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01-14-2013, 10:32 PM | #81 | |
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What credible evidence would these eyewitless authorities cite? |
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01-15-2013, 06:46 PM | #82 |
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My opinion on this topic is as follows, as a speculative hypothesis.
The Therapeuts of Alexandria invented Jesus Christ by adding the Jewish scriptures to the existing Greco-Egyptian cult of Serapis following the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. The Therapeuts were a holy priesthood of Serapis, existing since the days of Alexander, with roots in earlier Greek and Egyptian religions. The influx of Jewish refugees into Egypt post Titus created a need to synthesis their messianic mosaic midrash and the Serapian mythology. The result was the anointed saviour, Christ Jesus, an overlay of Jewish myth onto Serapis. As Emperor Hadrian allegedly said early in the second century, all Christian bishops were astrologers who worshiped Serapis. I think he was talking about Therapeuts. The Therapeuts have a strong association with early Gnosticism, seen also in the inclusion of the Asclepius in the Corpus Hermeticum. But the later heresiologists of orthodoxy were assiduous in rooting out and destroying evidence of their pagan origins. The Jews had a strong esoteric cosmic tradition, seen in the Asclepian image of the snake on the pole at Numbers that was used as the model for both the Mithraic Aion and the cross of Jesus Christ, and also in the zodiac imagery used by the High Priest of the temple at Zion. |
01-15-2013, 07:50 PM | #83 | |
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01-15-2013, 09:19 PM | #84 | |||
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This can be a worry. But I appreciate your speculative opinion anyway. Quote:
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Moses or the cult of Asclepius? |
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01-16-2013, 02:33 AM | #85 | |
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that is only the source for the Hadrian comment - not the rest, which is my own speculation. And I am sure you agree the Historia is a fourth century forgery
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet "Another early depiction of Wadjet is as a cobra entwined around a papyrus stem, beginning in the Predynastic era (prior to 3100 B.C.) and it is thought to be the first image that shows a snake entwined around a staff symbol. This is a sacred image that appeared repeatedly in the later images and myths of cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, called the caduceus, which may have had separate origins." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caduceus says "...symbols similar to the classical caduceus sometimes appeared on Mesopotamian cylinder seals. He suggested the symbol originated some time between 3000 and 4000 BCE, and that it might have been the source of the Greek caduceus.[10] A.L. Frothingham ... suggested that the prototype of Hermes was an "Oriental deity of Babylonian extraction" represented in his earliest form as a snake god. From this perspective, the caduceus was originally representative of Hermes himself, in his early form as the Underworld god Ningishzida, "messenger" of the "Earth Mother".... In Egyptian iconography, the Djed pillar is depicted as containing a snake in a frieze of the Dendera Temple complex." And here is a snake pole beauty: djed with uraeus http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/Gems/Sca...0X/07.x11m.jpg |
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01-16-2013, 02:38 AM | #86 | |||||||
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01-16-2013, 10:39 AM | #87 |
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It is quite amazing the number of Torah Commandments that are directly concerned with The Temple, and of course cannot be properly observed or kept or done without that Temple to DO them in.
Jews can continue pray about it, but there is little that they can DO about it unless they can rebuild The Temple. They know it, Christianity knows it, Islam knows it. Wonder how long. |
01-16-2013, 10:58 AM | #88 | |
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The Torah does not explicitly say a thing about Jerusalem as we know. All it says with reference to the places for the sacrifices and services is that it is to be "bamakom asher yivchar" ("in the place where He shall choose") as recorded in the Torah several times.
The service system did not begin in Jerusalem, but depended on a prophetic revelation for it to have been in the Sanctuary locations after the entry into Canaan: a) Gilgal (14 years); b) Shilo (369 years); c) Nov (13 years) and d) Givon (43 years), and finally in Jerusalem (410 years). Those who worshiped at Gerizim did not have the word "yivchar" (yud-bet-chet-resh) in the imperfective form, but "bachar" with the yud dropped, being in the past tense. Quote:
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01-16-2013, 11:23 AM | #89 | ||
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Tell you what. Nice guy that I am, I'll even buy and give you a piece of land if you will build the Scripturally prophesied Third Temple upon it. Quote:
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01-16-2013, 11:55 AM | #90 |
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Shesh, are you asking a prescriptive question or a question of Jewish theology about the Third Temple? Of course Jerusalem is mentioned in Kings etc. because that is where Judaism says that God desired the location of the Temple to be built by Solomon.
If your question is theological, then I can tell you that according to Judaism the Third Temple will be built upon the arrival of the Messiah. Maybe I missed something in your posting. |
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