Slog
News & ArtsSunday, March 3, 2013
Religion Slog Bible Study: Exodus 32:27-29
Posted by Goldy on Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 6:00 AM
Exodus 32:27-29
Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”
Exodus 20:13Discuss.
Thou shalt not kill.
2
If the diseased members of the herd or crop are not culled the entire population will become afflicted and perish.
We instead celebrate our pathologies.
The inevitable result is upon us.
We instead celebrate our pathologies.
The inevitable result is upon us.
3
and poor Goldy forgot the rules.
he is supposed to lay out a verse without context.
instead he is playing 'compare and contrast and guess what point the microprick poster is trying to make..."
he is supposed to lay out a verse without context.
instead he is playing 'compare and contrast and guess what point the microprick poster is trying to make..."
4
I do find people's anger towards Goldy much more interesting then the bible quotes.
Are you folks aware that you don't have to read these if they make you this upset? Seems like too much vitriol for so early in the morning.
Are you folks aware that you don't have to read these if they make you this upset? Seems like too much vitriol for so early in the morning.
7
Later, God said
"Whoa! You mean you guys actually DID that ?
I was only making an exaggerated 'for instance' example of something difficult which I MIGHT ask you to do. I didn't mean for you to go do it right away. WOW, you guys need to listen better and think a little more. Maybe double-check with me before you run off and kill a few thousand. I mean.... WOW "
"Whoa! You mean you guys actually DID that ?
I was only making an exaggerated 'for instance' example of something difficult which I MIGHT ask you to do. I didn't mean for you to go do it right away. WOW, you guys need to listen better and think a little more. Maybe double-check with me before you run off and kill a few thousand. I mean.... WOW "
8
The fastest road to atheism is reading the Bible.
This is why the Catholics insisted on keeping it in Latin, so only the priests could read it. Even if the priests had no faith, they at least had a vested interest in preserving the institution that gave them power. And by being able to tell the layity that whatever argument the priest was advancing was based in a bible they could not understand, this was enough to shut the typical peasant up.
The nobility, who could read it, and understand it to be bullshit, had to reckon with the Church's temporal power. So long ad the Church reinforced state power, the nobility had a vested interest in promoting the Church, even if they did not believe it's bullshit. When the Church undermined the state's power, people like Henry VIII could create breakaway intuitions that served the purpose of reinforcing the state without help from Rome.
The merchant class was despised by the Church because it represented something they could not bargain with. This is why the bible is shot through with proscriptions against usury, the impossibility of being rich and entering heaven, suggestions that one cannot serve money and god, and adulations of poverty. They hated what they could not control.
Ultimately the merchant class triumphed, and we moved from the feudal racket that gave the Church so much strength into capitalism. the parts of the world with the most capital tend to be the parts with the emptiest pews. Religious influence in Luxembourg, Monaco, England, and Switzerland is quite low. It';s much higher in less developed parts of the world such as Latin America.
Except in America, where an uneasy alliance between big business and big religion has formed. This Frankenstein is what we call the GOP.
More...
This is why the Catholics insisted on keeping it in Latin, so only the priests could read it. Even if the priests had no faith, they at least had a vested interest in preserving the institution that gave them power. And by being able to tell the layity that whatever argument the priest was advancing was based in a bible they could not understand, this was enough to shut the typical peasant up.
The nobility, who could read it, and understand it to be bullshit, had to reckon with the Church's temporal power. So long ad the Church reinforced state power, the nobility had a vested interest in promoting the Church, even if they did not believe it's bullshit. When the Church undermined the state's power, people like Henry VIII could create breakaway intuitions that served the purpose of reinforcing the state without help from Rome.
The merchant class was despised by the Church because it represented something they could not bargain with. This is why the bible is shot through with proscriptions against usury, the impossibility of being rich and entering heaven, suggestions that one cannot serve money and god, and adulations of poverty. They hated what they could not control.
Ultimately the merchant class triumphed, and we moved from the feudal racket that gave the Church so much strength into capitalism. the parts of the world with the most capital tend to be the parts with the emptiest pews. Religious influence in Luxembourg, Monaco, England, and Switzerland is quite low. It';s much higher in less developed parts of the world such as Latin America.
Except in America, where an uneasy alliance between big business and big religion has formed. This Frankenstein is what we call the GOP.
9
Geez, youse guys would be shitty lawyers or journalists. According to the first passage, Moses says God says do this. And then Moses says, "Good job!" I mean, don't blame God for General Boykin being an asshole, right?
