I found this a very dense book with lots of ideas to think about. The author has researched and worked to understand the religious works in question to a point where someone who knows little about religion needs time to reflect and research the theories. This book invites the reader to think, and is not a page turner in the same spirit as a non-educational book. Informative, well-explained and all theories are backed up with precise excerpts from the book in question.

I feel this book would be well accepted by academics more than by laymen. ( )

Since I consider myself a Christian, I did not expect this, after all I still believe in Jesus and God. However, I had to throughroughly think about this book much more than I have in regards to others. In his search for the source of religious terrorism in teh Judaic religions, Deus starts out his strong argument that he had an urge to go back to the beginning of the religious faith and reassess every possible original evidence ever printed. That he actually did. He thought that he had been selectively educated and that nothing was fitting together in history most especially during religious fundamentalism, In order to find the answers to his questions, Deus had to backtrack religious history and simplify intricate issues.
"This research project revealed a saga of fraud and deceit in the name of religion and of misguided fanatics who did not live long enough to see the consequences of their preaching hatred against humanity." I do not know what Deus was thinking when he wrote this but what I acknowledge is that he is not exaggerating. He thinks that the Judaic scripture has been invented to redeem Israel and that it is based on complete fraud. In turn, that justifies everything, above all, religiouos terrorism.
When somebody comes up with something as controversial as that, he most certainly better make sure that he delivers the evidence to back it up - and that is accomplished to a tee. Right from the beginning, he lays out pre-existing stories and compares them with the Bible. The plagiate is therefore exposed. Very quickly, I have a perception of oppression, extortion, assassins, genocide, and much more. The Promised Land for the so called Chosen People (Jews) is the ulterior motif.
The stories told in the Bible itself are certainly different than reality. The message is to please God or to vanish. It is the same god that commands the enemies to be hardened against the Jews only to turn around and prove his power by inviting violence. Should I believe in the Ponzi scheme?
Deus does a fantastic job in his arguments where he makes a connection with modern times, which then unveils the foundation of the Israel-Palestine conflict, step-by-step, as though it is something natural that occurs daily. It is the first tiem that I began to understand the position of the Muslim World. The Torah has an eternal death list, and the Palestinians are first on it. It seems obvious that Israel presents a danger to humanity that needs to be addressed by organizing a neutral zone or by moving an entire nation away from the evident potential death zone. Yet, both adversaries play a cat and mouse game of religious terrorism that occurs in today's world.
When Deus rearranges the timeline of the biblical stories, I have a difficult time to understand how it could ever have been any other way. He does so in the most eloquent way by describing the Persian kings of the Old and also with Jesus in the New Testament. Through time, he establishes how the Jews deployed terrorist organizations against the Roman Empire and rejected the Roman way of life in protest against their rule. The end result reveals crucifixions, prophets, and Messiahs just to name a few when Jesus should have been expected. Every piece of evidence is laid out so beautifully and the reader then realizes that it is all a fraud. To make the book even more spectacular, Deus has the primary evidence to prove all of his findings. The puzzle is resolved by detaching the historic part of the Gospel from the fictional. But when the fiction is overturned to after the First-Jewish Roman War, it turns into a frightening reality: there was Jesus, a Jewish high-priest, standing on top of the ruins of the Holy Temple and handing the keys to the imaginary kingdom of Peter, who was later renamed from Simon.
I have not understood why the Western Roman Empire collapsed until now. For the first time, I am forced to understand that it was the consequence of much earlier actions that are intertwined with the conflict between those that believed in Jesus being God and those that think of him as man. The beginning of what the Dark Ages represent has only begun, thanks to Deus.
The last chapter treats abuse of women in Judaic religions. When my wife read this section of the book, she was without words, shocked and humbled. I thought to myself, how could I have overlooked the criticism and downgrading of women that the Judaic faith exhibits. I agree with Deus that women have to stand together to get these offensive passages out of these man written books of death. I am angry at mysel that I did not attain this information at a much earlier time.
I still believe in the great Jesus. However, the Bible was never my best friend and will probably never be. But, I surely love Deus's idea to start over and rewrite history without the religious bias that is already incorporated and taught to children at school as a history lesson. Deus himself says that he might be off track here and there but hopes that somebody might come forward and challenge his findings. I have not come across such an open minded author in a long time who not only invites ideas but appreciates feedback, whether negative or positive. I cannot wait until Volume II is available. I am anxious to unveil some more mysterious hidden facts that history has not wanted to reveal.
I highly recommend this non fiction book that focuses on touchy subjects that other people just turn away from and instead are biased and follow the consensus. ( )