Dunno if this was mentioned yet, but one of the many chances those crazy Pope's made was to move Christmas closer to winter solstice to please pagan worshippers and get more converts as it wasn't 'far' from their current beliefs.

The story of Noah's Ark has been around way before the bible. The story of Noah's ark is exactly like one where some Egyptian god cries for 40 days and 40 nights and floods the world. Some egyptian builds a boat or some hark and saves all the animimanimimanals.

That would work more if the bible was mostly passed down by word of mouth. It's a collection of letters / diary entries and stories from disciples and such. Too tired to go through it all in thread after thread of religious stuff, but what people think of distortions in the bible by word of mouth the real problem is the constant censorship over history (Making of mary mag a ho in order to make women seem less important comes to mind)

There are lots of myths that are found in slightly different versions all around the world, without any clear link tying them to one origin. I believe Jung had something to say on this subject... collective unconscious and archetypes and so forth.

And Glyde, you seem to be talking about the New Testament. The story of Noah's Ark is in Genesis in the old testament (and therefore is found in Judaism and Islam too), and the origins of Genesis are even more elusive.... Either way, the story is likely based on much, much older stories.

Found this too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_myths#Theories_of_origin

Well..... To be honest, Bible is more of a "joint" effort.

While most of sections have certain author (or several co-authors, probably), a whole lot of content in Bible is nothing more, then organised and written down fables. Consider the tale of Noah (flood is often mentioned), the tale of Lot (destruction of Sodom and Homorrah - is it just me, or it potently reminds of a medieval rebellion quenching?), tale of Jesus even (On a side note, anyone heard about someone ostencibly unearthing Jesus` grave? I heard something with corner of ear, but it wasn`t really covered a lot.).

You may note, that there are gaps in bible, which are not filled by nearly as much of detail, as the brightest accounts. I think, that those parts were just "bridging" between real accounts, which were retold numerous times, giving them this "fable" quality, and then written down.


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However, to be fair, I don`t think, that Bible is spiritual guide. It`s a manual. Politic manual on sociological engineering. The "source file" for building prolific stable medieval nation.
Bible actually covers very wide range of topics. Not just miracles and "proofs" of God. There are agricultural, social and even warfare suggestions in Bible, with bright examples in implementing all of them, and enforcing all of them for the sake of stability.
Personally, I do not believe there is a physical (metaphysical) entity, called God. I think, that God is an abstract concept, naturally "invented" as one of the most effective ways of crowd control.

Now... Do not take me wrong. I have no problem with Christianity per ce. (As well, as I am tolerable towards Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Paganism, and just about any religion/philosophy there is.)
However, I think, that Bible is outdated by now, and needs serious revision to continue being a valuable tool. Riddled with prejudices two millenias old, Bible is too rigid to allow further growth. So, it grows to the sides, and.... Well, invades in everyone`s personal space.