What if there is no abrahamic god? First, let me clarify that in this question I am not excluding the potential existence of some sort of God. Lets assume there is some sort of first cause that we can label as god. But lets consider the possibility that this god did not reveal himself to Moses or make a covenant with the Jews, or send his only begotten son to save mankind. Then how might we contextualize the Bible? Making my above assumptions, the Bible becomes literary mythology that reinforces the cultural cohesion of the Jewish tribe, and provides an expedient appeal to authority that validates conquest of certain lands and genocide of the current residents of that land.
What if there is no abrahamic god? Everything would exist, function and occur in exactly the same ways as it currently exists, functions and occurs.
What if there is no abrahamic god? That's like asking "what if there's no Easter Bunny?" or "what if there's no Santa Claus?". Why would any rational person think that such an entity as that exists in the first place? T
Hundreds of people have claimed close encounters with offworld beings over thousands of years, why would they make it up?
I'm not exactly sure what you're asking for here. The Bible reinforces cultural cohesion between various people and provides appeals to authority regardless of whether it is true.
Prophets had a very short life expectancy because the snooty priests were gunning for them, so why didn't they simply keep their mouths shut to avoid any trouble?
Only a very few of the more well-known incidents that are likely possible descriptions of offworlders refer to the Abrahamic god. To my knowledge the majority are Hindi legends with some from other religions and only one or two, if memory serves, coming from the Abrahamic tradition. People make up mythological stories for all kinds of reasons, mainly to explain the world in the absence of science but also to justify morals systems and as philosophical treatises. Also, many people have dreams or hallucinations which they firmly believe to be real and tell to others. And god or the gods may be real, who knows?
The job description for prophets read "No pay, unsociable hours, short life expectancy" so the last thing anybody would want to be was a prophet.. Heck, some even tried to talk their way out of it, for example Moses said he was a poor talker- "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, i'm slow of speech and tongue." (Exodus 4:10) And Jonah was so scared he jumped on a ship to get away, bad call - "Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish." (Jonah 1:3) And young Jeremiah didn't want the job either - "Lord i'm a poor speaker and I'm too young and people won't take me seriously" (Jeremiah 1:6) And even Jesus showed his human side the night before his execution- "Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done" (Matt 26:42)
NASA engineer Josef Blumrich wrote this book analysing Ezekiel's close encounter of the third kind and speculated that the ship looked something like this- In fact many people have claimed encounters right up to the present day, perhaps even including PF members.. PS- Close encounters of various kinds occur throughout the bible over a span of thousands of years- First Kind: Sighting of one or more UFOs at a distance of 500 feet lor less. Second Kind: Sighting of a UFO with associated physical effects (e.g. heat, electrical interference, etc). Third Kind: Sighting of an animated being (presumably an alien but not specifically defined as such). Fourth Kind: Human abduction by an alien. May also include voluntary experiences. Fifth Kind: Voluntary bilateral contact between humans and extraterrestrials. Sixth Kind: Death of a human or animal associated with a UFO sighting. Cattle mutilations would fall into this category. Seventh Kind: The creation of a human/alien hybrid, either by sexual reproduction or by artificial scientific methods. http://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/u/ufo/close-encounters/
You can't blame them for not wanting to take on a prophets job! Reminds me of the time the Jobcentre wanted to send me to apply for a job as a warehouseman at the local navy dockyard, but when I read the job description, I chickened and never applied. It went something like this- "Your duties will include loading surface-to-air missiles, anti-shipping missiles, cruise missiles, torpedoes and depth charges onto Her Majesty's warships"
Yes, the word "prophet" in that context is interchangeable with the word "teacher" or "preacher" Dictionary- prophet: noun. a person regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God
Yes, not entirely desirable (the warehouse job, that is). Still, better than having to use the things in a fire-fight. Back to the point, being a prophet/activist/revolutionary/politician does appeal to a lot of people, for the reasons I mentioned plus what the others have said. As for people lying, well, they do that all the time, not least on internet forums.
Isaiah lived a long life. Jeremiah certainly had a fairly long life, though no proof of his death is recorded. The mythical Moses is recorded as living a reasonably long life for the time. Jonah is a fairy story probably based on the god Oannes -half man/half fish - who came out of the sea in the legends of Ninehveh. And your quotes only say that Moses and Jeremiah didn't think they were capable. In the case of Jeremiah however, he certainly should have been able. Son of a High Priest
What if? Nothing, just another day on earth. btw, this is the same exact god the Jews, Muslims and Christians worship. Crazy how far part their interpretation is of the same god...huh.
The bible was written about this god. If the hebrews didn't believe he existed they probably wouldn't have written about him. There would be no bible to contextualize. Since there is no proof that any gods exist, one can safely assume that the biblical god doesn't exist. And the bible would be contextualized under the assumption that he does exist
I'm a traveler from the Sombrero Galaxy and as I was whizzing through this galaxy I saw this cute blue and white planet and decided to spend a few days on it. The people on it are a bunch of superstitious twits.