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[Since I started working on this write-up a couple months ago, I have read what has got to be one of the most significant books that I have ever read on the Jewish Question, that book being, “From Yahweh to Zion,” by Dr. Laurent Guyenot, and translated from French into English by Dr. Kevin Barrett. I learned about this book when I listened to Kevin Barrett on the Brian Ruhe Show, so I had to immediately get it and read it. And the first recommendation for the book that appears behind the front cover is by a Christian scholar and process philosopher / theologian who I have a great deal of respect for, Dr. John B. Cobb, Jr. I think it would be good for me to quote the entire recommendation by Dr. Cobb here, since it helps to show how really valuable this book “From Yahweh to Zion” by Dr. Guyenot is. So that review is quoted below.]
“There is no question of the extraordinary gifts and achievements of the Jewish people and of their enormous contribution to American culture and intellectual life. Also, we all know that Zionists play a large role in United States in the media, in finance, and in international policy. In addition we know that there is rather tight censorship with respect to what may be said about these matters without ad hominem response. The fact of Gentile crimes against Jews throughout history is used to justify this censorship, much, but not all, of which is self-imposed. In my view, through their role in this censorship, Jews are paving the way for the rise of anti-Jewish feeling and perhaps much worse.
“This book may be simply dismissed as anti-Jewish, but it would be far better to engage it in a scholarly, rather than an ad hominem, way. Instead of discouraging scholars from considering the evidence of Jewish crimes, I wish that Jewish scholars would support freedom of inquiry and explain their reasons for disagreeing in open discussion. Otherwise those of us who seek uncensored truth may be misled by errors and exaggerations in what is usually hidden from us and is presented only at the margins of our society.
“Much in this book is offensive to Christians and Muslims as well as to Jews. As a Christian, however, I find the offense to be a stimulus to fresh thinking and repentance. What is selected to be said about us is certainly not the inclusive truth. But it has its truth, and the truth it has should not be neglected.
“—John B. Cobb, Jr., founding co-director, Center for Process Studies”
[So the rest of my write-up below is from about 2 months ago, having just edited and cleaned it up a bit. I have not tried to correct or change any of my views based on having read Guyenot’s book, but I think some of my historical ideas are not quite right after reading his book. My views are heavily influenced by what I learned within fundamentalist Zionist Christian upbringing and brainwashing (aka God virus infection).]
MY AWAKENING TO 911 TRUTH JANUARY 2004 & BEYOND
The September 11, 2001 event was traumatic for me as it surely was for many people. I was totally taken in by the propaganda. I had no hint that the official story was false and I knew nothing about a 911 truth movement. Just by chance I happened to stumble upon the serendipity.li web site when I followed a search result to an article on that site about whether George W. Bush was actually really a moron or not. But that site also had some articles showing how the way the WTC buildings came down was much more likely to have been controlled demolitions from explosives of some kind rather than gravitational collapses due to structural failure from heat from the jet fuel fires. I also consulted with some fellow employees with explosives expertise. So this got me started on my awakening to 911 truth. I then proceeded to read and research everything that I could about this. If this was true, I had to find out for sure if it was really true to the best of my ability.
MICHAEL RUPPERT, PEAK OIL, VICTOR THORN
Perhaps one of the first researchers I found was Michael Ruppert. Oddly, he seemed to think that the way the buildings came down did not indicate that explosives were used, but that it could have been due to just the jet fuel fires. Through Ruppert I got sucked into the Peak Oil issue and became convinced that this was coming down upon the world very soon. As I was searching for information wherever I could find it, I was going for other truths being exposed besides 911 that many in the truth movement were also spreading. Also, I have a tendency that if somebody is badmouthing someone else, I want to go hear what that person has to say for myself. So Michael Ruppert was badmouthing somebody named Victor Thorn. So I had to go find out what Thorn had to say.
ERIC HUFSCHMID
I learned of the work of Eric Hufschmid both in his book and his video. I was also getting exposed to how we have been lied to about wars. Victor Thorn had an online show called Wing TV which I ended up watching a lot, which he did with his girlfriend, Lisa, if I remember right.
DARYL BRADFORD SMITH, CHRISTOPHER BOLLYN
I also at some point got clued in to Daryl Bradford Smith and his show and web site. So I was a follower of Smith, Hufschmid, and Christopher Bollyn when they were all working together. When Bollyn had his run in with the law where he was tasered and injured by the police, I ended up donating a few hundred dollars to his defense fund.
