June 13, 2009, 7:52 am by dc-agape.

Genesis Chapter 25:1-11

Even though we know that Abraham was favored by YHWH, I think that since this is the last chapter of Genesis that involves his presence a recap of his life is in order.  YHWH calls him to leave his idolater father, who had left, on his own freewill, his homeland where all of his ancient relatives were still living, even Shem.  So the call of Abraham to leave his father’s home was of little consequence.  He could have introduced Shem, Noah’s son, to Isaac if Abraham had any interest in family.  Remember that whole:

Gen 6:3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

Well that obviously does not apply to any one named in The Word!  In fact, if Abraham was still in the vicinity of Shem’s relatives, Arphaxad, Shelah, and Eber could have met Jacob!  So that whole call:

Gen 12:1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

was a minimal requirement if there ever was one.

We know that Abram/Abraham was a liar.  He lied to both the Pharaoh and to Abimelech.  And we know, from Genesis 12:10-20, that these lies had dire effects on these two men’s families and nations.  We also know that he stole goods from them.  Instead of apologizing to the men he offended and paying restitution, he too livestock from the men that were completely blameless!  We also know that he bribed Abimelech with the livestock he stole from Abimelech to take property of the well that Hagar drank from!

We know that Abraham could not make a single decision.  He let Lot chose which path he himself would take, this from Genesis 13:1-18.  He let Sarai chose to send Hagar away the first time.  We know that YHWH chose Hagar’s final fate.  In both cases we know that Abraham allowed his 1^st wife to beat his 2^nd wife.  So we know that Abraham was a polygamous.  We know that Abraham was also a slave owner, both Hagar and Eliezer of Damascus. 

It does turn out that Abraham is the father of many nations.  After Sarah dies he remarries and has numerous children at the ripe old age of well over 115 years.  Does this remind you of Hugh Heffner anyone?  We know he had one more wife, and concubines.  So he was also an adulterer. 

We know that he was a hypocrite and a bigot.  From chapter 24, he did not want his son to marry a local idolater but instead wanted one from his father’s relatives.  He arranged his son’s marriage, there was no love marriage offered!  Fortunately, Rebekah must have been a killer!

We know that Abraham started the practice of sexual organ mutilation.  Which I can only imagine was fatal in large numbers, due to the lack of proper sanitation.  Not to mention, the pain and loss of feeling that the procedure causes.

But I should not leave out his two good deeds.  He saved Lot from slavery to Kedorlaomer.  This meant that he went to war against an over-exhausted army and won.  He also did not take any thing that belonged to the King of Sodom, bully for him.  He was a great host to the three visitors, who just happened to know everything about him.  And he did try to save Sodom, in the process was very bold and argued with YHWH. 

But you say that he did everything YHWH wanted and lived in righteousness.  We liberals/atheists sure have messed things up.  We believe in keeping in touch with distant family, we believe in monogamy, we don’t keep slaves, we don’t lie to people, we do take responsibility for the wrongs we commit, and we don’t like bigots or hypocrites.  But because we don’t believe in a god we are vile and evil!  It’s simply amazing to me.  That faith in an imaginary being makes a person “better”.  Well, it certainly did not make Abraham a better person!

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June 13, 2009, 6:24 am by dc-agape.

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Exodus Chapter 2:1-10

This is the story about how Moses was born to unknown slaves; at this point in the narration we do not know the names of his parents.  Somehow, his mother was able to hide him for three months.  I get the strongest feeling that the Egyptians responsible for killing babies did not search homes very often, a baby will make noises at the most inopportune times.  After this she puts him in the Nile just as commanded, with a twist…she builds a water tight basket for him to float in.  This miraculously floats by one of the Pharaohs many daughters.  I do mean many…Rameses the Great was known to have 60 daughters!  So would not be difficult for one of them to hide a baby from their father.  The oddest thing about the story is that she gives the baby Moses back to an Israelite slave until he was weaned or maybe later.  Again, how can an Israelite woman keep a baby boy from a ruler that wants to kill all baby boys not just Israelite boys?  Keep in mind Exodus 1:22.  This section ends with the Pharaoh’s daughter receiving the boy back and giving him an Israelite name!  She really is flaunting the whole thing in front of her father.  Maybe she was just trying to get his attention.

I want to discuss two things that Isaac Asimov brought to my attention in his guide to the Bible.  One is that monotheism was not new to Egypt.  Amenhotep IV was a monotheist at least 150 years before the Exodus of Israel.  The other point that I want to discuss is the story of Moses being set float down a river. 

Amenhotep IV was a believer in one god: Aten.  Since he came to rule while the Israelites were in Egypt, possibly when they were still “free”, his monotheism may have been the source of their own belief in one god.  You must remember, the Book of Genesis was written by Moses.  As a result, the first book of the Pentateuch is based on the religious views of Moses’ time.  Even when you use the Creationist timeline, the Exodus occurred 2500 years after the “creation” of the world.  Moses certainly did not have first or second or even 27^th hand (Kohath died early in Moses’ life) eyewitness to the story.  Moses was a 29^th generation child of YHWH.  Think about that for a minute.  Either concept is beyond our comprehension.  History of that magnitude is lost, twisted, or plainly fictional, very little about the 5^th and 6^th century CBE is well recorded.  The concept of monotheism was, as a result, most likely not Israeli composition. 

The other part that Asimov brings up is that of the escape of Moses from death.  Perseus was thrown into the sea at birth by his step-father later to be saved by Poseidon.  The legend of Perseus is slightly different because he was trapped in a chest with his mother. Romulus and Remus were also thrown into a river with no protection at all.  And one more legend that is nearly identical to the birth of Moses is that of Sargon of Agade.  He too was thrown into a river, he too was placed in a pitch covered basket, and he too grew up to lead his people.  All three of these myths are so similar to the birth of Moses that it makes an Atheist think that maybe all four are just Traditions of Men.

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