So the people of Gad and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation “. . .the land that the Lord struck down before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.”  And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession.  Do not take us across the Jordan.” – Numbers 32:2-5

This is the last…

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“God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.  For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought!’  Behold, a people!  As a lioness it rises up and as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain.” – Numbers 23:22-24

The books of the Torah must have been written at a…

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And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put our the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” – Numbers…

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Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.  Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life.  If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. – Leviticus 24:17-20

I think there are two main things I want in my reading material: one is that I want things to be happening, and the other is that I…

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And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’ So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights.  He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. – Exodus 34:27-28

I regret to report that Exodus, after a powerful opening quarter, ended with a very protracted, very frustrating, very inconclusive…

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So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded.  Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.  Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. – Exodus 7:10-11

Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded.  In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water…

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“It is not something that happens because people miss-interpret the text; it is because they believe in them. That is the problem.”

~ Christopher Hitchens ~





Somehow stories contain the very soul of a people; when, for instance, American pastor Carol M. Noren meditated on the crossing of the Read Sea, saying that “God commands Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea,” and Moses obeys without hesitation, she infers the conclusion that, “Our Lord desires…

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In my previous post I described the evolution of Judaism over the past 3000 years. In a nutshell- after the destruction of the second temple and jewish exile in 126 AD, the jews lost their ability to practice their religion- which was national and temple based. Finding themselves without nation or temple- the jews reformed their religion- practically re-inventing it in a text…

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I've been on think atheist for quite some site now, and I've noticed that because the vast majority of people here are ex-Christians, naturally the New Testament and Jesus get the most attention.

As an ex-Jew, I've decided to write a post explanation of what Judaism is, as I've found practically no reference to this question here.

So here it goes.



While Christianity believes that God- Yahweh, brought the people of Israel to mount Sinai and gave them the old testament- the… Continue

God is an omniscient being. Having no end and no beginning, from the beginning of time, God has known all. If you know all, there is nothing to be learned. Nothing to be gained from living or experiencing the world or life. This creature knew what was to happen before it did. So what is gained from simply being for 3000 years? Well, if you are God, you have learned that you didn't plan well which would seem to run against the idea of omniscience. The story of Moses clearly points to a God…

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According to legend, God came down to the mountain and etched 10 rules of living into the rock for the people of Israel. As we know, up until then the Israeli people were murdering each other, stealing stuff, working all the time, and coveting all over the place. The Israelites knew God was serious after he killed all those people for building and worshipping that giant ass while he was busy with cavorting with Moses, who accidentally broke the stone tablets in the process (don’t worry, god… Continue

Before I really confirmed my atheism, I went searching for religion. I picked up the Bible. My first impression on Moses was this: con-man of the highest class.



Moses lived in hard times. Food depended on the weather, disease was rampant, sanitation scarce, wealth completely unevenly distributed, slavery abundant, and despite what the Bible claimed, lifetimes were brief.



Suddenly, Moses "discovers" the creation of all mankind! Amazing! Moses is the only one who can see… Continue