Archive for echoes of Moses

Commanding the Faith

Posted in belief, ethics and morality, faith, Moses, religion, scriptures, Ten Commandments with tags on July 16, 2017 by chouck017894

This web post was motivated by an article in the LA Times, “Ten Commandments slab toppled” (June 29, 2017) regarding a newly installed monument on Arkansas capitol grounds and literally forced it upon all people.

Once again a few overzealous religionists who have inserted themselves into US political offices (as in Arkansas) keep trying to prove to God that they are higher caliber believers by trying to impose their beliefs upon everyone else.  Case in point, a multi-ton monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments placed on the Capitol grounds in Little Rock, Arkansas.  The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, refer to the alleged injunctions conveyed by god to the Hebrew “prophet” Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:1-25).  This priest-written legend served as the basis for Mosaic Law of the Hebrews and is contained mainly in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament.

The Arkansas Republican Senator, Jason Raperi, who sponsored the Ten Commandments Monument Display Act, spoke of the “history” that the monument allegedly represents.  Unfortunately, what he referred to as “history” is more accurately religious tradition which is based solely upon priestly writings penned two or three thousand years ago–a timeframe in which it was common belief that Earth was the center of all Creation.

The timeframe generally accepted for Moses’ birth is c. 1576 BCE., but mythic characters are suspiciously hard to track down and other birth dates have been suggested.  Moses is speculated to have been around 80 years old when he trundled off to the Sinai rendezvous with god.  That would have apparently happened around 1500-1486 BCE if we use that accepted speculated birth date.  Even earlier and during that period of time our solar family (especially Mars and Earth) was being buffeted by electromagnetic instability caused by the passage of a  planet-sized comet’s movement through our solar system.  In that generations-long time span many great cities of the world fell in ruins.  The royal city of Ugarit, for example, was destroyed by fires; Troy, Knossos, even the great walled cities in the Indus Valley were destroyed; and many of the Phoenician trading partners with the Hebrews fell into decline due to the disturbances to Earth’s rotation.  That instability did not abate until the 8th century BCE.  The Roman Empire historians such as Pliny the Elder and Lucius Annaeus Seneca wrote about those earlier events and how interplanetary lightning exchanges had totally destroyed the “entire richest town in Tuscany.”  Seneca drew directly upon Etruscan records for his accounts.

Verifiable history c. 2600 BCE. (in the Age of Taurus 4380 BCE – 2220 BCE)                       A ruler of Sumer (oldest known recorded civilization), named Urukagina, found so much immoral activity in his kingdom that he found it necessary to crack down on it. The king had a monument erected upon which was inscribed a long list of laws.  A few of the injustices that Urukagina addressed included the unfair use by supervisors of their power to take the best things for themselves, the abuse of one’s official position, and the practice monopolistic groups to extort unbearable prices.  Sounds like USA-styled Republicans were at work even then.  This monument is regarded as the first ever recording of social reform, and it was founded on a noble sense of freedom, equality and justice.  Interestingly, King Urukagina claimed that the laws were given to him by the god Nannar.

Approximately 875 years later (c. 1725 BCE, (in the Age of Aries) the Babylonian ruler, Hammurabi, would decree a similar code from which the Hebrew/Jewish myth of Moses and the Ten Commandments would in turn be fashioned.  On the Babylonian monument Hammurabi was depicted as having received the laws directly from the god Shamash.  The laws are noteworthy in seeking to protect the weak and the poor against injustices at the hands of the rich and powerful.  Aah, if only those ancient gods were hovering over the United States Republican Party today.

Back to religious tradition                                                                                                        Even priest-written scriptures admit that what we today know as the Ten Commandments are not as were allegedly given as instruction to Moses (Exodus 20).  Biblical myth-makers adeptly covered this by saying that Moses broke the first list in a fit or rage when he returned to his followers and found them worshiping a golden calf (a hangover from the Age of Taurus).  The second version of Commandments (Exodus 34) which Moses supposedly received (and which believers have long accepted as holy instruction) concerned entirely different matters, that being moral conduct, not Creation powers and how to use them.

The character of Moses is anchored in the Age of Aries (2220 BCE – 60 BCE) when the Ram/Lamb became the prime icon of faith.  As a crafty way to indicate that the priestly tale did not give credence to prehistory teachings of Creation/cosmology once given using groups of stars (constellations such as Taurus) as inspiration the priest writers had Moses destroy the original teachings.  These wily men who set themselves up to dispense the Creator’s orders for proper conduct then did what every cult and secret order group does: they first establish the rules of their “faith.”  Thus the first three “commandments” allegedly given to Moses just happen to be about submitting and  obeying an institutional system as conducted by self-certified administrators.

