rnrstar

An article that came out a couple days ago basically asks the question, was Moses stoned? The author identified some plants that can be found in the Middle East, namely Syrian Rue, that are hallucinogenic. If Moses was under the influence of this plant, or another, then that could explain why he saw a talking burning bush that wasn't consumed by the fire.

I brought this up on another forum and you would not believe the attacks from the Christians. Things like, "no mention of this plant can be found in the Bible" or "you have no proof that he was."

Of course, contrary to Christian belief, the Bible isn't exactly authoritative on everything and while one can't prove that Moses was stoned, no one can prove that he wasn't either.

It was interesting that they immediately proclaimed this a "Christian hit piece" and accused atheists of looking for ways to discredit Christianity.

From an academic standpoint, this hypothesis makes sense if one is looking for a naturalistic explanation for why someone would see a talking burning bush.

It just struck me that they were so defensive to protect the Bible story of Moses that they couldn't even entertain this idea.

enoch007

Was there not a tradition of drug and alcohol consumption among Hebrew prophets generally (that and fasting induced hallucinations?). Like Shaman everywhere, a little booster can bring the gods into sharper focus.

Toto

See the notes in this thread

enoch007

gee, Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore.

Doug Shaver

I'll worry about trying to explain it when I have good reason to think it really happened.

Berthold

The thread title is somewhat, uh, ambiguous .