Posted on 05/16/2010 11:17:43 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
Our world is host to a mind-boggling number of religions and sects. Each has its unique approach, so that there remains little that men of the cloth agree upon.
Nonetheless, there is one fact that all Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, a total of over 3.5 billion people – acknowledge: the historic fact that the Torah was given to the Jewish People on Mount Sinai. Considering that the followers of these three religions constitute more than half of the world's population, this point of agreement is amazing.
In addition, we find that, to one degree or another, all three base their religious dogma on that same Torah given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
No other event in world history has influenced the lives of so many people over the ages, and no event is so widely acknowledged as being true. Judaism is not the only religion to lay claim to a divine revelation, but only Judaism relates that this revelation took place in the presence of the entire nation rather than a single individual.
This distinction is of prime importance. More explicitly: Other groups claim that G-d revealed Himself to a single individual who then founded their religion. Jewish tradition describes a revelation that took place while observed by over three million people.
So massive an event as the giving of the Torah in the presence of the entire nation is thus unique. What is more, this claim is related to us in the Torah itself, and the Torah urges us to investigate the matter. It clearly tells us we should ask: Did any other nation witness a similar, wholesale revelation? Has any other religious group ever stated that they were party to a mass encounter with their deity?
The answer is an unequivocal "NO!"
Why should that be so? Consider the fact that Western religions have taken so much from Judaism: the Bible, with its universally recognized Ten Commandments, its concept of a weekly day of rest, the concept of immersion in a body of water as a means of purification, the ideals of justice, kindness, and charity; social morality; equal rights for rich and poor, and much more. In addition, Islam has adapted circumcision and dietary restrictions as well.
Why has no one tried to imitate the Jewish claim to a mass revelation from G-d?
The answer is quite simple: such an attempt would be doomed to failure. It is not so difficult to stage a private “revelation”. One can easily claim to have seen or heard a divine message. One can dress it up with divine voices, thunder and lightning to his heart's content, as no one else was supposed to witness it anyway.
Likewise, it is not so difficult to produce a document and then claim that it records divine revelations given to a single individual.
But a text presented by G-d Himself to an entire nation? Over three million people? Anyone putting forth such a claim would be flooded with questions and protests: “Why wasn't I there when it happened? Show me a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand people who attest to the same event.”
"Ah, you claim that it happened decades or centuries ago? Show me where it was recorded. Why did my father/grandfather/aunts and uncles never hear about this momentous event until now? Why didn't they tell me/my parents/my grandparents about it? An event of such major significance, destined to transform the lives of millions of people, could not remain a secret for hundreds or thousands of years if it really happened!"
In short, one may be able to “fool some of the people, part of the time” but not all of the people for over three thousand years. Judaism lays claim to a revelation that has been known to the world for over three millennia, and over half of the world validates this claim, so much so that it is willing to predicate its religion upon it.
No one but the Jewish People can claim a mass revelation such as the events at Mount Sinai, and no one has ever attempted to do so, because it didn't happen to them. It's just too big a hoax to pull off. There will always be some forthright, honest child who declares that, despite his “wondrous new clothes” the emperor isn't wearing a thing! Similarly, claim that there were originally fourteen, not thirteen states, when the United States declared its independence from the British crown, and no one will believe you, for lack of cold, hard, historical evidence.
Similarly, the founders of other religions realized that it would be folly on their part to claim a divine revelation to millions of people a hundred years ago; someone would sure to call them bluff and demand historical proofs, which they could not provide. Even charismatic founders of new religions realized this basic truth, and refrained from trying to stage an imitation of events of the magnitude of those recorded at Sinai when the Jewish People received the Torah directly from G-d.
There is another point which substantiates the Jewish claim to revelation even more. Over three thousand years ago, the Torah itself predicted that this is the way world history would develop: no individual and no ethnic or religious group throughout the history of mankind will ever lay claim to such a mass revelation. In the words of the Torah itself:
For ask now of the days past, which were before you, since the day that G-d created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there has been such a thing as this…Did ever a people hear the voice of G-d speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
It was shown to you, that you might know that the L-rd, He is G-d; there is none else beside Him.
Out of heaven He made you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; and upon earth, He made you see His great fire; and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.
By presenting the Torah to the entire nation, rather than designating one person to serve as an intermediary, G-d ensured that the Revelation at Sinai could always be logically proven to be true and valid.
An event of such proportions and of such magnitude could not have been "staged" by even the most talented entrepreneurs. Only the Creator Himself could bring about such events. The testimony of the Torah about the day the entire nation stood at Sinai remains irrefutable yet to this very day.
The Jewish People of the generation of the Exodus passed their experience on to their children and grandchildren, as G-d had commanded them to do. Each subsequent generation was commanded to transmit the tradition on to its descendants, so that the chain of faith continues down to this very day.
As the result of this revelation, Jews have continued to live their lives according to the Torah for the past three thousand three hundred years!
Another distinction: Other religions require a “leap of faith” which they claim is beyond the realm of logic. Not so, Judaism. The Jewish religion is unique in that it bases acceptance of its doctrines on proofs which can be demonstrated logically to be true and rational. Rather than forbidding questions, or discouraging them, the Torah urges us to investigate the validity of our beliefs and the logic behind them, and to make certain that they are based on reason and logic, not a “leap of faith.”
The Torah assures us that there is no location, "from one end of the Heavens to the other end of the Heavens", and throughout all of human history: "From the day on which G-d created man on earth until the end of days, there will be no other religion that will ever claim that G-d revealed Himself to an entire nation as He revealed Himself to the Jewish People at Sinai."
The Torah's account of the Revelation at Sinai cannot be refuted logically. Only the Creator Himself could bring about such events before an audience of millions of people. Thus the testimony of the Torah about the day when the entire nation stood at Sinai remains irrefutable yet to this very generation. The Jewish People continue to re-affirm the faith instilled in their hearts on the day they stood at Sinai, and changed the history of the world forever.
Shavu`ot bump.
Pre-holiday bump.
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