January 19, 2009, 11:34 am by dc-agape.

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was at the center of the garden and is the center of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic faith.  How has this “knowledge” influenced mankind?  In today’s world the TrueChristianTM claims that we choose to do evil over doing good deeds.  Instead of taking responsibility for the evil act we hear things like “the devil made me do it!” or “the the Satan’s temptation was too great!”  But this is hogwash!  If we know the difference between Good and Evil, then some people will do good and others will do evil.  We should not need to blame the acts on YHWH or Satan, the responsibility lies within us, for we know good and evil.

The Book of Genesis and my study of the Bible so far, this is just not the case!  Of all the people who should have known the difference between good and evil, Cain was surely the most likely.  Yet due to YHWH arbitrarily choosing blood sacrifice over harvest sacrifice, Cain was driven to murder.  In fact, Cain’s knowledge of good and evil may have caused him to see that YHWH did not have any good intentions when he chose Abel’s offering over Cain’s. 

Without a doubt YHWH takes freewill from us arbitrarily.  Some examples are Saul and with the Pharaoh.  Even if these men knew good from evil, it was YHWH that forced them to do evil.  What good was the punishment for eating from the Tree of Knowledge if YHWH can supersede that knowledge at any time?

During Noah’s lifetime:

Gen 6:5 The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

Man’s thought were so evil that YHWH destroyed all creation, except Noah’s family and a few animals.  If Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge…how could all humanity take only to the evil side?  The law of averages (probability theory) just cannot explain how this occurred.  If anything, 50% of the large number of people should have been good and 50% of that same number of people should have been evil.  Unless, of course, we do blame it on Satan!  But in that case it would mean that Satan is more powerful than YHWH at manipulating humankind.  And even if you use the concept that Satan cheats and YHWH does not…YHWH did nothing to warn the people of his wrath!  He just wiped them off the planet, 1600 years of human reproduction was destroyed without any attempt to save the lives of those people and innocent animals!  What a loving YHWH!

By the time YHWH gets around to choosing one family bloodline to insure their salvation, 300 more years of human reproduction had taken place.  All the clans of Japheth, Ham, and Shem were breeding like rabbits, yet YHWH chose Abram to save.  By this time, Canaan and Egypt were full of souls that had no option to be good.  YHWH had closed them off from being righteous towards him.  Yes, they may have been “evil” in the eyes of YHWH, but now they had no chance to change!  YHWH doomed them to an existence without him by choosing one man out of all the humans on the planet.

The bloodline that YHWH chose was a doozie.  Abraham himself was a liar, a thief, had sex with his slave, did not trust YHWH, and treats his slaves like useless chaff.  The Bible tells us that Abraham knew good from evil, yet from his actions he could not have been any better than at least half the other people on the planet!

Isaac was probably the only one who knew the difference between good and evil and succeeded at doing mostly good deeds.  Jacob (Israel) on the other did not act as if he knew what the word “good” meant.  He tricks his own brother and father, he does not trust in the YHWH for at least the first 40 years of his life, he is deathly afraid of both Laban and Esau, he lies to Esau and Jacob.  The sons of Israel are even worse:  Levi and Simeon are lying, thieving murderous thugs, Ruben is an adulterer, Judah is a lying, adulterous, self-serving, slave-trader.  Joseph himself is no angel, but just read all my posts about him (see my posts on Joseph).  Somehow these men know good from evil because of Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of Knowledge, yet just look at the evil that they have committed.  And these are the best of the best that YHWH could find!

From a gay Atheist interpretation of the Book of Genesis, the Tree of Knowledge was totally a flop.  YHWH punished mankind for something that did not even work!  Today we certainly do not know good from evil.  It was the same for the men and women of the Book of Genesis could not discern good from evil action.  Over the centuries, the Christian faith certainly has not been able to discriminate what was good from evil.  Just look at the Crusades, the Witch Hunts, US Slavery, and the sexual predators in the Catholic Church. 

