No it means fraud exists in the field. Do you have any peer-reviewed papers that provide evidence for faith healing.
The article sourced 6 papers saying faith healing is not real.
There is a lot of history that has been dismissed among the general public.
The OT is largely influenced by Mesopotamian and other cultures.
The NT is Greek/Persian theology.
Savior deities that resurrected for the benefit of followers was already old by the time the Jewish religion started their story about one.
Nothing in scripture is historical if that is what you mean.
None of it.
Starting with the beginning -
Religion, Identity and the Origins of Ancient Israel
K.L. Sparks, Baptist Pastor, Professor Eastern U.
As a rule, modern scholars do not believe that the Bible's account of early Israel's history provides a wholly accurate portrait of Israel's origins. One reason for this is that the earliest part of Israel's history in Genesis is now regarded as something other than a work of modern history. Its primary author was at best an ancient historian (if a historian at all), who lived long after the events he narrated, and who drew freely from sources that were not historical (legends and theological stories); he was more concerned with theology than with the modern quest to learn 'what actually happened' (Van Seters 1992; Sparks 2002, pp. 37-71; Maidman 2003). As a result, the stories about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are
..."
Enuma Elish - The Babylonian Epic of Creation - Full Text
Genesis/Enuma Elish
The Enuma Elish would later be the inspiration for the Hebrew scribes who created the text now known as the biblical Book of Genesis. Prior to the 19th century CE, the
Bible was considered the oldest book in the world and its narratives were thought to be completely original. In the mid-19th century CE, however, European museums, as well as academic and religious institutions, sponsored excavations in Mesopotamia to find physical evidence for historical corroboration of the stories in the Bible. These excavations found quite the opposite, however, in that, once
cuneiform was translated, it was understood that a number of biblical narratives were Mesopotamian in origin.
Famous stories such as the Fall of Man and the Great Flood were originally conceived and written down in Sumer, translated and modified later in Babylon, and reworked by the Assyrians before they were used by the Hebrew scribes for the versions which appear in the Bible.
Both Genesis and Enuma Elsih are religious texts which detail and celebrate cultural origins: Genesis describes the origin and founding of the Jewish people under the guidance of the Lord; Enuma Elish recounts the origin and founding of Babylon under the leadership of the god Marduk. Contained in each work is a story of how the cosmos and man were created. Each work begins by describing the watery chaos and primeval darkness that once filled the universe. Then light is created to replace the darkness. Afterward, the heavens are made and in them heavenly bodies are placed. Finally, man is created.
The
Epic of Atraḥasis is the fullest
Mesopotamian account of the
Great Flood, with Atraḥasis in the role of Noah. It was written in the seventeenth century BCE
- The supreme god Enlil's decision to extinguish mankind by a Great Flood
- Atraḥasis is warned in a dream
- Enki explains the dream to Atraḥasis (and betrays the plan)
- Construction of the Ark
- Boarding of the Ark
- Departure
- The Great Flood
