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More about the Origins of Religions

This is a condensed version of the story being told by our ancestors.

The most ancient peoples whose history has been passed down recorded a Golden Age. The world's climate appears to have been more temperate than now. The people were monotheistic at the time. The single god ruled from his position that was always visible (seated at the celestial north pole). In the Bible, this time was noted as the Garden of Eden and the god's name was Elohim. Elohim has been identified as the equivalent of the Roman Saturn; both were identified with the planet of that name. Saturn is also known as the Water Planet and is connected with the Biblical story of the Deluge.

Eventually this solitary god was accompanied by several other gods - two other planets. At first, their appearance just changed the appearance of the original god. Gradually, the relationship changed and each of the other two became visible as separate entities. Even more important to the ancient peoples, these two planets approached very close to our planet. When Venus approached our planet, major upheavals were recorded by all peoples across the planet. The first, closest approach coincided with the Israelites flight from Egypt (the Bible refers to Venus as a pillar of smoke by day and a fire by night). The second close approach (the 'second coming') coincided with the destruction of Jericho. Later, Venus and Mars interacted among themselves and those 'battles' between the 'gods' were duly recorded by the ancient peoples (including the story written by Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey).

As is apparent by our current night sky, Saturn did not remain in its polar position. As that configuration disintegrated, Jupiter became visible. Eventually, Saturn moved to its current orbit, as did the other planets mentioned here. That dissolution of the polar configuration resulted in a myth well known to anyone educated in the Catholic faith: God (Saturn) bore his own son (Jupiter became visible - much closer than now); he died (when Saturn was no longer visible) but he rose again (when Saturn became visible again) and ascended into heaven (where Saturn resides now).

The comings and goings of the planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Mars) were recorded in our ancient mythologies. In fact, many of the Biblical prophets' warnings of 'doom and gloom' were not so much predictions of the future as much as recollections of the past.

In the time of Jesus, there were many different religions and cults - with many of them having connections with the gods that represented the planets that had visited in the not so distant past. Jesus took on the dual role of both spiritual and political leader for the peoples of Palestine. Part of his success was due to his awareness of these cults - and their prophecies. For example, the Last Supper was a ritual performed by sects still worshipping Saturn. He operated with two circles of disciples: an inner circle that knew of his plans and the outer circle that revered him. He apparently sought to 'fulfill' certain prophecies to ensure his stature. When the Romans attempted to put down this political upheaval with his arrest, he even tried to duplicate that most important mythical story - to die and rise again from the dead - with the help of his inner circle. Unfortunately something went wrong and it seems that he did die some time later - but he did not die on the cross. When Jesus disappeared, the ascension into heaven (the Saturn myth) became the story for his disappearance. The New Testament of the Bible noted the confusion after the crucifixion as no one would recognize the person that was supposedly Jesus.

In recent years, Leonardo da Vinci has also been under investigation as he had a significant interest in the period, including the life of John the Baptist, that resulted in a number of famous art works. The recent publication of the popular fictional book, The Da Vinci Code, follows on a number of nonfictional books that research both Leonardo's life and works as well as the life and times of Jesus, James and John. For example, there is a theory that Leonardo was involved in the famous Shroud of Turin, which was discovered in his era.

Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were written by a sect living in Palestine during the time of James the Just. James, the brother of Jesus, was the religious leader of the Jews until his assassination - that subsequently resulted in an uprising that was put down by many Roman troops and included the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews from that city. The Acts of the Apostles written by Paul the Apostle make an interesting contrast with the Dead Sea Scrolls which were written from the perspective of followers of James, Paul's foil. The Catholic Church is really based on the writings of Paul, not the life or teachings of Jesus or James, his brother.

When reviewing this story, the following conclusions arise: the ancient mythologies were telling the story of the visits of several planets - having catastrophic consequences. Those mythologies played a part in the life of Jesus (who apparently sought to fulfill certain prophecies in his effort to become the religious and political leader of the Jews) and a part in the origins of the Catholic Church (which transformed the historical Jesus into a mythical figure). The origins of the Church were not as being taught. The image of a shepherd watching over his sheep seems to apply to the Catholic Church as well. Over the last 100 years, many have studied the life and times of Jesus. More recently, the myths of the Old Testament have been explored as well. None of that information is offered or explained to the 'sheep' who are still given only the old stories now shown to lack any historical basis.

Two thousand years after the life of Jesus, much is said and done in the name of 'God', referring to the God of the Bible. Jesus did not rise to the position as the Son of God until the time of Constantine; previous to that he was still just a man. Given that the God that is the Father of the Holy Trinity is based on Saturn, what does it truly mean to declare something as being the word of 'God' or to perform an act in the name of 'God'?

The topics mentioned above have been covered in many books and publications. This web site attempts to pull together all those reference materials (from the author's perspective) thereby revealing the common threads among different disciplines.

created - May 2000
last change - 2/07/2004

Here is the list of topics in this Mythology Topic Group.
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