I've started getting accusations that this blog is somehow antisemitic.
That is preposterous. The basis for it seems to be that I am accurately presenting an English translation of the Bible and providing commentary based on Biblical scholarship. No, I do not believe that the Bible is the word of God or divinely inspired. It is a document produced by humans, for various reasons, and I explain what is known about the times it's various portions were written and why. I also discuss the archaeological evidence relevant to the events it describes, which as far as we've come so far are almost entirely fictitious. It will become more historically grounded as we proceed. I assure you, most Jews do not believe that it is literally true -- it is mostly Christians who believe that.
My recent post about Christian eschatology has also attracted criticism because I point out, truthfully, that Christian dispensationalists see the establishment of the modern state of Israel as fulfilling the prophecy of Revelation and they support Israeli expansionism as furtherance of the prophecy. That post is obviously about certain Christians, it is not about Jews or Judaism at all. (Actually, only a very small number of Jews actually believe the Messianic prophecies, but these are obviously entirely different from Christian dispensationalism anyway.) That nationalist Israelis have accepted the support of Christian end-times believers is a fact. That those same believers have, as one of their ultimate goals, the extinction of Judaism is also a fact. How it is that pointing out the obvious irony of that situation is supposed to be antisemitic escapes me entirely.
I am utterly appalled by any form of religious or ethnic bigotry, discrimination or violence and in fact have spent my lifetime opposing them. That does not require that I believe in the literal truth of the Old Testament.
And futhermore: Believe me, if I get to the New Testament before I kick the bucket I will be equally unsparing. As I would be with the Book of Mormon or the Quran. I am a champion of all humanity, and as such I am an opponent of religion. This is about religion, not people.
2 comments:
Hear, hear. Well said.
After Nietzsche's death his sister, Elisabeth, hired Rudolf Steiner to help her understand her brother's work. He eventually quit, remarking that she lacked the ability to make fine or even crude logical distinctions. Having control of her brother's estate she then cobbled together Will to Power - essentially an advertising pamphlet for the aryan colony she and her husband were selling in Paraguay.
This inability to read properly, along with a pronounced lack of concern over it, seems to be a very common problem.
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