Introductory Essay 1

Why We Really Know So Little of The Past

Since the primary focus of this work is what appears to be a major rite of the Phoenicians, that being child sacrifice, many will assume that the people who performed these acts were barbaric and cruel peoples. However, what we shall see is that this act which creates such horror to the modern mind, were in fact performed by what was seen at the time as the most advanced and civilized peoples. We in the present have little understanding of the mind set of those in the past.

What is also mostly true is that we, in the present, have little understanding of the frame of reference of the writers of the past. Even when we translate (and we are learning to translate better all the time) and actually gain the right words, we will often not really understand the right intention or allusions of the Ancient writers. We naturally interpret words with our own self understandings of events to come; obviously the writers of the time did not have such knowledge. We need to try to put aside our modern morals on terms and issues, such as one of the focuses of this book, child sacrifice and its role in religious development. Our contemporary “understandings” often justify our current views and religious beliefs, but do not necessarily help us understand the views and religious beliefs of the persons who actually wrote the ideas, at the time they wrote them.

• We are therefore prejudiced in our reading of the past and defensive in trying to understand the beliefs of the past.

In addition, we often do not understand the nature of time, and the length of time, involved in the development of concepts, ideas and even events of the past.

• An example of what I am trying to say here is that it appears that most of the “prophesies” of the Old and New Testament were written after the events actually took place. So, for example, if we find in the Old Testament a prophesy stating that the Assyrians would not take Jerusalem, and they did not take the city, we must now understand that the “author “of this prophesy, or the words of the prophet, were recorded after the event, not before the event.

The same is true with the New Testament. For instance, Jesus’ description of the “second” temple being destroyed, supposedly given some forty years before the event, appears to be a highly accurate description of the events as they did occur when the Romans destroyed the temple. This is used by many modern Christians to show the power of Jesus to predict the future. However, all non-religious scholars absolutely agree that the earliest the Gospels were written was some 10 -50 years after the Roman victory. Therefore, as the old saying goes, hind sight is 20-20; having an accurate description of the event as prophesized by Jesus, does not show great foresight, just good descriptive writing.

That event, the destruction of the temple, was so critical to the history of the region’s peoples, for both the Jews and the early Christians, that the writers of the time would undoubtedly feel compelled to say something about it. This event was probably seen by the people of the time as a traumatic event on a much greater scale than 9/11 was for us. This might seem like an overstatement but is certainly not for reasons we will discuss. A prediction about this catastrophe would seem not only logical for writers trying to portray Jesus as the son of God, but almost necessary. Its appearance in the Bible is not “proof” or “evidence” of anything, other than the certainty of its importance for the people of the time.

This lack of proof and evidence of our real history is based in part on the realities of politics. In large part our lack of understanding of the past is the result of deliberate policies of rulers and religions to eliminate concepts that challenge their concepts. The destruction of counter narratives has been extensive and greatly clouds our understanding of history.

Sadly, throughout much of human history, freedom of thought has been a rare commodity, and the freedom to dissent even rarer. For at least the last 1500 years, dissent, especially religious dissent was a capital offense. The “religious police” that we hear about in Taliban-dominated Afghanistan, beating and killing those who violate the slightest dictate of their interpretation of Islamic law may seem barbaric to us now but such behavior was the norm throughout Western history. Since the advent of Christian domination it was certainly the rule, rather than the exception.

• Most historians see the modern world as a development of the Western powers, rather than a product of the chaos that resulted from the demise of the Classical world. In relatively modern times, say from 400 AD on, the Christian West was among history’s worst in its repression of ideas and demands for religious conformity. For almost 1,000 years, the Christian church did all that it could to prevent the use of any knowledge other than their “Bible”. Not being “a believer” was a capital offense and instruments of enforcement were readily used (the Inquisition being the most famous but, by far, not the only of these tools)

There was a conscious effort by the Christian church to dominate thought and information. Once in power (mostly after 400 AD or so) they did everything they could to destroy the knowledge of the past, especially the thought of the Greek and Roman intellectual world, even while some of the elite in the Church still studied and used the classics amongst themselves. For the most part, the Church tried to destroy all scientific evidence that suggested that the origin of the world was anything different than that which appeared in the Bible. The only allowable discussions concerning the origin of the universe and man were limited to such debates as where Noah landed or how the sin of Adam impacted all of us (or how many angels could dance on the head of a pin).

For nearly 1,000 years in the West, all discussions of justice or freedom had to be framed within the narrow confines allowed with the Bible (or at least how the Church allowed the Bible to be discussed). Almost all art had to reflect the themes of the Bible, with a few narrow reflections on some classical writings, and almost all writings had to be approved by the Church. To do otherwise was to toy with death or torture, or at the very least, to forgo payment from a local church or nobleman.

