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Showing posts with the label Epic of Gilgamesh

Copycat: Genesis and the Ark of the Covenant

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Interesting how scoffers reject archaeology when it supports the Bible, but when tendentious evidence is twisted against  the Bible, then yee haw boy howdy, the Bible is wrong. There are claims that the Bible copies other religions, such as the ludicrous "Jesus Myth", and stories that Christianity was a reworking of pagan mystery religions . Charges of copying are made against the Creation and the Genesis Flood, and some even think the Ark of the Covenant is a copy of something Egyptian. It is not difficult to refute these. Library of Ashurbanipal /  The Flood Tablet  / The Gilgamesh Tablet / Wikimedia Commons /Fæ ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Creationists say that there was a global Flood, and after the dispersion at Babel , people took the account with them around the world. Naturally, there are corruptions over the years, but many (including the indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere ) have core elements in agreement with the Genesis narrative. One of the most popular "co...

Flood Legends and the Biblical Narrative

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Unbelievers spread boilerplate criticisms of the Bible among each other, acting as if they had smoking gun refutations available. It is common to have misotheists refer to the Bible as "fairy tales" and "myths written by bronze age goat herders", but those claims are nonsense. Honest, intelligent people may wonder if mockers have actually read fairy tales, myths, and the biblical account. It is not necessary to consult a literary scholar to see the differences. We have a couple of articles on the Genesis Flood to consider. Storyteller  by Anker Grossvater, 1884 / Source:  Wikimedia Commons A spell back, we looked at three articles regarding some marked similarities in Flood legends of the Americas . What was interesting is that while there were absurdities and changes added over time, many had basic points in common with the Bible. This indicates that the true story became legends told by descendants of Noah and the families of his sons. There are claims that the Ge...

Examining False Charges of Deluge Story Copying

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Hopefully, I can move to a replacement for this awful Google-owned Blogger platform by the end of the year. Like Facebook, they force changes on its users that are dreadful. Atheists and tinhorn "Christian scholars" level charges at the narrative of the Genesis Flood for being a copy of similar pagan stories. If so-called scholars actually did complete research instead of arguing from superficialities and anti-Bible presuppositions, they would not be making such foolish assertions. Library of Ashurbanipal / The Flood Tablet / The Gilgamesh Tablet / Wikimedia Commons / Fæ   ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) As we know, there are global deluge story all over the world. Creationists believe that after the dispersal at Babel, the people took the historical account with them, but they deteriorated. One of the main problems with the idea of the Hebrews copying from pagan sources is that such a thing would be unthinkable to those Hebrews. The cultures of the ancient peoples in question were extremel...

Ancient Documents Confirm Genesis Flood Account

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Some scoffers claim that the Genesis account of the Noachian Flood are simply copies of other flood stories that were embellished by ancient Hebrew writers. Such views show not only an anti-biblical bias, but also poor reasoning and lack of knowledge of historical documents. For that matter, the Epic of Gilgamesh (one of the ancient flood accounts supposedly the true source of flood legends) is markedly different from the Genesis Flood account. Even a casual reading shows that the Epic  is mostly fantasy , with lots of polytheism and unbelievable material that probably wouldn't interest monotheistic Hebrews. When the flood account is inserted into the story, that part of it has a different tone, and shows similarities to the real Flood narrative in Genesis. For that matter, there are global flood legends around the world that have some remarkable similarities where the earth is covered by water and only eight special people survived. Pixabay / stux There is another account ...

Another Gilgamesh Great Flood Pretender

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There have been scoffers for many years who simply dismissed the Genesis Flood as a fanciful tale or a complete fabrication. (Worse, there have been liberal Christians who have agreed with atheistic interpretations of geology and said that the Flood never happened, that it was local, "tranquil", or some other nonsense.) Many flood legends exist around the world, and quite a few are only fit for jawing with folks to fill time while riding the lonely trail — nowhere near believable. Yet, many of the flood tales from around the world have elements in common with the Genesis account. The Great Flood / Artist unknown / PD Some scoffing scholars insist that since the "Epic of Gilgamesh" is the oldest legend of a global flood that we have on record, it must be the original, and Genesis is a copy of it. Even a superficial reading of the Gilgamesh story (written as a fantastical poem) shows that it's another story that has some of the same elements of the Genes...

Gilgamesh, Genesis and Myths

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  People who want to detract from the Bible's historical and divine nature have tried to wave it off as just myth. Worse, they ignore a lot of reality by saying that the Hebrews copied from the myths of other people, touched them up and then declared them to be holy writ. I read the Epic of Gilgamesh  and studied on it for a spell. (I thought "epic" meant "very long", but not necessarily ; it could mean epic "style". The Gilgamesh  epic poem is not all that long, especially since a lot of it is missing.) The part of this that is of interest to biblical creationists is the story of the global Flood in the 11th tablet. Some things about the Epic of Gilgamesh   just reared up as obviously mythology, what with gods and goddesses getting angry and fighting each other, Ishtar having snits because Gilgamesh won't giver her a tumble, references to the Anunnaki (pick your story about who they were, some people believe that the Anu...