Archive for Noah

Pre-History: Abridged From Scripture

Posted in Atheist, Bible, faith, Hebrew scripture, history, prehistory, random, religion, scriptures with tags , , , , , , , on March 11, 2014 by chouck017894

Far back in planet Earth’s existence there were no reporters to address and chronicle the developmental events that would contribute to the rise of humankind. To answer that oversight the Creator eventually attempted to correct that situation by “revealing” to a few select men a brief crafted version of his productive activity. Strangely, this did not occur until He found a band of fixated men in a tiny outpost called Jerusalem in the timeframe we now list as c. 8th century BCE. Relying on mere mortal men to explain the complication of his “days” of Creation may not have been the Creator’s best decision.

As a result of relying upon man’s comprehension there is a great deal of hatred, both openly and by implication, expressed throughout the western worlds’ three “holy books.” For example, it is said that even God himself got all riled up and fumed with indignation and hatred very early in the account given in Genesis, a series of stories all of which pivot on the theme of Creation. Supposedly the Omniscient One (all-knowing) was so neurotic over the trespassing by two innocent naked persons upon an alluring tree he had placed in the center of his garden landscape that it caused him to rant curses at a serpent, a curious woman and a bewildered man. Barely controlling his indignation, God tossed the clueless couple out of his garden on their fig leaf covered butts and slammed the garden gate behind them.

The man and woman managed to survive in the unfamiliar, rough terrain, however, and since they were still pretty much innocent about how things worked, they wound up with two sons. By this time the Omniscient One had apparently invented some semblance of anger management, and giving into his own curiosity stepped out of his garden to observe the rejected family. That little episode did not exactly work out too well either because God expected the two offspring of the original pair to shower him with material offerings. When the two boys finally gathered from their meager supplies to offer them to God, God had the audacity to show favoritism to only one! When that favoritism resulted in jealousy and the favored boy was killed by his brother, the Omniscient One once again chose to expel the culprit rather than to patiently teach him the principles of moral responsibility. And oddly, God did not bother himself to restore the favored boy back to life, which is strange when all he had to do was say, “let there be life.” Anyway the killer, Cain, was deprived by God of the privilege to till the ground, so the dispossessed boy took off to establish a city in the land of Nod, and there he proceeded to build and populate the whole region in only two generations! Strangely, it is never explained where he found the necessary females. This population explosion is never adequately explained; perhaps because everyone was too interested in cohabitation.

Meanwhile, Adam and Eve also contributed to population statistics. Indeed, the “begetting” that followed seemed unstoppable. Apparently in dejection, God had gone back to his secluded landscaped garden and cogitated for a while, and when he eventually ventured outside again to see what was going on he was stunned. The world outside was inundated with so many people, and they all seemed so obnoxious. Again his anger erupted, and he determined he would drown the whole perverted mess—all the living creatures and vegetation, and men, women, children, all. He would flush them all down the drain.

But damned if a glitch didn’t screw up the Omniscient One’s deluge plan! Some guy named Noah got word of the Creator’s hateful scheme and the guy dared to build himself a cargo ship to preserve himself, his family and every animal, amphibian and insect species with the vital necessities for life. When the Deluge gushed in Noah dutifully recorded in the ship’s log on a daily basis, and this wound up being salvaged and is available in abbreviated for in Genesis. Planet Earth was inudated just as God had planned, soaked to at least fifteen cubits of water above the highest mountains, according to Noah’s log. Apparently Noah spent a lot of time leaning over the ship’s railing, ostensibly taking depth-soundings when he wasn’t busy feeding the parental stock of all life; at least the depth of the flood waters got recorded. Noah’s rescue accomplishments did not exactly result in personal glory, however. He wound up being castrated by one of his family members as he lay unconscious and naked after having imbibed too much green wine that he had made from the grapevines he had planted immediately after touching dry land. Strangely, that emasculation episode was not so painstakingly reported. All that is recorded is that “…Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.” Actually he blamed the wrong kid, but the “seed” of Noah and his sons were grudgingly blessed by God and “…of them was the whole earth (to be) overspread.” (Genesis 9:24)