SOFIA SMALLSTORM, LIFTING THE FOG, RICHARD GAGE, STEVEN JONES, AMERICAN FREE PRESS, ANTI-SEMITES, HOLOCAUST DENIERS
I remember hearing from Hufschmid and the others about a mysterious lady named Sofia who was coming out with a new 911 truth video. I ended up getting this video when it first came out, and it was very well done, and later learned that it was Sofia Smallstorm who created it. This was sometime in 2006. In November of 2006 I attended the lifting the fog conference at UC Berkeley that was a 911 truth conference. This is where I first saw Richard Gage and Dr. Steven Jones. I remember at this conference some discussion within the audience about how some reference was given to the American Free Press and possibly Bollyn’s work among others on 911 truth, and someone said that they (The American Free Press) were anti-Semites and holocaust deniers. So I started seeing how there were some areas of truth seeking that were off limits to many so called 911 truthers. As I said before, when someone tells me I shouldn’t look into something, that tells me that I should look into it.
I am pretty good at analyzing information. But I am not that good at memorizing a bunch of facts. So it is like this. If I were on a jury I would listen carefully and take a lot of notes that would help me remember the facts better so I could reach my conclusions about the case. I might end up being very convinced in my analysis of the facts in the case, but that does not mean that I would have as good of a command of the facts and arguments in the case like the attorneys in the case would have. So this is how I feel about the holocaust. I researched it quite a bit and concluded that the official story we are all told (the Jewish holocaust mythology or religion) is mostly false. But that doesn’t mean that I feel I have a good enough command of all the facts that I feel I am prepared to present the case like a skilled attorney could. Others have done this and have done a good job on this. I am thankful for them and their scholarship and courage, and especially realizing that many of them have suffered and some have actually gone to prison for so called “holocaust denial.” Can you believe this? As I have said before, if somebody tells me not to look into something, that tells me that I should look into it, and I will look into it if I get the time to do so. If having laws against “holocaust denial” is not a red flag indicating that the holocaust needs to be looked into and scrutinized carefully by as many human beings who have the brains, ability, and time to do so, I don’t know what does?
CYRUS SCOFIELD AND THE SCOFIELD REFERENCE BIBLE (FIRST PUBLISHED 1909) DISPENSATIONALISM
Somewhere along the way I also got clued in to the potential issues with the Scofield Bible. And wouldn’t you know it, that was the Bible that was recommended by my Bible teacher Robert B. Thieme, Jr. back when I started following him in 1974. So here began the dismantling of another one of the sacred cows that I was indoctrinated with. The Scofield Reference Bible with its teaching known as Dispensationalism started influencing Christians to believe that Jews would need to be restored to the land of Israel before Jesus Christ would return according to Bible prophecy.
It is hard for me to describe all of the ins and outs of all the different information that I delved into in reaching my conclusions along the way as well as perhaps eventually deciding there is much I really don’t know for sure.
ATTORNEY AND PROLIFIC CHRISTIAN WRITER PHILIP MAURO REFUTES DISPENSATIONALISM
I discovered that there was a devout Christian attorney who became a researcher and prolific writer on his Bible interpretations and his name was Philip Mauro. He initially was taken in by the Scofield Bible stuff, which is also known as Dispensationalism, but later became a critic of it. But much of Mauro’s other Christian beliefs were pretty “fundamentalist” in character. Mauro lived around the same time as Cyrus Scofield, although he was born 16 years after Scofield was born. It is quite interesting reading Mauro’s books that were written many years before the modern day so called state of Israel came into being.
So I ended up discovering other Christian scholars and authors who disagreed very much with Dispensationalism but were still quite “fundamentalist” in a general sense. This can be an important first step, because if you can show that some body of common and popular belief has a lot of credible arguments refuting it, you can hopefully be much more discerning and careful before jumping on that particular bandwagon yourself. Another case in point here is a Christian theology known as Preterism, where most if not all of Bible prophecy is viewed as already having been fulfilled or taken place. For example, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70 by the Romans is seen as a fulfillment of much Bible prophecy by Preterists.
THE TALMUD AND ITS NASTY SAYINGS ABOUT JESUS
And then when you also learn about the Jewish Talmud and the nasty things it says about Jesus, Christians, and non Jews, if you are inclined to being a Bible believer, as I was, you kind of think this adds to the credibility of Jesus Christ and Christian Doctrine.
