If ancient Egyptian culture had never been influenced by outside civilizations, how do you think it would have evolved differently in the modern world? It would have been just like China. It would have followed the exact same pattern. When you are the best you inevitably will take the foot off the gas and you’ll get comfortable. You’ve got things going well, the economy is solid, the people are all happy, you’ve got your governing structures set and traditions in place. Society as a whole is stable and doing well. You develop the idea that you’re the center of the world and that you are living in paradise - no other place is as good. Your technology is unprecedented, no one else has anything like what your people have been able to do. You are the envy of any neighboring people who only get a glimpse of what you can do and they haven't even seen half of it. Life is good and things are great. Some outsiders show up and they have some things to trade. Nothing you're interested i...
How would you summarize what you believe about the Bible? I believe that in the year 2025, if an incident happens and you ask 4 people what happened, you’ll get 4 different stories and often they will conflict with one another. This is in this day and age - so the idea of 4000 years ago, people witnessing events were able to remotely reliably convey what happened is rather ludicrous. So, I think the bible has been pained over for thousands of years trying to understand and interpret the word of God and what it means for humanity, etc, but ultimately, it’s written by unreliable witnesses and lore that is up to 300 years after the fact before it was recorded. It therefore seems to me that the bible should be looked at as something that traditions, bonding, family, and a sense of community rally around to support one another and to give positive regard to. I think its value is more so in the unity that it brings within its church and it works as a good guidebook as to how a responsi...