My question comes from this talk.
Are there any other religions that have a documented claim that a nation heard their god speak and survived? Among these are there any where the nation had difficult-to-follow commandments that they then followed?
Isn’t it necessary to produce at least one example or else admit that Judaism is the only example in history of this, that we know?
Posted: July 18th 2010
Eric_PK
I understand where you’re going, but I don’t think it gets you very far. Whether Judaism is unique has no bearing on whether it is true.
It reminds me of the Christian argument that early christians died because of their beliefs, and that they wouldn’t have done that if their beliefs weren’t true. Even if the evidence is reliable, all we would know is that they had died for something that they believed was true.
And that’s not unique – the people of both “Heaven’s Gate”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven’s_Gate_(religious_group) and The People’s Temple died for something they believed was true.
Posted: July 22nd 2010
logicel
I counter your silly question with another equally silly one: “Has there been any other religion which insists that Jesus Christ is the son of god who died to absolve us of the sins committed by Adam and Eve?
Oh I see, it is the mass revelation part that is so very special for you? Then how about all those tombs supposedly (per similar 'documentation’ as to what you are referring) opening up on the day that Jesus Christ was resurrected? Is that mass enough for you?
Posted: July 22nd 2010
SmartLX www
The ultimate thrust of this line of apologetic is that the ongoing existence and acceptance of the claim of the mass revelation establishes its truth. We’ll certainly tackle that if it comes up in any follow-up questions.
To address this question directly in the meantime, there is at least one other example. The Aztecs claimed, and wrote, that their ancestors were commanded as a race by the god Huitzilopochtli to march blindly forth from their first homeland and build the ancient capital of Tenochtitlan (in the middle of what’s now Mexico City). Furthermore, he supposedly led them most of the distance in person, quarreling with his sister Malinalxochitl along the way.
An entire race or nation (for the Aztecs, as for the Sioux and other tribes, the two were the same thing) uprooting itself is a very difficult and risky undertaking, so one of your criteria is satisfied. The Aztecs’ religion and their civilisation as a whole did not survive, but that isn’t relevant to this matter because their claim of a mass revelation didn’t bring them down. The Conquistadors did.
So yes, God’s supposed gig at Mt Sinai has at least one parallel.
Posted: July 22nd 2010