MICHAEL HOFFMAN, NATHANAEL KAPNER, ANDREW CARRINGTON HITCHCOCK
So I have read quite a bit of the work of Michael Hoffman. I have even read completely his book Judaism Discovered. Hoffman is very scholarly, but much of his writing is difficult for me to fully understand. I believe he is a devout Bible believing Christian of some kind, possibly Catholic oriented, but I am not quite sure. There is also Brother Nathanael Kapner, who I have followed for quite some time on his web site and videos. He is a devout Bible believing Christian of an Eastern or Russian Orthodox orientation. And there is also Andrew Carrington Hitchcock who has written exposing the Synagogue of Satan.
I could be wrong and hope that I am, but I suspect that most of the above probably believe in an eternal hell (unending conscious torment), which I no longer believe in, but they do expose the duplicity of the “Jews,” which I think is a good thing.
DR LORRAINE DAY
I am aware of a person who is a devout Bible believer, she exposes the duplicity of the Jews, and she also believes in universal salvation, as I do. Her name is Dr. Lorraine Day, a former medical doctor. She also has a very lengthy book where she explains her interpretation of the Bible, which I have read.
Although I respect these people, I no longer believe quite as strongly in the Bible as I think that they do.
MY CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM, RELIGIOUS PLURALISM, AND VIEW THAT THE BIBLE IS NOT THE INERRANT WORD OF GOD
I believe in universal salvation, that all will ultimately be saved by God, and that a very strong case can be made for this from the Bible. But I am also a religious pluralist. I do not feel that I can make the case that there is one true religion, and that all others are false.
Also, I no longer view the Bible as the inerrant Word of God as so many Bible believers do. I instead view it as the Word of Man expressing his views of how he sees and thinks of God.
DR DARREL RAY’S GOD VIRUS THEORY VERY USEFUL
I just recently finished re-reading a book that I had first read quite a few years ago, The God Virus, by Dr. Darrel Ray. His way of looking at religions as viruses I think is a very powerful theory to help explain and understand them. Keep in mind that his theory is not exclusively applied to God believing religions. For example, he even applies it to communism, which is atheistic.
So I want to be careful not to blindly accept someone else’s Christian religion just because they expose the duplicity of the Jews. There may be other ways to explain the Jewish phenomenon that do not require believing that the Bible is the Word of God. In my opinion, this is likely.
In the next section I try to explain the many questions that I am still working on about the Jewish phenomenon.
TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF THE JEWISH PHENOMENON
How well do you know what you think you know on the many ideas that make up your view of reality? If you have something you hold to be true, how sure are you that it is true? 100%, 99.9%, 99%, 90%, 50% ? Do you think you can prove it to be true, or do you accept it on faith alone? If on faith, how strong or sure is that faith?
UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS IN NUMERICAL SCIENCES
In experimental sciences where measurements are made and calculations and conclusions are made from those measurements there is what is known as error analysis or uncertainty analysis. I think it was high school chemistry where I first started getting introduced to this idea. It was called significant figures, or sig figs for short. It was a sort of short hand way or rule of thumb for abiding by a reasonable uncertainty analysis.
If you measured the mass and volume of a quantity of a substance, 37.42 grams and 29.3 cubic centimeters, and divided them on an electronic calculator to get the density 37.42/29.3 = 1.277133105802048 g/cc, would we be justified in reporting the result with 16 sig figs as shown on the calculator and as I have shown here? Of course not. Of the two numbers you divided, the one with the least number of sig figs was 29.3 cc with 3 sig figs. So you are only justified in reporting the result to 3 sig figs, so rounding, you would report 1.28 g/cc. There are different rules for different mathematical operations, such as if you had to add the numbers together to get your result. There is the rigorous way of doing an uncertainty analysis where you state the value and uncertainty of every measurement you made, such as 37.42 +/- 0.01, and carry all of this forward through all the equations and calculations you do with all the parameters to get your results with their uncertainties that you are justified in reporting. Mathematically, this method actually ends up using a relatively basic application of differential calculus.
UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS IN SOFT SCIENCES?