YHWH certainly is not the source of our conscience!  Science has a better grasp on why we feel empathy and compassion.  Throughout the ages mankind has had rules of law, from Hammurabi Code to China and even Greece (Gortyn Code), through today’s that is based on Biblical concepts that are only copies of those prior to the Jewish and Christian incorporation of those laws.  Since YHWH left all of mankind on their own since Abraham’s time (and then only focused on Israel), it is quite save to say…We developed culture, science, math, and law without his help.

Posted in Tree of Knowledge, Biblical topics | Print | 5 Comments »

January 19, 2009, 8:21 am by dc-agape.

Genesis chapter 48

It seems odd how throughout Genesis the first born does not receive the inheritance.  This theme is carried out in this chapter as well.  Seth was the third child of Adam and Eve.  Shem was the second born of Noah.  Abram was the eldest son of Terah, but this is an abnormality.  Isaac was the second born of Abraham.  Jacob was the second born of Isaac.  Joseph is not the first born of Jacob.  When we get to the sons of Joseph, Israel blesses Ephraim (the second son) over Manasseh.  How has the Traditions of Men lost sight of YHWH selection of the younger sons?  Out of seven generations, only one had the inheritance and blessing go to the oldest son.  Somehow Man has superseded the Traditions of YHWH.  It is obvious that YHWH family value was to promote the younger sons over the older son!

Immediately upon seeing Israel, Joseph has a big surprise.  Israel chooses to take Joseph’s sons as his own!  Since Israel did not have enough sons he took Josephs sons away from him.  Joseph would have to have more sons from his Egyptian idolater wife! 

Another odd part of this story is that:

Gen 48:1 Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him.

Obviously, selling the entire nation of Egypt into slavery was a taxing job that kept Joseph away from the father he had not seen in over 21 years.  You would think that having not seen your father, not even knowing if you would ever see your father again, for over 21 year…he might have spent some time with the man that fathered him.  But we know that this is not the case:

Gen 48:8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he said, “Who are these?”

This is the type of question you ask when you have never met the people involved.  This is not the type of question asked when you recognize the size, shape, voice, or other characteristics of someone you know.  Joseph had never brought his sons to Israel. 

We know that Jacob has not been introduced to his grandsons here:

Gen 48:11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.”

Is this some type of Biblical family value?  Joseph not spending time with his father or introducing his grandsons to him for “some time” is a Biblical family value?

Israel blesses both sons with the same blessing, but he puts his right hand on the younger son.  He knows he put his right hand on the younger son, proving that his vision was not that bad! 

So in this chapter of Genesis, a gay Atheist can interpret that the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian faiths have forgotten the Traditions of YHWH.  The Biblical family values that are displayed in this chapter are not in practice today by the very people who claim to want to enforce Biblical values on those who do not follow their faith!  Joseph did not honor his father; he did exactly what most people do today…leave an elderly family member in the care of someone else.  Joseph did exactly what most people do today…visit with family minimally at best.  This is in complete contradiction to the Ten Commandments!  Whatever happened to?

Ex 20:12 “Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God has given you.”

Finally, my favorite part of the story:

Gen 48:22 And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”

Israel is claiming that he is the one who destroyed Shechem!  And he is giving Shechem to Joseph, not the two brothers who actually did do the lying, thieving, murderous acts that took the “ridge”.  We know that Israel was distraught over what Levi and Simeon did:

Gen 34:30 Then Jacob Israel said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land.  We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed”

And we know that this is the same Shechem that Simeon and Levi destroyed because:

Joshua 24:32 And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.  This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.

Gen 33:19 For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamon, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent.

Isn’t interesting that the Word of God refers to this plot of land as the one bought by Jacob and not the exact same plot of land that Ruben and Levi shed the blood of an entire town?  To the victors history is rewritten, mostly to make them look better!  Here is a modern day attempt at re-writing history by the conquerors. 

Lookup a word or passage in the Bible
Include this form on your page

——————————————————————————–

Posted in Family Values?, Genesis, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »