One (ex?) Jew's journey to not believing the Torah

Nick the Pilot

Nick the Pilot

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Here is the inner journey of one Jewish man who had had the literal interpretation of the Torah pressured upon him all his life. The final step in his journey was to conclude that the Torah was written by man not by God.

"This is how I lost my faith: Science helped, yes — but finally I accepted the holy texts were written by man"

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/14/thi..._accepted_the_holy_texts_were_written_by_man/
 
And this, to me, spotlights the problem as to why religions are disappearing....

When you hold onto the literal....when the miracles and the prophecies and the mythology is held up as sacrosanct and truth...and then when you discover reality... then everything turns into not mythology, metaphor, metaphysics and mystery....but to being lied to your whole life and the house of cards collapses... (Bart Ehrman syndrome) But when you know they are stories of mixed historical fact, hyperbole and have significant value as parables and metaphor... you can lay in them like cool moss on a hot summer day...and simply enjoy the stories and see the moral, ethical, benefit of making them alive for today...

It is a crying shame.
 
So, then, the Jewish gentleman was right. The ancient scriptures have been written by man. Or perhaps more correctly, re-written by man. I believe the original texts were 100% accurate, but they have been 'edited' down through the centuries, to where they have become so changed as to be barely recognizable if they were compared to the original texts.
 
Original texts? or original stories? If there were ANY divine involvement, by the time it was articulated by man, it was already edited by his mind and formatted for his audience. We are talking about a compilation of books selected in the 4th century of hundreds of books written in the previous 2,000 years....
 
You know Nicks timeline is a little longer than yours, he's been here long enough.
wil said:
but to being lied to your whole life and the house of cards collapses...
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It's fascinating how you use the word 'lie', I remember this discussion form before. I really don't get why you need that word to mean that.
 
The Rabbi said,"Go learn. Study. And then, if you look inside your heart, you’ll find the truth".

And that I guess is the bottom line
 
"Nicks timeline is a little longer than yours..."

--> Yes, it is. According to my belief system, the original books of the Old Testament and Torah were written millions of years ago (which explains how there may have been a lot more re-writing than most people realize).
 
A Cup Of Tea said:
You know Nicks timeline is a little longer than yours, he's been here long enough.

It's fascinating how you use the word 'lie', I remember this discussion form before. I really don't get why you need that word to mean that.
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Well it may just be me... I was TAUGHT in 4 different states, four different denominations that the universe was created in 6 days, that man was made from mud and woman from his rib... I currently believe that all those preachers and all those Sunday school teachers lied to me. It seems the evidence is in favor of probably most of them knowing they were telling me falsehoods and myths...
Nick the Pilot said:
"Nicks timeline is a little longer than yours..."

--> Yes, it is. According to my belief system, the original books of the Old Testament and Torah were written millions of years ago (which explains how there may have been a lot more re-writing than most people realize).
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If that is the case....there is very very little that would be contained to be correct... as the Torah tells of the lives of people from 3-6000 years ago (unless you are saying it was written millions of years ago and it is all prophecy)
 
wil said:
I currently believe that all those preachers and all those Sunday school teachers lied to me. It seems the evidence is in favor of probably most of them knowing they were telling me falsehoods and myths...
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Why?
 
Interesting article. I think that strict literal interpretations of the Tanach probably are due to the changing times and many people dying. I tend to think that's how a lot of fundamentalism is made possible. Its like that old War of the Worlds broadcast. Some people tuned into it on their radios and became convinced that aliens had invaded, because they didn't hear the beginning of the show which introduced the narrator. So imagine we lose all of our history and one day find bits of the War of the Worlds movie. We might start thinking it really happened, too.
 
wil said:
Why? Science. You think in the 60's they all still believed in 6 day creation and women were made from man's rib?
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Some do even today. They don't have to be mutually exclusive, not to everyone.
 
I'm surprised we're in the Judaism thread giving opinions and we're not Jews. That used to be a no-no what with the walled garden and all. Things have changed.
 
bananabrain is not around to harumph and bang his sceptor to the floor... the topic essentially effects all religions... at a minimum all abrahamic
 
Wil, you said,

"...as the Torah tells of the lives of people from 3-6000 years ago (unless you are saying it was written millions of years ago and it is all prophecy."

--> Not necessarily. Many of the stories are from millions of years ago (according to the theory). The idea that all of the stories are only 3-6000 old years might just be another add-on.

WD, you said,

"I think that strict literal interpretations of the Tanach probably are due to the changing times and many people dying."

--> It's certainly possible. I think the technique of converting ancient wisdom into fundamentalist poppycock has been going on for centuries. It's just that some generations are more willing to accept it and others are not. The Jews of the 1940's had to endure a holocaust, whereas today's Jews have not had to, just as you are saying.
 
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wil said:
bananabrain is not around to harumph and bang his sceptor to the floor... the topic essentially effects all religions... at a minimum all abrahamic
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Aw, he's probably around. If you say his name three times in a row he appears and says hurm hurm.
 
Nick the Pilot said:
So, then, the Jewish gentleman was right. The ancient scriptures have been written by man. Or perhaps more correctly, re-written by man. I believe the original texts were 100% accurate, but they have been 'edited' down through the centuries, to where they have become so changed as to be barely recognizable if they were compared to the original texts.
Click to expand...
Muslims have been saying this for 1400 yrs. I believe a lot of the original meanings remain, but many of the details and some of the laws have been manipulated over the many years. The Tanach was revealed over thousands of years and for a great part of that, it was not written, nor literally repeated. Add to that the hardships and occupations endured by the Jewish people over all the millenia, which isn't probable to get through without some parts lost or changed.
 
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