Untrue stories exist at each end of Jewish history’s three thousand years – fictional, fabricated and of immense magnitude. We may start in the tenth century BCE, where archaeologists have after diligent study found no trace of King Solomon, his Temple or his empire. Half a century of intensive excavation of the Holy Land has now reached that conclusion. The alleged mighty empire of David and Solomon, stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates – on the basis of which the modern state of Israel was formed – did not exist. Meanwhile the Bible makes no mention of the great empire of Egypt, which really did in that period stretch from the Nile to the Euphrates. These things must be relegated to storyland, like Moses parting the Red Sea. Experts were finally attaining this negative conclusion as the new millennium dawned.
…Christians need to apprehend that it is not a virtue to believe in that which never existed. That won’t save your soul. At both ends of the amazing three-thousand years of Jewish history are tremendous phantoms, imaginations which we the Goyim have been led to believe. That which never was, which never had existence is inscribed as fact in books the whole world over. We need a collective therapy experience of discussing What Really Happened. Only the power of Truth can save us now. Are we capable of that?
Judaism we may conclude must inevitably self-terminate in this 21st century, simply because of the intellectual power of modern Jews, who cannot hope to avoid seeing how their identity-defining narratives have disintegrated. They were tremendous stories, but were never true.
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I am reminded by this that the power of Buddhism lies in its philosophy, methods and their results. Buddhism provides an extensive vocabulary of concepts and insights that are dynamic and adaptive, accepting of all truths new or old. Buddhism has many stories but the tradition does not rely on them for its fundamental claims. Buddhism provides a coherent and practical view of human life without demanding belief or loyalty to it. Buddhism connects us to the past and to many varieties of human experience through its long evolution in many parts of the world. ABN
American Buddhist Net 