08-15-2008, 12:32 AM
Akhay Rafa and Albion,
Also of note: there are many old churches in Iraq that are built on top of old pagan temples. There's one outside of Nineveh that, when excavated, revealed a temple dedicated to Tammuz and Ishtar.
In any case, the converts destroyed these houses of blasphemy and built churches over them. A rather symbolic gesture of victory over old paganism.
The concept of a "bleeding" and "dying" deity, one who is subject to the same sufferings as the men who created him, has roots in old Babylon~Mesopotamia.
In case anyone is wondering why this topic is allowed in an otherwise theology-free forum: this has a direct relationship to our field of study because we have two manuscript traditions within the Aramaic milieu. One manuscript tradition has God offering His "blood" as the price with which He bought the Church, and the other has Messiah offering His blood.
Therefore it is imperative that the older, more correct reading be determined for these disputed verses.
+Shamasha
Also of note: there are many old churches in Iraq that are built on top of old pagan temples. There's one outside of Nineveh that, when excavated, revealed a temple dedicated to Tammuz and Ishtar.
In any case, the converts destroyed these houses of blasphemy and built churches over them. A rather symbolic gesture of victory over old paganism.
The concept of a "bleeding" and "dying" deity, one who is subject to the same sufferings as the men who created him, has roots in old Babylon~Mesopotamia.
In case anyone is wondering why this topic is allowed in an otherwise theology-free forum: this has a direct relationship to our field of study because we have two manuscript traditions within the Aramaic milieu. One manuscript tradition has God offering His "blood" as the price with which He bought the Church, and the other has Messiah offering His blood.
Therefore it is imperative that the older, more correct reading be determined for these disputed verses.
+Shamasha