Okay, I'll try to put this together as best I can, this will be long and I do apologize for that.
At the beginning of Yadda Yahweh, it mentions something about Yada studying the origins of other religions, but I don't think a whole lot of detail was provided on that piece of the research.
There seems to be some opinions and apparently a bit of evidence to suggest that either the Hebrew scriptures were based on other more ancient traditions / sources or the exact opposite.
The following sites may serve as background, but basically they attempt to demonstrate the similarities between various world religions including those based on the Hebrew scriptures, ultimately suggesting that there was some ancient civilization that was destroyed that may have been the source of most religious traditions, etc.
http://www.earth-history.com/Earth-02.htmhttp://www.atlan.org/articles/sacraments/http://www.atlan.org/articles/sacraments/http://www.atlan.org/articles/true_history/There was an article on the Christian think tank about this subject as well (http://www.christian-thinktank.com/copycat.html), but it seemed to be a building a bit of a house of cards in my opinion after noting some of the similarities noted in the previously listed articles.
Of particular interest is this assertion:
"Cain and Abel are also not Jewish names, as was believed until now; they are composites of two Greek words: Καϊν => Κα ην => Γα ην => Γήινος (earthy, mortal); Abel => Αβ/ελ => Απ/Ελ => απ' Ηλίου=> from the Sun = solar, the heavenly and immortal. The mortal Cain could not murder the immortal Abel. The respective Greek myth on the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeuces, had not been understood fully. Κάστωρ = Κα/ιστων => Γα/ ιστωρ = earthy; Πολυδεύκης = Πολύ/δευκής = very sweet = heavenly. Castor is inferior, earthy, mortal; this is not demonstrated through the murder of his immortal brother, but through the fact that his heavenly, immortal brother Polydeuces surrendered part of his immortality for his mortal brother. Those who copied the myth did not comprehend its allegorical significance."quoted from
http://www.grecoreport.com/Jewish%20Symbols_are_Greek.htm, which may work into the criteria proposed by the christian think tank for establishing if something was borrowed.
Another organization, which calls itself Nazarene Israel, offered something that may make sense and is quoted as follows from one of their emails:
"When Avraham went to give his inheritance to his son Yitzhak (Isaac), he sent all of his other sons away, eastward, to the 'land of the east.'
B'reisheet (Genesis) 25:5-6
5 And Avraham gave all that he had to Yitzhak.
6 But Avraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Avraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the land of the east.
Where is the 'land of the east,' but in India, China, and Asia (and the other eastern, essentially Semitic lands)?
Ayurvedic medicine derives from the Hindu religious tradition, and as we explained in 'The New Earth,' the priestly caste in Hindu is known as the Brahmins. These Brahmins are probably the 'Avramins' (i.e., the sons of Avraham) that were sent away eastward.
The advanced spiritual and medicinal knowledge that Avraham's sons brought with them was captured in the Hindu religious traditions, and then eventually found its way into the Indian medicinal and healing arts.
In like fashion, Chinese Medicine was developed by a group of spiritual practitioners called the Taoists. The word 'Tao' may be a derivation of the Hebrew word 'Tav' (ת), which means, 'a religious sign.' The Taoists claim that their sages 'just appeared' one day (many thousands of years ago), as from afar, and that they had unusually great spiritual knowledge. Again, these ancient Taoist sages were probably Avraham's sons, and their great spiritual knowledge eventually became what is now the Taoist spiritual tradition."
Basically, I'm looking for different perspectives on this subject. I know the easy answer is Satan did all of this to fool everyone, but I'm also looking for more reason / logic based refutations of Hebrew scriptures just being another derivative of some mother religious tradition from long ago; and thoughts on various theories regarding great civilizations that were destroyed long ago.
