Customer Reviews

Biblical Religion: The Great Lie

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The newly published in English book "Biblical Religion, the Great Lie" by the author and researcher Michael Kalopoulos is a very interesting and extraordinary one! The author explains the main biblical events we are all familiar with in a novel and rational manner. Indeed, after reading this book I could not help it but view the Bible from an altogether different prospective.

The book is full of original and totally unheard of interpretations of the meanings and explanations of the events described in the Bible. For instance, original and very plausible interpretations and explanations are offered about: the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Joseph's Dreams, the Plagues of Egypt, the Exodus from Egypt, the Crossing of the Red Sea, the various actions and preaching of many prophets etc. Also, I was very astonished by the depth of the analysis and the justification provided, for these events. The narrative brings up many illusive elements to the attention of the reader, documenting in detail the role of sorcery, deception, plagiarism, use of poisons, narcotic plants and substances etc in social and religious developments.

Visiting the author's personal website at www.greatlie.com is also very much worthy and highly recommended. Reading his essays and unpublished work sheds a lot of light in these important topics. Notably, you can see there an original explanation of the miracle of the "Burning Bush" along with a prototype of the Bush, made of clay by the author himself, that can provide a quite convincing explanation of this "miracle"!

So, this new book is a very significant one on this controversial and important subject in our lives. It is indeed a breakthrough in religious criticism and beyond. I recommend it wholeheartedly!

Ioannis, M. Roussos
Professor Dr. of mathematics

Boy, this is an interesting book sure to ignite a lot of controversy especially amongst fundamentalists of any religious stripe. Kalopoulos puts forth the audacious theory that Abraham and his descendents were Chaldean magicians of great cunning and skill, who used various potions and chemistry tricks to influence "kings and nations". From Abraham's escape from the furnaces of Ur, through to the prophecies of Joseph and Daniel, and the burning bush of Moses: all are exposed as tricks perpetrated on an unsuspecting and gullible populace. Kalopoulos explains the tricks very plausibly using scientific data about psychoactive plants and naturally occurring substances which could be used to create illusions and delusions. He suggests that the early Jews performed these tricks with theatrical skill in order to create fear of a "vengeful God" who could then offer salvation.

For scientists and skeptics, this book will be a fascinating read. For the faithful, the book will likely serve as provocation to outrage. After all, it attacks the underpinnings of the three great monotheistic religions of our times.

But perhaps it's time to take a skeptics' view. The legacy of the tribes of Abraham in modern times is one of bloodshed, intolerance and hatred. Perhaps it is based on illusion after all. It certainly doesn't seem to be based on love.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in history, religion and cultic groups.

I became interested in the Bible after encountering a very destructive Bible based cult in Korea led by a wanted rapist who of course claims to be the Messiah. I became fascinated at how the Bible was so easily and effectively used by the cult as a tool for manipulation and control. It amazed me how such a blatant criminal was able to use the Bible to gather followers and victims. I began looking at ways to refute the group's biblical teachings and that led me to reading the bible and books about it.

"Don't Know Much About The Bible" by Kenneth C Davies and "Who Wrote The Bible?" by Richard Elliot Friedman are books that I would highly recommend.
Plus a wealth of books on brainwashing and cultic groups, which I think would also be of interest to readers of The Great Lie. The subject is very much related, the tools modern day cults use today haven't changed too much over the past few thousand years.
"People Who Play God" by Beth E Peterson
"Combatting Cult Mind Control" by Steven Hassasn
"Cults In Our Midst" by Margaret Thaler Singer
"Influence: The Psychology of Persuassion" by Robert B. Cialdini, PHD

Michael's book was by far the most entertaining of the bible books I have read.
At times it really is a page turner, particularly his theories on Moses and the flight from Egypt. I found his writings to be absolutely fascinating and of course more believable than the "miracles of God" accounts of the Old Testament.

What really stood out for me was what a focused and logical mind Michael has.
His critical and logical thinking skills are really extraordinary and a gift to us all.
It's a pity that the mad Irish priest who interrupted the Athens' Olympic Marathon hadn't read The Great Lie.

Finally, Michael's book also sparked my interest in the mythologies of Ancient Greece. I'd also like to recommend "Mythology" by Edith Hamilton. It's a great book to read after Michael's since it describes many of the myths he refers to.

