The Bible in the Context of the Founder Hypothesis

The Bible is the most widely read and influential book in world history. Its creation extended over more than a thousand years, with various authors making their contributions at different times. The first part of the Bible, the Old Testament, is based on even older sources and oral traditions. Particularly the early texts of Genesis show strong parallels to Mesopotamian, especially Sumerian myths.

This connection to Sumerian mythology is of particular interest because the Sumerian texts are significantly older and often contain more detailed versions of the stories. While the Bible speaks of a single God, the Sumerian myths know various gods with clearly defined tasks and characteristics. The biblical authors transferred these polytheistic stories into a monotheistic context, whereby many details and connections were lost or reinterpreted.

The Founder Hypothesis now offers a new framework for interpreting both biblical and Sumerian texts. It postulates that a highly advanced extraterrestrial civilization has installed its technical infrastructure beneath the Earth’s surface and from there influences human evolution and development. The members of this civilization, the “Founders,” exist as non-material beings since they have transferred their consciousness to computers.

When religious texts are viewed against this background, new and surprising interpretative possibilities emerge. Many biblical concepts—from the nature of God to the creation of man to miracles—can be newly understood in the context of the Founders’ technological capabilities. At the same time, the more detailed Sumerian myths provide important clues about how the Founders organized their activities and how they interacted with humans.

In this chapter, we will analyze central aspects of biblical tradition in light of the Founder Hypothesis and Sumerian mythology. It becomes apparent that many seemingly supernatural or contradictory elements of the Bible are quite rationally explicable—when viewed in the correct historical and technological context.

One of the most fundamental questions of theology concerns the nature of God: How can a non-material, omnipresent being exist? The Founder Hypothesis offers a surprisingly simple answer to this: “God” corresponds to one or more Founders who have transferred their consciousness to computers and can therefore exist as non-material beings.

While God is not omnipotent—the Founders are bound by the laws of physics—he appears to humans as omniscient. This is because the Founders have access to a database in which the long-term memories of all humans are stored. Through this collective memory, they know not only the present but also the entire human history firsthand.

The biblical conception of God’s Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—can be interpreted in this context as an organizational structure of the Founders. God the Father, who can be understood as creator of human consciousness, corresponds to the Sumerian goddess Ninhursag. According to the Atrahasis Epic, it was she who gave humans intelligence.

God the Son manifested in Jesus of Nazareth when a Founder or Igigi incarnated in human form. The corresponding Founder appeared as mediator between the divine and human spheres.

The Holy Spirit, in turn, appears as a collective of Founders who have devoted themselves to developing and guiding humanity. In Sumerian myths, this corresponds most closely to Enki’s role, who appears as wise counselor and promoter of humans. The Holy Spirit works not through direct manifestation but through subtle influence on human consciousness.

This interpretation also explains the seemingly contradictory properties of God in the Bible: He is simultaneously personal and abstract, singular and multiple, transcendent and immanent. All these aspects make sense when “God” is understood as a designation for a complex network of highly developed, non-material intelligences that fulfill various roles and functions.

The biblical statement “God created man in his image” is based on an inaccurate translation and simplification of Sumerian texts. The Sumerian tradition, particularly the Atrahasis Epic, offers a significantly more detailed representation of human origin.

Originally, the Igigi performed the heavy work of canal construction on Earth. The Igigi were not gods in the true sense, but members of extraterrestrial civilizations from other planets—those planets that the Founders had previously “completed.” They incarnated into human form at that time. When the Igigi rebelled against their hard work, it was decided to give the already existing humans intelligence so they could take over the work.

The goddess Ninhursag (who later became part of “God the Father” in the Bible) received the task of giving humans intelligence. She did not use the consciousness of the Founders as a template, but that of the Igigi. Man was therefore not created in the “image of God,” but his consciousness was formed according to the pattern of the Igigi.

This interpretation is supported by further details of the Atrahasis Epic. The “blood of a sacrificed Igigi” that was mixed with clay could be a metaphorical description for the transfer of mental structure. Ninhursag thus used the neurological patterns of an Igigi as a template for developing human consciousness.

The biblical version of this story reduced the complex relationships to a simple creation narrative accomplished by a single god. Important details were lost in the process, such as the distinction between Founders and Igigi. This led to the misinterpretation that God created man in “his” image.

In the Garden of Eden stood two special trees: the tree of life, which could grant immortality, and the tree of knowledge, which conveyed knowledge of good and evil. A serpent, a demon that could speak, was also stationed there. According to Sumerian mythology, the serpent must have been the Usumgallu demon, whose task was to protect the tree of life. This task was assigned to it by the god Enki.

