Freethought & Rationalism Archive

sy2502 · 04-14-2008, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deep6sleep

I was flabbergasted by this and had never heard that.

I hope you are equally flabbergasted by other biblical passages that describe how to get goats to conceive baby-goats of a certain color by having them look at sticks of the desired color, how to treat snake bites by looking at a metal snake on a pole, how to cure leprosy with bird blood, how diseases are caused by demonic possession, and so on. I am sure you will find the science in these passages to be out of this world too.

premjan · 04-14-2008, 05:45 PM

I wonder if that quote by Jesus is the reason Europeans didn't wash much.

HaRaAYaH · 04-14-2008, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidbach

This is as nonsensical as the notion that Leviticus is divinely inspired. In all societies until recent times (and still today in some Catholic and Mohammedan societies), there was a dualism between the priestly and secular authorities. In ancient times the "witch doctors" were the repositories of such wisdom and scientific, medical and legal knowledge as was available, and this is no doubt embedded in Leviticus. The secular authorities were far to busy killing and being killed to become educated. Just read Chronicles and Kings - not literally true, but almost certainly representative of the times.

David.

I have no idea where you get your information, but in this case, you are flat out wrong. Whether you believe in God or not,whether you believe the Torah was written by God or a committee, the Torah is a Jewish document and there is no Jewish tradition anywhere that sources the Holiness Code as being for health reasons. In fact it is called the Holiness code for a reason, it's about holiness.

HaRaAYaH · 04-14-2008, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Some of the rules of Leviticus might have an incidental effect of keeping the population healthy, and this would have improved the chances of these rules surviving. The same thing has been alleged of Native American rituals which forbid contact with rats, which spread the hantivirus.

But there is a more coherent explanation of the ten commandments here. They are basically an attempt at sympathetic magic.

There is certainly nothing relating to health in forbidding the wearing of clothing made from two different fibers, or forbidding two different crops from being grown in the same field.

There are many explanations of the ten commandments and in fact there are many versions of the ten commandments. But the ten commandments appear twice once in Exodus and once in Deuteronomy, while the Holiness Code appears in Leviticus.

John Kesler · 04-15-2008, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaRaAYaH

But the ten commandments appear twice once in Exodus and once in Deuteronomy, while the Holiness Code appears in Leviticus.

What about the Exodus-34 version of the ten commandments?

HaRaAYaH · 04-15-2008, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Kesler

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaRaAYaH

But the ten commandments appear twice once in Exodus and once in Deuteronomy, while the Holiness Code appears in Leviticus.

What about the Exodus-34 version of the ten commandments?

No Jewish authority recognizes Exodus 34 as the Ten commandments...

deep6sleep · 04-15-2008, 11:09 AM

Historically, when did apologists start interpreting the rules of Leviticus as a god mandated means of controling microbes to save the 1-2 million (what I have been told) hebrews on their way to the holy land?
My wife said that god saw the need to intercede because if he didn't, the living conditions and close quarters were ripe for an epidemic. I had never heard of this.

HaRaAYaH · 04-15-2008, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deep6sleep

Historically, when did apologists start interpreting the rules of Leviticus as a god mandated means of controling microbes to save the 1-2 million (what I have been told) hebrews on their way to the holy land?
My wife said that god saw the need to intercede because if he didn't, the living conditions and close quarters were ripe for an epidemic. I had never heard of this.

It's because somebody made it up. Ask her why it's called the Holiness code and not the health code.

John Kesler · 04-15-2008, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaRaAYaH

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Kesler

What about the Exodus-34 version of the ten commandments?

No Jewish authority recognizes Exodus 34 as the Ten commandments...

The question, though, is if the text claims that Exodus 34 is a version of the ten commandments.

Quote:

27 Yahweh said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. 28 He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

As the Jewish Study Bible--quoted by me in the link above--acknowledges, "in the immediate context he wrote is most naturally construed as referring to Moses and the terms of the covenant as referring to the terms mentioned in vv. 11-26."

HaRaAYaH · 04-15-2008, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Kesler

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaRaAYaH

No Jewish authority recognizes Exodus 34 as the Ten commandments...

The question, though, is if the text claims that Exodus 34 is a version of the ten commandments.

Quote:

27 Yahweh said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. 28 He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

As the Jewish Study Bible--quoted by me in the link above--acknowledges, "in the immediate context he wrote is most naturally construed as referring to Moses and the terms of the covenant as referring to the terms mentioned in vv. 11-26."

If you read the text, it doesn't say those are the ten commandments. It says the 10 commandments were written on the tablets and there are way more than 10 commandments in that little section.

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04-14-2008, 05:45 PM	#12
premjan Obsessed Contributor Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 61,538	I wonder if that quote by Jesus is the reason Europeans didn't wash much.

04-15-2008, 11:09 AM	#17
deep6sleep Regular Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Midwest Posts: 340	Historically, when did apologists start interpreting the rules of Leviticus as a god mandated means of controling microbes to save the 1-2 million (what I have been told) hebrews on their way to the holy land? My wife said that god saw the need to intercede because if he didn't, the living conditions and close quarters were ripe for an epidemic. I had never heard of this.

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