Every religion has parables. The problem with some religions is that they attempt to own religion itself, stealing away one's personal and individual freedom to learn and explore from the repository of other minds. But again... that comes from the divergence between religion and science that was a power grab.
For hundreds of years, according to the bible, YHWH apparently didn't care that the Hebrews were exploring other religions. All of a sudden, because Moses wanted to be the de facto ruler, he executed anyone who went against his authority. That is the only real reason why the Hebrews were restricted from having other gods. And even the wording of the commandments says "other gods before me" which could be interpreted as you can have other beliefs as long as I am the head/priority. But again... power dynamics.
When I got over the whole complete and total religious loyalty phase of my life I was interested in other creation stories. The truth is that Africa is a WEALTH of spirituality and we're taught to despise it in order to protect the popular narrative. But there are tons of African parables and proverbs that have tons of value.
And for me, because everyone came out of Africa, every thought is related and connected. So even if someone speaks in a foreign language, there's still a connection there with common ideas. And all these ideas are not so much different as they are different flavors. But if you look closely you can often detect the same influences in the bible. And so you can see how different thoughts spread and were traded between villages and cities. There is a greater depth to our human history than we often allow ourselves to see.
So if I were someone who was curious, you don't have to change any beliefs you currently have, I would recommend starting with some African creation myths.
Keep in mind that these are just stories. These represent a fusion between the objectives of teaching morality with trying to figure out how we got here. It's an exchange of ideas not necessarily pitched as absolute truth.
African Creation Stories
African Creation Stories
Fon Creation Stories
Bushmen Creation Stories
Once you start getting into these, because you're smart, you'll see these patterns emerging which gives you a broader idea of how ancient people thought and how they used logic as well as their understanding of science (their knowledge of the environment at the time) and blended it all into these stories. The more stories you read or hear, the more you'll see where I'm coming from when I call ancient priests the first scientists. There are even echoes of concepts like evolution in these stories and you can see how they addressed logical challenges so they were probably aware of previous stories and used their own stories to explain the logical holes.
Example... in the bible it is merely ASSUMED that all animals were created during "creation week". However, the bible makes no attempt to name them all, only the environments they inhabit. We now know there are too many species to have fit on Noah's ark. This is not even a question anymore. However, if Noah's ark only housed a much smaller group of species, if evolution was at play then that group could still produce the 3 - 100 million (or more) species that are estimated to exist today. So while Genesis doesn't say it, other creation myths have a limited number of animals, working under the assumption that they will give birth to other species.
So while it may seem like I'm attacking certain religious ideas, and that may be the case, I'm also being informed by ancient thinking as well. But I'm influenced by several cultures, not just one. And even that one culture was influenced by others. It's just not honest about it. So when I talk about the Epic of Gilgamesh (another parable), the key is that this story is older than the bible. But it clearly influenced the story of Noah. We assume these stories literally happened but there isn't evidence of it in the fossil record. We can literally pull a cylinder of ice and see what's trapped inside or see layers of sediment deposits in canyons that go back millions of years. So science originally told these stories in the first place (ancient priests) and science today is still telling us about the universe. It's up to us whether to listen. I simply see no reason not to listen. And if I'm going to listen to ancient scientists who were the current scientists when they were alive, why wouldn't I listen to current scientists today? Is what I'm saying today somehow going to be more true when my corpse is 3,000 years old? No, it's the same. Either we are right or wrong or both. Time changes nothing. If we only listen to someone because they're ancient that means we would not have listened to those exact same people if we were alive in their lifetimes.
And the bible writers understood this. That's why they said that a prophet isn't accepted in his own country.
At the end of the day... I don't think its "God or Creation". I think its both and we are trying to figure out how God IS Creation. But in order to get there we have to BE ABLE (be open minded) to letting go of absolute dogma and doctrine and try to understand simply how ancient people thought-because how they thought is what created the doctrines and dogma in the first place. If they were superstition then that's totally relevant to how much truth is in their opinions.
So for me... because I believe that ancient humans were telling stories and specifically personifying the forces of nature, therefore creating gods with different names, IMHO, this means that the real God is not likely to be as person but rather a FORCE... or... as I and others would say... THE FORCE. Even the Hebrew word for God, translated, means "power or force". So I submit to you that the ancient writers knew the whole time what they were doing.
And so if you read the ancient stories of the Levant region where the bible came out of you'll see other very similar gods to YHWH; Canaanite gods who were the inspiration for the YHWH character.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaanite_religion
When you study this... understanding that the Israelites ancestors lived in Canaan... the pieces of the puzzle should start falling into place.
Ba'al was likely a rival priesthood within their culture. Ba'al translates to Lord/Master. BUt this goes back to the Akkadians and Sumerians. In other words... it's old as hell!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadad
"Hadad since he was a storm-god, but when the god Baal (Hadad) is not specifically attributed the traits of rain and thunder and is instead perceived as a god of the sky generically, which is what is embodied by his form "Baal Zaphon" as the chief deity who resides on the mountain "
This forms the picture of Moses going up to the mountain to receive the commandments while the people heard the voice of God as thunder and saw lighting. And the pillar of fire they saw? And cloud? A mountain (aka volcano). The more you study the whole region the more you see that its all connected.
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