Ancient evidence suggests humans have practised religion since they first walked the planet. But is God being worshipped in other worlds across the cosmos? Morgan Freeman’s Through the Wormhole s5e8: Is God an Alien Concept?
Some people have a certainty that helps them cope with grief: they are certain they will see their loved ones again in Heaven … It’s the greatest question we ask ourselves – what happens when we die? Morgan Freeman, The Story of God s1e1: Beyond Death, National Geographic 2016
The hope for life beyond death seems to be an almost universal instinct. ibid.
What’s going to happen if we create eternal life in this life? ibid.
Every day things seem to get worse: religious conflict, climate change, it all seems so apocalyptic. None of this is new however. We’ve been predicting the end of the world for thousands of years … Something about the drama of annihilation seems to grip us. Morgan Freeman, The Story of God s1e2: Apocalypse
Like many doomsday cults, the Essenes believed the end was imminent and took precautions to meet God at any moment. ibid.
The Christian idea of the Apocalypse took hold under the oppression of Rome. ibid.
Is there some universal concept of God that all religions share? Morgan Freeman, The Story of God s1e3: Who is God?
Where did the idea of worshipping a single God take root? ibid.
Every religion has a creation story. So what do those stories tell us about who we are and where we came from? Morgan Freeman, The Story of God s1e4: Creation
Why does this exist? Where does it come from? Morgan Freeman, The Story of God s1e5: Why Does Evil Exist?
Or is evil something that comes from inside us? ibid.
Believers think God communicates to us through miracles. That miracles are a proof of the divine. Morgan Freeman, The Story of God s1e6: The Power of Miracles
Why do we rally around these chosen ones? And how do they guide our faith? Morgan Freeman s2e1: The Chosen One, National Geographic 2017
Where do you find a chosen one? ibid.
At age five or six these ideas are a bit overwhelming, frightening … Do heaven and hell await us in the afterlife or are they here and now? Morgan Freeman, The Story of God s2e2: Heaven and Hell
Have we cut God out of our modern lives? Or are there special moments when God breaks through and makes his presence known? Morgan Freeman, The Story of God s2e3: Proof of God
The God of Moses is a very different God from that friendly deity who had dinner with Abraham. Karen Anderson, A History of God, History 1993
But Yahweh only appears in the Hebrew Bible. His name is nowhere to be found in Canaanite texts or stories. So where do the Israelites find their God? Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Bible’s Buried Secrets 1/2, BBC 2011
The ancestors of Judaism and Christianity believed in many gods. And God had a wife. Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Bible’s Buried Secrets 2/3: Did God Have a Wife?
Monotheism is at the heart of Christianity too. ibid.
According to the Bible, the roots of Monotheism can be traced back three and a half thousand years to Abraham and the pact he made with God. ibid.
I think the evidence now shows that the people of the Bible believed in many gods. And the scribes who composed the Bible did their best to conceal this, but not altogether successfully. ibid.
Another god whose name appears in the Bible over a hundred and thirty times – the god Baal ... So what was the appeal of the god Baal? ibid.
A god who is even more powerful than Baal – the god el ... A religious reality disguised in the Bible: for el is also the god of the ancient Israelites – el is God. And the evidence is there for anyone to see. ibid.
In the Bible God reveals his proper name – his name is Yahweh ... But the reality is he wasn’t always known as Yahweh. God used to be known by another name. A name still embedded in this part of the world today. A name that contradicts the Biblical claim that its god of monotheism is unique and distinct. ibid.
Of all the names in the Hebrew Bible none appears more than David. Scriptures say David creates a kingdom that stretches from Egypt to Mesopotamia. He makes Jerusalem his royal capital, and in a new covenant, God – known as Yahweh – promises that he and his descendants will rule for ever. ibid.
Is El of the Israelites the same as El of the Canaanites? El can be used as a generic term for God. Much like we use the word God today ... But there are also lot of cases where it is being used as an actual name. ibid.
I think He was a Canaanite god. ibid.
The Bible makes yet another false claim – the claim that apart from a few lapses the ancient Israelites were essentially true to one God. Evidence now casts serious doubt on this claim. ibid.
Each god was responsible for his or her patch of earthly affairs. Amongst these gods was of course the weather-god Baal. ibid.
A female counterpart, a goddess ... It’s the word Asherah. The word is found forty times ... But why is the Bible so unsettled by this apparent object? ... Archaeology now shows us that Asherah wasn’t always an object. ibid.
Asherah’s role is of a life-giving goddess. ibid.
The Tree of Life was frequently used to represent the goddess. ibid.
All across Israel, in almost every excavation of ancient domestic buildings, archaeologists are unearthing female figurines. ibid.
The Israelites were polytheists. And God had a wife. ibid.
A systematic purge of polytheism: traces of this purge can be detected in polemical stories in the Bible itself. Stories in which Yahweh takes on the other gods in a celestial war. ibid.
Judaism and Christianity are proud of their monotheistic pedigree ... This history has been skilfully manufactured by the scribes who composed these ancient texts. The claims that Abraham and his descendants worshipped a unique and distinctive God just don’t stand up. The truth about the Bible is that for most of its time its people were polytheists. And their chief God had a wife. ibid.
In toppling the goddess from Heaven monotheism disempowered women. ibid.
Paradise lost: it’s a story central to Christianity justifying the need for a saviour. For centuries Adam and Eve have been viewed as the archetypal man and woman. Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Bible’s Buried Secrets 3/3: The Real Garden of Eden
I think the real story of Eden is too important to ignore. ibid.
It’s not just Christians who have read into the story details which are just not there. ibid.
It’s had a very negative impact in the way women are viewed. ibid.
I think it was a particular place in history. And there are clues to the real Eden in the Bible itself ... A garden constructed by human hands much later in history. ibid.
I think Eden was a garden built by humans for their God. ibid.
I think Adam was originally a king too. ibid.
There’s another version of the Eden story [Ezekiel 28] rich in detail and which many scholars believe is older than the Genesis version. In it there is no Eve and no serpent. ibid.
I think Eden was in the city of Jerusalem ... Everything points to the Jerusalem Temple being the real Eden. But how can a temple, bricks and mortar, be a garden? ibid.
The Biblical portrayal of the Jerusalem Temple is almost identical to the remains of this ancient temple in Syria – Ain Dara. ibid.
The Garden of Eden was found inside the Temple. ibid.
There’s no reference in Genesis to the snake being Satan the Devil. So what exactly is it doing in the story? ibid.
And it’s not just Eve who is ultimately condemned. It’s all of womankind. A damning indictment, but we now know that this was never the original intention of the Eden story. ibid.
There’s no evidence we need anything other than the laws of physics. 50 Renowned Academics Speaking About God, Professor Lawrence Krauss
I do not believe in an anthropomorphic God. ibid. Robert Coleman Richardson
I can’t believe the special stories that have been made up ... Too provincial. ibid. Richard Feynman