Written with Greek temperament and scientific fortitude, Michael Kalopoulos' book "Biblical Religion, the Great Lie" is a breathtaking work of non fiction capturing the reader's attention even to its last footnote.

Comparisons of surgical precision, of the biblical and Greek-Mediterranean Myths of the Creation, the Great Flood, the Confusion of Languages, leads the reader to answer the question: "Who copied from whom?"

All three monotheistic Religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam originate from the God of Abraham. Through a detailed and artful critical analysis of the biblical texts (Genesis and Exodus) and an objective overview of the actions of the prophets as they are described in the Bible itself the book gradually reveals the first prophets Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses as common impostors who used their `God' to achieve personal wealth and power. Significant clues for the author's new original interpretations come from the comparisons of the biblical texts with the Greek myths.

Following a scientific method Michael Kalopoulos reveals for instance that the beast- and man-killing plagues supposedly sent by the biblical God upon the unsuspecting animals and people of Egypt were entirely man made, literally sweeping the carpet under the feet of biblical Religion!

This book also denounces the selfish intermediaries intervening between the biblical God of Abraham and the peoples, for uprooting the natural faith of millions of people together with their natural and due respect for mother Nature, with grave consequences for the coming generations.

In the last, brilliant chapter of the book, the author makes our responsibility clear: "It is evident that we are living in a perpetual humiliating hell, arranged precisely by those preaching of paradise. However, the responsibility for the humiliating conditions we are living in does not belong to our persecutors alone. The ease, with which we have followed those supposed saviours, is astonishing. Our nauseating gullibility must bear the greatest part of the blame".

In order for people to appreciate the importance of this work and to proceed to make the necessary revisions of their theological creeds, I believe this book should be translated in as many languages as the Bible and should be circulated just as widely.

If you visit the website of the author at www.greatlie.com you can download sample chapters and the table of contents of the book from which you will be able to appreciate the handling of the subject matter and the intricate structure of this masterpiece!

My opinion: MUST READ!

Doris Reiter May 2004

I want to make it clear that I'm an atheist.
Every ancient civilization had myths and religions. Why wouldn't the jews have myths as well?
Myths are tales of supernatural things that of course never happened.
This book while exposing the bible tries at the same time to explain God's feats as if they were really true. The explanation is of course improbable which makes the book lose a lot of credibility.
That was a big error.

Imagine the stories of the Old Testament Hero's as you learned them in Sunday School. Then read those same stories word for word in the Bible. Things often don't make sense. Lots of biblical stories aren't even told in Sunday School! They are just too grotesque and unbelievable. To the believer, one must accept the incongruities on faith. But, sooner or later, the true seeker begins to search deeply for an answer to his or her faith. That search leads to doubt, which leads to questions, which leads to deeper searching. One day the light dawns, and oh what a brilliant, liberating light it is!

Michael Kalopoulos exposes the treachery of the "Father of the Faithful" and his offspring in such a captivating, illuminating manner, scrutinizing every detail of the written biblical history under the bright search-light of reason, truth, history, and just plain common sense. While some of his explanations may not be provable (and the biblical stories are?) they are certainly very plausable. So many questions that I had were answered to my satisfaction.

A word to the believers in the Christian Religion. Don't buy this book unless you are willing to examine your own faith, and give a reason for it, as the apostle Paul teaches. But, if you are an open-minded, intelligent person who is interested in knowing what the other side thinks, then this book will take you for the ride of your life! You can also see the letter I wrote to Mr. Kalopoulos, and his answer here: [...]
Michael Kalopoulos has a rare literary gift that will keep you captivated and spellbound, unable to put the book down! I'm looking forward to his next book on the New Testament.

Kalopoulos purports to show via archaeological evidence and via comparison with the literature of other peoples, that the stories from the Bible derive from the myths of others and that therefore Biblical religion (Judaism/Christianity) is a derivative fraud. Kalopoulos, though demonstrating that such similarities do exist does not furnish us with any real explanation of how these ideas were transmitted that would give his claim credibility.