One of God’s first actions after creating man was to lie to him (Genesis 2:16-17):

“You may eat from all trees in the garden, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”

The serpent confirms to Eve that it was indeed a lie and urges Adam and Eve to eat from the fruits of the tree (Genesis 3:4-5):

“You will not surely die, but God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Sumerian mythology helps us understand why the serpent acted this way and what role it actually played. The serpent retained its function as guardian of the tree of life even in the biblical story—albeit in a surprisingly indirect and cunning way.

The serpent knew that humans would be expelled from the Garden of Eden as soon as they ate from the tree of knowledge. Through this expulsion, they would automatically lose access to the tree of life. Instead of directly keeping humans away from the tree of life, the serpent chose an indirect strategy: It tempted Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge, which led to inevitable expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Thus humans were permanently denied access to the tree of life—and thereby to immortality.

That its strategy worked is subsequently confirmed by God (Genesis 3:22):

“And the Lord God said: Behold, man has become like one of us and knows what is good and evil. Now, lest he stretch out his hand and also take from the tree of life and eat and live forever! So the Lord God expelled him from the Garden of Eden.”

The serpent thus perfectly fulfilled its original task as guardian of immortality, even though its method might appear at first glance as betrayal of divine commandments. It acted precisely within its authority, but used cunning to achieve its goal. The biblical description of the serpent as “more cunning than all the animals of the field” takes on new meaning against this background. However, this raises the question of why God subsequently cursed the serpent. Indeed, God said to the serpent (Genesis 3:14-15):

“Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock and all animals of the field. On your belly you shall crawl and dust you shall eat all your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring: He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

This essentially only expresses that the serpent is relieved of its function as a demon and becomes a simple animal, a snake. The reason for this is not that humans can now distinguish good and evil. The reason is rather that the tree of life no longer needs to be guarded by the serpent since it has become unreachable for humans anyway. The Sumerian serpent demon has thus fulfilled its task. It is no longer needed and is replaced by Christian symbolism.

However, the Christian tradition differs from Sumerian mythology in one crucial point: In Sumerian mythology, there is no tree of knowledge of good and evil. Rather, the goddess Ninhursag had begun in the Atrahasis Epic long before the flood to give humans intelligence and form human consciousness according to the model of the Igigi, but then it took several thousand more years until humans were truly intelligent and constant intervention by Sumerian gods in the social order was no longer necessary. This process, which extended over several thousand years in Sumerian mythology, is reduced to a single day in Christian tradition by introducing the concept of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In the context of the Founder Hypothesis, this process naturally involves adapting human consciousness to the requirements of that time, which took several thousand years because the Founders first had to figure out how to do it.

But why had God lied to humans at the beginning? It was in his interest that humans eat from the tree of knowledge since he wanted to create them in ‘his’ image. The reason is that he wanted to present the humans’ decision to act responsibly and remove themselves from the care of the gods as a conscious decision by humans, even though this was not actually the case.

The Bible reports numerous miracles that seem to contradict natural laws at first glance. In the context of the Founder Hypothesis, however, these miracles can be traced back to three fundamental technological capabilities of the Founders: generating electromagnetic discharges at arbitrary locations, the ability to implant hallucinations or false memories in humans, and the possibility of disrupting or restoring the processing of sensory impressions in the brain.

Generating electromagnetic discharges enabled the Founders to produce various physical effects. A classic example is the story of the prophet Elijah and his contest with the Baal priests. When Elijah poured “water” over his sacrifice and God still ignited it with fire, it could actually have been a flammable liquid that was ignited by a targeted electromagnetic discharge from the Founders.

The second category of miracles is based on the Founders’ ability to directly influence human consciousness and generate hallucinations or false memories. Jesus’s walk on water described in the Gospels could be an example of this. Instead of actually accomplishing the physically impossible walking on water, the Founders could have implanted this memory in those present through dreams.

The third category concerns healing miracles, especially the healings by Jesus described in the Gospels. The Founders could selectively disrupt or restore the processing of sensory impressions in the human brain. For example, they could temporarily blind a person by blocking the neural processing of visual signals. When Jesus then “healed” these people, the Founders simply restored normal function. These staged healings served to demonstrate Jesus’s divine authority and reinforce his message. The Founders can indeed actually heal people, but only if it involves a disease of the neural system.

These technological explanations do not necessarily diminish the religious significance of miracles. They merely show that the Founders intervened very deliberately and with great technological superiority in human history. The miracles often served to reinforce certain religious or ethical messages and strengthen people’s faith in a higher power.

The Kingdom of Heaven is a central theme in the Gospels. John the Baptist and Jesus proclaim its nearness with almost identical words. In Matthew (3:2), John says: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” Shortly afterward in Matthew (4:17), Jesus calls on the people with the same words to repent.

Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven in various parables. Particularly revealing is the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32):

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

In this parable, the man who sows a mustard seed in his field corresponds to his God who establishes the Kingdom of Heaven. The field corresponds to the still empty realm that is to be filled, and the birds correspond to the humans who will come to live in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus emphasizes the extraordinary value of the Kingdom of Heaven in two other parables (Matthew 13:44-46):

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Entry into the Kingdom of Heaven is thus something for which it is worth giving up everything else.

