Jesus and Christ - стр. 83

– Were the Abrahamic religions the creation of Moses or the idea of Abraham? – asked for clarification a man who, according to Rutra's typing formula, resembled the cosmonaut Titov, for which reason he was recorded under the code name Eagle.

In the world, he was the head of the DARPA directorate. The sign in front of him read: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, responsible for developing new technologies.

– As I have already said… – the lecturer, apparently out of inertia, began to continue what he had started, – well, well, I will explain, and then what I wanted to say. Abrahamic religions are religions that as if came out of one root. There lived such a man Abraham, he tended his flocks, he was not poor. He lived first in the region between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, which now flow through Iraq, and then through Babylonia. I'm just kidding. As and where they flowed, so they flow now. Babylon became Iraq. How he got there, of course, history is silent, all peoples were once nomads, but in the process of either wandering, or traveling, or nomadic, he ended up in Palestine. It was then called Canaan. There he agitated nomadic shepherds, transit merchants, and locals to become adherents of his religion. He even wanted to sacrifice his son for the sake of his faith and the truth of his religious doctrine. Then he came to his senses. Or rather, – well, I think so, and he who believes, believes – God said to him, "Don't do it, it's enough to sacrifice a lamb. But, interestingly enough, his wife was barren for many years, and this Abraham, driving his flocks through the countries, took a second wife, younger and fertile.

Someone chuckled.

– Why? It was normal back then. It was not normal that he lived with a childless woman for so many years. And now this Hagar gives birth to a son, and Sarah, the first wife, naturally disliked her and insisted that he cast her out. Later, either out of jealousy or the Holy Spirit helped, Sarah also gives birth to a son. All would have been nothing if Sarah had not by this time passed 90 years of age.

Some smiled ironically, apparently knowing the story, while others almost laughed.

– You can go a lot deeper into Bible stories, and almost any story, so let me tell you a story related to the Gospels. By the way, the gospel, the "good news," is the New Testament, and what came before Christ is the Old Testament.

He looked around at his listeners, smiled sweetly.

– I talk a lot out of habit, I apologize. I realize my story is not new to many. However, the Jews are opposed to the last statement. They do not recognize Christ as God, prophet, or messiah. The Muslims at least recognize him as a prophet, but they are against him. But I will tell you honestly, do not judge them harshly, they have their own good reasons. The divine essence of Jesus is a subject of great controversy in the Christian world, but his identity as a prophet is not in doubt. Again, however, there is complete antagonism. This is how I characterize atheism. Although atheism is more broad spectrum…the very definition. Okay, let's not flip through the pages of a related program. So, this Abraham is sort of considered to be the first preacher of religious tenets, on the basis of which Judaism, Christianity with all its many offshoots, and Islam and its offshoots, too, were later born and crystallized. And now let us turn to the main topic.