Ancient texts: Just as interesting today

There are many ancient texts that have been found from many different cultures. While most of these texts don't claim divine inspiration they are still invaluable in helping us to understand the world and mindset of those who lived thousands of years ago in very, very different times.

When reading the Bible we tend to visualize the events using images and thoughts that are familiar to us. Like the Jesus movies where all the actors have English accents etc... This just isn't historically accurate!

The same can be said for most of scripture. Most people read into scripture, instead of read from it. It's not so much the Bible's fault as it is the preachers who fail to mention these topics or the readers who simply don't care enough to research matters.

Why read other ancient texts?

Let's assume that the Bible is the inspired word of God and that it is our guide book...nothing more is needed. OK, This may be the case, but then why does the Bible mention other books that are not included in the canon i.e. Jashar, Enoch etc? Should we fail to read what the Bible writers likely read themselves? Even if the books arent of Jewish origin...so what!?! When we read these other texts we get a larger picture of the world back then, how people thought and lived. We also begin to find correlations in their stories and "myths", such as Gilgamesh and the flood.

If you haven't already, you should take some time and familiarize yourself with a few of these texts:

• Gilgamesh (Babylon)


• Book of Enoch (Ethiopian version)


• Adam and Eve: book 1


• Adam and Eve: book 2


• Book of Giants (found with Dead Sea Scrolls)
  

You should also read some of Flavius Josephus's works on the early Jews.

http://www.biblestudytools.com/History/BC/FlaviusJosephus/

I personally found book one to be a very interesting account of the Genesis era events. Also Josephus made a decent argument to the Greeks in reference to their concept of the atom (well, a small indivisible unit), death, and how this fits in with the Jewish concept of Hades.