3,300 Year-old Cult Complex in Israel

originally posted by: ExSmokerYes
a reply to: Krazysh0t

So Christianity is a cult eh ???

You know that popular saying, you are the dumbest smart person ever.

It means basically. You know the price of everything and value of nothing.

What that means is.

You have information but not wisdom, making the information useless.

All religions can be defined as a cult, although the term has come to mean smaller groupings it also applies to the largest too especially in the original context.

Oxford dictionary says:

A system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object

Origin

Early 17th century (originally denoting homage paid to a divinity): from French culte or Latin cultus 'worship', from cult- 'inhabited, cultivated, worshiped', from the verb colere.

Great find, Canaanite archeology is really interesting.

Hope we find out more about this particular site, and maybe even what's written on that scarab?

Thanks for posting

a reply to: rickymouse

Cult in christian terminology is different than as an "official" term.

wiki: cult

The word "cult" was originally used not to describe a group of religionists, but for the act of worship or religious ceremony. It was first used in the early 17th century, borrowed via the French culte from Latin cultus (worship), from the adjective cultus (inhabited, cultivated, worshiped), derived from the verb colere (care, cultivate).[9]

While the literal sense of the word in English is still in use, a derived sense of "excessive devotion" arose in the 19th century. The terms cult and cultist came to be used in medical literature in the United States in the 1930s for what would now be termed faith healing, especially for the US Holiness movement which experienced a surge of popularity at the time, but extended to other forms of alternative medicine as well.[10]

The concept of "cult" as a sociological classification was introduced in 1932 by American sociologist Howard P. Becker as an expansion of German theologian Ernst Troeltsch's church-sect typology. Troeltsch's aim was to distinguish between three main types of religious behavior: churchly, sectarian and mystical. Becker created four categories out of Troeltsch's first two by splitting church into "ecclesia" and "denomination", and sect into "sect" and "cult".[11] Like Troeltsch's "mystical religion", Becker's cults were small religious groups lacking in organization and emphasizing the private nature of personal beliefs.[12] Later sociological formulations built on these characteristics while placing an additional emphasis on cults as deviant religious groups "deriving their inspiration from outside of the predominant religious culture".[13] This is often thought to lead to a high degree of tension between the group and the more mainstream culture surrounding it, a characteristic shared with religious sects.[14] In this sociological terminology, sects are products of religious schism and therefore maintain a continuity with traditional beliefs and practices, and cults arise spontaneously around novel beliefs and practices.[15]

When an archeologist writes about a cult it is not in the modern christian labeling of a fringe group but of the cultus, the system of any religion.

edit: just read the rest of the replies and I see Hanslune beat me to the punch, and also used a more official source

a reply to: intrptr

I agree with you to an extent. If the latest house I just completed masonry work on is excavated in two millennia it will most likely be labelled as a temple for a lion worship sect. There are 48 lion statues arranged around the property. Hopefully archaeologists will be able to reconstruct the blue and white tile mosaic and linguists will be able to decipher what "We are Penn State" means...

That said, people with power and resources are the only ones that will be building such a large structure. That limits the uses for the structure to something that a ruler/priest/wealthy merchant would bother expending resources on. An entertainment venue such as a music hall or playhouse is not completely implausible. A temple, warehouse, or community hall for political elite to meet in makes more sense.

Here is some pics of the official site for the dig: telburna.wordpress.com...

They found a statue of Bes, the dwarf god of Egypt, who also appears on the same pithioi as we find the first known usage of YHWH.

They believe (the archeologists, or whoever wrote the site I posted) this is the site of Libnah from the bible, which was a Canaanite holy city, and then became a Levitical refuge city.

The name Libnah is the same as Laban or the word for moon Lebanah which is where the word Lebanon comes from.

These all happen to be covered in my signature line thread if anyone is interested in a rabbit trail.

a reply to: Jarocal

There are 48 lion statues arranged around the property. Hopefully archaeologists will be able to reconstruct the blue and white tile mosaic and linguists will be able to decipher what "We are Penn State" means…

That was funny. My dad went to Penn State. They will probably mistake the meaning . If we think along those lines the reasons behind the archeology are easier to decipher, imo. They were just people, too.

Or a lion cult, lol. Of the Nittany Sect. With blue and white ceremonial headdress and suits of armor worn for battle in the colosseum. The losers were fed to lions.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Jarocal

There are 48 lion statues arranged around the property. Hopefully archaeologists will be able to reconstruct the blue and white tile mosaic and linguists will be able to decipher what "We are Penn State" means…

That was funny. My dad went to Penn State. They will probably mistake the meaning . If we think along those lines the reasons behind the archeology are easier to decipher, imo. They were just people, too.

Or a lion cult, lol. Of the Nittany Sect. With blue and white ceremonial headdress and suits of armor worn for battle in the colosseum. The losers were fed to lions.

Even with my tongue in cheek example I do concede that religious iconography was prevalent at the time. In many ways it still is today as many people who identify with a religion but don't actively practice it still have a piece of the iconography displayed in their home or as jewelry. In a time when religious leaders appear to have held more sway the icons would be a common occurring artifact regardless the actual intent of tthe structure.