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Yep. Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. Even the same avian and ophidian imagery. Until 70 BC, Satan was a job description; he was God's DA. Around 70 BC, The Life of Adam and Eve was written; no one accepts it as canon, but the idea of Satan in rebellion (maybe not for being commanded to worship Adam, but still in rebellion) came about. So they also merged him with the serpent of Genesis.
There were a lot of other pagan influences on Christianity, if you're interested. Old deities often became local saints, winter solstice festivals became Christmas, and vernal equinox festivals became Easter.
[post=294256]Quoted post[/post]
[/b][/quote]Of course the literalists see it a bit different. I am aware of some of those books that were written. However, the ancient Samaritans are still with us. They number just a few thousand. Their Torah of course has Moses coming down off the mountain there in what was ancient Samaria. Samaria is the area where the northern Kingdom was located. That group of Israelites were a little different. However, their Torah is basically the same. There is the Adan and Eve story there as well.
The story you are refering to was written as fiction at the time according to the sources I have read. But there are two creation stories in the Bible. The liberal theologians say that one came from the northern kingdom and the other from the southern kingdom. There are four or five distinct writings that were used to write the Torah. Moses of course did not write the Torah. He commanded that it be done. And several sources were used to write it and the Torah wasn't completed until after Moses death. Moses's trip up the mountain to die alone is recording there. Not likely he wrote about his own death. and what happened immediately afterwards.
The religion of the ancient Israelites who then had their group narrowed to just the tribe of Benjamen and Judah. The Benjamnites were almost wiped out. So Jew refers to people from the tribe of Judah. The ten northern tribes what was left of them were the ancient Samaritans. And the Jews and the Samaritans in Bible times hated each other. I understand they have patched up their differences but the Samaritans only accept the first five books of the Bible.
So the various concepts about God evolved as the story unfolded. At first Yawai (God) was just one of many gods, but he was the God of the Israelites. The Israelites were always in the beginning trying to prove that their God was stronger than the other people's gods.
Gradually the idea of montheism did develop. The ancient Jews believed that God would send another David to restore the lost glory. That called this future hero the Messiah. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. It was not what some of the Jewish people were looking for. Many Jews and Samaritans became Christians and lost their idenity in doing so. At the beginning the only Christians were Jews who practiced both religions. In time about 90 AD the two religions officially were declared to be two different religions in wich yu could e a member of either, but not both.
