Yahweh on Religious Freedom
Deuteronomy 12:2-11, Yahweh to the children of Israel (emphasis added):
2 If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams--and he give thee a sign or a wonder,
3 and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee--saying: 'Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them';
4 thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for HaShem [Yahweh] your G-d putteth you to proof [has tested you], to know whether ye do love HaShem your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul.
5 After HaShem your G-d shall ye walk, and Him shall ye fear, and His commandments shall ye keep, and unto His voice shall ye hearken, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave.
6 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken perversion against HaShem your G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which HaShem thy G-d commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.
7 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, that is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying: 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
8 of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
9 thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him;
10 but thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
11 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to draw thee away from HaShem thy G-d, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
2 If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams--and he give thee a sign or a wonder,
3 and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee--saying: 'Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them';
4 thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for HaShem [Yahweh] your G-d putteth you to proof [has tested you], to know whether ye do love HaShem your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul.
5 After HaShem your G-d shall ye walk, and Him shall ye fear, and His commandments shall ye keep, and unto His voice shall ye hearken, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave.
6 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken perversion against HaShem your G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which HaShem thy G-d commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.
7 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, that is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying: 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
8 of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
9 thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him;
10 but thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
11 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to draw thee away from HaShem thy G-d, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
This passage shows that 1) the main thing that Yahweh cares about is his "wife's" faithfulness--he indeed is a jealous god--and 2) his total disdain for reason and independent thought. Having no confidence that his followers can out-debate the advocates of other religions, he orders his followers to kill the others.
This brings to mind all the arguments made after 11 Sep 2001 about passages in the Quran on "killing the infidels", as if nothing like it was present in the Christian Bible (adopted of course from the Hebrew scriptures).
ReplyDeleteYes it does.
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