So viewpoints, or systems of belief, or historical interpretations, should also be subject to some sort of uncertainty analysis. It’s just that it is not going to be so mathematically precise and rigorous as the previously described method used in the physical sciences. Surely philosophers and scholars in other fields have dealt with these issues. It is just not a part of my educational background, so I can not speak to it except to say that such a field of study must surely exist. (I have just barely started searching the internet for stuff on this, just enough to realize there is stuff out there, but not enough to say much about it. I did find a concept called Post-normal science (PNS) which seems to have some relation to what I am suggesting here.)
There are issues of uncertainty in historical interpretations and theories. There is a saying that the winners write the history. So within our culture we are educated or taught a certain viewpoint on history. But if you do your own research you will find there are other viewpoints that contradict much of what you were originally taught. The other viewpoint might effectively debunk or at least introduce some uncertainty into the things that you previously thought you were pretty sure about. But the alternate viewpoint might have some of its own flaws or uncertainties as well.
There is also the concept of cherry picking the facts you use for your history. Fundamentalist Christians would tend to pick the facts that support their religious viewpoint. The same can be said for every religion or belief system. This is what can be so difficult about history. Buyer beware. Be careful what you believe or buy into. Every religion, belief system, cultural historical viewpoint, is also potentially a means of control and influence by those whose loyalty is to their group and system and not necessarily for the truth or for the good of all.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET PEOPLE TO BELIEVE WHAT IS NOT TRUE OR WHAT CANNOT BE PROVEN TO BE TRUE?
So if you can get someone to believe that something is true that is either not true or very likely not true or not able to be proven to be true, and you can get them to base their entire belief system on that as a foundational truth, then you have essentially captured that person. And the more things you can get them to believe that are like this, not true or likely not true or not able to be proven, the more ensnared in your system they will be.
TRUTHFULNESS SHOULD INCLUDE OPENNESS ABOUT UNCERTAINTIES
So where I am at now in my religious beliefs is as a former fundamentalist Christian who has come to the place of seeing that much of what I formerly believed or bought into has been debunked. I still consider myself a Christian, but a universalist in the sense that I believe that all will ultimately be saved by God, and also a religious pluralist in the sense that there are other ways to God or fulfillment in life besides Christianity, even including atheism, and many religions and belief systems in the world (including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) are in need of reform and revision to be less toxic, terroristic and controlling, and instead more accepting, affirming, nurturing, comforting, and inclusive rather than exclusive. I should also add that they should be honest and open about taking into account and reporting the uncertainties in the things that they claim to be true.
So I no longer believe, as so many Christians do, that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. It makes much more sense that it is the Word of Man, writing about his thoughts and views of God, and perhaps within this, overstating and exaggerating and embellishing the content so as to even be claiming that it is the Word of God. If the Bible is viewed this way, it becomes much less dangerous, and potentially more valuable for truths or wisdom or lessons that it might contain. A similar view could be stated for other so called holy scriptures of other religions. If they are taken less seriously and less dogmatically they actually end up being more valuable. Let’s also not forget the extent that these religious writings were developed and used by the cognitive elite to exercise power and control over the multitude under them.
DOES ANYONE THINK THAT JEWS ARE NOT OVERREPRESENTED IN POWER, CONTROL, INFLUENCE, AND WEALTH IN THE WORLD?
So we have in the world this very small minority, known as Jews, who exert tremendous power, control, and influence throughout the entire world.
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN END TIMES PROPHECIES
Do you realize that there are actually orthodox Jews who interpret their holy scriptures (The Pentateuch and so on, what is known as the Christian Old Testament of the Bible) as actually having prophecies in it that are yet to be fulfilled, where in their believed future fulfillment the temple will be rebuilt and animal sacrifices will resume again in the temple and some sort of Messiah will come and from that point on the Jews and their Messiah will be the rulers of the entire world? I am not making this shit up. It’s actually true. These are very scholarly, influential, Jewish Rabbis teaching these things. And I have even seen Benjamin Netanyahu (whose views I don’t think are considered ultra orthodox like the Rabbis mentioned above) refer back to the ancient Jewish culture and how special they, the Jews, are because of this. But I have to question whether just because a people has an ancient culture and history where their holy men wrote scriptures about how they were special and chosen by God, whether this makes them truly special in any way, except for possibly being extremely self centered, narcissistic, and arrogant, not the kind of qualities that are really needed to help advance the entire human race at this point in history, I would say.