10
@4 Thank you so much! No, I was not aware that I didn't have to read these. Do you know if it's required to comment or not? Thanks again, in advance.
I don't know if it's just me or... But it seems it would be easier to kill your friends and brothers and neighbors if you swung your sword around, sorta left and right and such, rather than just having it strapped to your side. I guess it's the moving in mysterious ways thing again.
I don't know if it's just me or... But it seems it would be easier to kill your friends and brothers and neighbors if you swung your sword around, sorta left and right and such, rather than just having it strapped to your side. I guess it's the moving in mysterious ways thing again.
11
I once asked a rabbi, priest and preacher about this contradiction. They said wars are not the same as killing because wars are justifiable. Religion is nonsense that can justify anything and condemn anything that suits it's own purpose.
12
NEWSFLASH!!!! Queen Elizabeth hospitalized with stomach infection. Too early for GOD SAVE KING CHARLES IV? Or is Chucky going to be Charles III or is the Enquirer right and the crown goes to William?
14
12,
QE II made a pact with the devil that she will outlive Chucky. Diana's death in the tunnel was actuality a human sacrifice needed to secure the arrangement.
Lizzie cannot die, for she is undead.
QE II made a pact with the devil that she will outlive Chucky. Diana's death in the tunnel was actuality a human sacrifice needed to secure the arrangement.
Lizzie cannot die, for she is undead.
15
I would like to see Quentin Tarantino film the story of the Levite slaughter of the idol-worshiping Israelites.
16
Unfortunately, I don't know any Hebrew, but I'd always heard that the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," is actually better translated, "Thou shalt not murder," which would imply that in some cases, killing another human being is justifiable.
I could be wrong though; perhaps someone with more training than I could shed some light on the translation issues.
I could be wrong though; perhaps someone with more training than I could shed some light on the translation issues.
17
Thou shalt not murder is a commandment. The proper translation is murder, not kill.
Kill the people and take their land is an quasi-historical legend.
Moses wasn't even there. God told him he wasn't going to make it to Canaan because he'd done something he'd been told not to do, and he was commanded to climb a mountain and die. Nu, we should all have such a death.
Kill the people and take their land is an quasi-historical legend.
Moses wasn't even there. God told him he wasn't going to make it to Canaan because he'd done something he'd been told not to do, and he was commanded to climb a mountain and die. Nu, we should all have such a death.
18
In the moral universe of the Bible, "right" and "wrong" are defined purely by God. If God says kill your family, killing your family instantly becomes the only moral choice.
Blindly following orders is incompatible with exercising moral judgment.
Blindly following orders is incompatible with exercising moral judgment.
21
God was a Transcendentalist and believed, like Emerson, that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
22
Is the drone-enabled "targeted killing" (or assassination, as it's more commonly known) being conducted by the Obama administration considered murder? I would think so, but I have a more traditionalist view in that I consider execution without a trial to be immoral. In any case, I'm sure God would approve of slaying heathens with Hellfire missiles if he existed, Exodus 20:13 notwithstanding.
Strap your drone console to your side and drop some bombs for god and country.
Strap your drone console to your side and drop some bombs for god and country.
23
You can't establish a tyrannical theocracy without killing some people. Just like last week, it's not murder if the self-appointed men of God are doing it, so stop questioning authority!
24
But what does "murder" mean in ancient Hebrew? What words are there for killing another human beside whatever word is used in the commandment? Today and here, murder is one category under homicide. Did the Israelites (and other societies in the region) distinguish between degrees of murder and types of manslaughter?
28
@8 "the parts of the world with the most capital tend to be the parts with the emptiest pews"
Capitalist USA has empty pews ? Saudi Arabia has empty pews ?
Want to know what you can get away with in a country with enough empty pews ? Google-search "soeur marie-therese des batignolles", freely published in France, available in bookstores in the "humor" section (not the "adult" section), in hypermarkets too, and prepare yourself for a shock. The Vatican did sue, but lost. Oh, and the main character is a real hero - heart of gold, fights crime, stupidity, etc.
Capitalist USA has empty pews ? Saudi Arabia has empty pews ?
Want to know what you can get away with in a country with enough empty pews ? Google-search "soeur marie-therese des batignolles", freely published in France, available in bookstores in the "humor" section (not the "adult" section), in hypermarkets too, and prepare yourself for a shock. The Vatican did sue, but lost. Oh, and the main character is a real hero - heart of gold, fights crime, stupidity, etc.
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