Great Flood And Other Myths And Legends Of The Old Testament, The

Conspiracy Journal brings back to print the long needed research of James George Frazer. There is a massive amount of research and analysis in this 225 page reprint! This one should be in the library of every free-thinker and truth-seeker.

From the Publisher:

I do not consider myself a Biblical scholar.

I am not even what you would call a " true believer." I don't take what I read in the Bible at face value. I am not an atheist, but I don't go around preaching hellfire and brimstone either.

On the other hand, I have always been interested in Biblical history and the ancient world where the events described in both the Old and New Testament take place. I even remember going to a class on Bible stories when I was maybe ten years old. In my hazy recollection, it was not even a class given by the church my parents attended.

But the stories of the Bible always were intriguing to me. After all, they are supernatural- it's like reading an ancient edition of " Fate Magazine."

My main interests, as most readers of Inner Light Publications will immediately recognize, gravitate around the subject of UFOs. I have had three sightings, and can honestly testify that UFOs are as real as the day is long, though I admit that I don't know what they are or from whence they originate. I even edited a book, " Flying Saucers In The Holy Bible," which discusses the connection between UFOs and the Tower of Babel, as well as how the real " Star Wars" is taking place in the universe between the forces of good and evil-the negative forces being directed, some theorize, by the fallen angel Lucifer.

Some might consider the book you are now holding in your hands to be provocative. It is nevertheless " down to earth" and logical-and certainly well-documented. This book offers proof that the stories of a Great Flood are universal, and that the Tower of Babel really existed and was the scene where different languages sprang up and spread throughout the world in punishment for Man's arrogance. The subject matter is altogether fascinating and I think it will appeal to scholars, believers, nonbelievers and those generally interested in the truth about Biblical accounts.

Bless you all and may this book bring peace into your world.
-Timothy Beckley, Publisher

EXCERPT

ATTENTIVE readers of the Bible can hardly fail to remark a striking discrepancy between the two accounts of the creation of man recorded in the first and second chapters of Genesis. In the first chapter, we read how, on the fifth day of creation, God created the fishes and the birds, all the creatures that live in the water or in the air; and how on the sixth day he created all terrestrial animals, and last of all man, whom he fashioned in his own image, both male and female.


From this narrative we infer that man was the last to be created of all living beings on earth, and incidentally we gather that the distinction of the sexes, which is characteristic of humanity, is shared also by the divinity; though how the distinction can be reconciled with the unity of the Godhead is a point on which the writer vouchsafes us no information. Passing by this theological problem, as perhaps too deep for human comprehension, we turn to the simpler question of chronology and take note of the statements that God created the lower animals first and human beings afterwards, and that the human beings consisted of a man and a woman, produced to all appearance simultaneously, and each of them reflecting in equal measure the glory of their divine original. So far we read in the first chapter. But when we proceed to peruse the second chapter, it is somewhat disconcerting to come bolt on a totally different and, indeed, contradictory account of the same momentous transaction. For here we learn with surprise that God created man first, the lower animals next, and woman last of all, fashioning her as a mere afterthought out of a rib which he abstracted from man in his sleep. The order of merit in the two narratives is clearly reversed. In the first narrative the deity begins with fishes and works steadily up through birds and beasts to man and woman. In the second narrative he begins with man and works downwards through the lower animals to woman, who apparently marks the nadir of the divine workmanship. And in this second version nothing at all is said about man and woman being made in the image of God. We are simply told that " the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Afterwards, to relieve the loneliness of man, who wandered without a living companion in the beautiful garden which had been created for him, God fashioned all the birds and beasts and brought them to man, apparently to amuse him and keep him company. Man looked at them and gave to them all their names; but still he was not content with these playmates, so at last, as if in despair, God created woman out of an insignificant portion of the masculine frame, and introduced her to man to be his wife.

The flagrant contradiction between the two accounts is explained very simply by the circumstance that they are derived from two different and originally independent documents which were afterwards combined into a single book by an editor, who pieced the two narratives together without always taking pains to soften or harmonize their discrepancies. The account of the creation in the first chapter is derived from what is called the Priestly Document, which was composed by priestly writers during or after the Babylonian captivity. The account of the creation of man and the animals in the second chapter is derived from what is called the Jehovistic Document, which was written several hundred years before the other, probably in the ninth or eighth century before our era. The difference between the religious standpoints of the two writers is manifest. The later or priestly writer conceives God in an abstract form as withdrawn from human sight, and creating all things by a simple fiat. The earlier or Jehovistic writer conceives God in a very concrete form as acting and speaking like a man, modeling a human being out of clay, planting a garden, walking in it at the cool of the day, calling to the man and woman to come out from among the trees behind which they had hidden themselves, and making coats of skin to replace the too scanty garments of fig-leaves with which our abashed first parents sought to conceal their nakedness.

The charming naivety, almost the gaiety, of I the earlier narrative contrasts with the high seriousness of the later; though we cannot but be struck by a vein of sadness and pessimism running under the brightly coloured picture of life in the age of innocence, which the great Jehovistic artist has painted for us. Above all, he hardly attempts to hide his deep contempt for woman. The lateness of her creation, and the irregular and undignified manner of it-made out of a piece of her lord and master, after all the lower animals had been created in a regular and decent manner-sufficiently mark the low opinion he held of her nature; and in the sequel his misogynism, as we may fairly call it, takes a still darker tinge, when he ascribes all the misfortunes and sorrows of the human race to the credulous folly and unbridled appetite of its first mother.

Of the two narratives, the earlier or Jehovistic is not only the more picturesque but also the richer in folk-lore, retaining many features redolent of primitive simplicity which have been carefully effaced by the later writer, the two. Accordingly, it offers more points of comparison with the childlike stories by which men in many ages and countries have sought to explain the great mystery of the beginning of life on earth. Some of these simple tales I will adduce in the following pages.

CONTENTS