Hmmm, so will he use an FOPEN to begin the process. :-) > -----Original Message----- > From: Wirt Atmar [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Monday, December 31, 2001 3:11 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: OT: "2001" Explained > > One person wrote me privately the following, and I thought it interesting > enough to pass on. I'm always impressed by the wealth of knowledge in this > group. > > ======================================= > > >Zoroastrianism is a religion of man as God and is still > >practiced primarily in India today, but many of its early ideas and > ideals > >were absorbed into Christianity > > Zoroastrian ideas may have been absorbed into ancient Judaism, long before > the birth of Jesus, and thence into Christianity. > > The Israelites, of course, were living in exile in Babylon from roughly > 586 > BCE to 538 BCE, when they returned to Israel after the Babylonians were > themselves conquered by Cyrus the Mede, ruler of Persia. Cyrus was a > Zoroasterian. Some scholars believe that the concepts of the struggle of > good vs. evil, and a person born of a holy seed to redeem the world, did > not begin to show up in Jewish prophetic writings until after the Jews > were > exposed to Zoroastrianism. > > ======================================== > > The notion of one true God, a Devil, a virgin birth, a coming Savior, > redemption and resurrection into eternal life are also all part of > traditional Zoroastrianism, a religion that emerged 1200 years before > Jesus. > Modern Zoroastrians write the following: > > ======================================== > > Faith, and Hope in the coming of the Saoshyant (Saviour) has sustained our > religion through the centuries. We firmly hope, and pray, that Ahura Mazda > sends the Saoshyant to the earth to defeat evil and further righteousness > (Ashoi). The Zarathushtri religion was the first to proclaim that Ahura > Mazda > will send the Saoshyant, born of a virgin, and many other religions took > on > this belief. > > We firmly believe that when the Saoshyant comes, the final spiritual > battle > between the forces of good and evil will commence, resulting in the utter > destruction of evil. Ristakhiz, the ressurection of the dead will take > place > - the dead will rise, by the Will of Ahura Mazda. The world will be purged > by > molten metal, in which the righteous will wade as if through warm milk, > and > the evil will be scalded. The Final Judgement of all souls will commence, > at > the hands of Ahura Mazda the Judge (Davar), and all sinners punished, then > forgiven, and humanity made immortal and free from hunger, thirst, > poverty, > old age, disease and death. The World will be made perfect once again, as > it > was before the onslaught of the evil one. Such is the Frashogad > (Frasho-kereti), the Renovation, brought on by the Will of Ahura Mazda, > the > Frashogar. > > http://members.ozemail.com.au/~zarathus/tenets33.html > > ======================================= > > Wirt Atmar > > * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * > * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html * * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *