Why the lack of Pagan threads?

a reply to: testingtesting

Hinduism grew out of the Vedic Faiths, which were Indo-European, but has become very soft polytheism, so yeah its quite similar, though thanks to the proximity to the Abrahamic Faiths, its verging on monism, then perhaps monotheism.

a reply to: Noinden
Are you willing to acknowledge the fact/truth that the book Ȧm-Ṭuat, dated 1375 B.C.E., speaks of those who “shall be cast down headlong into the pits of fire; and . . . shall not escape therefrom, and . . . shall not be able to flee from the flames”?

Are you willing to acknowledge the fact/truth that the Greek pagan philosopher Plutarch (c.46-120 C.E.) wrote of those in the world below: “[They] raised a cry of wailing as they underwent fearful torments and ignominious and excruciating chastisements”?

Are you willing to acknowledge the fact/truth that the historian Josephus (37-c.100 C.E.) reported that the Essenes, a Jewish sect, believed that “the souls are immortal, and continue forever.” He added: “This is like the opinion of the Greeks . . . They allot to bad souls a dark and tempestuous den, full of never-ceasing punishments”?

Are you willing to acknowledge the fact/truth that the idea of suffering after death is found among the pagan religious teachings of ancient peoples in Babylon and Egypt. Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs depicted the “nether world . . . as a place full of horrors, . . . presided over by gods and demons of great strength and fierceness.” Although ancient Egyptian religious texts do not teach that the burning of any individual victim would go on forever, they do portray the “Other World” as featuring “pits of fire” for “the damned.”—The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, by Morris Jastrow, Jr., 1898, p. 581; The Book of the Dead, with introduction by E. Wallis Budge, 1960, pp. 135, 144, 149, 151, 153, 161, 200.

Are you willing to acknowledge the fact/truth that the doctrine that hell is a place of torment is not based on the Bible?

Are you willing to acknowledge the fact/truth that in the second century C.E., the writer Theophilus of Antioch quotes the pagan Greek prophetess Sibyl as foretelling the punishments of the wicked: “Upon you burning fire shall come, and ever ye shall daily burn in flames”?

Are you willing to acknowledge that Jesus never taught that humans have an immortal soul. However, he often did teach about the resurrection of the dead. (Luke 14:13, 14; John 5:25-29; 11:25) Why would Jesus say that the dead would be resurrected if he believed that their souls had not died?

Jesus did not teach that God would maliciously torture the wicked forever. Rather, Jesus said: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NAB) Why would Jesus imply that those who did not believe in him would die? If he really meant that they would live forever, suffering misery in a fiery hell, would he not have said so?

God’s Word, clearly states in the Hebrew Scriptures: "The soul that is sinning—it itself will die."—Ezekiel 18:20, Rbi8.

And: "The dead no longer know anything."—Ecclesiastes 9:5, NAB.

Since you didn't address these facts or acknowledge their existence in your repeated objections and critique of my commentary and me mentioning these facts/truths, I take it you do not want to talk about them or acknowledge them for some reason?

2 Timothy 3:1-5,7

3 But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, 3 having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, 4 betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, 5 having an appearance of godliness but proving false to its power; and from these turn away.
...
7 always learning and yet never able to come to an accurate knowledge of truth.

I think it's a little unfair or unreasonable to describe listing historical facts in comparison with biblical teachings that refute the paintjob on the God of Abraham as a cruel God who tortures people in a fiery hell for eternity as 'stomping', while continuing to promote that paintjob (as if it has anything to do with Abraham or the Hebrew Scriptures when I can clearly see the historical pagan origins of both the concepts of an immaterial soul that continues living when the body dies and a fiery hell, underworld, "nether world...full of horrors...presided over by gods and demons" or "Other World" as well as the motivation for the slanderous paintjob and how it was melded into the theosophies of Christendom and other religions). If you want to describe something as 'stomping'...

a reply to: whereislogic

Your so called Egyptian Hell is Duat. It is fiery because Amon Ra passes through there at night... You know the Sun deity. All souls go to Duat, and are tested before being judged. No you can't escape it. But every one goes there. This is not your Abrahamic Hel. Also the Egyptions had the idea that the soul is made of five parts. Your Jb is judged in Duat and if heavier than the feather of Ma'at then it was consumed by Ammit and you became restless for eternity or ceased to exist. See the surviving texts are differing. Nice try on your part but as usual Google is not research if you don't actually read more than your Joho propaganda.

Do you understand that there were many Sybil's? It's a title not a name. So your philosopher is quoting a single person. Not a body of theology. Oh and do you understand the various Sybil's contradicted each other?

As for the Abrahamic Essenes? Not pagan thus not relevant. Also again single quotes are just that quotes not theology. The Greeks are an Indo-European people. At the heart of IE cosmology souls are not tortured.