Interpretation of Texts (General)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 00:03 (4978 days ago) @ dhw

dhw,
> You wrote: "Execution by means of pelting the offender with stones afforded a mechanism whereby the whole community could share in it." Exactly. And since it was a capital offence to entice a Jew away from the true God, this is ample proof that organized religion was integral to Judaism.
> 
> The fact that the death penalty was abolished by the Sanhedrin in 30 AD wouldn't have been much help to those who were executed BC by order of Moses/God. If it was God's will that the death penalty should be carried out for betraying the faith, what divine right did the Sanhedrin have to abolish it? Alternatively, since their argument was that only God should execute the sinner, the death penalty couldn't have been God's will, so what right did Moses have to impose it? The stoning tradition is still going on in countries like Iran, Nigeria and Somalia, and I doubt that it would be enforced if the authorities felt there was no backing from their sacred scriptures, but I'm not going to hunt through the Koran to prove it. My point is that this slavish devotion to ancient texts can do enormous damage, and the texts provide direct support for the violence and bigotry indulged in by those who consider theirs to be "the true faith". 
> -If I may interject here:-I read a book over the summer about the Jewish experience, and one thing that is very interesting to note is watching how Jewish thought changed over time. Jewish Rabbis promote debate, and going back before the time of Christ, every copy of the Torah always had large margins for the Rabbis to write their interpretations. It is a matter of Jewish faith, to continually reinterpret their texts to match with facts. He actually cites the slow progression towards modern law as one that could not have happened without God. -The few Jews I've known in life have been the most unobtrusive but also open-minded theists I've had the pleasure of meeting. I have an inclination to think that it really is a part of the culture. It is probably rash to assert that there is a slavish commitment in all Abrahamic faiths. (Not that they don't exist, mind...)

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"