Student quits high school choir over Islamic song

[fatbuckRTO]

Originally Posted by Amber Lamps

so by your logic, if 3 people look at a tree, their "perception" defines it...

If it's an imaginary tree in the first place, then yeah.

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by fatbuckRTO

If it's an imaginary tree in the first place, then yeah.

Except that they all read about the imaginary tree, in the same book.

[shmike]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

Except that they all read about the imaginary tree, in the same book.

Which book?

Was the Old Testament the original manuscript for the big 3 or was there something else that predated it?

[Papa_Complex]

I believe that the oldest written documents, that pertain to this discussion, are the Dead Sea Scrolls. Their existence would point to other, older works and probably oral history, in the region. Who knows? The whole thing might devolve unto Zoroastrianism and the worship of Ahura Mazda, in Iran, but it's clear that the three stated religions hold the Old Testament in high regard.

*EDIT* In case you're wondering, what I'm saying is that it all pretty much starts with the old Torah.

[shmike]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

I believe that the oldest written documents, that pertain to this discussion, are the Dead Sea Scrolls. Their existence would point to other, older works and probably oral history, in the region. Who knows? The whole thing might devolve unto Zoroastrianism and the worship of Ahura Mazda, in Iran, but it's clear that the three stated religions hold the Old Testament in high regard.

Gotcha.

I was thinking that the Koran was as old or older than the bible.

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by shmike

Gotcha.

I was thinking that the Koran was as old or older than the bible.

See edit.

The Koran starts around 600AD (CE, whatever the current vogue is).

The New Testament, by definition, can't really start until around year zero.

The Torah has its origins back almost three thousand years, at the least.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

See edit.

The Koran starts around 600AD (CE, whatever the current vogue is).

The New Testament, by definition, can't really start until around year zero.

The Torah has its origins back almost three thousand years, at the least.

Yep, it was an oral history of sorts that was recited in the tents and around campfires. It is the basis for all modern mono-theistic religions. There is some evidence of an older middle eastern one god religion that predates the worship of Yahweh and it even sports a flood story and a very similar creation story... The name of it eludes me though.

[Papa_Complex]

It's in "The Gilgamesh". I just pulled out my copy, to confirm it.

Many religions have a flood myth though.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

It's in "The Gilgamesh". I just pulled out my copy, to confirm it.

Many religions have a flood myth though.

True.... One theory is that the "first" religion was started at the mouth of the Tigress and Euphrates river which periodically flooded. It's either that or there really was an almost world wide flood....

[Papa_Complex]

Think about what would happen, at the end of an ice age. Given the screwed up calendaring system they obviously used in The Bible, 40 days and 40 nights could be a few thousand years.