They Didn't Read the Bible, Did They?

I don't know how many of you have read any of the recent news articles about Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who has claimed to have uncovered "new" evidence that the Bible has been heavily edited, and that originally, YHVH (Yahweh, Jehovah, generally considered the most intimate name for God) had a wife, Asherah.

She bases this on an inscription found on some pottery, and on other artifacts that apparently pair YHVH with Asherah. She also mentions that the Bible "admits" that Asherah was worshipped at the temple in Israel. We are also treated by Aaron Brody to the revelation that "The ancient Israelites were polytheists."

So this really shows how wrong the Bible was and disproves all of the Bible's statements that the Israelites only worshipped one God, huh?

Uh - no.

The Bible does not actually say that the Israelites only worshipped the One True God. The Bible says that they were supposed to, but it pretty clearly indicates that they tended to have a problem following the rules. That's why so many Old Testament passages refer to Israel as an adultress or a whore. It is completely consistent with the Bible to assume that a lot of Israelis may have syncretically "married" God to the pagan goddess Asherah.

As for the Biblical "admission" (I use scare quotes because the implication is that someone intended to cover this up but was not able to do so) that Asherah was worshipped in YHVH's temple? It's from 2 Kings 21:7:

[King Manasseh] took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.

Wow - the Bible endorses polytheism here, right?

Wrong. Read the preceding passages (2 Kings 21:1-6):

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” 5 In the two courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, arousing his anger.

In other words, the presence of polytheism in Israel - even officially (humanly officially anyway) sanctioned polytheism, is firmly acknowledged in the Bible - even though it is condemned strongly.

Now you can argue over whether or not God is real and whether or not this condemnation of idolatry is really God's word or just the politico-theological writings of one of a number of factions (I believe in the former, by the way), but you really cannot argue that evidence of Israeli polytheism or of syncretic attempts to "Pantheonize" YHVH into one God out of many is in any way inconsistent with the Biblical account.

Even for a secularist, arguing that Asherah was "edited out" of the Old Testament is a little bit reaching - unless you have evidence that previous versions of the books of the Old Testament exist that mention Asherah or polytheism favorably, it would make far more sense to assume that the original Old Testament writings were by monotheists who were opposed to the polytheism around them. Saying that Asherah was "edited out" implies that the books comprising the Old Testament were originally written by people who were comfortable with polytheism. Even if you don't assume Biblical accuracy, it makes far more sense to assume that they were account written by polemical monotheists - Asherah-worshippers and polytheists were presented negatively from the outset, not "edited out."

The problem here is that too many people seem to think that somehow everyone mentioned in the Bible actually believed in the theology of the Bible. It is the same mindset that looks to the Bible to see passages describing wanton immorality and sin, and then determines that the Bible is an immoral book because everything it mentions it must condone, but in reverse - it assumes that whatever the Bible condemns, it denies the existence thereof.

In short, this story (not even a new one, the linked article itself mentions Raphael Patai coming up with this back in 1967) is a lot of noise with no real significance.

That is all.

Atheocracy

Sean Gabb has an excellent article on Lewrockwell.com detailing the slide of the U.K. into a secular humanist theocracy.

This is why so many Christians now bristle at the idea of a "separation of church and state." It used to mean that the state left he church alone. Now it increasingly means the state actively imposing secular humanism on the masses.

That is all.

Women in the Military

At the risk of becoming obsessed with Alas, let me point out how STUPID this post there is.

Apparently, being concerned about men would react to women in combat is "coddling" them.

Yet, apparently "the angry black woman" thinks that we need to accommodate pregnancies in the military, and has nothing to say about the lowered physical standards for women, or notices that if men treated women the same way they treat other men, they would likely be sued for harassment.

And of course, "A whole chunk of the DADT debate was shaped by this sense that men’s sensibilities are, apparently, just too damn delicate to deal with the possibility that Joe over there might like to look at penises now and then."

Of course, when women express similar concerns, we are supposed to have training sessions about sexual harassment, etc.. Of course women need to be coddled.

The hypocrisy here is astounding.

That is all.

Steve Sailer's Best Piece of Advice for the GOP in 2012

If the GOP wants to make 2012 different from 2008, it must try to nominate a good candidate for a change.

