Did the writers of Torah plagiarize the creation and flood stories? Can you say with a clear conscience that those who are not “born again” are going to hell?
Questions:
How can the Old testament Torah, give us the creation, and flood narratives, when other much older religions and belief systems existed thousands of years before? Are these stories not plagiarized from earlier historical narratives? How can Christianity claim to be exclusive and The way the truth and the life?? That they are the only path to salvation, if other religions existed many years before such as Hinduism, Buddhism, etc? Can we honestly say with a clear conscience that these people are going to hell if they are not ” Born Again” in Christ?
Answers:
It is true that religions which were begun before the time of Abraham had creation stories and flood stories. I believe that this is true, at least in part, because creation is real and the flood really happened. It is not surprising that other religions have both creation and flood myths. Did the writer(s) of Genesis borrow their stories from these other religions? I believe that the book of Genesis is inspired by God. It contains a more real and more accurate account of creation and the flood than the myths of other religions. Are there parallels? Yes. Are there differences? Yes. Does this mean that the Bible writers plagiarized? The modern idea of plagiarism being an unethical thing did not exist in ancient times. I believe that the Bible writers got their idea of the flood from both a remnant memory of the actual events, which may possibly have been reflected in other accounts of other peoples, but also by inspiration of God. The same can be said of creation. Is this plagiarism? You decide. The biblical creation account is consistent with what we know from science, and it does not contain the rather obvious “mythical” elements of other creation accounts, with gods fighting it out, and creatures being created from blood or mud and the like. I go into much detail on this in my book “Is There a God?” which is available at www.ipibooks.com
Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth and the life–that no one comes to God except through him–because it is true. Jesus died for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2). The death of Jesus is the only way given to mankind by which to solve the problem of sin and separation from God. Jesus’ claims were quite exclusive. If Jesus is right, then Muhammad, Krishna (actually not a real person, but…), and Buddha are wrong. If Buddha is correct about truth, then Jesus is a liar. If Jesus brought truth, then Buddha is radically in error. So, what we humans need to do is to look at the beliefs and teachings of these religious leaders and decide who, if any, is teaching truth. I recently published a book whose purpose is to do exactly this. I highly recommend you get a copy of this book and decide for yourself. It is “True, Right, Better: A Defence of the Christian Worldview.” https://www.
That one religious idea came first does not make it correct, when compared to one which came later. This is a logical fallacy. In point of fact, Buddhism came after Judaism, but before Christianity. Hinduism is a description of a range of religious views which began to evolve about the same time Judaism came into existence, but which continued to evolve after the time of Christ. In any case, which came first is not a valid reason to accept one view over another. When we look at science, earlier views are generally NOT better than later ones!
So, here we have it. Jesus of Nazareth made rather exclusive claims about himself. He said, “All authority under heaven and earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18). Our job is to decide whether what Jesus said is true or whether it is not true. Of course, I leave that decision up to you (but I suggest my books, as they may be helpful). I say gravity is real, and those who reject belief in gravity are wrong. Does this make me judgmental and closed-minded? Something to think about.
John Oakes
