to be the condition that the "faithful" find themselves in: who needs the truth when you can have faith instead -- right?

But just take a look at the evolution of human spirituality.

In the beginning, men were animals (some might claim they still are). Although they had human brains, there wasn’t a lot of abstract thought going on (some might claim there still isn't). They were mostly concerned with mere survival. The sun, the moon, the stars, volcanoes, weather and seasons were utter mysteries to them.

Over time, they developed enough language to ponder life and death. This led them down a path of spiritual evolution; beginning with animism, and progressing through polymorphism, polytheism and, finally, monotheism. As with the evolution of species, their spiritual evolution carried through some old traits while acquiring new ones.

Animism

Primitive man’s fear of death aroused speculation about the nature of life, which in turn led to the concept of the soul. Man extended the concept of soul to significant objects in his external world. This is known as animism. That primitive man engaged in animism is abundantly documented by archeology and anthropology.

Animism doesn’t confer godliness and doesn’t, of itself, constitute a religion. However, most religions stem from a belief in god(s), which in turn stems from a belief in souls. Fear of death brought gods into this world.

Animals were undoubtedly among the first to be bestowed with souls by early man. Of these animals some were vital to man’s survival. This key relationship led to man’s next baby-step on the path to religion – anthropomorphism.

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely human characteristics and qualities to animals, inanimate objects, or natural phenomena. With human emotions and motives thus attributed to: animals, volcanoes, the sun, the moon, rivers and oceans; many gods were born.

Polytheism

Gods proliferated. The more important they were to survival, the more revered they became. There were gods of: the sun, woolly mammoths, aurochs and rams, etc. Stone, then metal, idols of these gods were created, worshipped and sacrificed to. Primitive man was very much polytheistic.

Worship evolved into full-blown religions. Hinduism is the first great religion and is still practiced by a billion adherents – making it the third largest religion in the world.

Monotheism

The first claim of a supreme God was made in the Late Bronze Age, by pharaoh Akhenaten, who proclaimed that Aten was the only god allowed. This monotheism was short lived and Egypt reverted back to polytheism 20 years later, after Akhenaten’s death.

Zoroastrianism

At about the same time as Atenism, another new monotheistic religion, Zoroastrianism, claimed Ahura Mazda as the Supreme God and Creator. He was the only god of the Avesta (their scripture).

Zoroastrianism spread throughout Babylonia and into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and even the Roman Empire, during the 800-year period (1000 to 200 BCE) in which the Jewish Torah was being written. Many scholars see Zoroastrianism as the most influential religion in history, either directly or indirectly. This is because Zoroastrianism is the originator of many concepts appropriated by the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Some of these “borrowed” beliefs include: The Kingdom of God; immortality of the soul; God as Creator; the virgin birth of a great prophet; a belief in God and Satan; a belief in angels and demons; a belief in heaven and hell; a belief in individual judgment at death; a belief in physical resurrection and the coming of a redeemer; and a belief that the world will culminate in a final battle between good and evil.

The Abrahamic Religions

The Book of Genesis is sacred to 3 religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The 6 key biblical figures before Abraham – Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Enoch and Noah – are revered by all 3 religions, as well.

Moses, Jesus and Muhammad are all claimed to be descendants of Abraham through one of his sons. Abraham is: the patriarch of Israel to the Jews; a major prophet to the Muslims; and to Christians he is a symbol of faith, as well as a physical and spiritual ancestor of Jesus.

These 3 religions share a lot in common, such as: monotheism; a prophetic tradition; Semitic origins; a basis in divine revelation; a belief in good and evil based on obedience to God; a history beginning with creation; and shared stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses.

The history of these 3 religions reveals another commonality: an enmity and outright hostility that continues to this very day. The religious wars and petty reprisals between these factions of Abraham have resulted in thousands of years of misery and suffering and millions of deaths.

This undeniably divisive component of the Abrahamic religions offers little or no hope of reconciliation, leaving mankind with the prospect of continued turmoil for the foreseeable future. We seem hopelessly doomed to kill each other in God's name unless or until the adherents of these religions finally understand that their religions need a "zero-tolerance policy" against violence of ANY kind – especially that performed in the name of God.

So there you have it. Fear brought gods into the world and ignorance is keeping them here. In the words of Voltaire:

As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.

In this day and age, isn't it about time we gave up these superstitious beliefs?

Answer 2

I agree with you to a certain extent. I have done some reading on this subject, and I think a lot of it has to do with trying to attract new members to a new religion by providing them with something they find familiar, then transitioning to their own material. You can see this across many ancient cultures.

What really amazes me is how similar stories are across cultures that have never had any contact. Just because they are repeated and changed doesn't invalidate them completely in my opinion.

