Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (17038)	4/12/2004 12:01:50 AM
From: TigerPaw	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 28931

This was an interesting season for Jesus stories. The following is based on some writings and interviews by a theologan, Jack Miles, whose ideas I encountered in the past week. The bible was written in three parts. (By bible I mean that which Christians call the old testament). These sections are the Torah (the Jewish story about and around their period of slavery in Egypt), the Nevim (the accounts and predictions of the prophets), and the Ketuvim (additional narrative stories of the Jews including their period of slavery in Babylon). Bear with me, this does lead to a point. The bible was arranged in the order I specified and is still read in synagogue, but the ordering was changed by the Christians, and in doing so they tell a different story. Lets look at that story first. The Torah is the same (assuming same translations) in both narratives. This is the story of Abraham and the inception of God's chosen people, the complex passage to Egypt, the success, the slavery, and finally Moses, freedom, and Israel. The Christain old testament then goes on to tell a variety of tales and poetry about the Jewish people. These include the Psalms and proverbs, the stories of Solomon & David, the temple, the events in Babylon, the second temple and other history and trivia. Finally, the books of the prophecy are presented. These books tell of dark days, and better days to come, and the messiah who will bring this change. It also specifies the criteria for recognizing correct leader. This is the the cliffhanger of the whole book, a messiah is coming, who will it be? The Christian narrative then sets the climax of the old testament to be words of the prophets. The dark days are those of Rome, the messiah will be presented in the next installment (the new testament). What then was the original format of this record? Of course the Jewish people began with "In the Beginning" and told the story of Egyptian slavery. When God and Abraham came to an understanding (at the Dome of the Rock?), God agreed to be there for him - if Abraham or his progeny called upon him. It didn't take long. The families moved to Egypt to share in the influence of Joseph, but ended up as slaves, unable to break away from pharoh. It took Moses to call back that favor from God, get some first class miracles and overwhelm the mighty Egyptians. God set them free. This is where the narrative was changed by the later sect. The next part of the story is the prophets and the prediction of good days, bad days, and ultimate triumph. The prophets set up the expectation for the remainder of the book. The conclusion and catharsis of the book is the story of those predicted days. The good days were ones of power and the first Temple. A model of kings and high priests told the people what's up much like God told them on Mt. Sinai. The bad days were of slavery again. Nebuchadnezzar has the Jewish people in bondage just as bad as did pharoh, maybe worse since their slaughter was planned. This is the Torah all over again, except, there is something missing. The Jews didn't go back to God again to get bailed out of their predicament. In the final Ketuvim of the Jewish bible, the last time that God speaks to anyone is in the book of Job, and then it is to mess around with someone who had serious dependancy issues. The Jewish people no longer had to ask for that special favor as they had, instead Esther and the others took stock of the situation and solved it themselves. This was their success. God was still their inspiration and role model, but they broke the addiction of miracle requests. That puts the events of the common era in a new light. The victorious multitude returned from Iraq where they encountered those bretheren who had remained. They wanted a second temple and a central pharisee. There were still the Job-like who could not grow up. They grew in fanatisism until the second temple was destroyed. This then, was the final triumph. They Jewish people having outgrown the need for direct intervention in their affairs by God had also outgrown the need for a central ruler or priestly leaders. The separate rabbis of each community work out the problems without bothering God about the details. TP