Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:36 am
There are many myths, legends and fables that are told with the sole purpose of delivering some sort of message.
Take little red riding hood. Essentially a warning to young girls to not be too trusting with strage men. This message is deliverable in any number of media, with different cheracters, settings, and subtext. We don't need the wolf. If we aknowledge that the cheracters of the bible are plot devices used to deliver a message and have no relation to historic reality (The bible being set agains historic events does not make it a historical document. Spider-man is set in new york and the publishers document such things as the 911 attacks and terrorism. That does not mean this is a source we should look to.) then these cheracters should be disposable.
We could easily produce additional stories in which Jesus delivers new lessons that are applicable to new circumstances in our time. This would meet with considerable resistance because people believe the story of the Jesus cheracter to be historically accurate.
If we are to view these cheracters as messengers of truth, rather than as literal historic persons then what harm would there be in re-writing the bible to take out all of the insanity?
Numbers 16:16-49
The escaped Israelites had been complaining to Moses about the lack of water, sustenence and food in the desert that they have been led to by Moses.
16 Moses commands that 250 of them must come to the tent and present incense at the altar. They do so.
21God says, "Stand back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately."
22 "But Moses and Aaron bowed down and said, "O, God, you are the source of all life. When one man sins, do you get angry with the whole community?"
31-34 "the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open and swallowed them and their families, together with all of Korah's followers and their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished. All the people of Israel who were there fled when they heard their cry. They shouted, "Run! The earth might swallow us too!
35 Then the Lord sent a fire that blazed out and burnt up the 250 men who had presented the incense."
41 "The next day the whole community complained against Moses and Aaron and said, "You have killed some of the Lords people"
45 God speaks to Moses, "Stand back from these people, and I will destroy them on the spot!"
Good lesson?
How about these?
2Kings 2:23-24 [NIV]
"Elisha left Jericho to go to Bethel and on the way some boys came out of a town and made fun of him. "Get out of here, Baldy!" they shouted. Elisha turned around, glared at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys to pieces."
1 Samuel 6:19 [NIV]
""But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy [1] of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them, "
There are better ways to deliver sound moral teachings than this story which has so much grisly baggage.
Take little red riding hood. Essentially a warning to young girls to not be too trusting with strage men. This message is deliverable in any number of media, with different cheracters, settings, and subtext. We don't need the wolf. If we aknowledge that the cheracters of the bible are plot devices used to deliver a message and have no relation to historic reality (The bible being set agains historic events does not make it a historical document. Spider-man is set in new york and the publishers document such things as the 911 attacks and terrorism. That does not mean this is a source we should look to.) then these cheracters should be disposable.
We could easily produce additional stories in which Jesus delivers new lessons that are applicable to new circumstances in our time. This would meet with considerable resistance because people believe the story of the Jesus cheracter to be historically accurate.
If we are to view these cheracters as messengers of truth, rather than as literal historic persons then what harm would there be in re-writing the bible to take out all of the insanity?
Numbers 16:16-49
The escaped Israelites had been complaining to Moses about the lack of water, sustenence and food in the desert that they have been led to by Moses.
16 Moses commands that 250 of them must come to the tent and present incense at the altar. They do so.
21God says, "Stand back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately."
22 "But Moses and Aaron bowed down and said, "O, God, you are the source of all life. When one man sins, do you get angry with the whole community?"
31-34 "the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open and swallowed them and their families, together with all of Korah's followers and their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished. All the people of Israel who were there fled when they heard their cry. They shouted, "Run! The earth might swallow us too!
35 Then the Lord sent a fire that blazed out and burnt up the 250 men who had presented the incense."
41 "The next day the whole community complained against Moses and Aaron and said, "You have killed some of the Lords people"
45 God speaks to Moses, "Stand back from these people, and I will destroy them on the spot!"
Good lesson?
How about these?
2Kings 2:23-24 [NIV]
"Elisha left Jericho to go to Bethel and on the way some boys came out of a town and made fun of him. "Get out of here, Baldy!" they shouted. Elisha turned around, glared at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys to pieces."
1 Samuel 6:19 [NIV]
""But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy [1] of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them, "
There are better ways to deliver sound moral teachings than this story which has so much grisly baggage.