audiobook Yishvara 2000: The Hindu Ancestor of Judaism Speaks to This Millennium! by Gene Matlock in History

Review

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. The TruthBy William R. Sulesky III would like to make a quick review of Mr. Matlock's book. I find it amazing that those who criticize him offer no valid counter arguments. Humans like to live in a comfort zone. They accept things a certain way and refuse to open their eyes when the truth is staring them in the face. The worship of Lord Siva is the oldest religion in the world. It is the mother of all other religions. Worship of Siva began with the worship of the sivalingam; a conical stone which represents God's formless nature. The truth is there for others to see if they want to open their eyes. In Genesis 28:10 Jacob stops for the night to rest. He goes to sleep and has a vision of angels going up and down on a ladder. He hears God speak to him. When he awakened he knew he had experienced something awesome and that God must have been in that place. What did he do? The passage in the bible says 18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and SET IT UP AS A PILLAR AND POURED OIL ON TOP OF IT. This is still how we worship Lord Siva to this day. The practice of annointing with oil goes far back to ancient India. I recommend anyone interested in learning about the true origins of the Earth's religions to closely read the books by Mr. Matlock.Om Namah Sivaya4 of 16 people found the following review helpful. matlock again has no case for his claimsBy Mark NewbrookThis book cannot be taken seriously. Matlock claims that all religions; and especially Judaism; derive from early 'objectivist' Hinduism ('Yishvara'); which he regards as a nature religion involving reincarnation and seven basic rules of conduct. To this end he revises the history of Hinduism and other religions and makes highly dubious claims about the mindsets of modern believers. He regards most current forms of Hinduism as 'Aryanist' and 'subjectivist' distortions. In some passages he actually proclaims that all people - even professed atheists - are automatically 'members' of Yishvara.Matlock supports his basic claims by uncritically citing a mixture of ancient pseudo-historical and religious texts (read literally or metaphorically; as it suits him) and recent fringe Indian or pro-Hindu thinkers. In many cases he simply makes unsupported assertions.A prominent feature of the book involves 18th-Century-style philology; often relying on very loose similarities indeed. Matlock tries to argue that many words in a range of languages come from Sanskrit or Kashmiri (he thinks that Kashmir had important early contact with Judaism); that everyone once spoke Sanskrit; that the Munda languages of India are an important source for German; etc; etc. But most of his alleged cognates - invented by him or taken from unreliable Indian sources - are ludicrously wrong or (where less is known about the etymology) very implausible.On non-linguistic fronts; Matlock develops a complex quasi-occult philosophy based on Hindu notions extended to cover St Patrick's Ireland; Old Testament Israel and the contemporary USA. He also gives an idiosyncratic account of the relation between faith (good) and belief (bad) - although he admits that he himself does not follow this in his book. He identifies his own approach as 'scientific' and 'empirical'; and redefines the notions of science and rationality so as to exclude skepticism which rejects the paranormal. His own canon of empiricism involves nothing stronger than the agreement of more than 'a few' witnesses; and often only his own subjective or unverified experiences and impressions. Matlock makes various attempts to appear intellectually respectable; eg by criticising 'Outer Space cultists'; but his own use of evidence/argumentation is no better than that of von Daniken and such; and he even accepts Atlantis as real.I cannot recommend that readers buy this book. It will only annoy the well-informed and confuse newcomers to the field.