For awhile, evidently, God again just let things coast along, hoping perhaps that the devious people who had so vigorously reproduced might starve of do themselves in. But once again, possibly from nagging curiosity, God decided to step out of his garden and survey the damage. To his amazement he found that the whole earth was of a lone language, and of one speech, and the people had clustered in the land of Shinar (Sumer) [Genesis 11:6]. Even more exasperating to him, the people were constructing a tower with which they could peer over his garden wall and spy upon his privacy! Such impudence! In sudden hateful anger the Creator-God confounded the people’s language so they could not understand each other. That, he grumbled, should teach them to be more cooperative and improve their behavior. And to further emphasize his displeasure ‘…did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” But scattering them hither and thither did nothing to stop all the begetting.

After taking another break from supervising the descendants of the original couple, God once again gathered nerve enough to look in upon the situation outside his garden. By this time you would think that he would have few high expectations. He found only agitation due to the incomplete obedience to his vaguely explained wishes. Throttling his hateful anger, God randomly selected a subject whom he could groom to act as his diplomatic go-between. To lure the selected subject into service, God even promised the man, named Abram, that he would “make thee a great nation,” and to even curse anyone who might curse his chosen spokesman. But the guy Abram was not wildly enthusiastic about much of the Lord’s plan except sowing his seed.

Anyway, mankind’s history is purportedly assessed from Abram who had been designated as the Omniscient One’s seed bearer. Being young and horny, Abram left home looking for a wife, and in the process wound up wasting at least fourteen years before marrying the woman Sari whom he had vowed to possess. But Abram had not been idle, exactly: he had a child or two on the sly. Because Sari was easy on the eye, Abram convinced her to play along in a scheme to swindle the Pharaoh of Egypt out of a fortune in domestic animals and servants. Understandably indignant, the Pharaoh, much like the Creator would do, then ordered them all to depart his land. So Abram and Sari and Abram’s nephew, Lot, and all the newly gained wealth journeyed back to Abram’s earlier location.

Along the way Abram’s nephew, Lot, took up residence in a strange little village named Sodom. Well, that choice didn’t pan out too well either. The Lord supposedly hated the selective intimacy of the residents and so, being omniscient but divinely prejudiced and dour, marked the place for destruction. Being a relative of God’s chosen spokesman, Abram’s nephew was ordered to flee the place, a command which wound up being the direct cause of an incest episode with Lot and his two daughters. All in all, the whole incident did not make the Lord joyful.

Everything from then on, we are divinely assured, is accurate history. Abram had his name changed by God who bestowed the alias Abraham upon him; and Sari, the Lord said, should go by the name Sarah. Thus, having followed God’s command, Abraham allegedly became the progenitor and founder of the Hebrew people. Glory was thus rescued from earlier chaotic circumstances and Abraham, having fulfilled his usefulness, expired at the age of 175. And to this day his descendant still attempt, as demanded in Genesis 22:17, “…to become as numerous as the sand upon the seashore.”

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Myth of Noah

Posted in agnoticism, Atheism, Atheist, belief, Bible, Christianity, culture, faith, random, religion, thoughts with tags , , , on October 7, 2010 by chouck017894

All Genesis myths were presented to make them appear as sequential happenings, but they are really parallel tales that personify aspects of the Creation processes.  The story of Noah, the “Flood,” and the ark is undoubtedly the most obvious mythic presentation.  The story of Noah appears in Genesis, the book of  beginnings, from chapters five through ten.  Chapter five begins, “This is the book of the generations of Adam,” and quickly moves from Seth, Adam and Eve’s last son, through an alleged genealogy listing to Methuselah and his son Lamech who “begat” Noah.  Methuselah is presented as having lived 969 years, and his son Lamech lived 182 years.  Thus is the illusion of time accounted for in mythological staging.

Noah, in many respects, is cast as the second Adam.  By chapter 6:9 God found Noah to be “…a just man and righteous in his generations…”  Some translations say he was perfect in his generations.  “In his generations” is the sacred language way to represent the energies that involve to produce formations in which life is to take on its creative potential.  This is why in the next verse it is quickly added that Noah walked with God, which is the mythographers’ way of stressing that the story is set in the primordial stages of Creation.  But God allegedly judged the whole earth to be corrupt and filled with violence: which really refers to the violent energy aspects issuing out of Source which function as an amoral creative power and therefore the prototypes of planetary formation are yet to be established as the supportive means of matter manifestation.

