the point is that you are saying that Abraham, Moses and the other patriarchs stole beliefs and ideals from pre existing cultures, how's that any different than where the knowledge for wicca, witchcraft or any other occult based art come from; did those who spread the secrets of magic steal it from the magicians who taught them?

it's just interesting that there's such a double standard.

the question is: If it's a universal belief, when associated with the creation of the biblical faith it's stolen from pre existing religions, but with any of the more, neo beliefs, i get a explanation how they're different from each other, which i already know?

there's an extreme difference between christianity(witchcraft) and roman catholicism(wicca) to, what was your point?

upon reflection though, the catholics would be ideal to bring up in a thread about satanism.

...the point is that the patriarchs left polytheist cultures to follow a god, who led them to other cultures where they grew, demonstrating their god was superior to those already established. they mingled, had babies who grew up and moved into other cultures with their religion. Wash, rinse and repeat.

that isn't exclusive to judaism/christianity either...they didn't steal the ideas, just perfected the techniques.

cain didn't write one thing in the bible, he was banished to other lands, but The Lord did mark cain so that none could harm him; he was sent away for lying and not admitting his wrong to Gd.

The Bible And Christianity -- The Historical Origins

read it for yourself.

Blue Letter Bible

i can admit that christianity does parallel babylonian/sumerian(did the babylonians steal their religion from the sumerians, and the egyptians from them?) myth on many levels, but where did the patriarchs come from?

calling out to mesopotamia, egypt or any other pre existing biblical culture doesn't really work with this arguement, because everything known about them is through archeological study or second hand perspective, i can accept that about the bible to; but where does contemporary knowledge about witchcraft and wicca come from?

you should try watching lee strobel's case for christ; it points out how accurate the recordings in the bible are, it reminded me of the druidic bards. the difference is that christian "bards" weren't recorded, retold and translated by invaders, but rather by those who were born into it.

that's what's not making any sense to me, how people try to critisize the bible for it's "stolen" ideas, while subscribing to similiar religious ideas/beliefs that really don't have any more factual basis, original creation, historical standing(maybe ceremonial magic) or are any different in ideal than christianity and the bible?