Page 4 - Research 1.0
P. 4

The unexplained collapse of many Mediterranean civilizations
               lead  to  regional  instability  and  the  rise  of  the  "Sea
               Peoples", one of which were the Philistines who conquered 5
               coastal cities sometime around 1150 BCE.


               What DNA and archaeological evidence tells us is that there
               was no large influx of peoples into the Levant, no cultural
               changes,  no  pottery  style  changes,  nothing  to  indicate  a
               change in lifestyles that would indicate a significant change
               in the makeup of the population. What the evidence tells us
               is  that  the  culture  and  population  of  the  Levant  had  been

               Canaanite  since  the  third  millennium  BCE  and  remained  so
               during  the  biblical  period.  The  'Israelite'  or  Jewish
               identity    arose  from  within  the  Canaanite  population,  not
               from  outside.  Even  among  today's  Jewish  peoples,  despite
               mixing with other ethnicities, their DNA is mostly Canaanite,
               the highest percentage of which is among those whose ancestors
               remained  in  the  Middle  East;  the  Mizrahi  Jews.The  Hebrew
               language  and  writing  both  derived  from  earlier  Canaanite
               forms.


               What the evidence shows is that the Old Testament was written
               during and shortly after the Babylonian Exile or Babylonian
               Captivity  which  lasted  60  years  (597  BCE  to  539  BCE).  The
               story of Moses and the Exodus was pure fabrication meant to
               unify a diverse illiterate population. The supposed Egyptian
               Captivity was the founding myth of the Jewish religion and
               was a simile for the Babylonian Captivity.


               Now fundamentalist practitioners of the Abrahamic religions
               start with the premise that the biblical stories are correct
               and that any evidence to the contrary must be false. To do
               this, they (insensibly) begin to twist facts to suit theories.
               That is the antithesis of science and is very dishonest. Truth
               is determined by the evidence.


               It  seems  many  Christians  deeply  resent  any  questioning  of
               biblical  accounts,  yet  there  are  Jewish  theologians  who
               reluctantly accept archeological and genetic evidence:
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