We now live in an America that perhaps will come out of the modern "dark ages" that started in 1980 with the Moral Majority and the so-called Reagan revolution. Reagan, Falwell, and the Republicans have caused great damage to this country and the world. Their Elmer Gantry approach to politics have put the myths and hatred of scripture ahead of democracy and the Constitution. And this is not the first time that the scriptures of all the faiths of the God of Abraham have created turmoil and genocidal behavior throughout so-called western civilization.
Any objective reading of the Old Testament should cause the reader to believe that it is probably one of the most hateful genocidal writings in the history of mankind. Almost every chapter is filled with hatred and the worst form of human nature observed by a God who somehow is a passive observer of bad behavior and at the same time an unforgiving exponent of lethal and genocidal retribution. The religions that followed the Old Testament were variations upon the same theme all arising from basically political writings of their times to control the masses.
Archeologically it has been determined that the Torah was written during the Babylonian exile of the Judeans in the 6th century B.C.E. It was not written by Moses during the Exodus. They were written by the priests of that period to form a basis for their control over the people who followed their faith.
The authorship of the New Testament has not been subjected to as much critical analysis. I have found an interesting piece about the subject that was written in 1979. It is called The True Authorship Of The New Testament by Abelard Reuchlin. His well documented work suggests that the New Testament was written by a Roman to control the rebellious Judeans that were so troublesome to the Romans. A portion of the book appears below. It is food for thought.
"The New Testament, the Church, and Christianity, were all the creation of the Calpurnius Piso (pronounced Peso)' family, who were Roman aristocrats. The New Testament and all the characters in it Jesus, all the Josephs, all the Marys, all the apostles, Paul, and John the Baptist-are all fictional. The Pisos created the story and the characters; they tied the story into a specific time and place in history; and they connected it with some peripheral actual people, such as the Herods, Gamaliel, the Roman procurators, etc. But Jesus and everyone involved with hirn were created (that is, fictional!) characters.....
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