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I'm too late to edit that. I should have said "forbade statues of any God, including himself." After I posted I realized I'd forgotten the Aten period during Akhenaten and in that period statues of gods besides Aten were, I believe, forbidden. I was reasonably certain statues of Aten continued.
Note: On further inspection Aten seems to have not been the subject of statuary per-se, but of bas-reliefs as a sun-disk with rays. Any form of depiction of Judaism's God was forbidden, but I admit it's not what I originally thought or remembered.
I think myself the borrowings are from the Sumerian - originated creation - myth, adopted by the Middle - east and clearly identifiable in Genesis and the flood and ark account. At the other end is the striking similarities between Isis - Horus worship in it Greek - form under the Ptolemies and Virgin and son imagery. Isis was even called the star of the sea. I recall.
I don't myself go overboard with the derivations. That other myths may have been co - opted into the Jesus story doesn't mean that there is no Jesus story for it to be co - opted onto, nor that the Mesopotamian creation myth used to kick off the history of Israel and Judea means that there is no history for it to kick off.
You're pretty straight about Aten worship. The Aten was just one of the Gods but Akhenaten made it the one god to be worshipped and in the end banned all the others. Perhaps through personal convinction but possibly to break the power of the Amun Temple and concentrate sole power in himself.
The parallels with the Yahweist agenda in Israel and Judah are probably coincidental. Though one can't be sure, of course.
As do you, but you are way more off the wall (read woo woo) than I. If you think what I said is illogical, then you have no concept of what the word means.
You cannot say that the belief that "God doesn't exist" is truth. You may see many signs (or lack thereof) that leads you to believe that. On the other hand, Christians see God everywhere. Both sides of this debate are confident in their beliefs, but we won't know the truth until we die.
What are you talking about?
When you say "god", I assume you are talking about the biblical god.
Logic and reason and a overwhelming lack of evidence lets me say with great confidence, that the biblical god, Santa, the tooth fairy, Zeus, and any other made up being, does not exist.
BS, if a christian was confident in their beliefs, they would be drinking poison and giving all their positions away.
Some one wrote, how can one reason with someone who has absolute knowledge. That is exactly my beef with atheists and Belle Hooks. One need not worry, we now live in a world with many moral systems. I am sure it will lead to love and harmony.
Facts? Now that's laughable! Since no one can be 100% sure, you live by faith just like I do.
You said it....... Since no one can be 100% sure, it is a matter of faith and because its a matter of faith you cannot be 100% sure that you have the absolute truth.........
Some one wrote, how can one reason with someone who has absolute knowledge. That is exactly my beef with atheists and Belle Hooks. One need not worry, we now live in a world with many moral systems. I am sure it will lead to love and harmony.
Atheists generally don't claim absolute knowledge. On the otherhand, how would you answer a question that you don't know the answer to? It's most probably along the lines of 'god did it.' Case in point, the Cosmological argument. This is just a form of arrogance since it pretends that someone has knowledge of everything.
As to not deviate to far from the topic, folk who claim that their moral absolutes are objectively moral are only dismissing the many other ideologies that hold moral absolutist tenets. For example, why would a religious fundamentalist consider their moral absolutes to be objectively right and at the same time consider nazi moral absolutes to be objectively wrong? The truth is that moral absolutism is a myth. People cherrypick morals based on societal norms.
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