And of course there are fundamentalist Christians who also believe all sorts of Bible prophecy but they also have the New Testament scriptures as an additional source of prophecy and they also see similar things happening in the future of the holy land and Israel, except that their Messiah will be the return of Jesus Christ. And let’s not overlook that Christians often see themselves as a sort of God’s chosen people as well, with similar potentialities for self centeredness, narcissism, and arrogance as in the Jewish religion and culture. And of course there are fundamentalist Muslims who also have their end times theories of how God will wrap up human history at the end of time.
The problem is that if you have a lot of different religions actually believing all of the end times prophecy stuff, humanity may set it self up for a self fulfilling prophecy of destruction.
I no longer take any of this end times Bible prophecy stuff seriously at all. I view any so called prophetical writings in holy scriptures as speaking to the hopes and dreams of religious believers at the time they were written by the religion’s cognitive elite so as to give hope and comfort to the people they were in charge of, for the future, that no matter how bad things get, that God will ultimately work everything out in the end.
SHOULDN’T PROPHECY BELIEVING CHRISTIAN STUDENTS OF CONSPIRACY THEORIES BE WELCOMING THE NEW WORLD ORDER SO AS TO HASTEN THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST?
And most Christians view the Jews favorably and even worship them as the source of their Old Testament Bible, and that Jesus came from them, so Jesus was a Jew, even though most Jews do not accept Jesus as their messiah. And there is also a portion of prophecy believing fundamentalist Christians who are also students of conspiracy theories, and they see all these terrible evil and futuristic things happening in the world as the fulfillment of Bible prophecy of a coming New World Order dictatorship headed by the anti-Christ that all must happen before the return of the real Jesus Christ to wipe out all the bad guys and set everything straight. Well, if they really believe this, why are they fighting it? I would think that they should be welcoming it and helping it along so that Jesus Christ can come back sooner rather than later.
WHAT I AM SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND
So I want to understand why all of this is and how it all works from the most opened minded approach and unbiased approach to history without any assumed belief system to sway the results. And for those who are willing to look at the facts of history, we know that many powerful, wealthy, influential, devout Jews have been involved in planning and carrying out some of the most evil deeds in history, such as the false flag operation of 9/11, just to name one of many. This is certainly not a condemnation of all Jews. And let’s not forget that the powerful Jews have managed to con the vast majority of Christians (many of these even view themselves as Christian Zionists) to go right along with them in support of these evil deeds whether knowingly or unknowingly.
And much evil and horrible things have been done under the leadership of organized Christianity as well. So most if not all religions and movements are a mixed bag. Good and bad have both come from them and been justified my them.
I LAY OUT MY UNDERSTANDING AND MANY QUESTIONS I STILL HAVE
The Old Testament scriptures spawned at least three religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Jews also ended up developing a huge compilation of writings on the order of more like an encyclopedia than a single book, which is called the Talmud.
There is so much about the Jewish phenomenon that makes little sense and is absurd, but the Jews who control most of the news media and avenues of influence have gotten people to believe and accept a lot of things without even thinking about it.
So where did the religion of the Old Testament come from and how did it develop? How much of the Bible is myth and how much is historical fact? Was there really a man chosen by God named Abraham? Before that, was there really a flood with the only survivors being Noah and his family, and from his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the entire world was repopulated with human beings? Before that, was there really an Adam and Eve as the first human beings created by God?
So where did the term anti-Semitism come from? Supposedly Jews were descended from Noah’s son Shem, but only a very small portion of Shem’s descendants ended up being Jews. So the term anti-Semitism makes absolutely no sense as being interpreted as anti-Jewish as it has been interpreted since the term first came into use. I am thinking back to the thing I said early about if you can get someone to believe something that is not true, then you have captured them. Is this an example of that?
Is there such a group of people known as Semites, those descended from Noah’s son Shem. Well, if you believe this, then you must believe there was really a man of God named Noah with three sons named Shem, Ham, and Japheth who repopulated all the earth with human beings, and I guess you must also believe in a world wide flood that wiped out all human beings on the earth except for Noah and his family.
Some might say that a Semite is one who speaks a Semitic language. Well, the tower of Babel came after Noah in the Bible, where God supposedly confused the languages.
If one doesn’t believe in all of this Bible stuff, then I suppose there could be some sort of definition of what a Semitic language is, and Hebrew perhaps falls within this, but there must be many other Semitic languages besides Hebrew, so again, this idea of anti-Semitic being anti-Jewish makes absolutely no sense.
