(urth) The Wizard

[Mo Holkar]

At 18:12 07/03/2012, Lee wrote:
>No offense taken, Daniel. I am more concerned that I have offended your
>beliefs, which I did not intend to do. Still, you might correctly infer
>from my name that I was raised in the jewish faith and have read the Old
>Testament both in English and Hebrew. I am confortable with my understanding
>of its meaning and original intent.
>
>As Christians are most focused on the gospels of the NT, so jews are focused
>on the Pentateuch. I think you would have to be selective and blinkered to
>read it and NOT see the war, genocide and paganistic trappings found among
>the ancient Hebrews and their God.
>
>Now if you are suggesting that God is more mellow and peaceful in the later
>prophet books than He is in Genesis and Exodus I would agree. This supports
>my thesis that this is an evolving God.


Maybe I'm reading you wrongly, but you seem to be 
tacitly assuming that the various books are 
accurate descriptions of God as manifest at the time of writing?

I have a different assumption, which is that the 
various books are testament not to the nature of 
God, but to human perception of God -- ie. it is 
that perception that evolves, not the nature of 
God itself (which might be eternal, for all we can tell for sure).

It seems to me sensible to recognize the books as 
the historical documents that they are – many 
composed long after the events that they depict 
(some of which events didn't actually happen) – 
and as witnesses of human striving to understand 
the nature of the Divine, rather than as faithfully documenting its workings.

best wishes,

Mo


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