The cleansing “Flood” of the Noah myth explains in an entertainment way the condensing of electrodynamics configurations that flood out of Source and are borne into visibility.  This process of Creation forces can be assessed as the rescuing and delivering element that is buoyed upon unlimited waters (primal energies).  This rescuing and delivering element has served as the motivation for over four hundred myths of world inundation in which chosen ones were carried in an ark, chest or ship to be cast upon the summit of matter.  Hindu myth has the vessel Argha; Greek myth has the Cista or the Argo; scriptural myth calls it the ark—a word borrowed from Egyptian language, etc.  The Life Principle is borne into matter, and this development is then  personified with regional names.  In Babylonian myth the Life Principle is personified as Utnapishtim; to the Persians it was Yima; the Chaldeans knew it as Xesuthras; the Greeks named it Deucalion; the Hindu version was Vaivasvata; the Mexican personification was Nata; and the Hebrew myth personified it as Noah.  Unfortunately, not even the name Noah is original with the Hebrews; it was taken from the Chaldean name Nuah, which served to identify the third person of the Chaldean Trinity as well as being the third sign of their Zodiac.

The “Flood”of Hebrew scriptures is said to have occurred in Noah’s 600th year (Genesis 7:11).  The number six has a tradition of representing perfection and/or fulfillment.  God created all things in six days, for example.  Noah, like Adam and other starring characters of Genesis, is one of the many personifications of the Life Principle that is used throughout Genesis, only this time it dramatizes its movement upon the violent aspects of the Creation energies that flood out of Source toward manifestation as matter.  And as with Adam, God’s first command to Noah and his sons after the flood (Genesis 9:1) is exactly the same as the command to Adam and Eve: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

The highlight of the Noah tale is his implied fall from grace, which occurs very soon after touching upon Mount Ararat (solid matter).  The  first thing that Noah allegedly did, beside build an altar and offer up prayers of thanksgiving, was to plant a vine which, by evening, had borne fruit from which Noah had already made potent wine.  Perhaps all he did was transplant a mature vine carried in the ark, and yet there is still the problem of making a full-bodied wine by evening.  Anyway, Noah got blotto-drunk.  In other words, primal energies have been transformed into the “wine of life” and Noah becoming intoxicated signifies his embodiment of matter life.  This is identical in meaning as other Genesis characters, Jacob for instance, falling asleep and thereafter assuming a new identity (Israel/matter).  In this version, however, the Noah character personifies planetary life.

As the energy manifestation as a new planetary identity, he is portrayed as in a stupor with life and is naked.  The story element of his sons walking backwards to cover their father’s nakedness simply personifies the planet being clothed with vegetation.  His sons, Japheth and Shem, represent the still manifesting pre-physical energy elements with which the Life Principle is clothed as matter, which is why the sons are said to move backwards to do it (Genesis 9:23)—they cannot yet see the evolutionary results of their actions.  Feeling himself being lightly covered, “Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his little son had done unto him.” (Genesis 9:24)  Discovering someone naked is not something that is done to them.  If things have seemed a little strange so far, it now becomes bizarre.  Noah’s “little son” is cursed by Noah for accidentally seeing Noah naked.  But it is the grandson of Noah, named Canaan, son of Ham, who receives the curse!   Something is being covered up here, and it isn’t Noah.