Of the Ten Commandments the first three (or four in some faith versions) stand out as operational demands made by any cult operation.  1) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 2) Thou shalt not make unto them any graven images.  3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.   And in some versions:  4) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  These initial “Commandments” are clearly a pledge of adherence (submit and obey) to the authority of the priests, pastors, etc. more than they convey any godly enfolding or enlightenment.  As for the rest of the seven (or six) remaining Commandments, the bulk are predominately couched in negative terms of “Thou shalt not.”  How is this lack of constructiveness in any way spiritually empowering?    Aah, if only religious faith systems were bound to a Truth In Advertising commandment.

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Paul, the Revisionist

Posted in Atheist, Bible, Christianity, culture, freethought, history, random, religion, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on May 23, 2009 by chouck017894

Paul of Tarsus, the self-proclaimed apostle of Jesus, appears conveniently upon the scene when the floundering Jesus cult that had arisen c.65 was in need of redirection to attract more followers. Unfortunately no genuine records or legal accounts have ever been found to support that he ever existed.

With the character of Paul introduced into the scheme of things c.95 the original focus of the Jesus cult was skillfully shifted away from spiritual/moral teachings attributed to the Jew Jesus (as in Matthew and Mark) and redirected to more mundane values of attracting a broader-based sector of converts and setting up an operational structure of the sect. The awkwardness of the transitional period (c.84-100) has been buried under countless rewrites by the faith business, and Pauline graft-ons to the Peter foundation is all but forgotten by present day devotees.  But where the character of Paul is portrayed as having labored to broaden the principles of Christian faith to welcome and enfold the diverse ranks of man–not just the Jews–the character of Peter (the alleged “rock of the church”) had, in the earliest gospel tales, openly rejected Gentile faithful!

There are curious parallels in the presentation of Paul which seem like a distant echo of events that distinguished Old Testament characters. For beginners, this New Testament character has his name changed from Saul to Paul–which oddly echoes the Jewish myths in which Abram becomes Abraham, and Jacob becomes Israel. The life-parallels then proceed with suspicious similarity. To quote from Time Frames and Taboo Data:

“Savants have pointed out that Paul’s conversation, conversion and mission closely parallel the story highlights of Moses’ calling. Moses, by Old Testament accounts, was raised as an Egyptian but became the leader of the Israelites, and Paul was born a Jew and became leader of the Christians; God allegedly revealed himself to Moses in a burning bush, and Jesus supposedly made himself known to Paul in a blinding light; Moses became the lawgiver of the Israelites, and Paul is credited with laying down the principles of salvation. God allegedly instructed Moses to go to Sinai and do god’s work, and Paul is depicted as having been instructed to go to Damascus to further Jesus’ uncompleted work.” (page 201) In addition, just as Moses was portrayed as clashing with the rigid policy of the pharaoh, Paul was cast as clashing with the policy of Peter in Rome.

Unaswered in Gospel is how Paul was able to finance the many travels he is said to have undertaken to spread his version of Jesus’ sacrified for them. As noted in Time Frames and Taboo Data, “…although accounts of his travels indicate genuine knowledge of the places mentioned, there is never any account of how he could have financed so many wide-ranging journeys. And he did not travel alone; others are mentioned in letters attributed to him. Any long journey necessitated carrying along food, drink, clothing, and arrangements had to be made for ships or pack animals. How could a mere missionary pay for all that activity?” It was also noted that only aristocrats and/or ranking military persons could have financed such extensive travels.

Paul is portrayed as having traveled to many major cities and several provinces of the Roman Empire: places such as Damascus, Antioch, Troas, Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonia, Athens, and Corinth. The provinces he is claimed to have visited included Syria, Cilica, Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia, and Illyricum. Noted in the book, “Even if financial support could have been offered from various fledgling churches, they could not have afforded such monumental costs, for in this time period the outlying churches would have been struggling just to exist.”

At this time the movement that would become Christianity was being redirected, with earlier “gospels” being altered for broader appeal. In 2 Corinthians, for example, it is averred that Paul’s account of Jesus’ life is the only true one: the apostles that are said to have actually associated with and interacted with Jesus–some of whom were supposedly still preaching–are called deceivers! In 1 Timothy (1:3), Paul struggles with so-called heretics of his doctrine. Also in 1 Timothy (6:3), Paul’s usurpation of the earlier cult movement is muscled into place with Paul stating that anyone who disagrees with him will go to hell.

But it would not be until 325 CE and the Council of Nice that Paul’s theories and doctrine would be voted into near-“official” status. Then in 382, with the Council of Rome, the doers and shapers of faith made it bindingly official, and accepted only four books as coming closest to Paul’s ideas—those being the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This was all in spite of the claim that it was Peter on whom the church was built! As they say, god moves in mysterious ways. Thus a vast library of early books was relegated to the trash bin and the business of Christian domination of the people was officially launched.

And the Roman Empire collapsed not long after.

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