As I write this, I am not making any attempt to go back and check my facts or Bible scripture rigorously, but instead am just basing this on what I have learned and what I remember. Regarding scripture, there are so many different interpretations of things from Bible scholars, that it would be silly for me to quote scripture and try to claim any definite meanings from it.
So supposedly there was a guy named Abram who was descended from Shem, and God chose him as special, and that God was going to bless him and his descendants and some say also bless all of humanity through him, but also curse those who do not bless Abraham and his descendants. I forgot to mention that God renamed Abram, giving him the name Abraham.
So where did the Jews come from? First of all, Abraham fathered children through more than one woman. But the really special descendants of Abraham came through his wife Sarah, Isaac issuing from her. And then Isaac had twins, only one of which became the really very special one to God, Jacob. Jacob fathered children through multiple wives. God renamed Jacob Israel. So he had twelve sons, so these became known as the sons of Israel, from which came the 12 tribes of Israel, supposedly. I say supposedly because when you consider all of the history that transpired, like the 400 years of slavery in Egypt (again I say supposedly because is this historical fact or myth), is it likely realistic that genetic purity could have been maintained among the 12 tribes of Israel?
Anyway, after Moses led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt in what became known as the exodus, and a lot of wandering in the wilderness, and a lot of punishment from God because they didn’t follow God with enough faith to please God, some made it into the land that God had promised them, but not Moses. God had them commit genocide on the inhabitants of the land that God gave them but their genocide was not quite as thorough as God would have liked it to be, but still they were able to inhabit the land and form a nation, the nation of Israel.
So this nation ended up not being able to get along so they split into two parts, the northern kingdom known as Israel, and the southern kingdom known as Judah. There were ten tribes in Israel (northern kingdom) and two tribes in the Judah (southern kingdom). In the southern kingdom were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The northern kingdom was conquered in seven hundred and something BC and taken into exile, never to return, and assimilated elsewhere. These became known as the 10 lost tribes of Israel. The southern kingdom was conquered and taken into exile in five hundred and something BC but they were later allowed to go back and re-inhabit the land, so they were not lost to history. So this is how the term Judah, Judean, and the word we know today as Jew came about.
Realize of course that there are elements of uncertainty in this history. Regular historians often take issue with history that is only found in the Bible but not corroborated by other sources. So this is why the term Judean was a common term in the time of Jesus, from which came the term Jew. And Jesus was a Judean, so you could say that he was a Jew. Of course there are also those who say that Jesus never really existed. Much of the new testament scriptures were written long after Jesus died. And there is much debate on these dates even among Bible believing scholars.
So what were the promises God supposedly made to Abraham? You will have many descendants. Great nations will come from you. A particular great nation will come from you, usually thought to be the original nation of Israel. Through you all people or nations will be blessed.
Most fundamentalist Christians have been convinced that there are prophecies in the Bible for the nation of Israel to be restored by God that are yet future. They see the modern day State of Israel as a part of the path that is leading to that. In that sense they really do believe the modern State of Israel that was formed in 1948 is part of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
SO A PART OF THE JEWISH GOD VIRUS MUTATES AND BRANCHES OFF FORMING THE CHRISTIAN GOD VIRUS
So this is where I feel I need to bring in the concept of God Virus Theory as developed and presented in Darrel Ray’s book “The God Virus.” I just finished reading this book for the second time, and it presents a very powerful and insightful theory on how religions are like viruses. And it is not just religions that it applies to. For example, it can be applied to any movement or ideology, like communism as just one example.
So viruses tend to do whatever they can or need to do to ensure their survival, including mutating. So the modern day religion of Judaism is a God virus that traces back to the United Kingdom of Israel perhaps around 1000 BC, and of course even earlier than that. But the further back you go the more uncertainty there is in the history, much of which comes from the old testament Bible where it is often difficult to separate historical fact from myth.
As I previously described, the United Kingdom of Israel split into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom and so on to the time of Christ when there was a presence of Judeans (Israelites mostly from just 2 of the twelve tribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin) in the land of Palestine who had been allowed to return to their land after exile. So the Israel God virus had been under attack with the exiles and was mutating. And then because of Jesus Christ and his movement among the Judeans (Jews) of his day and after his death among his followers a new competing (or synergistic?) God virus came into being which eventually became what is known as Christianity.
