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mysterious music

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I've been a preacher for more than 30
years. I've studied and taught through

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the book of Genesis many, many times
in churches all around the world

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and I've trained pastors in the skills of
interpreting texts

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and it's very clear they're not stories
about Gods.

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They're stories about the powerful ones in
the Bible.

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And the sky people, the Anunnakki 
in the Sumerian tablets

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[Narrator] In 1896 eminent scholar 
Nathaniel Schmidt

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was fired from his position
as Professor of Semitic languages

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at Colgate University

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For eleven years, this American University
had enjoyed Nathaniel Schmidt rendition ?

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and Semitic Languages

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He delivered numerous courses in Hebrew,
Aramaic, Coptic , Arabic , Syriac

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and other ancient languages besides

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In fact, Nathaniel Schmidt was one of 
America's leading scholars in the field

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So why, after eleven years 
of outstanding achievement

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was he tried for heresy,

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and fired from his tenure in 1896?

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Though a devout Christian 
and a Baptist pastor

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The authorities considered that his recent

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theological papers had struck
at the very roots

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of two world religions

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Christianity and Judaism.

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What Nathaniel Schmidt had done wrong

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was read the Sumerian and Babylonian

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and Assyrian text and notice
that they were full

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of fascinating parallels.
Stories that occurred there

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that were uncannily similar to all 
the stories and begginings

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of the Bible.

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Stories like: Adam and Eve

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The Fall , Cain and Abel

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The Flood, the limiting of human life,

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the event of the Tower of Babel,

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and Schmidt's work demonstrated that

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the Sumerian accounts

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and those that follow it
from nearly 6000 years ago

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where in all probability 
the source of all those familiar ?

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biblical stories.

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Now, that was a problem
in the 1890's

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because if you think about it

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the Church was still reading from
the after effects of

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[Paul] Charles Darwin's 
"On the Origin of Species"

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and it is busy 
putting together

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new doctrinal basis

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and new doctrines 
of biblical inherency

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to shore up the ship

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So the idea that the Bible 


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might actually be based 
on somebody else's stories

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was a bit of an embarrassment

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It shouldn't have been

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because Judaism 
and Christianity

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both find their roots

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in the story of a Sumerian family.

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The family of Abraham and Sarah.

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Abraham and Sarah 
grew up and spent

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the best part of their lives
in (research name)

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A Sumerian culture

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and so when they emigrated
from there

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it's hardly surprising that
they would carry with them

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[Paul] all the stories of beginnings

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that they had 
grown up with.

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and sew them
into the foundations

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of what was to become

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their culture

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their religion

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and their Bible.