Community | May 19, 2011 | 56 comments

God's Wife Edited Out of the Bible -- Almost

source: http://news.discovery.com/history/god-wife-yahweh-asherah-110318.html

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Vierotchka
God's wife, Asherah, was a powerful fertility goddess, according to a theologian.

THE GIST

*God, also known as Yahweh, had a wife named Asherah, according to a British theologian.
* Amulets, figurines, inscriptions and ancient texts, including the Bible, reveal Asherah's once prominent standing.

God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.

In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained new prominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.

Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures and journal papers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherah connection.

(more at link)
  1. groups:
    Community,   Culture,   Religion,   Humanism,   4 more
  2. tags:
    God,  Bible,  Asherah,  God's Wife
  3. recommended by:
    Vierotchka
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56 comments // God's Wife Edited Out of the Bible -- Almost

  • Jahvega
  • totally_dilapidated
  • remanns
  • remanns
  • vaxart
    • -3
      vaxart  

    • If removing women puffs their ego then let the world be devoid of women.
      Let all the men lead a happy and GAY life......

    • 1 year ago
  • samthesixth
  • kvb1
    • +2
      kvb1  

    • Religions are based on ancient fables as a way to understand to unknown at the time. Men have been editing those fables to fit the times they live in. Christians did it at the Council of Nicaea, then again during the Reformation. Muslims have done it after Mohammed died and there was a fight over his successor. Jews have done it their whole history. One only needs to read the Old Testament to see how those ideas changed with time.

      There maybe a God, but it has no religion, and it has no spokes person on this planet.

    • 1 year ago
  • August_K
  • ThirdSection
  • mickyjon420
  • MisterWizard
    • +3
      MisterWizard  

    • (Habakkuk 3:3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran.)

      Plain & simple. The mighty God is a Living Man, and he had a wife. Christians just cannot handle the truth.

    • 1 year ago
  • Persecuted
  • MisterWizard
    • 0
      MisterWizard  
    • Persecuted:

      No I don't think that your God created the whole universe. I'm only stating what your Christian Bible says. Read the Old Testament. That's who your argument should be with.

      Do you have any hard data to back up that "GOD CREATED THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE" delusional fairy tale besides what you were told in Sunday school?

    • 1 year ago
  • Persecuted
    • 0
      Persecuted  
    • MisterWizard:

      there was a question mark after god created the whole universe... you are quoting from the proper old testament... not MY christian bible, by the way... when you quote the bible to discredit other peoples statement... it kinda makes you look like you believe what you're quoting... now... assuming that you are a christian, since you are quoting christian passages, YOU would believe that god created the whole universe... it seems we just have a misunderstanding here... i am neither a christian... nor am i high...

    • 1 year ago
  • EdJoyProductions
  • Persecuted
  • jpvt
    • 0
      jpvt  

    • I always wondered if he pooped out a son who then volunteered to become human, or if Jesus started as big growth on his neck or something...

      Now that god has a wife he kept locked in the attic all those years it's finally starting to make sense.

      And if she was some kind of goddess of wisdom like UtopianSky suggests, I wonder if she ever got it on with the Holy Ghost.

    • 1 year ago
  • UtopianSky
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  
    • UtopianSky:

      The holy ghost HAD a name . Sophia . She was edited into "providence" or she . See the book of proverbs . They were , when i last heard , about to erase her femininity and call her 'it' and 'wisdom' . But that was a few years ago .

    • 1 year ago
  • UtopianSky
  • onemalefla
  • mickyjon420
  • remanns
  • mickyjon420
  • freehit
    • +5
      freehit  

    • So does this mean as the Bible was edited, God got a divorce? (Doin' my part to throw gas on the fire and to be here after Saturday.)

    • 1 year ago
  • UtopianSky
    • +4
      UtopianSky  

    • This is one of the more obvious references to Asherah that still exists in the Bible. Asherah's Greek name is Sophia, and she was the goddess of Wisdom, like Athena, except with a fertility goddess component as well, so perhaps a bit closer to Hera.