Jesus makes clear that not all humans automatically receive access to the Kingdom of Heaven. They must fulfill certain criteria. During Jesus’s lifetime, the most important criterion was to be selfless. Jesus uses a striking image for this (Matthew 19:24):

“And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

The transformation of the affected person’s consciousness from something ‘fleshly’ to something ‘spiritual’ is a prerequisite for entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus hints at this in his conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:3):

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again [from spirit], he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

He confirms this again when he says in John 3:13:

“And no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the image of man [from spirit] who is in heaven.”

These statements suggest that the Kingdom of Heaven is not an earthly reality but another level of existence that becomes accessible only after death. However, it becomes accessible only to those whose consciousness has been replicated “from spirit” by God.

What is described as the “Kingdom of Heaven” in biblical texts can be understood in the context of the Founder Hypothesis as a highly developed virtual reality. The Founders themselves already live in such a simulated world after transferring their consciousness to computers. The “Kingdom of Heaven” would accordingly be an area of this virtual reality that becomes accessible to human consciousness after death.

The characteristics of the Kingdom of Heaven described by Jesus fit this interpretation. The parable of the mustard seed describes how something initially very small grows continuously—similar to a virtual reality that steadily grows through the addition of more consciousness.

The “being born again” that Jesus speaks of describes the transition of human consciousness into this virtual reality—a process that must begin long before a person’s death but is only completed after physical death.

This technological interpretation of the Kingdom of Heaven offers a new perspective on Christian hope for life after death. What was traditionally understood as a purely spiritual concept now appears as a technologically realizable possibility—consciousness could actually continue to exist in another form after physical death. Jesus himself emphasizes the reality of this perspective (John 14:2-3):

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

This connection of religious hope and technological possibility could give faith new relevance. If “eternal life” no longer needs to be understood as a supernatural miracle but as a technologically advanced form of existence, it becomes conceivable again for modern-thinking people.

This perspective also makes it understandable why Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven as something for which it is worth giving up everything else. The transition to this higher form of existence would indeed be of inestimable value—like the “treasure in the field” or the “precious pearl” in his parables.

The Bible reports numerous prophets who received and transmitted divine messages. In the context of the Founder Hypothesis, prophetic communication can be understood as direct connection between the Founders and selected humans.

The Founders selected certain humans as prophets from whom they expected to work well with them. Important selection criteria were presumably the willingness to pass on received messages as well as the ability to convey these messages convincingly. The often described “calling” to be a prophet was the first contact of the Founders with the selected person.

The prophetic visions themselves were generated through the Founders’ ability to interact directly with human consciousness. They could convey both visual and auditory impressions to the prophets. This communication often occurred in dreams or trance-like states but could also take place while awake. The biblical descriptions of such visions—such as the apocalyptic images of Revelation—reflect the complex information that the Founders transmitted in this way.

The Founders used the prophets to steer the development of human society in certain directions. They conveyed not only concrete instructions or warnings but also ethical principles and future visions. The prophetic texts of the Bible show a progressive development of religious and ethical thinking—from simple commandments to complex moral concepts.

Analysis of the Bible in the context of the Founder Hypothesis and Sumerian mythology opens new perspectives on old questions. Many seemingly supernatural or contradictory elements of biblical tradition can be rationally explained through the technological capabilities of the Founders.

The traditional understanding of God is fundamentally changed in the process. “God” no longer appears as an omnipotent, supernatural being but as a designation for members of a highly developed non-material civilization. While technologically far superior and omniscient through their database, they are still bound by the laws of physics. The biblical Trinity reflects various aspects and organizational forms of the Founders.

Biblical stories often prove to be simplified versions of older Sumerian myths. While the Bible speaks of a single God, Sumerian texts show a more complex picture of various “gods” with different, sometimes even contradictory intentions. This explains many apparent inconsistencies in the Bible.

What does this mean for contemporary faith? The technological interpretation of biblical miracles and divine communication does not have to devalue religious faith. On the contrary: The knowledge that a highly developed civilization accompanies and promotes human development can indeed be reason for hope and ethical orientation. The fundamental moral and spiritual teachings of the Bible remain relevant even if we better understand their origin today.

This new interpretation could even lead to a renaissance of religious thinking. Many people who have turned away from religion due to seemingly insurmountable contradictions between scientific and religious worldviews can now find new access to biblical texts. When “miracles” no longer need to be understood as violations of natural laws but as expressions of highly developed technology, biblical narratives become credible again for critical, scientifically thinking people. The Bible then appears not as a collection of supernatural stories but as a historical document of interaction between humanity and a far advanced civilization.