There are a number of myths from different ancient cultures with a similar plotline, but they adhered more closely to scientific principles of the creative process in their telling.  In those myths the elder god, as he lay sleeping, is castrated by his youngest son.  In Greek myth, for example, the young god Cronos (personified time, which is relative only to the matter plane) castrated his sleeping father Uranus (personification of first light that attends elementary conditions).  In an older scriptural version, Noah suffered the same fate of castration by his son Ham, but this was purged from “revealed” word;—and in the process the meaning of matter elements being severed from primordial conditions was removed and replaced with the absurd sense of false shame for being seen in the natural state.  God hadn’t seen anything wrong with nakedness in the Garden of Eden.  The priest-authors attempted some originality in their desperation to clean up the borrowed myth elements, which is why the grandson, who had not seen Noah naked, illogically wound up receiving the curse.  The curse laid upon Canaan was that he was condemned to be the servant  to his uncles Shem and Japheth.   If any logic can be said to be found in this, it is that the grandson of Noah personifies the next developmental phase in lifeforms, thus figuratively he “serves” them by continuing the energy process into matter. 

Noah’s tale then gets a quick conclusion, saying that he lived 350 years after the Flood and died at the age of 950.

Related post: Possible Background of Flood Myths

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Hebrew Myths in Western Religions

Posted in agnoticism, Atheism, Atheist, belief, Bible, Christianity, culture, faith, history, humanity, politics, prehistory, random, religion, thoughts with tags , , , , , on August 26, 2010 by chouck017894

For good or bad, the western world has had its spiritual interpretations shaped largely by ancient Hebrew myths.  This is a hard pill to swallow for certain hard-line types who cling to the priestly sales pitch that every word of scripture is revealed truth.  Literalists who insist that the Bible includes no myths whatsoever may be excused on the technicality that most other ancient-culture myths concern gods and goddesses that had a tendency to take sides in human affairs.  The Bible, however, expands upon the premise of a single universal Creator—who, nonetheless, is portrayed as having sided consistently in the distant past with the Hebrews-Israelites-Jews—his alleged chosen people out of all the world’s populace.

Myth is a vital ingredient in the presentation of any organized belief system; mythic material provides the means of presenting concise validation of puzzling laws, rites, traditions and social customs.  The passage of time and social changes have had a way of applying transformation or even suppression of some pre-Biblical works.  Some suppressed texts include: The Book of the Wars of Yahweh; the Book of Yashar; the Story of Adam (which is referred to in Genesis 5:1 and covered the first ten generations from Adam to Noah); The Book of Yahweh (referred to in Isaiah 34:16); Acts of Solomon; Book of Genealogy;  the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah; and Of the Sons of Levi among others.  Even so, brief fragments from some of those texts found their way into various canonized works such as in Numbers 21:14; Joshua 10:13; and Samuel 1:18.

Genesis relates that after ten generations, from Adam to the time of Noah, God apparently grew weary of human imperfections and decided not only to rid the planet of human life, but destroy all life.  Noah was warned of the flood plans, which imitates the c. 3000 BCE Babylonian myth of the god Ea warning Ut-napishtim of an identical heavenly plan.  The later Noah story has much in it that cannot be accepted logically.  The immediate planting of a miraculous grape-vine after touching dry land is peculiar to say the least.  That he became drunk the same evening  from the wine produced from those grapes is miraculous.  In connection with this is the absurd condemnation of Noah’s son to perpetual servitude to his brothers for no other reason than accidentally seeing his drunken father naked.  This myth is identical in tone to the Greek myth in which  Zeus, when a youth, castrated his father Cronus and thus became king of heaven.  In an older Hebrew myth Noah was castrated by his son as he lay in a drunken stupor.  The castration of Noah was excised from the reworked account, but it is alluded to in the line, “Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his little son had done unto him” (Genesis 9:24-27).  Seeing his father naked was not something that was done to Noah. 

The Bible stories that were fashioned for national identity purpose in the 7th century BCE Jerusalem permit only tantalizing hints of the lost material that was reworked into the product we know as the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible).  Any references to the lost material are generally so terse (such as the cursing of Noah’s son) that they are passed over unnoticed.  Those who accept the Bible as the unblemished word of God fail to see the restrained mythic connections.  Indeed, Genesis conceals lingering echoes of ancient Hebrew gods and goddesses that are disguised as men, women, angels, monsters, and even demons.  The technique continues throughout the Old Testament accounts.  For example, in the book of Judges 3:31 it says, “And after him was Shamgar ben Anath who smote of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad, and he also saved Israel.”  Not understood is that Shamgar’s mother is a direct link to the bloodthirsty Ugaritic love-goddess Anath.  The reference to to ox-goad with which Shamgar is alleged to have slain so many Philistines is sly recognition of the love-goddess Anath’s father, Shamgar’s grandfather, the Ugaritic bull-god El.  And the same Ugaritic goddess is alluded to in the name of the priestly town Anathot, the hometown of the prophet Jeremiah.

