Iran's small Zoroastrian community remembers 7th century Arab conquest of Persia

[Scott & Lai 12]

Actually there is some evidence that Moses and the Hebrews received his ideas on monotheism during his time in Egypt. The Pharoah Akhenaten's religion Atenism was the worlds first attempt at monotheism. There have been a few historians that have tried to say Moses and Akhenaten are one in the same....Freud of all people was the first to make this claim.

Moses and Akhenaten being the same is rather problematic... For one, though Moses was raised in the Egyptian court, possibly being considered a prince of Egypt, he certainly was never pharaoh. And, depending on which date of the Exodus you go with, Akhenaten lived either a century after the Exodus, or about 50 years before it.

The god "Aten", whom Akhenaten held up as the only god (and earlier, the supreme god among many), was depicted as the Sun. The Genesis creation account is partly a polemic against polytheism. The sun, stars, etc. were believed to be gods in the polytheistic religions, but Genesis makes a point of declaring them to be creations of the One God. Also, the ten plagues in Egypt are specifically directed against Egyptian gods, including the Sun-god. And, none of the names God is called in the Bible are in any way related to the name "Aten."

[Scott & Lai 12]

"Any woman who has given up her body to two men in one day is sooner to be killed than a wolf, lion, or snake."

http://books.google.com/books?id=YXneJGbmX...gJ-gBL1u4gRJA5k

Zoroaster probably never saw a Jenna Jamison movie.

So, sex with multiple men per se wasn't a problem, so long as she only did it with one per day?

[Caladan 19]

It's an evolving idea, this idea of God, in Judaism and later Christianity. At first it's definitely the Hebrew God versus all the other gods. You don't bother to command someone not to put other gods in yo' face if there's no idea of other gods. Over time, the view of God changes. All the other gods are false gods. Then it's everyone's God, not just the God of Judaism.

Reading Genesis as a claim for monotheism is a bit strong, I think, especially when Adam and Eve have kids and need to find wives for their sons. They go to another tribe. To me, at least, this suggests that the first understanding of the creation story was not a story for the whole world, but a creation story for *this people.*

[Scott & Lai 12]

It's an evolving idea, this idea of God, in Judaism and later Christianity. At first it's definitely the Hebrew God versus all the other gods. You don't bother to command someone not to put other gods in yo' face if there's no idea of other gods. Over time, the view of God changes. All the other gods are false gods. Then it's everyone's God, not just the God of Judaism.

Reading Genesis as a claim for monotheism is a bit strong, I think, especially when Adam and Eve have kids and need to find wives for their sons. They go to another tribe. To me, at least, this suggests that the first understanding of the creation story was not a story for the whole world, but a creation story for *this people.*

God tells Israel not to have other gods in his face because they had lived with the polytheistic Egyptians, and would be going to a land surrounded by polytheists and would be tempted to worship false gods. They had the idea of other gods, but that was not what they were being told through Moses.

Nothing is said about Adam and Eve's sons going to another tribe for wives. The closest you have is Cain going to the land of Nod after killing Abel, where he then began to build a city. Adam and Eve's sons married their sisters.

[Caladan 19]

Doesn't Seth get a wife from somewhere else? Although starting off with incest would really explain some of the pecularities of the human race, now, wouldn't it.

Otherwise I agree. Medieval Jewish philosophers had a saying: the Torah speaks in the language of men. Meaning, among other things, that God talks to people in language they can understand.

[Scott & Lai 12]

Doesn't Seth get a wife from somewhere else? Although starting off with incest would really explain some of the pecularities of the human race, now, wouldn't it.

Otherwise I agree. Medieval Jewish philosophers had a saying: the Torah speaks in the language of men. Meaning, among other things, that God talks to people in language they can understand.

There is nothing in the text that directly mentions Seth's wife, other than the fact that he had sons and daughters. Adam and Eve are definitely protrayed as the ancestors of all Mankind.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

There is one unquestionable fact about Parsis however: they were one of the first communities not to bury or cremate the dead.

There are round concrete structures in Mumbai for which the correct term is dakhma, euphemistically termed "tower of silence". Basically, walls and floors (except for hole in middle filled with charcoal) of concrete, open to sky.

The Parsi method is to have bearers take the corpse into the dakhma and then leave it for vultures--it has suffered a breakdown in recent years due to decimation of India's vulture population from toxic residues of the veterinary medicine diclofenac (which was banned for veterinary use last year).

Another detail is that Zoroastrianism is also the only existing religion which no outsider can convert into (you cannot become a Parsi, other than by birth).

[almaty 19]

"Any woman who has given up her body to two men in one day is sooner to be killed than a wolf, lion, or snake."

http://books.google.com/books?id=YXneJGbmX...gJ-gBL1u4gRJA5k

Zoroaster probably never saw a Jenna Jamison movie.

wow, that is sad.....i am more of a tera patrick fan myself....

[one...two...tree 2,762]

"Any woman who has given up her body to two men in one day is sooner to be killed than a wolf, lion, or snake."

http://books.google.com/books?id=YXneJGbmX...gJ-gBL1u4gRJA5k

Zoroaster probably never saw a Jenna Jamison movie.

wow, that is sad.....i am more of a tera patrick fan myself....

I don't think she has the acting range of Jenna, IMO.

[almaty 19]

"Any woman who has given up her body to two men in one day is sooner to be killed than a wolf, lion, or snake."

http://books.google.com/books?id=YXneJGbmX...gJ-gBL1u4gRJA5k

Zoroaster probably never saw a Jenna Jamison movie.

wow, that is sad.....i am more of a tera patrick fan myself....

I don't think she has the acting range of Jenna, IMO.

true...jenna is more frisky..tera more laid back....

[one...two...tree 2,762]

"Any woman who has given up her body to two men in one day is sooner to be killed than a wolf, lion, or snake."

http://books.google.com/books?id=YXneJGbmX...gJ-gBL1u4gRJA5k

Zoroaster probably never saw a Jenna Jamison movie.

wow, that is sad.....i am more of a tera patrick fan myself....

I don't think she has the acting range of Jenna, IMO.

true...jenna is more frisky..tera more laid back....

For sure, brother...Tera could fill the room whenever she would lay on her back.