What writings do remain from the pre-Christian past, or should I say, survived the Christian efforts to control them, often make us realize that we are only now starting to “catch up” to the common knowledge of the ancient world. For example, in Herodotus’ histories of the Persian-Greek wars, he listed twelve “Ionian” cities that revolted against Persian rule. For many centuries the locations of most of these cities were lost and it wasn’t until present times, using modern approaches, that these ancient cities have been “rediscovered”

We can see that we actually have very little understanding of the extent of culture prior to the Christian world, and even how successful these cultures were.

• Starting in the 1850′s we have evidence of ancient cities in the Indus River valley, which were actually unearthed in the 1920′s (Mohenjodaro and Harappa). No one knew anything about them and they are still relatively unknown by Westerners today. Yet, they were perhaps four times the size of the Sumerian cities of about the same time and with populations of over 40,000, they were more advanced in design and sanitation than anything that would appear in Europe for three thousand years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IndusValleyCivilization

We still know almost nothing about the peoples of these cities, or their history of beliefs. Also, all across the world is evidence of a major “megalith” culture that seems to have flourished starting about 6500 years ago that we can only guess as to what they knew or believed (Stonehenge, and the Malta structures are the most famous of these remains, but by far not the only ones.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalith

Much of the basis, the knowledge, of what I need to talk about is so limited. Recent findings as well as discoveries that have been around for quite some time are still widely debated within the scholarly as well as the religious communities. I can only try to tell you, the reader, what appears to be “agreement” and “facts.” But much of it is based on so little data; never mind that so much of the interpretation of these facts is clouded by issues of “belief”. The scholars will say they can support their findings, but each year it seems we are finding new things that force a rethinking. Therefore, my task of helping us have a common basis of knowledge is very hard.

So, for example, in response to the question of who wrote the Bible, we can get statements that range from:

• God did, and that is that. “The Bible is the divine word of God.” To,
• Great evaluations that show that the Bible was in transition and developed over 1,000 plus years, and that the “Old Testament” may not have been consolidated much more than 100 years or so prior to the writing of the “New Testament”.

Of course, there are those who will fight vigorously for their views on the origins of the Bible with absolute “belief” in their stance, and there are others who argue emphatically that their research supports this fact or that. What is a poor presenter to do?

The modern American media is filled with “tele-evangelists” mostly supporting the first view. Indeed, even television programs which make an effort to provide an “academic” effort (Mysteries of the Bible) tend to be wholly based upon the concept that the Bible is at least mostly true, though perhaps not completely understood.

The culture of America is still dominated by religious theory pretending to be fact. When texts were discovered and translated in the 1920′s and 30′s which gave new insight into the religion of the “Canaanite” or Phoenician peoples, there was little popular discussion of the findings. In part, perhaps because there is extensive evidence from these texts to strongly suggest that much of Hebrew/Jewish religious culture was not uniquely inspired by God, or divine in any way. Rather, the evidence suggests that ideas and practices are “borrowed” or “morphed” (a term I will use a great deal in this book) from the Phoenicians. In these writings found in Phoenicia, we find similar stories that are found in the Bible, also similar rituals and festivals, including one almost completely similar to the Passover ceremonies, and psalms, that are almost word for word the same as ones in the Old Testament. Here we find new possible origins for the Bible, something the “Christian establishment” really did not want distributed too far. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugarit

Therefore, the translations of the texts have been slow in coming. They have also been, with the exception of some very good academics, mostly ignored by the public (or at least by the mass media that presents things to the public). So giving reference to them in writing here is once again problematic.

At this little point I need to more fully explain what must seem obvious already; this book, while about religion, is definitely not written from a “religious” or “sacred” point of view. This book is trying to show how religious beliefs, over time (a great deal of time), have actually changed little, and more or less “morphed” into other “manifestations” or “religions.” In fact, many of the concepts of the Ancients are present in the religions of today. As we will see, there are really few examples of “new religions” over the time of history covered in this book. What became new, was something that caused far more conflicts. It is the “clash of civilizations” that led to the appearance of great changes in the religions of the known world at the time. These concepts of “morphing” and “limited changes” will be better explained in other sections of the book.

“Time” needs to also be explained or discussed, or at least how issues of “time” cloud our understanding of the past. We are truly covering a lot of “time,” a very long period of history in this book. And “when” in time, things are said and done, and the sequence in the “time” of certain events is very important to telling this story. However, “time” is greatly misunderstood by the modern reader and thinker.

