tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post3292355974734534722..comments2024-03-29T03:56:08.315-04:00Comments on johnshaplin: The Invention of God by Thomas Romerjohnshaplinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-76765356828442200042019-09-13T14:23:44.398-04:002019-09-13T14:23:44.398-04:00THE BOOK OF EXODUS IS A HOAX
PART 2
The Book of Ex...THE BOOK OF EXODUS IS A HOAX<br />PART 2<br />The Book of Exodus mentions that the enslaved Israelites took part in the construction of the cities of Pithom and Ramesses. Archeological excavations in the supposed vicinity of those two cities have indeed turned up ruins, but I don't think that it has been established for a certainty that the ruins are those of the two cities. But even if they are, it doesn't necessarily follow that Jews took part in the construction or were even present in the vicinity. One thing I don't know and have never been able to learn is whether the Egyptian records even mention these cities. In any case, their mention in the Book of Exodus proves nothing. <br /><br />Another point is that the pharaoh of the Exodus is not named in the book of Exodus. In other parts of the Bible, pharaohs and kings are generally identified by their names. This, of course, may have been the choice of the author or authors of Exodus, but another possibility is that they did not know the name. According to many scholars, the Book of Exodus was written during the Babylonian captivity of the Jews during the 6th century BC. I personally am in no way competent to judge on this argument, but it would explain the omission of the name of the pharaoh. How could Jewish writers in Babylonia possibly have known the names of any of the pharaohs who had reigned 700 years before their time in a land where neither they nor their ancestors had ever been? <br /><br />But, of course, the most cogent proof of the falsity of the Book of Exodus is the account of all the miracles that Moses was supposed to have worked, all of which violate the laws of physics, chemistry and biology. The laws of science are manmade explanations of the workings of the Universe, and the Universe is under no compulsion to obey them. If a novel phenomenon flies in the face of scientific laws, then the scientific laws have to be changed. So far, though, even if the laws of science have been constantly modified and updated, they have worked beautifully. Science has put airplanes in the sky, ships on the sea, and trains and cars on the back of the land. Science has allowed for the construction of power plants, airports, harbors, highways and skyscrapers. Science has introduced electrical lighting, telephones, television, fax machines, computers and copiers. Science has made possible a healthy water supply, vaccines and remedies for innumerable ailments, refrigeration and ventilation. Science is where truth and happiness lie. How dare anyone disparage science or scientists? Give me the wonders of science and you can have the frogs and the locusts that Moses afflicted Egypt with. <br /><br />Years ago, in the motion picture "Mondo Cane", which was a documentary on the tragic ironies of the planet, there was a scene in which a primitive people in New Guinea, who believed that airplanes had been intended by God as a gift to them but had been stolen by civilized people, had built a makeshift "runway" out in the jungle, and were praying that God would land one of their airplanes there. No, they weren't Bible-believers, but pretty much like them. <br /><br />By David Ben Gurion IV<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05730506332750865720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-24989820024296799972019-09-13T14:22:35.503-04:002019-09-13T14:22:35.503-04:00THE BOOK OF EXODUS IS A HOAX
I've read the Bo...THE BOOK OF EXODUS IS A HOAX<br /><br />I've read the Book of Exodus twice in English, once in Latin and three or four times in Hebrew. These readings took place between 1965 and 1980 approximately. Since then I've referred only now and then to Exodus to refresh my memory on one point or another. <br /><br />My original attitude was one of skepticism, though I was quite impressed with the story--the miracles in Egypt and the pillar of fire in the Sinai. <br /><br />I reasoned to myself that Moses probably had been a great leader or insurrectionist and had led the Jews out of servitude in Egypt. <br />I supposed that later generations had simply embellished a true story, adding miraculous episodes. <br /><br />The last time I read Exodus was in 1980, when I spent practically the whole summer in the Atlanta Public Library in Georgia, reading the Jewish Bible in Hebrew. It was during that reading that I realized that Moses was probably entirely mythical. <br /><br />I concluded that he was not the leader and insurrectionist I had imagined him to be.<br /><br />He was the figment of somebody's imagination. <br /><br />Who would invent such a story? Why would someone invent such a story? A definite possibility is that Jewish priests or rabbis collaborated to invent the story in order to justify appealing for contributions to synagogues. This can be seen in the Book of Leviticus, where the twelve tribes of Israel are instructed to bring offerings of meat, grain, wine and other goods to the priests--the descendants of Aaron. Certainly it would be in the interests of the priests not only to compel obedience to these exactions, as no doubt they could, but also to make them sound reasonable and fair, and so they fostered the notion that the tribes owed them gratitude. This they may have done by painting their mythical forebear, Aaron, the brother of Moses, as one of the deliverers of the Jews from slavery. <br /><br />At the time that I concluded that the Book of Exodus was a hoax, I had not even really checked the reputable archeological sources to see if there was any physical evidence corroborating the tale. Basically, I knew there couldn't be, just as I know that I don't have to explore the North Pole to verify that Superman doesn't have his cave there. <br /><br />Nonetheless, from about 1980 and right up to the present, I've checked innumerable authorities, including Encyclopedias Britannica, Americana and Judaica, and the Catholic Encyclopedia, as well as dozens of individual authors. I've never yet heard of a reliable authority who claims that there is any tangible evidence supporting the tale of the Exodus. I don't consider someone like Ron Wyatt, a Seventh Day Adventist nurse from Nashville, Tennessee, who claims to have evidence of the Exodus as a reliable source, especially when Encyclopedia Judaica, which would have every reason for wanting Exodus to be true, acknowledges that there is no evidence to support the existence of Moses. <br /><br />The earliest Egyptian mention of Israel is the famous Israel stela of 1209 BC, during the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah, which says, "Israel is laid waste. Her seed is not." This would have been 2 or 3 generations after the Exodus, but it hardly sounds like the description of a people who had just humbled the pharaoh with a display of terrifying miracles and had established themselves firmly in Israel by means of the brilliant genocidal campaigns of Joshua. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05730506332750865720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-34992728161517434662019-09-13T14:18:02.814-04:002019-09-13T14:18:02.814-04:00THINK HARRY POTTER!
THINK HOMER SIMPSON!
THINK WHA...THINK HARRY POTTER!<br />THINK HOMER SIMPSON!<br />THINK WHAT YOU LIKE!<br />IT'S ALL BS!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05730506332750865720noreply@blogger.com