Bus Scriptorian
As I was waiting for the bus home this afternoon a friend and I started chatting about my trip to Jerusalem. The conversation carried forward on to the bus. As were stood in the aisle talking about the current conditions of the Middle East I said, "Well, it really boils down to 'God said it was ours and to kill everyone and take it!' and 'No, God said it is ours!'"
The silver-haired man who happened to be seated right next to us took umbrage that I would make such horrible comment, and, in disbelief interjected, "Where does it say that? In no one's religious texts does it say that. It doesn't say that in the Koran, it doesn't say that in the..." at that point he either kind of petered off, or I interrupted. "Actually," I corrected him, "it's in the Old Testament. When the Hebrews enter the land of Canaan they were told to that the land was for them, and they were to kill every last Canaanite." He got quite irritated at my answer and turned back to his reading material. What I didn't get to ask him was: What do you think the Battle of Jericho was all about? or how about Ai, or, pretty much any group of peoples living in present day Israel when the Hebrews were approaching?
(Joshua 8 :1 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
2: And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.)
Does he think God was just kidding? Of that could possibly be misinterpreted? The icing on the cake, though, is: Every religion that follows from Judaism, automatically has that command/promise/covenant grandfathered in. It was part of the original, ergo, it's part of the newest. Therefore, it's in the sacred works of anyone of the Judeo-Christian beliefs, and (gasp!) Muslims (who believe that the Qur'an supersedes the Torah, but that it is a holy book as well). Which leads us to: Everyone fighting over the Middle East (specifically: Israel) honestly believes that God told them it's theirs. And, they're all pointing to the same book of scripture. The only thing that makes it their land rather than the other guy's is the correctness of their religion. Which, frankly, is subjective.
I don't know why people question me about scriptural fact. Maybe it's just because he doesn't know me. Well, needless, he shan't be making that mistake again anytime soon.
The silver-haired man who happened to be seated right next to us took umbrage that I would make such horrible comment, and, in disbelief interjected, "Where does it say that? In no one's religious texts does it say that. It doesn't say that in the Koran, it doesn't say that in the..." at that point he either kind of petered off, or I interrupted. "Actually," I corrected him, "it's in the Old Testament. When the Hebrews enter the land of Canaan they were told to that the land was for them, and they were to kill every last Canaanite." He got quite irritated at my answer and turned back to his reading material. What I didn't get to ask him was: What do you think the Battle of Jericho was all about? or how about Ai, or, pretty much any group of peoples living in present day Israel when the Hebrews were approaching?
(Joshua 8 :1 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
2: And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.)
Does he think God was just kidding? Of that could possibly be misinterpreted? The icing on the cake, though, is: Every religion that follows from Judaism, automatically has that command/promise/covenant grandfathered in. It was part of the original, ergo, it's part of the newest. Therefore, it's in the sacred works of anyone of the Judeo-Christian beliefs, and (gasp!) Muslims (who believe that the Qur'an supersedes the Torah, but that it is a holy book as well). Which leads us to: Everyone fighting over the Middle East (specifically: Israel) honestly believes that God told them it's theirs. And, they're all pointing to the same book of scripture. The only thing that makes it their land rather than the other guy's is the correctness of their religion. Which, frankly, is subjective.
I don't know why people question me about scriptural fact. Maybe it's just because he doesn't know me. Well, needless, he shan't be making that mistake again anytime soon.
posted by granola girl at 6:27 pm
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