If Vishnu lectured El

[Jainarayan]

I was a big fan of Xena and after the Indian arc of her storyline, they essentially had to apologize to Hindus.

I have that episode (The Way) recorded. It wasn’t that they had to apologize to Hindus. It was a pre-emptive disclaimer that because Hinduism is a living religion with a rich history the producers wanted to portray the stories as sensitively as possible. After the episode aired some Hindu groups got their jimmies rustled, but others praised it. Personally, I like it.

 

[Vinayaka]

After the episode aired some Hindu groups got their jimmies rustled, but others praised it. Personally, I like it.

Always an important point ... that just because someone is offended, we all aren't. One particular guy who likes to think he speaks for all Hindus gets offended by the colour red.

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

Yet I understand the Hebraic texts to have a God Most High that creates reality, and then a council of Elohim (Psalms 82:1), with YHVH at its head.

They are doing that because Hebrews WERE Canaanites and by the time of the monarchy, they wanted ... no, NEEDED ... to excise that part of themselves to make them look more special than they were. It's like Cain killing Abel and then claiming they were never related anyway. The Canaanite texts predate the bible, so it is the bible changing things, not the Canaanites.

 

[Buddha Dharma]

They are doing that because Hebrews WERE Canaanites and by the time of the monarchy, they wanted ... no, NEEDED ... to excise that part of themselves to make them look more special than they were. It's like Cain killing Abel and then claiming they were never related anyway. The Canaanite texts predate the bible, so it is the bible changing things, not the Canaanites.

It does seem that during the Davidic dynasty the cult of Yahweh gained royal favor, but scholars aren't agreed what this meant for the theology of Judaism at the time.

We know certainly Judaism was monotheistic upon the return from exile in Babylon. Before that though, the arguments range from rival sects to henotheism, as to what the Jewish understanding was.

I think it's telling that the Bible itself identifies Deuteronomy as a work they allegedly found in the temple during Josiah's reign. We're told that when the book was read people tore their clothes and understood the text showed why the wrath of God was on them.

Deuteronomy is the only explicitly monotheistic work in the Torah. The others all easily support henotheism.

 

[wizanda]

The others all easily support henotheism.

Unless YHVH was a generic word that originally meant Lord, and El meaning God, Elyon meaning Most High, Elohim being Avatars, which are then just religious concepts, not names.

This whole name objectification is where Buddha didn't use Brahman, and instead used universal mind; as people are obsessed with making idols (like the Canaanites)...

Which is the difference between the Hebraic religion that existed before coming into the land, with one God Most High (Genesis 14:18-22), and only one Lord.

The Hebraic text removes the wife, doesn't mention the rest of the council by names, only has the ultimate authority as its God; that isn't henotheism where Canaanites or Hindus for example can select which deity they like the most.

so it is the bible changing things, not the Canaanites.

You know me well enough, I'm always saying where they've changed things in the Bible, and getting in trouble for it; this time tho i get where both of you are heading, and used to ponder the same...

Yet slowly realized that isn't exegeting the text, that is just exploring ancient history like it is a dot to dot, when it isn't; religions warred over concepts, not traded them.

In my opinion.

 

[Buddha Dharma]

This whole name objectification is where Buddha didn't use Brahman

Actually the Buddha did use Brahman a few times in a positive way. The one that easiest comes to mind is in the Samyutta Nikaya. Interestingly enough he refers to his Dharma as the way of Brahman, or the life seeking Brahman.

He also used it as a criticism of the dualist sects that tried to fix Brahman into a particular deity. He believed they had no authority for how they argued among one another about Brahman. His argumentation could easily be viewed as a vindication of Brahman as unconstructed.

One notes when reading the Buddha's criticisms of the Vedic elders, that the Brahman he criticized specifically was their saying that Brahman resides in such a heaven, has such and such bodily limbs, and so on. He was arguing against making Brahman constructed.

You'll want to remember @wizanda that the Buddha was an Indian from that culture and raised with it's beliefs/language. He can't really be exercised from this framework, and neither do his teachings as passed down to us do so. They establish this was the framework he taught in. He was an Indian- he believed in the Indian gods/Devas and Brahman.

I also think it can't be understated too much what Indian thought was prior to and after Buddhism and Jainism. They both influenced Indian thought on a broader scope.

Vedanta didn't always have a monistic understanding. The dualistic schools of Indian philosophy were the oldest, which isn't perhaps too surprising. Buddhism and Jainism both critiqued this dualism.

The Hebraic text removes the wife, doesn't mention the rest of the council by names, only has the ultimate authority as its God; that isn't henotheism where Canaanites or Hindus for example can select which deity they like the most.

Actually, the suggestion of henotheism comes with how the commandments are found worded in Exodus. If the Deuteronomists thought this needed no further clarification, they'd have simply let the commandment as worded stand- without adding the profession of monotheism in the summation of the law found in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy's author or authors made it a point to stress pure monotheism. The most the Exodus wording suggests is Yahweh as high god. It says only to have no other gods before him, but the other evidence is that Exodus speaks of Yahweh with other gods in places.

Besides saying Yahweh punished the Elohim of the Egyptians- it asks who among the gods is like Yahweh?