I am not a Christian, but I have been fascinated to learn about the early beginnings of the movement. To me, it makes it more realistic to learn about the times and the people that the stories in the Bible are about. I find that it makes it real for me, and I think that there is a lot of historical information in the Bible. I also have studied some of the Middle Ages history, and learned how the rise of the Catholic Church had a lot to do with the changing, editing , and manipulating of what we now know as the Bible. Many changes were made for political reasons.

So, my personal opinion is, there is a lot of good historical, metaphorical, and spiritual material in the Bible, but it has all been compiled and changed by humans. There is a lot more that was not included for whatever reasons, and it is fascinating to learn about the many other texts of the period, and how they relate to the other recent and contemporary cultures.

I think learning all of this has actually made me more of a believer (certainly in the historical Jesus), because I can then make intelligent decisions about what I know.

Perhaps more intelligent study of the Christian religious material would help to return more of the spirituality, and strengthen people in the Christian faith more in the manner in which it was originally intended, and with less of the political dogma that has been developed throughout the history of the movement.

Just my humble (and respectful) opinion.

Answer 3

The Epic Of Gilgamesh and the Patriarcal account of the creation are not similar in any aspect. As a matter of fact,Moses wrote the poem around the reign of Rameses the second. Egypt is far more an older civilization than Sumeria and Babylon. Medo-Persian society is a couple thousand years older.I recomend researching the aryan tribes of central europe. The Bible is a result of thousands of years of human refinement. It is not a collage of mythology,nor plagiarism. It is a condenssated chronicle of the history of this planet. The Bible is not to be taken to heart as a holy book;yet it should be respected as the accounts in it are as old as the first generation in this planet.

Answer 4

Its especially easy for them to just listen to the "con man in the pulpit" when he is telling them what they want to hear.

People will go to great lengths to make an effort to believe what you say if what you are saying makes them feel special and important, (ie God loves you, God cares personally about you, you are going to go to heaven, etc, etc).

If people were to tell them that Enki and Anu loved them and had a "wonderful plan for their life", they would probably believe in the Gilgamesh story just as readily as the Noah story.

As long as the belief makes them feel good and important, little details like "the truth" aren't going to be of any interest to them.

Answer 5

Whoa whoa whoa...i don't base my faith SOLELY on the "con man" and the Bible. It may not be so much about the elements of the Bible that may be stories, but the valuable advice it has. And it HAS got valuable advice within it.

But it's not just about that. It's about how you feel, and what signs you have seen that point towards there being a God. Overall, i see more good than evil, but i totally appreciate that otheers may see it differently.

Oh, and i do know about other theories, evolution and so on, in a lot of detail, because i do read. i just keep believeing anyway.

I don't think basing what i believe on what i see around me consitutes my being part of a con, or a cult, but i guess that's just me.

Answer 6

I have often thought if religion had a copyright, not too many of them would exist, including my own I'm sure.
The Babylonian/Sumerian creation is almost word for word the OT.
LOL I love the two answers above me. Do people even READ these myths before they answer? Geez play into the stereotype a little more guys.

Answer 7

lol agreed. You would think that they would be concerned with understanding the origins of Christianity but most are not. In fact most know NOTHING about christianity other than what is in the bible."jesus was the son of god" and after that you don't really need to think any further. Any other book you would want to know who wrote it and what their credentials were and how they obtained their evidence. The bible, quran and etcetc., get a free pass on this.

Oh and I just love the below comment on all the "valuable" advice that the bible has in it. lmao that's the biggest bunch of bs that they always say. the bible is a book of war, filled with more examples of immorality commited in the name of god, than morality. A truely sick book if you choose not to ignore the juicy part.

Answer 8

... or pagans.

People love plagerism anyway; they love things they can recognise something else in. That's probably why christianity is so popular and the religions it stole from aren't.

Answer 9

A smart Christian would say that all those previous instances only prove the legitimacy of their claims, since the previous religions had also noted the same events, they just mislabled them. But then God revealed himself to all and we should now be completely in line with Biblical teachings.

(Maybe I could do some PR work for them... You think I could get paid for this kind of BS?)

Answer 10

I don't think the plagiarism was necessarily intentional. Rather it's a matter of commonality of ideas at a certain phase of human development. But calling people names won't change their mind. There are people who want to believe, and as long as their beliefs don't interfere with your life, the better part of valor is to allow them to think what they want.

Answer 11

Show us one (1) piece of evidence to prove that the text in the Christian Bible was taken from other texts.
Show the proof- not just someones dislike for the Bible.

I know you can't -I think

you are a liar

-and you just trapped yourself. You can not do it. Oh yeah, you can quote some anti-Christian rant from some supposed intellectual-but that is all you can do. You can not back up that assumption you just made.