The book of Isaiah provides a peek at exorcised mythic background material in chapter 34:14-15, where the pre-Bible Hebrew myth of Lilith is indirectly referred to in the references to the wild beasts of the desert dwelling among the desolate ruins in the Edomite Desert.  Lilith was portrayed as Adam’s first wife in an early Hebrew myth that was wholly expunged from Scripture.  Her name was derived from the Babylonian-Assyrian word liltu, which was derived in turn from an earlier 2000 BCE Sumerian tablet from Ur which contained the story of Gilgamesh and the Willow Tree. 

 Isaiah also gave a nod to another discarded Hebrew myth in a reference to Rahab, the Prince of the Sea (Isaiah 51:9).  An ancient myth had portrayed Rahab as a primeval adversary of Yahweh in a battle prior to Creation.  It was a myth much like the Greek myth of Poseidon, god of the sea, defying his brother Zeus.  According to Isaiah, Yahweh killed Rahab with a sword.  An older version, however, recounted that when Yahweh commanded Rahab, “Open your mouth, Prince of the Sea, and swallow all the world’s waters,” Rahab had demurred, saying, “Lord of the Universe, leave me in peace.”  Yahweh was not pleased and in that version kicked Rahab to death and sank his carcass under the waves.

Among the Hebrews, after the northern kingdom of Israel had been destroyed by the Assyrians, old tribal myths were reworked and became focused almost exclusively on Jerusalem, with the pantheistical concept of the old myths remodeled into monotheism.  As spiritually inspired as this sounds, the reform in the old religious understanding was politically motivated.  Judah was situated in a buffer zone between Assyria and Egypt, and King Josiah and the priests of Yahweh were determined to remain independent.  Reformation of the kingdom’s veneration practices and traditions depended upon either writing a codicil to the old religious understanding or fashion a new one.  The  lenient Canaanite cults prevalent throughout Judah had to be replaced with stronger religious discipline to accomplish the militaristic fervor to resist Assyrian or Egyptian encroachment.  The hope of national independence was seen to rest in authoritarian monotheism, and thus began the nearly ceaseless disclaiming of any faith practices other than their own.  And hatred for any difference–religious, cultural, or even physical—became installed as a directive of “faith.”

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Examples for Bible-based Government

Posted in agnoticism, Atheism, Atheist, belief, Bible, Christianity, culture, faith, Government, history, humanity, life, politics, random, religion, thoughts with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 9, 2010 by chouck017894

By biblical clues it was once determined that the murder of Abel by his brother Cain occurred in 3875 BCE.  Interestingly, the first year of the Jewish calendar was set as beginning in 3760 BCE—or 115 years later.  The brief and incomplete list that follows here, taken from “Holy Bible” stories, make it clear that the respect for life was not an especially high priority among God’s favorites.

The Deluge, whipped up by none other than God himself with the sole intention of obliterating the human species, supposedly occurred in 2348 BCE.  Oddly, part of the Lord’s instruction to Noah (who escaped being done in) was that Noah and his progeny must, among other listed immoral acts, refrain from committing homicide—the shameless counseling of do as I say, not as I do.  Scanning over the following brief highlights from biblical tales, remember that the definition of murder is the unconscionable killing of a human being.

 In the time of Abraham (c. 1860 BCE), the alleged progenitor of the Hebrews, the Lord asked Abe to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Abe said okay, but then the Lord said that it was only a test and provided a ram for slaughter.  Why the all-knowing creator would have to test Abraham in this cruel manner is never explained.  What this tale does reveal is that any tradition about not killing handed down from the time of Noah 488 years before was not taken seriously.

