What do people here think of the theory that states that Christianity can be disproved based on the things in its writings that have been taken from other religious traditions? I've been researching this for a while, and I've found a lot of interesting information on it. This article summarizes some of the evidence well: http://see_the_truth.webs.com/Old Testament.html Does anyone else have any thoughts on this? I've had an interest in this for a while and was looking for more information on it.
I don't profess great expertise in the area, specifically of the Egyptian rumours. I did a bit of work some years back on the Epic of Gilgamesh, and I know that initially I felt a level of discomfort when I realised some of the close parallels, in the genealogies, and the narratives. Genesis 11:31-32 Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran. This passage in Genesis provides a link between the generic prehistory and the specific prehistory of the Jewish people. (prehistory because almost certainly the records were not committed to writing in a contemporaneous environment). None the less if the Abraham story starts with a migration of people from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan it would be most improbable that they would have come empty of possessions, empty of cultural heritage, empty of legends of origins. I believe that the close connections that do exist between the early Genesis narrative and the Epic of Gilgamesh and other Chaldean cultural stories is one of the strongest attestations to the veracity of the account of Abraham. I am hoping that @rakovsky may add a comment (he is quite up on the Egyptian side of things) here, though I know at the moment his nation is gripped in a reality TV show called the Presidential Election. One note of caution I would draw is that the opening sentence of the linked article Most Christians and many others believe the Judeo/Christian Bible to be the word of "God" is intended to tell us what we believe about the Bible, and this may be construed one way or another. Anglicans in general believe that Bible (the word means library) is a collection of writings recounting the mighty acts of God amongst his people, some history, some prophecy, some song, some narrative, some apocalyptic, some pastoral, and some others, which we receive as canonical. Our understanding is different to the understanding of Islam who proclaim the Quran to be the very words that Allah spoke to Mohammed in Arabic.
There is a fairly common belief that Moses wrote the Torah(esp. Genesis narratives;flood,creation,etc)when God allowed Moses to see where He had been,"His back"(throughout time,etc)Ex.33:23.(And also Moses had very probably been taught ancient Hebrew stories, oral traditions by his mother Jochebed) In this respect Moses saw events that happened eons before, Flood,etc. A Giant Flood event has been recorded in various cultures throughout the world(Gilgamesh, American Indian stories, etc) To me,this gives extra biblical evidence to validate Biblical stories. I don't believe the Bible/Torah "plagiarized"these stories, as these stories had been commonly accepted by many ancient peoples. The name "YHWH" had been used long before the Greek and Roman empires existed(and Egyptian empire according to Biblical teaching)Some of the first uses being recorded in Gen. 4:26. Some say YHWH is a shorted version of "Eh Yah Asher Eh Yah" ("I AM who I AM") Scripture says that God fills the universe at all points (Eph 1:23) it could be that every people and every culture has grains of Truth in them that points to Truth incarnate, Christ. Most all ancient cultures, religions had a Supreme Deity as central to their faith. Which to me, points to a universal held belief, a common origin....
For at least 2000 years people have been trying to disprove Christianity. Has not worked so far. Your attempts will not work either. Smarter people than you or I have been trying and failing. Other smarter people have been defending and disproving the feeble attempts. I do pray that in your attempts to disprove Christianity, Christ opens your eyes and your heart and you will be added to the kingdom. Blessings Fr. Mark
Not directly, but indirectly. The site he linked tries to prove Christianity is made up from other religions. We stole our scripture and stories. Blessings Fr. Mark