So there was this hostility or enmity between the Judaism God virus and the Christian God virus right from the start, because one group believed Jesus was the Jewish messiah and the other group did not. So this enmity has been a part of the historical development of these two competing (or synergistic) God viruses up to the present day. Not many people know that the Talmud contains within it a lot of really nasty things about Jesus, that his mother Mary was a whore and Jesus was a bastard, and that Jesus is in hell being boiled in hot semen and/or feces. It also has nasty things in it about gentiles (non Jews), that it is OK for Jews to kill them, and cheat them, for example. Ever wonder why many Christians were suspicious and hostile toward Jews? Well the feelings were mutual. Not many people know that Jews declared war on Germany long before World War II started. If you declare war on somebody, don’t get all pushed out of shape when you suffer some consequences from that. If your ideology is a form of racial supremacy, like the exclusivism and racial supremacy of Judaism, then don’t be surprised if other forms of supremacism rise up and oppose you. What goes around, comes around. It’s par for the course. You reap what you sow. It’s karma. Get a life.
I AM BRAINSTORMING HERE WHAT MIGHT BE DONE TO IMPROVE THINGS BY POSSIBLY TONING DOWN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE AND AS MANY AS POSSIBLE OF THESE GOD VIRUSES
So I am struggling with what are the best ways to expose the truth about the most pernicious God viruses and seek ways that these God viruses might be able to be changed or mutated into more benign forms.
I consider myself a Christian Universalist and a Religious Pluralist. I do not believe that there is or will be a place of everlasting punishment commonly referred to as hell. I do not consider Christianity the one true religion, making all others false. I am accepting of all, including atheists and agnostics. I am in a sense an atheist in that I do not believe in a God with the characteristics that most fundamentalists believe in. I am also a student of process philosophy and process theology as a help in considering an alternate way of understanding God that makes more sense and has less contradictions with common sense like the fundamentalist concepts of God do. One notable feature of process theology is that God might not be quite as omnipotent (all powerful) as fundamentalism claims.
I am accepting of all, but I also oppose the bad and evil aspects that are in the more extreme God viruses.
A FINAL PLEA FOR SOME JEWISH SCHOLARS TO EXPLAIN A FEW THINGS TO ME
I would like to pose this question (and many others) to Jews and Jewish scholars. Please explain your religion to me. Do you really believe that your holy scriptures are from God, and that properly interpreted they indicate that God has promised people of your religion and culture (Judaism and Jewish culture) a certain piece of land on this earth? Do you really believe that you are a special people chosen by God to stand apart and above all other people? Are you Jewish supremacists? Do you believe that it is God’s will for Jews to ultimately rule over the entire world and over all non Jews (aka gentiles or goyim which means cattle)?
What was all that animal sacrifice and burnt offering stuff all about in your scriptures? How is it that the burnt offerings were a sweet smelling savor to the Lord (God)? Burning human or animal flesh does not smell good. Is it possible that they weren’t actually burnt, but instead were BBQ’ed? Now that could be a sweet smelling savor unless one is a vegan or vegetarian. Do any devout and practicing Jews still practice animal sacrifices and/or burnt offering? If not, why not? And why call it a “burnt” offering if it is only cooked but not burnt? And if a modern day temple is rebuilt in Israel and they re-institute animal sacrifices, why? What is the point?
And what about the creation story or myth of Adam and Eve? Do you believe this is literally true. And what about creation? Are you young earth creationists or old earth creationists? Do you believe that God could have used evolution as a part of His creation process?
I have learned from Christian scholar Michael Hoffman that in the Jewish Talmud it is forbidden for gentiles to read and/or study the Talmud and there is a curse on gentiles that do this. Is that true?
And what about circumcision? How do you explain that? There are so many questions to ask.
A lot of religious leaders have a lot of ‘splaining to do, not just Jews, but Christians and Muslims as well, and others, that is, anyone who claims to rely upon the old testament scriptures (or any other holy scriptures for that matter) as the basis for their religious (or cultural) practice and faith.
MY FINAL PLEA AND HOPE AND DESIRE
Let’s debunk and defang the worst in all religions and movements as much as we can, but not by force or violence, but instead with gentle and loving persuasion, and make this a better world for everybody, and get on to solving the real problems humanity faces.