By the most commonly accepted calculations, Moses did not receive any commandment against homicide until 1491 BCE—or 369 years after Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son, and 2384 years after Abel’s death.  It might be said that the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” given to Moses was a case of too little too late.  Even with this commandment as counsel, good old Joshua, the God-favored successor to Moses, is proudly presented as freely indulging himself in holocaustic slaughter of countless Canaanites.

Then there is the tale of Jephthah, a blustery Israelite who was called upon by the Israelite elders to head off a threatened Ammonite attack around 1143 BCE.  Jephthah, positive of God’s favor, swore that if he won in battle then whatsoever cometh forth out of the doors of my house to meet me…” he would offer it  up for a burnt offering to God (II Judges).  Well, Jephthah won the battle.  His “honor” supposedly demanded the ritual murder of his daughter, for in joy to see his safe return she had rushed out to greet him.  God is portrayed as knowing all, so was it Jephthah’s fault or God’s divine indifference that Jeph had to murder his own daughter by fire?  Even God seems to have ignored his own edict handed down to Moses only 348 years earlier, for he did nothing to save the girl.

412 years after the Commandment Thou shalt not kill had been handed down, King Saul of Israel indulged himself in a swift war of extermination against the Amalekites in 1079 BCE in which, the boast goes, every man, woman babe and child were “utterly destroyed.”  This was bad enough, but then King Saul’s pitiless “prophet,” Samuel, is recorded as having savagely chopped the captured and defenseless Amalekites King Agag into mincemeat with a sword.  Samuel also contributed  to Israel’s gory glory by then promoting David (1040?-973? BCE) for the throne.  And ultimately, 23 years later after the slaughter of Agag, David did succeed Saul as King of Israel.

David is  presented in Holy Scripture as a master of deceit, mendacity and bloodshed, and followed the traditional pattern of killing everyone among a conquered people, including women, babes and children.  He even had people killed “lest they should tell on us” (1 Samuel 27:11).  David’s list of slaughters and atrocities are too many to present here, but his open disregard for the sixth commandment makes it questionable as to why God could ever have considered him a worthy founder of a royal dynasty or to be the protector of the Holy Ark of the Covenant.  David is commonly excused under the pretext that he displayed unfailing devotion to Jehovah!

Next we have Elijah, c. 910 BCE, who had the Phenician prophets of Baal put to death to prevent them from muscling in on his hold on the official religion of Israel.  The myth goes that after the murder of the Baal priests, rain and dew which God had jealously withheld for three years finally returned.  Besides murdering the priests of  Baal, Elijah also caused the destruction of two companies of fifty innocent messengers that had been sent to him by King Ahaziah of Israel.  There was eager anticipation that this “holy man” was to return to Earth, and this was later incorporated into Christian myth as the spiritual fulfillment in John the Baptist.

The successor of Elijah was Elisha, c. 896 BCE, another typically short-tempered and irascible Israelite “prophet,” who displayed his disregard for the sixth commandment with 42 unruly children on the road to Bethel.  The young delinquents allegedly teased him about his bald head.  In angry retaliation, holy Elisha is said to have cursed the children in the name of the Lord and immediately two bears appeared and ripped the children to shreds.  The weak excuse for this god-assisted murder of  forty-two children is that the “prophet” was weary and agitated from his fifteen mile hike from Jericho.  Elisha was not weary, however, when he hatched the conspiracy to seize the throne of Israel and elevate Jehu, the last son of Joram, as king.

Jehu, allegedly appointed by God and anointed by murderous Elisha as king of Israel (c. 843? BCE), lost little time in setting out to exterminate his predecessor King Ahab’s seventy children as well as the priests of Baal.  How the murder of the priests was accomplished is a mystery, for Elijah had supposedly already done all that.  But true to form, here is what chapter 10, verse 30 of 2 Kings says: And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is  right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.  Thus  blessed by the Lord, Jehu, without an ounce of scruple, later ordered two or three eunuchs to throw his wife Jezebel out a window to her death.

This  brief and far from complete list of God-favored characters from “the good book” have been offered as spiritual inspiration for countless generations.  Do they really exemplify the most exalted way of attracting peace, love, justice, mercy or intelligence that is so yearned for in the world?  Are these really examples that an advanced nation should follow?