The implied insult to the previous few GOP candidates is priceless.

That is all.

Dirty Little Hypocrites

Alas on the Gabrille Giffords shooting by Jared Loughner.

Alas on the shooting of nine people by Omar Thornton.

Any questions?

That is all.

EPIPHANY!

And not the one that happened yesterday...

Kevin MacDonald:Jews::Rosisy:Women

Both MacDonald and Roissy take a few largely ignored facts about their preferred topic (in MacDonald's case, that a lot of Jewish behavior is driven by anti-white Gentile and anti-Christian animus; in Roissy's case that women have a secual attraction to destructive male traits) and proceed to center their entire view of the topic around those facts.

That is, MacDonald takes one particular issue that the modern Jewish community tends to have and expands it into its defining trait. Roissy treats women as if they were walking sex doll puzzles (arrange the colors in the right order to get laid), without much else of interest about them.

That is all.

TRON: Legacy Review

I really liked the movie. Go see it.

I will do a more detailed review soon.

That is all.

More on DREAM Act

In my last post, I said that you need to call your Senators and tell them to vote against the DREAM Act.

I just realized the most important thing to say in such a call: "this is a more important issue to me than keeping the Bush tax rates."

Make certain your Senators know how high a priority this particular issue is.

By the way, if your Senator is one of these:

ARKANSAS
Sen. Pryor (D)

FLORIDA
Sen. LeMieux (R)

MAINE
Sen. Collins (R)
Sen. Snowe (R)

MASSACHUSETTS
Sen. Brown (R)

NEBRASKA
Sen. Nelson (D)

NORTH CAROLINA
Sen. Hagan (D)

then they have already been converted to a "NO" vote. IF you call them, do it to thank them, not to harangue them on how to vote.

That is all.

Just Say "NO!" to DREAM Act

Remember to call your Senators and Representatives and to tell them to vote "NO!" on the DREAM Act amnesty.

Also, consider signing up for NumbersUSA action alerts, and to send free faxes to your elected officials.

That is all.

I Hate Exxon Mobil

Recently I got a Mobil credit card because it offered a $50 restaurant.com dining certificate (and a second if I bought more than 100 gallons of gas), figuring that I could use it to get some restaurant gift cards.

It turns out that all the gift card can be used to do is to purchase coupons that have tons of restrictions on them.

The dirty S.O.B.s got me to get their credit card by offering me something worthless. "Fill your plate," indeed.

While the offer I am sure does not meet the legal definition of fraud, it is morally dishonest to call it a "fill your plate" offer, as if what they were offering was free gift cards rather than, in essence, free coupons.

I have decided not to buy any more gas from Mobil and to boycott even their convenience stores to the extent it is possible to do so.

And I have decided to complain about it online, beccuse I have not seen anyone else do it yet.

At least all I lost was about 400 points on my Sears Citibank Mastercard (by not buying gas using it instead of the Mobil card - I got about 66 gallons before I realized how useless to me the gift card was).

That is all.

Thought on Joe Miller

As he has truly been surpassed in votes by Murkowski, and the only possible way for him to get elected is to get her ballots disqualified on technicalities of spelling (and apparently now even that will not be enough), he should concede and get on with it. Even if he would make a better Senator than she would, prolonging the recount process is not going to accomplish anything, and even if he were to prevent her from being seated on time (a la Franken), it won't really politically benefit the GOP, so there is not even a cynical partisan reason for him to hang on.

That is all.

"Paycheck Fairness" Act Fails - Good.

I think that the biggest problem with the so-called Paycheck Fairness Act is the one laid out by Attorney Lawrence Lorber:

what is going to happen is inevitably you will move toward a very rigid civil-service-like pay system, and there won't be any opportunity for significant merit-based raises... What you will have to do is assure that when you give increases you don't wind up with some sort of a pay differential, and you do that by not giving pay increases or by creating superficial promotions."

That is all.

Three Cheers for James Blunt

I never thought much of his singing, but if, as the BBC Reports, he was willing to defy General Insano's order to start World War III, then something is right with him in my book!

That is all.

Amazon vs. the TSA

Amazon recently removed a "how-to" guide for pedophiles from its elecronic book lists.

