Example:
Revelation 12:13-16 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
This passage has some striking similarities to some pagan writings floating around the near east. Interesting, given the fact that Revelation is one of the most iconoclastically anti-pagan New Testament texts. Maybe this is a matter of one becoming what one hates. Or perhaps cross-cultural fertilization is just too strong a fact to escape.
I do not believe this, but I have entertained the thought that The Trinity was an accommodation to pagan peoples. God had such a hard time cleansing just His People of polytheism, imagine the chore that sat before Him when He made His push outward. A kind of "if you can't beat 'em join 'em move, or beating the enemy at his own game. Again not a belief on my part, but a thought.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain ideas one does not agree with. I've learned a lot from pagan writers, without giving up my exclusive faith in Christ.
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