 

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Bible-Based Examples for Governing

Posted in agnoticism, Atheism, Atheist, belief, Bible, culture, faith, freethought, history, humanity, life, logic, politics, random, religion, thoughts, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 28, 2009 by chouck017894

By biblical clues it was once determined that the murder of Abel by his brother Cain had occurred in 3875 BCE.  Interestingly, the first year of the Jewish calendar is set as beginning in 3760 BCE—a mere 115 years later.  The brief and incomplete list that follows here, taken from  “holy Bible” stories, make it dishearteningly clear that the respect for life was not especially a high priority of too many biblical characters.  Perhaps this was inspired by god’s indifference.

The Deluge, whipped up by god himself with the sole intention of obliterating the human species, supposedly occurred in 2348 BCE—1,527 years after Abel was slain.  Oddly, part of the Lord’s instruction to Noah after unleashing the killing deed upon the Earth was the admonishment that Noah and his progeny must, among other listed immoral acts, refrain from committing homicide.  A case of do as I say, not as I do.  As you scan over these brief highlights from biblical tales, remember that the definition of murder is the unconscionable killing of a human being.  Of course there had been no code of law established in Eden; an embarrassing oversight for an all-knowing Creator.

In the time of Abraham, the alleged progenitor of the Israelites, the Lord is said to have saved Abraham’s son Isaac from being sacrificed by Abraham in 1860 BCE.  Obviously any tradition handed down from the time of Noah 488 years earlier did not include the admonishment to refrain from taking another person’s life.

By the most commonly accepted calculations, Moses did not receive any announcement against homicide until c. 1491 BCE—or 369 years after Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son, and 2384 years after Abel’s untimely demise.  It might be said that the commandment “thou shalt not kill” was a case of too little too late.  Even with this commandment as counsel, good old Joshua, the god-favored successor to Moses, is portrayed as happily indulging himself in holocaustic slaughter of countless Canaanites.

Then there is the tale of Jephthah, a blustery Israelite who was called upon by the Israelite elders to head off a threatened Ammonite attack in 1143 BCE.  Jephthah swore that if he won in battle then “…whatsoever cometh forth out of the doors of my house to meet me…” I will then offer it up for a burnt offering (2 Judges).  Well, Jephthah won the battle.  His “honor” supposedly demanded the ritual murder of his daughter, for in her joy to see his safe return his daughter had rushed out to meet him.  Was it Jephthah’s fault or god’s indifference that caused the girl to be burned to death?  Even god seems to have ignored his own edict not to kill that he had handed down only 348 years before, for he did nothing to save the girl.

412 years after the commandment not to kill had been handed down, King Saul of Israel is said to have indulged himself in a swift war of extermination against the Amalekites in 1079 BCE in which, the boast goes, every man, woman, babe, and child were “utterly destroyed.”  This was poor press for the children of god, but was made even worse by King Saul’s pitiless “prophet,” Samuel, depicted as having savagely chopped the captured and defenseless Amalekite King Agag into mincemeat with a sword.  Samuel also contributed to Israel’s gory glory by then promoting David (1040-973? BCE) for the throne.  And ultimately, 23 years after Saul’s slaughter of Agag, David is said to have succeeded Saul as King of Israel.

David was a master of deceit, mendacity, and bloodshed, and he followed the traditional pattern of killing everyone among a conquered people, including women, babes, and children..  He even had people killed “…lest they should tell on us…” (1 Samuel 27:11).  David’s list of slaughters and atrocities are too many to present here, but his open disregard for the sixth commandment makes it questionable why god could ever have considered him a worthy founder of a royal dynasty or to be the protector of the Ark of the Covenant.  David is commonly excused under the pretext that he displayed unfailing devotion to Jehovah.  Say What? 

Elijah, c. 910 BCE, had the Phenician prophets of Baal put to death to prevent them from muscling in on his hold on the official religion in Israel.  The myth goes that after the slaughter of Baal priests, rain and dew which god had grudgingly withheld for three years finally fell.  Besides destroying the priests of Baal, Elijah also caused the destruction of two companies of fifty innocent messengers c. 852 BCE who had been sent to him by King Ahaziah of Israel.  The eager anticipation of this “holy” man’s return to Earth became incorporated in Christian myth as spiritually fulfilled in John the Baptist.

