1000 Verses – a project of Judaism Resources

I. 37. Page 110

Brown’s compares of the accusation that the Christian Scriptures is a book of hate to the anti-Semitic accusation that the Talmud is a book of immorality. This analogy is outrageous. No one who revered the Talmud ever read it as a license to be immoral, but many people who are still considered authorities on the Christian Scriptures read it as a license to hate Jews.

There is another relevant question that must be asked here. The entire purpose of communication is to transport ideas from the mind of the communicator to his intended audience. The words the communicator uses are not the end-goal of the act of communicating. The words are just a means to reach the end-goal. The ultimate purpose of any communication is the ideas that the target audience walks away with. With this information in front of us, we can appreciate why any wise communicator will evaluate the world-view of his or her audience before deciding which words to use to get the message across. If you are speaking to a crowd that is deeply imbued with the principles of the essential equality of all people and the extreme value of human life and you tell them that the Jews are the children of the devil, you could perhaps expect them to reinterpret your words according to the principles that they hold dear (even that is a stretch). But if you are speaking to an audience that never heard of these principles, and you teach them that the Jews are the children of the devil, what message do you expect them to hear?

Now the Christian scriptures are in essence a communication from the first Christian teachers to Christians in all generations. Did the authors of these books have any inkling as to how their words would be understood in future generations? Did these authors have any idea how the mind-set of their intended audience will influence the way their words are understood? If they did, then they were partners to the murderous activities of the Church. If they were myopic, simpleminded people who could not foresee how their words would be understood by the very audience that they were addressing, then how can anyone attach significance and value to their words?

Brown quotes Jesus as saying “love your enemies”. Where does Jesus say anything positive about his own enemies? Where does Jesus acknowledge the moral responsibility to question his authority? After all, if he wasn’t who he claimed he was (which he wasn’t) then obeying him is the most grievous sin against God. Together with the false prophets of history, Jesus could not recognize the simple truth that God desires an honest heart.

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Who Insulted My Mother?

Muslims are understandably offended when people lampoon the founder of their religion. There are radical Muslims who would actually kill anyone who offends their prophet. But there are also millions of moderate Moslems who would not condone killing one who ridicules Mohammed but they still feel affronted by the actions of the scoffers.

There is no question that the feeling of these moderate Muslims is just and needs to be respected but it also needs to be put into perspective.

The argument of those who are offended by these derisive cartoons or by the desecration of the Quran, compares the situation to a parent child relationship. How would you feel if someone were to draw cartoons that insult your mother? So goes the argument.

I must admit that this argument is very persuasive. If someone were to draw my mother in an offensive way I would feel deeply hurt. But the argument is not relevant in this situation.

Let us take this same parable and make it fit this situation. If you have two people who are offending my mother. One of them draws distasteful pictures of her and burns her writings while the other one goes around killing people believing that this is what my mother wants them to do. Which of these two people will hurt me more deeply?

I wouldn’t even think about those who draw silly cartoons while people are committing murder in my mother’s name. And if the people drawing those cartoons are doing so to warn the populace of the criminal activities of those who are misusing my mother’s name, I would thank them for their work.

If you care about the honor of Islam, then protest when acts of violence are perpetrated in its name. Disrobe the clerics who preach murder and mayhem and grant them no respect. Stand with the victims of those who are harmed by the misuse of your religion wherever you find them, and you will find them in almost every corner of the globe. If you are serious about the honor of Islam then show it. By ignoring those who use the Quran to support acts of terrorism and focusing on those who draw cartoons of Mohammed you are not standing for the honor of Islam. You are bending to the intimidation of radical murderers.

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Riddle

10 Responses to Riddle

I would like to thank all of you who took a shot at answering this riddle, and congrats to Fred for getting the correct answer. The reason I posted this little diversion is because it demonstrates an important truth.

At first glance most of would think that the answer to this riddle cannot be “10 feet”, but it is. This demonstrates that our confidence in our understanding of reality is no gauge of accuracy. If we want to be honest with ourselves we can never shut our minds, but instead we should always keep our minds open to correction.