Converting to Judaism in ancient times

[Admiral Yi]

more proof jesus is gay. His brothers come down and lay multiple hot chicks, Jesus comes down and touches no woemn and has a penchant for hanging around burly fishermen. Then he goes and dies in an extreem case of S&M gone bad. God must be so ashamed

You are so going to have to say a billion Hail Marys.

[Eddie Teach]

So?  The Ethiopian church has added books to the Bible but I don't see anyone saying they "aren't real Christians".

Nobody knows anything about them.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Wright, in the fantastically interesting Evolution of God, points out that several poems and stories in the Old Testament appear to be directly taken from Phonecian religion, with "Baal" replaced by "Yahweh".

Interesting, but not surprising.  The fish-hat thingy Benedict wears descends from some Sumerian priest hat. 

yes, and the staffs the bishops carry are the same as the Roman augurs carried. And apparently the the church recieved the augural books/scrolls too. The church beiing what it was they probably didn't destroy them

[The Brain]

I like the fact that the Pope's job is a lot older than Christ.

[Viking]

My own take is that the very beginning (paul) Christianity made a Faustian pact - they decided to consciously work within and adapt pre-existing folk traditions, in order to speed expansion.

Yes.  I can't say for sure this was occurring as early as you put it, but if you read History of the English People by Bede it clearly describes missionaries to the Anglo-Saxons going out of their way to equate pagan customs/beliefs with Christian ones--hence why Easter is celebrated with the egg motif and Christmas with the evergreen tree one.

The evergreen tree was imported from Germany by Prince Albert in the 19th century.

[Razgovory]

The Aztecs stole the pyramids from the Egyptians as well. 

[Razgovory]

The Book of Mormon. 'Real' Christians haven't been adding scripture for millennia.

So?  The Ethiopian church has added books to the Bible but I don't see anyone saying they "aren't real Christians".

Which ones?

[Razgovory]

Wright, in the fantastically interesting Evolution of God, points out that several poems and stories in the Old Testament appear to be directly taken from Phonecian religion, with "Baal" replaced by "Yahweh".

Interesting, but not surprising.  The fish-hat thingy Benedict wears descends from some Sumerian priest hat. 

yes, and the staffs the bishops carry are the same as the Roman augurs carried. And apparently the the church recieved the augural books/scrolls too. The church beiing what it was they probably didn't destroy them

Or maybe they were taken from the Crook and Flail of the Pharaohs!  The possibilities of  speculation are endless!

[Valmy]

Genesis 6(2) states that God found humanity as a whole at the time wicked, with the singular exception of Noah;

One of my pet peeves about the Bible is informed righteousness.  Noah seems kind of like an asshole to me.  At least Moses tells God to fuck off when God says he is going to write the Israelites out of history.

Moses went out on a limb for the Israelites but Noah that selfish jerk is happy to let the whole of humanity die.  Noah sucks.

[Razgovory]

Genesis 6(2) states that God found humanity as a whole at the time wicked, with the singular exception of Noah;

One of my pet peeves about the Bible is informed righteousness.  Noah seems kind of like an asshole to me.  At least Moses tells God to fuck off when God says he is going to write the Israelites out of history.

Moses went out on a limb for the Israelites but Noah that selfish jerk is happy to let the whole of humanity die.  Noah sucks.

Noah is the only the most righteous guy in his time.  Of course it's a time so bad that everyone deserves to be drown.  So you really shouldn't expect him to be to nice.

[Valmy]

Noah is the only the most righteous guy in his time.  Of course it's a time so bad that everyone deserves to be drown.  So you really shouldn't expect him to be to nice.

Well you have a point there.

I have sometimes thought if maybe the lesson was that if Noah had done what Moses did maybe God would have spared the world.  That makes the story a bit more complex...and since it didn't really happen I think I like that version better.

[Savonarola]

Genesis 6(2) states that God found humanity as a whole at the time wicked, with the singular exception of Noah;

One of my pet peeves about the Bible is informed righteousness.  Noah seems kind of like an asshole to me.  At least Moses tells God to fuck off when God says he is going to write the Israelites out of history.

Moses went out on a limb for the Israelites but Noah that selfish jerk is happy to let the whole of humanity die.  Noah sucks.

Noah is the only the most righteous guy in his time.  Of course it's a time so bad that everyone deserves to be drown.  So you really shouldn't expect him to be to nice.

Plus he was 600; he was probably extra cantankerous for having to yell at kids to get off his lawn for 540 years.

[Malthus]

@ Mal
I only added the wiki quote because it was germane to the discussion and I thought it was vaguely interesting. 

It is interesting. 

I just think that this particular tradition contradicts the text.

[garbon]

Noah also had naked time with his son and then decreed that his son's descendants should be slaves.  They always say that a problem with incest is that it involves unequal positions of power.

[Valmy]

Noah also had naked time with his son and then decreed that his son's descendants should be slaves.  They always say that a problem with incest is that it involves unequal positions of power.

Yeah they do alot of the 'cursing/blessing entire lines of descendants' stuff in that book early on.

Heck the Jews even curse their own descendants for all enternity in the Gospel of John.