Professor

Yes and Hammurabi is also on the display in the Supreme Court building. In fact, he is shown walking ahead of Moses. Thus I submit that the god in whom we trust is actually Shamash, and that we should raise up monuments to him everywhere that the ten commandments exist on public land.

Professor

I have to disagree with you that these myths are as interesting as those from other cultures. The biblical creation stories seem terribly artificial to me. Try comparing genesis 1 to the Enuma Elish, the sumerian creation myth from which it was adapted. The biblical version is missing all of the really interesting parts because the author tried to tell the story with one omnipotent god rather than many somewhat less potent gods. In my opinion, the greek and indian creation myths are also much more intellectually and emotionally satisfying. But that's just my aesthetic.

Professor

Well, they try to kill all of those who were engaged in "evil" except for Moses' brother Aaron who was the one who ordered the golden calf built in the first place. This is an interesting exception isn't it?

And if Moses hadn't yet come down with the tablets, then how were they supposed to know that graven images weren't allowed? For that matter, what does this commandment mean?

Moses was instructed to make gold statues of seraphim on the Ark of the Covenenant, and later Yahweh orders him to make a bronze statue of a serpent to magically heal people who are wounded by Yahweh's own "fiery serpents." Aren't those "evil" acts?

What about the images on our coins? You know, the pictures next to the words "in God we trust." Does that count as the sort of "evil" which justifies a massacre?

What about a large statue of the ten commandments themselves? Most theists today fail to see the irony in that situation. Should Roy Moore have been executed for his "evil" act?

If Yahweh wanted people to obey his rules, then he really should have phrased them less ambiguously, but his poor writing skills hardly justify mass slaughter.

Anat

They were supposed to have known that graven images were prohibited because they all 'saw the voices' (were they on drugs?) from the mountain. the tablets were for permanent record only.