[broadsword]

Zoroaster was thus the first to teach the doctrines of an individual judgment, Heaven and Hell...

Nothing like starting out with a huge lie. Judaism has Zoro beat by a couple of thousand years there, bud.

[Cronos]

Nothing like starting out with a huge lie. Judaism has Zoro beat by a couple of thousand years there, bud.

Hi Broadsword

Well, the date for Zoroaster is kind of disputed -- the accepted date is 700 B.C. but some put it as far back as 1700 BC and the time of Hammurabi.

Judaism had no real concept of heaven and hell before the exile -- as evidenced in the Bible. The idea of angels/injil too comes from Zoroastrianism. Ever seen those pictures of giant bulls with bearded men's heads from Assyria and Persia? Those were the Zoroastrian angels. In my next post I'll elaborate a little bit more for ladyinrad's sake

[dangus]

Concepts which were added to the Jewish religion during the exile:
1. Satan as being in rebellion against God. Prior to the exile, Satan was a tool of God used to chastise his disobedient people. Compare 1 Chr 21 with 2 Sam 24, the story of the census. They are identical passages, except what 2 Sam identifies as the wrath of God is identifieid in Chr as Satan.
2. A distinct "paradise" vs "Gehenna"/Tartarus.
3. A hierarchy of angels.

I'm not sure what the writer means by saying that the Jewish concept of "soul" comes from Z; Angels plainly are mentionned prior to Z., but their nature may have been greatly defined by Z. for all I know.

Christians whould not be scandalize to find out that the faith has roots beyond simply Abraham; the creation account is a sanctified version of what was believed by the people of Ur. Inspiration allowed the Jews to see the myths of the world around them in a holy way, and to recognize the truths among the half-truths and lies, but direct revelation occurred only with Jesus.