Posted on 09/11/2002 10:03:59 PM PDT by Commie Basher
LAST FALL, the United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism, the largest branch of American Judaism, issued a new Torah and commentary titled "Etz Hayim" – "tree of life" – that includes several background essays discussing recent scholarship on the bible and Near Eastern archaeological findings.
According to the March 9 New York Times account, the new Torah, the first in 60 years for conservative Jews, is particularly notable because the new scholarship shows that the early books of the bible have no historical validity.
The Garden of Eden? An etiological myth. Noah and the flood? A legend that arose in Mesopotamia suggested by the regular flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Sodom and Gomorrah? Another myth. Abraham? Like most legendary founders, he probably never existed.
The Israelite captivity in Egypt and the Exodus probably never occurred. There are no Egyptian sources mentioning an Israelite presence and no archaeological evidence anywhere for Israelites wandering in the Sinai – "not a pottery shard," as Rabbi David Wolpe put it.
There was no Israelite conquest of Palestine. Instead, there was a gradual and largely peaceful settlement. And Jericho? It didn't have any walls and it wasn't even inhabited when Joshua's "battle of Jericho" supposedly occurred.
King David? If he existed at all, and there is some dispute, was probably a local tribal leader whose importance was later inflated to promote religious pride. There is an "almost total absence of archaeological evidence" for a sizable Jerusalem at that time.
These and other modern findings have long been accepted by most bible scholars and seminary teachers. They are well known by most priests, ministers and rabbis. But they have not been widely shared with the laity in the pews, so they may even come as a surprise to readers here. Nonetheless, they are now the views of most scholars and supported by substantial evidence.
Why clergy are reluctant to share this information with laymen is a topic for another time. But perhaps intelligent laymen will not be so shocked. After I wrote a column on the Sodom legend, a conservative Jewish friend asked why I bothered. "Some people believe those bible stories," I said. He shook his head. "Fairy tales," he said. "They're just fairy tales."
This growing willingness to face historical evidence is significant for gay men because two key texts religious conservatives cite to attack gay men are in the Leviticus "Holiness Code" purportedly given by the biblical god Yahweh to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
Leviticus 18:22 reads: "Do not lie with a man as with a woman. It is an abhorrence" – as the new Torah translates it.
But if there was no Exodus, no wandering in the desert and probably no Moses, then there was no revelation on Sinai and the prohibition of homosexuality lacks divine authority. It is merely the human creation of ancient Jewish scribes.
In fact, so far as biblical scholars can tell, based on internal evidence, the Holiness Code (Leviticus chs. 17-26) was probably compiled no earlier than 750 B.C., and maybe as late as 550 B.C. – far later than the purported revelation on Sinai (traditionally between 1200 and 1450 B.C.) The code was then "backdated" by being inserted into the Moses legend to give it divine authority.
Examined carefully, noting various repetitions and inconsistencies, that section of Leviticus seems to combine at least two sets of laws by different writers who did not entirely agree on what was important and what the penalties should be.
For example, Lev. 18:22 says that anyone who does a number of things including homosexual sex "shall be cut off from his people" because the acts are "unclean." But the scribe who wrote Lev. 20:13, perhaps writing later, had much stronger feelings about homosexuals: "They shall be put to death," he inveighs; "Their blood shall be upon them."
Recognizing that there is no divine mandate to prohibit homosexuality, how do the compilers of the new Torah handle homosexuality? Well, some wanted to preserve the prohibition anyway.
"We couldn't come to a formulation that we could all be comfortable with," Rabbi Joseph Kushner said. "Some people felt that homosexuality was wrong." So the committee ended by saying that the prohibitions on homosexuality "have engendered considerable debate," but that conservative synagogues should "welcome gay and lesbian congregants in all congregational activities."
But while this step forward is welcome, a problem lingers. If homosexuality is wrong, we know from this Torah that it is cannot be wrong for theological reasons but for some secular reasons.
But if the reasons are secular, then people have an obligation to explain them, rather than just asserting their position, so we can examine them. But many people cannot give up age-old habits of thought, even when the rationale for them no longer has any validity.
But having readily dropped the Levitical mandate that gays should be killed, the new Torah would have been well-advised to abandon the idea that homosexuality is wrong and acknowledge that believing so is merely a cultural atavism.
It says that MOST priests and rabbis have long known that the Bible is largely myth, that Moses never existed and the Exodus is myth, but only now do they have the guts to admit it to the laity.
If true, it makes the bloodshed over the "Holy Land" all the more a mockery.
Yes, a great deal of Biblical revisionism, which is really nothing but a front for disbelief comes from the homosexual community....which cannot bear the idea that anybody anywhere believe homosexuality is a sin.
They think they can escape God's judgement if they convince everybody the Bible is full of myths.
It is a theology of desperation.
According to the article, this "Bible revisionism" is believed by the majority of Christian and Jewish clergy.
I'd love to leave Bible believers (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) to their beliefs. Trouble is, their beliefs are dragging the world into war (yet again).
Thank you.
The absurd claim that most priests, rabbis and ministers believe the Biblical accounts of history to be myths... shows how dishonest the author of this article really is.
I have yet to hear one mainstream Christian minister take such a position of disbelief in the Bible.
The author of the article is a total idiot for publishing such easily refutable claims.
Anyone can access web sites for the majority of mainstream Christian and Jewish clergy and will find that virtually all reject the idea that the Bible is full of myths.
I've listened to and read the theology of countless mainstream Christian ministers and have yet to encounter a single one that takes the position the article claims.
NOT ONE.
The author of this article is a liar.
And if true, that really explains why the chosen people have been the international scapegoats for several thousand years. Yep, that puts Biblical prophesy in perspective. (sarcasm)
Which is going to affect you how? By making you watch it? (We know you won't be a participant due to that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy of the DoD.")
I am the libertarian varient of anti-Communist -- not all are religious fundamentalists. I even re-registered from GOP to LP a few months ago, partially because I think the GOP is too influenced by religion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.