Two men have made arguments against Zionism that we need to understand and to promite if we are to survive this decade. One of these men is Charles Carlson. He is a devout Christian who converts evangelicals from Zionism to a sound and sane Christianity that opposes imperialism. His website - We Hold These Truths- has an article on CI Scofield and the conversion of Christianity to Zionism through the efforts of the Rothschild dynasty.This is a religous argument best made by one evangelical to another though I do recommendeveryone read it. It is here:http://www.whtt.org/index_temp.php?news=2&id=495
The second man is Israel Finkelstein, the archaeologist,whose book, The Bible Unearthed -ISBN 0684869128-makes argunents we all need to know and understand in order to intellectually defeat Zionism. I have written a few of his insights and conclusions below.
The historical sagas of Abraham, Lot, Moses, Joshuaand the Exodus were not miraculous revelations but the product of human imagination. The story of Exodus never happened at the time and the manner described in the Bible.
It is unlikely that the walls of Jericho came tumbling down due to a trumpet blast. The cities of Canaan were not walled and were not well populated at the time of the alleged events.
There is no convincing evidence of a unified invasion of Canaan by Joshua. The Israelites were originally Canaanites. Therefore, the Israelites have no special claim to be descendants of Abraham and heirs to the lands of the Mideast.
There were no mentions of either David or Solomon in any writings of the Egyptians or the Mesopotamians. There is no evidence that there was either a Temple of Solomon or a even a palace. There is not even any proof of the wealth the Bible claims for Solomon.
There is no proof that there was a unified Kingdom of Israel and Judah. David and Solomon were no more than hillside chieftains. Monumental inscriptions and royal seals were not seen in Judah until 200 years after Solomon.
The cities of the north of Israel were built by the Omri dynasty. Ahab and Jezebel were their most famous king and queen. The Omri had 2 capitols. One was at Samaria for their Israeli citizens. Their Cananninte capitol was at Jezreel.
King Josiah "found" the Book of the Law in 622 B.C. The "Book of the Law" interestingly did not appear until after literacy became widespread in Judah. The Old Testament was re-written to make Judah to appearto be the faithful followers of Jehovah. King Josiah died from war wounds. And Judah was taken into exile some years later.
The Passover was not celebrated as a national holiday untilafter the book of Deuteronomy was revised by the later priests of Judah in the seventh century B.C.
Elsewhere, I learned that the oldest Psalms were written by the Canaanites. Additional Psalms were written by Philistines who had been hired by the court and the priests. The Assyrian captivity stirred Jeremiah to make a prediction that in 70 years Israel would be retored as a nation. Years later the prophet Daniel read the prophecy of Jeremiah 25 and reinterpreted it to mean that the restoration would occur in 70 weeks of years after the rebuilding of the wall at Jerusalem. That moved the supposed restoration of Israeli sovereignty to 45 A.D. from 516 BC. In Daniel chapter 9 we read that the last seven years of the 490 was to be a week of trials and tribulations which are prominently featured in the Book of Revelation and in Christian Sunday Schools. The problem is that these prophecies were made for the periodof 38 to 45 A.D. They were not made for modern times. And the prohecies were never fulfilled in ancient times, neither in Jeremiah's predicted 516 B.C. or in Daniel's 38 to 45 A.D. I would not use the above arguments to convert people to atheism. I would say to the disillusioned Christians that the religion of the New Testament is experiential and mystical rather than historical and militaristic. it is time that Christianity and Judaism reject imperialism which claims the right to kill and to exploit anyone who is not like us.
The second man is Israel Finkelstein, the archaeologist,whose book, The Bible Unearthed -ISBN 0684869128-makes argunents we all need to know and understand in order to intellectually defeat Zionism. I have written a few of his insights and conclusions below.
The historical sagas of Abraham, Lot, Moses, Joshuaand the Exodus were not miraculous revelations but the product of human imagination. The story of Exodus never happened at the time and the manner described in the Bible.
It is unlikely that the walls of Jericho came tumbling down due to a trumpet blast. The cities of Canaan were not walled and were not well populated at the time of the alleged events.
There is no convincing evidence of a unified invasion of Canaan by Joshua. The Israelites were originally Canaanites. Therefore, the Israelites have no special claim to be descendants of Abraham and heirs to the lands of the Mideast.
There were no mentions of either David or Solomon in any writings of the Egyptians or the Mesopotamians. There is no evidence that there was either a Temple of Solomon or a even a palace. There is not even any proof of the wealth the Bible claims for Solomon.
There is no proof that there was a unified Kingdom of Israel and Judah. David and Solomon were no more than hillside chieftains. Monumental inscriptions and royal seals were not seen in Judah until 200 years after Solomon.
The cities of the north of Israel were built by the Omri dynasty. Ahab and Jezebel were their most famous king and queen. The Omri had 2 capitols. One was at Samaria for their Israeli citizens. Their Cananninte capitol was at Jezreel.
King Josiah "found" the Book of the Law in 622 B.C. The "Book of the Law" interestingly did not appear until after literacy became widespread in Judah. The Old Testament was re-written to make Judah to appearto be the faithful followers of Jehovah. King Josiah died from war wounds. And Judah was taken into exile some years later.
The Passover was not celebrated as a national holiday untilafter the book of Deuteronomy was revised by the later priests of Judah in the seventh century B.C.
Elsewhere, I learned that the oldest Psalms were written by the Canaanites. Additional Psalms were written by Philistines who had been hired by the court and the priests. The Assyrian captivity stirred Jeremiah to make a prediction that in 70 years Israel would be retored as a nation. Years later the prophet Daniel read the prophecy of Jeremiah 25 and reinterpreted it to mean that the restoration would occur in 70 weeks of years after the rebuilding of the wall at Jerusalem. That moved the supposed restoration of Israeli sovereignty to 45 A.D. from 516 BC. In Daniel chapter 9 we read that the last seven years of the 490 was to be a week of trials and tribulations which are prominently featured in the Book of Revelation and in Christian Sunday Schools. The problem is that these prophecies were made for the periodof 38 to 45 A.D. They were not made for modern times. And the prohecies were never fulfilled in ancient times, neither in Jeremiah's predicted 516 B.C. or in Daniel's 38 to 45 A.D. I would not use the above arguments to convert people to atheism. I would say to the disillusioned Christians that the religion of the New Testament is experiential and mystical rather than historical and militaristic. it is time that Christianity and Judaism reject imperialism which claims the right to kill and to exploit anyone who is not like us.
posted by Daniel F at 6:43 PM
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