      The Bible refers to her as "Lady Wisdom".

      http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+8&version=NIV

      Proverbs 8

      Wisdom’s Call

      22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works,[c][d]
      before his deeds of old;
      23 I was formed long ages ago,
      at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
      24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
      when there were no springs overflowing with water;
      25 before the mountains were settled in place,
      before the hills, I was given birth,
      26 before he made the world or its fields
      or any of the dust of the earth.
      27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
      when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
      28 when he established the clouds above
      and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
      29 when he gave the sea its boundary
      so the waters would not overstep his command,
      and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
      30 Then I was constantly[e] at his side.
      I was filled with delight day after day,
      rejoicing always in his presence,
      31 rejoicing in his whole world
      and delighting in mankind.

      32 “Now then, my children, listen to me;
      blessed are those who keep my ways.
      33 Listen to my instruction and be wise;
      do not disregard it.
      34 Blessed are those who listen to me,
      watching daily at my doors,
      waiting at my doorway.
      35 For those who find me find life
      and receive favor from the LORD.
      36 But those who fail to find me harm themselves;
      all who hate me love death.”

    • 1 year ago
  • changeweneed
    • +2
      changeweneed  
    • UtopianSky:

      Nice addition.

      The same stories resound through time. The Greeks spoke of creation beginning through Mother Gaia and Father Uranus. For me it is not so much the literal translation of the text but what is between the lines. Though "God" is our father, the Earth will always be our "Mother". Blessed are those that find the balance of both, we are connected to these energies. The sooner we tune in to this and hold ourselves responsible for our decisions and actions, the sooner we can start to live as we are supposed to.

      How nice to have our mother back...good story!

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
  • maxjunk
  • Persecuted
  • insaintity
  • unimatrix0
  • vixxxen618
  • Persecuted
  • MDBard
    • +8
      MDBard  

    • I bet he told Mary it was his first time too. Sounds like Zeus's silver tongue at work. Thanks for that info Vierothchka always a useful source of info on the ancient texts.

    • 1 year ago
  • UtopianSky
    • +9
      UtopianSky  

    • And Yehveh's wife's father, and possibly his own father, was named El.
      El was the king of the Gods, equivalent to Zeus or Odin.
      Yehveh was more or less Ares or Thor, a war god.

      The entire pantheon of gods were called the "El-ohim" or "El's Family", which are referred to numerous times in the Bible, mistranslated as referring to one god in the singular.

    • 1 year ago
  • hanzdogy
    • +2
      hanzdogy  
    • UtopianSky:

      This is really interesting! I had never heard any of this stuff. Looks like I will have to do a little more research now. As an atheist, I am ok thinking that none of these sky creatures exist, but you have given be more to argue about. Thanks!

    • 1 year ago
  • mickyjon420
  • UtopianSky
  • mickyjon420
    • +1
      mickyjon420  
    • UtopianSky:

      Yes, both the creators of the character were/are Jewish. yet the use of the messiah that is/has/maybe born and given to us, has exploded into a religion on its own, tied to Judaic beliefs. Superman has made fiscal history, yet also like the bible and other religious text it has some good information on trying to help people out, yet society has perverted the stories for their own nefarious deeds.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
  • Vierotchka
    • +12
      Vierotchka  

    • So, logically, when God impregnated Mary, He was committing adultery, and Jesus was born out of wedlock. So much for Godly family values!

    • 1 year ago
  • ThirdSection
  • Dusty_King
  • robbie2622
  • harleyblueswoman
  • ThirdSection
  • MisterWizard
  • Persecuted
  • Vierotchka
  • mickyjon420
    • 0
      mickyjon420  
    • Vierotchka:

      So we agree, Jesus maybe a great guy, yet people worship a bastard as godly? This is some of the religious logic I have tried hard to understand, was that hypocrisy on their side is just and godly, others it is evil. OK we might not agree.

    • 1 year ago
  • Persecuted
    • +1
      Persecuted  
    • Vierotchka:

      nope, i meant to address misterwizard... but it goes for harley too... misterwizard is telling harley that she bought into a fantasy that is different from the one he bought into

    • 1 year ago
  • Vierotchka
  • MisterWizard
  • MisterWizard
  • MisterWizard
    • +2
      MisterWizard  
    • Persecuted:

      They called him the Son of David and the Root of Jesse. Joseph was a bloodline descendant of King David. Joseph obviously had physical contact with Mary, but because they we're not married the writers created this myth. Why else would he be called the Son of David if were not the true blood son of Joseph ?

      I know the scripture well enough that I don't buy into the religion. Don't test me.

    • 1 year ago
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