We need to bring back Asherah...
31 Mar 2023, 6:13 pm
...and restore her to her place in Heaven.
Several scholarly people have proposed the idea that Yahweh used to have a wife, Asherah.
https://books.google.com/books?id=gutdZ ... &q&f=false
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10 ... 5018794478
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/as ... erim-bible
https://jwstudies.com/GOD_in_the_beginning.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McJX44aeMhM
https://www.ancient-origins.net/human-o ... ah-0010611
Some time after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, possibly during the Persian period, or maybe during the time of the Maccabees, Judaism’s big shots decided on a strict monotheism, and all gods other than Yahweh were thrown away. Jews were no longer permitted to believed in them. The Old Testament books were rewritten in such a way that aspersion was cast upon other gods, including Yahweh’s Asherah. Yahweh becomes a cranky, vengeful, violent, jealous old man who must be flattered and obeyed.
According to Francesca Stavrakopoulou
And, she is right. In 2 Kings 22-23, King Josiah gets religion after finding and reading the Book of the Law:
...In every city of Israel King Josiah tore down all the pagan places of worship which had been built by the kings of Israel...He did to all those altars what he had done in Bethel. He killed all the pagan priests on the altars where they served, and he burned human bones on every altar. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
Baptists and others will heap praise on Josiah, who, according to the narrative, was an absolute vandal and murderer. And, he took Asherah away from Yahweh in the Temple, leaving poor Yahweh without a consort.
In Numbers 25:
The narrative gets confusing. There is an epidemic, that kills 24,000 people, and that ends after Phinehas murders a man and a Midianite woman (named Cozbi) whom he had brought to his tent. The Moabites are now called Midianites, and a few chapters later (Numbers 31) there is a massive slaughter of Midianites. All because the Midianites/Moabites had been very hospitable, and invited the Israelites to a feast with an orgy. I would much prefer this type of religious observance over mumbling a few prayers and getting a pitiful snack of bread and grape juice.
According to Herodotus, a custom in ancient Babylon
And, in the Epic of Gilgamesh:
http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mes ... h/tab1.htm
Shamhat, a temple harlot, uses her exquisite charms to seduce and tame the wild man Enkidu. If this had been a Bible story, Shamhat and Enkidu would have both been killed, and her temple destroyed. While women had a central role in ancient Babylonian (and Midianite/Moabite) religion, in Christianity, women are just supposed to shut up (1 Timothy 2):
It is a similar situation in Islam these days, where many men have got the idea that their version of the Abrahamic deity is commanding them to slaughter other people. All because Yahweh is sexually frustrated.
To be fair, the Catholics have reinvented the Goddess in the form of their Virgin Mary, who is both the mother and consort of God. But, she is still a virgin-- who never performed “the primitive task of womankind.” She isn’t going to satisfy Yahweh, and “sate him with her charms.”
We need to bring back Asherah. Yahweh will be happier, and less of a grouch. Our lives will be much more peaceful. We really don’t have any use for a warrior god any more.
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May you be blessed by YHWH and his Asherah
31 Mar 2023, 7:38 pm
You do that.
But before you do, please read Deuteronomy 13:1-5 . . .
[2] and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known -- "and let us serve them",
[3] you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
[4] You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.
[5] But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams . . . has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
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31 Mar 2023, 9:50 pm
Wow. Comedian Lewis Black wasnt kidding when he admitted that the God of the Old Testament had a temper!
Despite being Jewish Black admits that "the God of the New Testament is a pretty nice guy. Maybe he had taken some anger management classes, or maybe the birth of his son calmed him down."
31 Mar 2023, 9:56 pm
Maybe taking away his wife had something to do with the God of the Old Testament's temper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LUZ4dp ... yOldeWorld
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May you be blessed by YHWH and his Asherah
31 Mar 2023, 10:46 pm
Ive run across this controversy before. Like on the History Channel. She gives a good review of it.
I am inclined to agree that it does look like it took time for the Israelites to pair down their pantheon from multiple gods down to one god, and that one of the jettisoned deities was the main god's female spouse.
And I tend to agree that getting rid of God's wife was a loss. Both men and women seem to have a need for a god that occasionally shows a female face. The Catholics got wise to this fact and kind of reintroduced a female deity without admitting to doing so...in the form of the Virgin Mary.