Let’s look at time from the point of view of the “fundamentalist Christians” who until recently, saw the creation as an event taking place some 6,000 years ago (4004 BC) and for the sake of illustration let’s give that length of time a distance of a foot. The best estimate science can give us for the beginning of the earth in terms of time is actually some six billion years. The difference, then, between these two estimates is roughly some 19,000 miles, and the distance between the rise of humanoids some 2 miles. Even if we just look at the rise of modern humans, some 100,000 years ago, we still have roughly a 17 times difference in distance between the Christian view of creation, and the scientific view of when the first human Adam developed.. In addition:

• Our views of time, of history, have been greatly distorted by, religion, popular imagery and folk history. In the last hundred years, Hollywood and television, our new myth perpetuation machinery, has greatly added to our popular misconceptions

One of my favorite misrepresentations is in the production of the “Ten Commandments,” with Charlton Heston as Moses. The film, for dramatic effect, takes great license with so much of the story. One of the most interesting deviations is where, upon returning to the camp of the Hebrews, Moses finds them worshiping the Golden Calf, and destroys the wrong doers by throwing the newly provided Ten Commandment tablets into the crowd of “sinners” with the effect of a rocket blowing up and splitting the earth.

Nice effect, but in the Exodus 32, it states that Moses broke the tables alright, but with no dramatic impact. He had to send people into the camp to kill the wrong doers, and 3,000 were slaughtered. (right after being told “thou shall not kill)

Exodus 32
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. 
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strowed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. 
26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. 
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

Not a nice image for the movie goers; but if you ask the average person in the US, how God took revenge for the Golden Calf, if they know anything, chances are it’s the movie image that prevails.

This example is only one of thousands included in movies that distort our view of history, Often the distortion becomes the “accepted version.” For example, movies have often showed very early Christians using the sign of the cross while it was a “fish” that was the sign of their early faith. Two thousand years ago, it was, indeed, the dawning of a new age (“This is the dawning of the age of Pieces, the age of Pieces “). The cross motif was adopted several centuries later. Movies, when searching for pious mood music, often have the early Christians singing hymns written 1,500 years later.

The film industry has also often collapsed time and events to make them fit into the required blockbuster storyboard. In addition, radical changes are made to fit their needs or whims. In two movies of some fame, “Fall of the Roman Empire”, and its remake, “Gladiator”, the Roman Emperor Commodus is depicted as ruling for a relatively short time. In reality, he ruled for a period of eighteen years, ruling as a despot, with great slaughter of those who had supported his father, Marcus Aurelius. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodus

Why talk here about something so well understood (movies messing with history)? It’s just to show, slightly, how distorted peoples’ view of history is, in general and how the “forces that be” often change our view of history. In our current world, it is obviously the Christian church that has had, and in some ways continues to have, the strongest negative influence in understanding history. The Church, once in power, made belief in the Bible, and the Bible’s history the only legitimate sources for the analysis and discussion of history. This was the stated and enforced political reality for some 1,400 years – a very long time, indeed. To question the Church and its views of history, during this time period, was a capital offense.

Therefore, the stories of the Bible concerning creation, Noah, Abraham, David, etc., all were to be considered “literal facts”. So, throughout this time period, all people in the West were mandated to believe that the world was created some 5,000 years before their time, and that the Flood had occurred, and that all political events, and mass die offs such as the Great Plague, were in fact ,”God’s” doing.

The breaking of this stranglehold on “thought” and “study” has occurred only recently – some 350 years, really a short time period. We have only recently reached the point that “legitimate” studies and writings of history can be completed, and dispersed. It is really only in the past 150 years (an even very shorter time) that legitimate competition on history has been “allowed” and a more “true” history of the world has come to be better understood. The mere fact that almost every child (in the West at least) knows about dinosaurs and the Jurassic era is actually a revolution in freedom of understanding, and a liberation of thought almost unprecedented in the history of the world. The Church can no longer impose its view of the history of the world when competing with Steven Spielberg.

However, the traditionalist Christian view of history is not going away without a fight. With the increase in religion fundamentalism, and with ongoing fight over such issues as “creationism” and other efforts to preserve the stories of the Bible as “fact” the struggle to free “history” from religious influence is on-going, and not nearly a “done deal.” Yes, there are still many who think that Adam and Eve road a dinosaur to church on Sundays.

If history teaches us anything, it is that freedom, especially freedom to think, is an ephemeral thing. I write this effort during one of the rare times in history when people are free to think and explore (at least where I live), and have the access to the documents needed to think and explore. I hope that time will treat this freedom, and my taking advantage of this freedom, kindly.