For some reason, i thought it would be a good idea that we should read these books that the world has been guiding itself for the past two thousand years after. i started with The Torah, expecting … not sure what, but i thought i should read it. At the end, i came incredibly disappointed.
The disappointment came from the fact that as i read, the God depicted in the book, is an incredibly selfish, insecure person that needs slaves to fear him. i say person because anyone with real power would most likely find no reason to behave as it’s described there. It tells the story of a God that came to Moses, and tells him to set up rules about money, who to have sex with, and punishments that people have to enact over people as if any superior being would have any business making rules about people’s money.
It sows discord between families by justifying that “oh I gave those more and those less and you have to deal with it. It’s just how i wanted”.
The attitude towards mistakes and “sin” is appalling – you did something bad? Even killed somebody? Go do some more killing in the form of sacrificing innocent animals and then your sins will be forgiven. The attitude towards women is incredibly lowly – the women are “unclean” and sets a bunch of leashes on how they should be treated.
Is anyone gathering sticks on a Sunday minding their own business? Bring them over to the community and stone them to death because they committed a sin.
Is your child a drunk and a “failure” ? Bring them in front of the community and … i kid you not …. stone them to death? What the …
With all that in mind, considering the book is said to be written by Moses, i wonder if Moses had a moral compass of his own because there are a few cases i could think of:
- Indeed the book speaks of a God, that requires animal sacrifices and people to prostrate in front of him, and people to behave in certain ways, like puppets, in which case, would anyone – if met with such a God, would they consider it worthy of worship? Is worship through fear something that should be valued?
- Would any superior being need for people to sit all day and pray to them and sit on their knees like slaves, kill innocent animals and burn them, and give edicts about how people should spend their money, and demand they be loved and feared? Is that how a divine being would behave?
- The last case, is that Moses along with the other contributors to The Torah lied, and only created this, to set up some rules, so they can enjoy their pleasures, without being questioned.
The only thing that i appreciated about The Torah, is that it tells it’s story. As far as i read it, it doesn’t attempt to convince anyone of anything but just tells events that may or may have not been true.
Overall it was a disappointing read. It was disappointing because i feel sorry that people couldn’t find intelligent ways to deal with everyday problems, therefore invented the rule through fear.
To anyone that is reading this and feels offended, just read it in its entirety, and see for yourself.
Maybe the Qur`an will be different.
We will see.
i