01 Apr 2023, 8:35 am
They had multiple gods because they got infected with the customs of the neighbouring countries.
They were monotheistic in the first place.
They went to strict monotheism after being conquered by the Babylonians.
This is because Yahweh told them that they were invaded due to them worshipping other gods.
It's all covered in the bible itself.
It is a consistent narrative that is easy to follow.
Yahweh said himself that his wife is Israel, not asherah.
After Israel was unfaithful he divorced them and now his wife is the Christian church.
(When god is spelt with a small g it means fake gods that are worshipped in the form of statues, when it is spelt as God it is the only real God who is living)
01 Apr 2023, 8:51 am
And, the great thing about religion is that, if we want God to have a wife (or female consort of some sort), then all that we have to do is believe that she exists, and then POOF! There she is!
Then, maybe graven up some images, come up with some prayers and hymns, some holy text, rituals and holidays.
To get Christian and Jewish converts, we'll have to start with a list of Bible verses from which Asherah wasn't completely excised.
Then, watch the money roll in!
_________________
May you be blessed by YHWH and his Asherah
The_Face_of_Boo
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01 Apr 2023, 2:26 pm
Here are some Bible verses concerning Asherah:
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Serving-Asherah
A lot of them are violently anti-Asherah. But, when you get to Jeremiah
As they remember their children,
So they remember their altars and their Asherim
By green trees on the high hills...
...The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite Me.
But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune. But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine.” “And,” said the women, “when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”...
...thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as follows: ‘As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, “We will certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” Go ahead and confirm your vows, and certainly perform your vows!’
Maybe when the Jewish leaders were revising the historical bits of the old testament, to make Asherah look bad, they didn't feel comfortable revising the works of the prophets.
He also broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah.
Sounds like worship got wild in the old days.
By the time of Jesus, they were just sacrificing animals in the temple in Jerusalem.
After the Romans sacked Jerusalem, not even animal sacrifices (except by the Samaritans).
Now, we're supposed to be content with a cracker (or crumb of bread) and a thimble-full of grape juice.
At the very least bring back the cult prostitutes, of whatever gender. Barbecues might be fine, too.
_________________
May you be blessed by YHWH and his Asherah
01 Apr 2023, 2:34 pm
In Jeremiah 44 he is being sarcastic when he says to continue worshiping asherah.
It's a consistent narrative if you read it from start to finish.
It's a bit like if your wife cheated on you and cos you were so disgusted you said 'go back to your lover!! !'
The old testament contains many verses predicting the birth of Jesus so I know it's divinely inspired and not edited.
Last edited by klanka on 01 Apr 2023, 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
01 Apr 2023, 2:35 pm
I gather that Christians regard Mary as both the mother and wife (or consort) of God. A weird case of incest.
I gather that Jews regard Jesus as having been a bastard, which might explain why he never married.
A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.
_________________
May you be blessed by YHWH and his Asherah
techstepgenr8tion
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01 Apr 2023, 2:37 pm
Isn't there already the concept of Shekinah? I guess that sort of parallels Shakti and The Holy Spirit, ie. diffuse rather than direct. Agreed with others though that a) it won't make sense if Asherah is as bronze age in her temperament as El and b) besides - why not just do something other than exoteric Abrahamism?
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“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word "love" here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace - not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.” - James Baldwin
01 Apr 2023, 2:44 pm
In Jeremiah 44 he is being sarcastic when he says to continue worshiping asherah.
It's a consistent narrative if you read it from start to finish.
It's a bit like if your wife cheated on you and cos you were so disgusted you said 'go back to your lover!! !'
Jeremiah? Sarcastic? Heavens!
Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; "Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, 'We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her': ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows."
Would God really engage in sarcasm?
The Queen of Heaven is God's wife. Wouldn't God want people to poor drink offerings and burn incense for her?
_________________
May you be blessed by YHWH and his Asherah
01 Apr 2023, 3:52 pm
The themes of Israel turning to foreign gods like asherah are written into most of the old testament. It happens again and again (due to our nature of finding it difficult to commit to one thing).
Also, the theme of Israel's enemies coming and defeating them when they stop worshipping Yahweh is in the old testament many times.
So due to that I'm certain it is sarcasm, also if you only read Jeremiah itself you'll see that.
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