Welcome, Shelly! Yes, listen at what Yigal says. Remark: on August... many of us are on our annual or summer holidays. I myself start them next Monday till...... the 28th. But... be patient, please. Within its deficiencies... this list is a very good one. This is, at least, my feeling... By the way, Shelly, what is your level of biblical Hebrew? From 0 to 10... where would you place yourself? Say... in the midst?
Be heartly welcome and be trustful! We are serious people. Pere Porta (Barcelona, Catalonia, Northeastern Spain) 2011/8/4 Yigal Levin <[email protected]> > Dear Shelly, > > Thanks for the introduction and welcome to B-Hebrew. It looks as if you > have > a lot of interesting issues on your mind. However, I'm not sure that > B-Hebrew is the appropriate place in which to address them. B-Hebrew is a > forum for the discussion of the text of the Hebrew Bible (that is, what > most > Christians call the Old Testament), preferably with reference to the actual > Hebrew text. We do recognize that in order to understand a text one must > also understand the society that produced that text, and thus we do > occasionally allow discussions on historical, literary, social and other > issues, but only as these derive from the text itself. In other words, > questions such as "what does passage so and so mean when it says such and > such?" or, "does passage so and so mean such and such?" are legitimate for > the list, but not the type of very general questions that you asked. > > Also, while trying to understand the theology of the text is part of > understanding the text, this list is NOT about anyone's religious beliefs. > It's great that you started off with a statement about where you stand, but > we are NOT here to debate or to discuss out own personal faith (or lack of > it). > > And finally, the list rules state that every post must be signed with your > full (first and last) name. > > After all that, I look forward to interacting with you on the list! > > > Yigal Levin > Co-Moderator, B-Hebrew > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Shelly Saya > Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011 9:56 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [b-hebrew] Hello. I just joined. > > Hi all. I just joined. > > OK. To be honest, I have always been interested in Judaism but I have > always had problems believing in some of the doctrine, like most > religions. > :P > > I was raised Christian, like most people I have known throughout my life, > here in Detroit, MI. I have not believed in the Christian church's > teachings since I was 18, such as the trinity, the divinity of Christ, > etc. > But I still enjoy reading my bible. I like to read the Catholic bible > because of the apocrypha (which means more ancient books to read :P). I > realize this is not a religious forum but feel this is important in my > introduction. The bible is not just a list of beliefs in a religion but > also a historical book. And you might want to know where I'm coming from > since introductions are encouraged. > > When I read these books, I try to think as the author might, considering > that culture at the time the book was written. For example, there is a big > difference between the book of Judges and the books of Mattew or Acts. > Different time and slightly different thinking in people. Well, I would > think, anyway. :P > > What I really want from all of you are your opinions on the culture at the > time. From what I've read in the old testament, I do think they were > rather > barbaric, inconsiderate and incompassionate to women and livestock alike. > But they were very, very clean compared to neighboring civilizations. > > A few of my questions are: Do you think there was a correlation between the > two, the need for them to be so clean and also their disregard for women, > animals, neighboring nations all the way down to their infants, etc? Do > you > think this was widesread among all nations at the time? I have read it was > a common practice that when they came upon the enemy's chariots, they were > to cut the hamstrings of the horses. Good Lord! Why put the animal > through > such misery? If you need to disable the horse, the least you could do is > kill him. This way the horse starves to death or bleeds to death. > > Another question. Studying culture, I know there is a cause and affect. > Something leads to something else. Many civilizations worshipped the sun > and their religious festivals corresponded with the seasons. This is very > understandable, since they were so dependant on the weather to survive. > Cause and affect. So what do you think led these people to be this way? > How did we evolve from this into the people that we are today, where we > have > animal rights activists, vegans, women hold jobs, have a say in who they > marry, etc? Part of my logic says we are all born good and have a spark of > the devine in us. Looking back, considering evolution if you will, the > less > intelligent life on this planet, any other animal besides humans, you do > not > see rapings, torturing, annihilating an entire nation including the females > and infants, the way the Hebrews had a practice of. See 1 Samuel 15:1-3 > So > if evolution be the case, the neanderthals were > more peaceful, I'm sure than these people and these Hebrews evolved into > this. But why? > > These are some of the things I have been wondering. I am not here to cause > arguments or offend. I am always learning more and I realize I don't know > everything. I have asked this in religious groups that want to study the > scriptures but the people usually get upset, saying I am questioning God, > since God supposedly gave the commands for them to do these things. While > I > do pray, I also have a hard time believing that they were actually > commanded > by God to kill an entire nation that he led into being. I am fascinated > with ancient cultures and ancient history. I love studying how they lived > by studying their literature that we have today and examining how far we > have come as a people over the eons of time. > > Thanks. > > Shelly > > > Shelly > > > Fozzy "Hey Kermit! Do you know why everybody loves the mushroom?" > Kermit "No, Fozzy. Why?" > Fozzy "Because he's such a fungi!! Wakka wakka wakka!" > _______________________________________________ > b-hebrew mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew > > _______________________________________________ > b-hebrew mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew > -- Pere Porta _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
