Most Likely to Believe His Own Propaganda

"Jeez, Mindful. I was just making a joke." Jeez back, Chrissy, I was kind-of (trying to be) joking back, even if I beat up on your joke to do so. Yes, the resemblance was funny. I should have put in more :)'s in my comment. I certainly am with you in the spirit of all you suggest about the 0!

Like metaphors and parables, jokes usually are better taken at face value, rather than straining at every gnat. So ignore the rest of this ramble, where I gniggle further. ;)

Theologically…

"...erroneous to say [Iknaton] was promoting monotheism in any sense that is comparable to Judaism...." I wonder whether the roots of Iknaton's monotheism, and Judaism's, may have had some consanguinity. Ik didn't imbibe the Big New Idea from traditional Egyptian teaching.

Elevation of concept from poly- to mono-theism certainly does not always include every good concept we have had revealed to us about Our Father, but to monotheists, at least the idea of "no other gods before Me" steps in the right direction. No guarantees (witness the hopelessness of monotheistic Islam), but generally speaking, "righter" beliefs bring souls a degree closer to God. Almost all the world's cultures, even if they don't become "converted to Christian," have been elevated by exposure to Christ's teachings.

Politically…

Ik's pushing monotheism suggests he was deprecating, if not practically abdicating, the divine Pharaonic position, which would fatally weaken fealty to his administration. That's why I say (and here I am beating up on your joke again), Obama might be more aptly compared to previous and later Pharaohs, the ones who more gladly and fully accepted their purported divine status… except that, I expect, despite the public portrayal, god-kings, Pharaoh, Caesar, or Emperor, usually understand the truth of their own actual mortality, and I'm not sure I could say that about the man who said being Dictator of China would be "easier." (Voted most likely to believe his own propaganda by 8 out of 10 fellow choomsters.)

Have I picked every gnit from this? No, wait, I still want to know if you meant to say "Akhenaten" was the wife of Nefertiti? :D