Elisha, c. 896 BCE, another typically short-tempered and irascible Israelite “prophet,” displayed his disregard for the sixth commandment in his encounter with 42 unruly children on the road to Bethel.  The young delinquents allegedly teased him about his bald head.  In angry retaliation, holy Elisha is said to have cursed the children in the name of the lord and immediately two bears appeared and ripped the children to pieces.  The weak excuse for the god-assisted murder of 42 children is that the “prophet’ was weary and agitated from his fifteen mile hike from Jericho.  Elisha was not weary, however, when he hatched the conspiracy to seize the throne of Israel and elevate Jehu, the last son of Joram, as king.

Jehu, appointed by god and anointed by the “prophet” Elisha as king of Israel (c. 843? BCE), lost little time in setting out to exterminate his predecessor King Ahab’s seventy children as well as the priests of Baal.  (Hadn’t Elijah done away with Baal priests already?)  But true to form, here is what 2 Kings 10:30 says:  And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.  Thus blessed by god for his killing, Jehu, without an ounce of scruple, later ordered two or three eunuchs to throw his wife Jezebel out of a window to fall to her death. 

This brief and incomplete list of biblical characters from “the good book” have been offered as spiritual inspiration for countless generations.  Do these bloody tales really exemplify the most exalted way of attracting peace, justice, love, and mercy that is so yearned for in the world?  Do the citizens of the United States really aspire to use these “Bible based” or “Faith Based” examples as our principles of a just government?

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Secrets of Enoch

Posted in Astronomy, Atheist, Bible, freethought with tags , , , , , , , on April 3, 2009 by chouck017894

Among the many books not included in the accepted “word of God” by Christian councils that chose their self-serving Gospels was an old book known as The Secrets of Enoch. Even though the book of Enoch was passed over as being unworthy of inclusion as “gospel,” it nonetheless exerted unquestionable influence upon the numerous writers of the New Testament collection. In fact, many dark passages of the N.T. are virtually inexplicable without its edifying aid.

There are peculiarities of speech in the book of Enoch that the church fathers probably could not comprehend, and that was enough to convince them that such verses would lead curious minds away from the church fathers’ concept of what constituted “true faith.” One such peculiar reference that pops up was in regard to the flood account; in the book of Enoch it states that Noah was “…born a bull and became a man.” Elsewhere the Enoch account goes on to say “…and one of those four went to the white bull (referring to Noah) and instructed him in secret.”

The Secrets of Enoch did indeed refer to knowledge that had be “lost,” or more likely had been deliberately concealed from the masses–knowledge that had once been given freely by using astronomical configurations (constellations) as focal points of lessons regarding the developmental processes of energy into matter forms. In other words, scientific explanations of creation and cosmology!

In the Secrets of Enoch, Noah served as the personification of the Life Principle that reaches the fourth stage–or energy stage that occurs as energy begins transforming  into material mass. This ancient teaching had once been given with constellation Taurus as its focus, and therefore it was not confusing to say that Noah, personifying the Life Principle moving into energy-matter form, was riding the flood of life toward physical form and could be said to have been “born a bull” or that he was the “bull…that became a man.”

The ancient lessons that had been alluded to in the Secrets of Enoch were based on startlingly accurate scientific principles, and without the scientific/astronomical knowledge referred to in The Secrets of Enoch to clarify the imagery used in that book, the Christian fathers were dumbfounded.  Rather than seek meaning they preferred instead to embrace the speculative upon which they could fashion a business machine.

It should be noted that the ancient lessons of creation processes once given with constellation Taurus, regarding the fourth stage of energy moving toward matter form, also accounts for the four rivers said to have issued out of Eden in the book of Genesis.

(All the ancient lessons using constellations as focal points can be found in the books: The Shiny Herd: Ancient Secrets Hidden in the Sky, IBSN: 1-56167-164-9; and in The Celestial Scriptures: Keys to the Suppressed Wisdom of the Ancients, ISBN 0-595-20913-0.

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