He posits that the Biblical flood story (as one example) is derived from the Greek myth of Decaulion. This might actually be so, and he does give some compelling reasons, but he does not explain the means of transmission. What he should have written on is: that the references to the flood in Babylonian/Assyrian literature do not predate c.1200 BC (earlier versions of the Gilgamesh myth, as one example, do not mention the flood); that the Mycenaean Greek civilization collapsed at c.1200 BC; that at c. 1200 BC these Mycenaean Greeks established colonies in Cyprus and Ugarit (northern Phoenicia); that the Greek idea of the divination from birds (their flight patterns, etc), explains the appearance of the crow and dove in the biblical flood myth - birds are depicted in Mycenaean wall paintings & vases and are associated with sailing, and that this too could have been contrasted against the Babylonian idea of "bird divination" which was divining from a killed bird's entrails.

When he quotes stories from the Bible he misunderstands their intentions, because he is unaware of their origins. For example, The Tower of Babel story in the Bible is a re-working of the building of the Ziggurat for Marduk as it appears in the "Epic of Creation". This (in part) reads: ""Create Babylon, whose construction you requested! Let its mud bricks be moulded... and high the shrine! ...For a whole year they made bricks for it..." (Epic of Creation, Tablet VI, p.262 "Myths from Mesopotamia", Stephanie Dalley). This tale is reworked to appear in Genesis 11,3-7. However, in the Bible it instead becomes not an act of piety, but a means by which mankind sought to be like god in wisdom, and by means of the tower reach god in heaven itself. God according to the Bible stupefied mankind as punishment. This tale as retold in the bible is intended to dissuade anyone from questioning the wisdom of god or the priesthood who administer the word of god, thus anyone who strives for knowledge will be punished by god. Kalopoulos completely misunderstands this and imagines it was a Jewish attempt at explaining the origins of different languages, and mocks the reasoning for building with mud bricks to reach heaven as an inappropriate building material.

The pervading theme of Kalopoulos' book however, is the attack of the "Jewish Patriarchs". He condemns them for the disappearance of the lost literature of the ancient Greeks. He does not mention: the forcible imposition of Christianity on the Greeks by the Romans (who under Justinian in 529 closed down the "pagan" academy in Athens); the destruction of the library at Alexandria by Mohammedans; the destruction of the last remaining library of antiquity in Byzantium by the Catholics in their Fourth Crusade of 1204. These omissions by Kalopoulos speak volumes, and his book seems intent on peddling the kind of "zionist conspiracy" theories which were rife in early 20th century Europe.

This book is very much a disappointment.

ASTONISHING,A REAL MIND-OPENER.HOW COULD WE BE SO BLIND FOR SO MANY CENTURIES?

A review of the book: "Biblical Religion, the Great Lie"(...).

The newly published in English book "Biblical Religion, the Great Lie" by the author and researcher Michael Kalopoulos is a very interesting and extraordinary one! The author explains the main biblical events we are all familiar with in a new ever and rational manner. Indeed, after reading this book I could not help it but view the Bible from an altogether different prospective.

The book is full of original and totally unheard of interpretations of the meanings and explanations of the events described in the Bible. For instance, original and very plausible interpretations and explanations are offered about: the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Joseph's Dreams, the Plagues of Egypt, the Exodus from Egypt, the Crossing of the Red Sea, the various actions and preaching of many prophets etc. Also, I was very astonished by the depth of the analysis and the justification provided, for these events. The narrative brings up many illusive elements to the attention of the reader, documenting in detail the role of sorcery, deception, plagiarism, use of poisons, narcotic plants and substances etc in social and religious developments.

Visiting the author's personal website at www.greatlie.com is also very much worthy and highly recommended. Reading his essays and unpublished work sheds a lot of light in these important topics. Notably, you can see there an original explanation of the miracle of the "Burning Bush" along with a prototype of the Bush, made of clay by the author himself, that can provide a quite convincing explanation of this "miracle"!

So, this new book is a very significant one on this controversial and important subject in our lives. It is indeed a breakthrough in religious criticism and beyond. I recommend it wholeheartedly!

I couldn't wait to receive my book, "The Great Lie..." The subject has long interested me. I read excerpts from the book on line. After getting the book and starting to read it, I became frustrated with the writing style. Although the content is facinating, and the research I feel is well done, it doesn't flow from page to page. Kalopoulos seems to be a good researcher but he's no writer. I feel this material would be better understood if properly put into print by and expeirenced writer. having said that I do appreciate his efforts and will try to get through it again in a couple of weeks or so. When I come across books like this I like to give them three or four chances before tossing them out. As I said in my title of this reveiw, "There's a good story in there but badly told.