Of course, the easiset how-to book for getting away with pedophilic behavior need only contain one sentence:

"Become a Transportation Security Administration officer."

That is all.

Gay Rights-ers Real Goal: Destroy All Opposition

Christians are no longer allowed to adopt in Britain unless they surrender to secular humanist morality.

And notice the weasel words that Ben Summerskill uses to justify the policy:

"‘Many Christian parents of gay children will be shocked at Mr and Mrs Johns’s views, which are more redolent of the 19th century than the 21st.’"

Translation: Because we have got some Christians (or least soi disant Christians) to reject Biblical teaching on homosexuality, those doctrines are no longer to be considered part of Christianity. Moreover, the existence of non-traditional teachings invalidates the right to hold traditional teachings; a particular teaching cannot be considered part of your religion as long as we can get someone who claims to belong to your religion to reject it.

This sleight of hand happens frequently, when someone who criticizes a policy for violating their religious beliefs is pointed towards another person ostensibly of the same religion who supports the policy, as if that someone's belief invalidates everyone's who disagrees with him. It is as if freedom of religion only means freedom to identify as a particular creed rather than freedom to hold one's own particular beliefs.

Of course, I suppose that people who defend this policy will remind me that anyone who rejects the sexual revolution is automatically an oppressor and has no rights.

Thanx and a tip o' the hat to Lawrence Auster.

That is all.

The Austrian Concept of Inflationary Fed Policy in a Nutshell

A comment by "Wandarin" on one of Steve Sailer's posts:


"I'm confused by how this QE actually works in actual actuality"

Imagine a large hot-air balloon carrying a bunch of people with a gigantic hole in it. The person in charge of flying the balloon could:

a) Land, fix the hole, then take off again.
b) Keep firing the gas cannister thereby keeping the balloon in the air as long as possible before the gas runs out and the balloon suffers a catastrophic crash.

Now imagine the person in charge of the gas cannister:
a) Is responsible for the hole in the balloon and will be found out if the balloon lands.
b) Has a parachute
c) Gets money for every second the balloon stays in the air.


That is all.

Mike Adams on Anti-Bullying

I think that this article makes a decent point about the problems with the recent demand for more anti-bullying laws and/or policies on the heels of the Tyler Clementi suicide.

The major problem is that there is plenty of bullying going on against people with unpopular religious viewpoints (read: they don't endorse the sexual revolution) and many suspect that the gist of increases "anti-bullying" would simply be to increase bullying aginst the other side (because people who don't endorse the sexual revolution don't count, as Emily Nagoski reminds us).

That is all.

Paul Gottfried Defends Germany

I think that this article about Thilo Sarrazin by Paul Gottfried makes a compelling point about modern German politics; essentially, that there is a very trong element that wants German national suicide, under the pretext that anything else is a resurgence of Nazism.

Some of this may be due to paranoia directed at the Germans, but some of it I think is a willful spiteful decision to get rid of Germany in revenge for World War II.

It is high time that Germans learn to find a happy medium between ultranationalism and autoracism (hatred of one's own race), and at some point some of the laws designed to prevent a return to Nazism need to be reviewed in order to make certain that they didn't go too far in the other direction towards making self-annihilation mandatory. At the very least it needs to be realized that the proportion of the population that was exposed to Nazism is rapidly dying off from age. And, if they are going to hav laws against anything that smacks of Nazism, they should at the very least do the same thing with communism; it could be justified as a way of deprogramming those Germans from the eastern section.

That is all.

Pastors and Politics

(Be warned: if you click on the link, the comments on the page contain sound files that start playing automatically).

Doug Giles has an interesting article about what makes pastors lack boldness on social, cultural, and political issues in our climate, regardless of how much these issues impact church issues.

I think it's a good read, although I cannot agree with everything he says, and for this sort of article the Jonah Goldberg-esque cultural references are inappropriate.

That is all.

Tom Tancredo for Colorado

Dear Readers,

There is an excellent opportunity to support a candidate who is good on immigration and to get a Constitution Party candidate elected to the most prominent office yet!

Please, if you have any extra cash donate to Tom Tancredo's campaign!

-Glaivester

That is all.