I feel like God, such as It is, wrote the song long ago and has let the universe play it out ever since.
Did he reach down with his finger and carve out some Hebrew sentences on three, er, oops, two tablets of stone? No.
Do You Believe that God Wrote the Ten Commandments?
by cameo-d 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Terry
The stage setting in the story of Moses at Sinai is interesting. Sort of like a Magic Show.
As Israel gathered around the volcano they were warned not to come near or touch anything.
Moses goes off away from view and returns later with the Magic Tablets. But, does anybody really get to SEE THEM and examine them?
NO. Moses breaks them into rubble and goes off to "copy" them.
Now, fast forward many centuries.
Do we have the ACTUAL autograph manuscripts the apostles wrote? NO! We can't examine them or compare them to what we have today.
Why? THEY'VE DISAPPEARED, too! Yes, all the actual proof is simply gone: the Ark of the Covenant, the stone tablets, the staff of Moses and the autograph manuscripts are all conveniently whisked away into magicland.
It is all stage craft, magic and fine storytelling admixed with a spooky holiness.
In both instances we have to take the word of some leader (or leaders) that we are being given directions that EXACTLY match the original.
If you do any reading among the scholars in the historical-critical methodology it has become clear NOBODY actually asserts that MOSES really wrote the first five books of the Bible. It is a pious fiction.
Most likely, what we have today was cobbled together from the prevailing Just-So stories of the Jews POST-CAPTIVITY from Babylon.
The way to RE-UNIFY Israel was to give them a HOLY BOOK that stoked their sense of manifest destiny as a "chosen" people with a divine purpose.
Christianity piggy-backed off the "book" and sense of destiny.
When the Romans erased the underlying foundation of Judaism by obliterating the center of worship in Jerusalem, the alternative: proto-christianity cum Judaism flourished in the hands of Gentiles and Neo-Platonists.
The power of a Roman emperor (Constantine) assured the success once a unification of orthodoxy was asserted in 325 c.e.
The only reason the Old Testament is considered important by non-Jews today is because of the pious fiction that everythig Christian was FORETOLD and FORESHADOWED in those ancient stories. It lends a historical credibility and gravitas to the mix.
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leavingwt
Only the eighth commandment impresses me. The rest are either nonsesne (such as 1, 2, 9, 10) or they're no-brainers.
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
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cameo-d
Terry, I never really compared the different versions before. That was really interesting. I especially like the one about not having strange gods. All of the gods seem strange to me---some require young children to be thrown into the furnace, some prefer slaughter and blood splatter, and the voodoo loa only want a little beer poured out in rememberance and an ear of corn left in the crossroads. How to choose? None really suit me. They are all strange gods.
Hamsterbait, It seems superfluous that anyone with a conscience would need a written rule book. The only reason for writing out the does and don'ts would be to inflict penalties for infractions and degrees of infractions. There is no control over the masses unless you are able to penalize people. And this is how the judges, lawyers, and holy men make their $$$. And if you have no wrongdoings, implied guilt from Adam will be put on you.
Hamsterbait: "The first born son getting a double portion was practised by the Egyptians."
----------What does this mean "double portion" of what?----------------
Hamsterbait: "Stealing was also known as wrong - which was why joseph would not sleep with Potiphars wife.
----How do we know she wasn't just dog ugly and trying to throw her weight around with threats for non-cooperation?------------ -
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cameo-d
Snowbird,
Are you being evasive? Don't you have an answer? Yes? No? Maybe?
Surely you have some comment on the subject.
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snowbird
Yes? No?
Yes.
Was this an invisible God?
To most.
Exodus 24:9 -11 Then they climbed the mountain—Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel—and saw the God of Israel. He was standing on a pavement of something like sapphires—pure, clear sky-blue. He didn't hurt these pillar-leaders of the Israelites: They saw God; and they ate and drank. MSG
Any opinion on who wrote the Big Ten?
YHWH - the Creator and God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Sylvia
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sabastious
The clue in in the text :)
Impeccable logic good sir!
This is the very same reasoning I use to devote my life to fortune cookie fortunes.
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sabastious
Yes? No?
Was this an invisible God?
Any opinion on who wrote the Big Ten?
Absolutely not, there is MOUNDS of evidence that the whole Bible is a pile of crap.
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snowbird
there is MOUNDS of evidence that the whole Bible is a pile of crap.
Do tell and show!
Sylvia