Once you are able to see through the Biblical metaphors you will be able to look back at history and decipher events. Remove all the god dialogue and trim the stories back to reveal the facts. This is, of course, diametrically opposed to the approach taken by Biblical scholars who prefer to embelish further and stretch the poetic licence long past breaking point. Bring it back down to earth....
'his chariots are like a whirlwind' are tumbling ash clouds
'He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.' dito
'He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined!' dito
'raging furnace' is the volcano
'his tongue is a consuming fire' is overflowing lava
'holy ones' are water vapour escaping from volcanic mountain slopes.
'pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger' means lava flowing and burning.
'A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him' means a lava flow coming out of the volcano.
'pour out my wrath on you' means pour out lava from the volcano.
'a very loud trumpet blast' is the noise a volcano makes before erupting afte the magma plug has been released.
'dwelling in light unapproachable' believing their god was inside the live volcano.
'but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through' means hit by shooting brimstone balls.
'smoke out of his nostrils' means smoke coming out of the top of the mountain where god was assumed to reside.
'fire out of his mouth devoured' means firey lava out of the mouth of the volcano.
'burning with his anger' means erupting volcano
'his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire' means overflowing lava.
'And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.' means the erupting and hissing volcano will signal to others to go to it.
'the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.' means the volcano was threatening to erupt but didn't.
'furnace of fire' means volcano
'lake of fire' lake of lava inside live volcano
'unquenchable fire' volcano
'And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.' means a fire flamed up in a lava vent or river when incence was thrown onto it.
'God is a consuming fire' means god is a volcano
'You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.' means a volcano erupted and killed some people.
'To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.' means they didn't know what a volcano was when they saw one and thought it was instead their god making fire on top of a mountain. Mountain worship originated from volcano worship because it was assumed all tall mountains could attract a magician to reside in it.
'Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side.' means lava rivers flow out from the volcano and kill people all around.
'The peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD.' peaceful meadows will be devasted by an eruption.
'thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.' clothes/hair = clouds, throne = top of erupting volcano.
'The heavens will disappear with a roar' heavens = clouds in the sky...also small clouds of smoke above the volcano described as heaven. (heaven as a place for the afterlife started later. There was no suggestion of an afterlife during the time of 'the mountain of god'.)
'the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai' heaven = clouds
'"The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth fromMount Paran
'The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah,' a crack in the ground caused by techtonic plate shift or an earthquack....notice the lack of the use of 'His' or 'He'. It's just 'the earth' and not 'He opened His mouth'.
'fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages.' lava flows devour outside of the volcano and inside a fire rages.
'When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.' a volcano
'When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke' trumpeting noise coming from erupting volcano.
'pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light' means at night they could see the pillar of fire from the volcano and during the day a pillar of smoke.
'voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder' means the noise from an erupting volcano.
'There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.' angels = flaming gas leaks on the slopes of the volcano Mt Sinai.
'He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.' dito
'He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined!' dito
'raging furnace' is the volcano
'his tongue is a consuming fire' is overflowing lava
'holy ones' are water vapour escaping from volcanic mountain slopes.
'pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger' means lava flowing and burning.
'A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him' means a lava flow coming out of the volcano.
'pour out my wrath on you' means pour out lava from the volcano.
'a very loud trumpet blast' is the noise a volcano makes before erupting afte the magma plug has been released.
'dwelling in light unapproachable' believing their god was inside the live volcano.
'but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through' means hit by shooting brimstone balls.
'smoke out of his nostrils' means smoke coming out of the top of the mountain where god was assumed to reside.
'fire out of his mouth devoured' means firey lava out of the mouth of the volcano.
'burning with his anger' means erupting volcano
'his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire' means overflowing lava.
'And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.' means the erupting and hissing volcano will signal to others to go to it.
'the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.' means the volcano was threatening to erupt but didn't.
'furnace of fire' means volcano
'lake of fire' lake of lava inside live volcano
'unquenchable fire' volcano
'And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.' means a fire flamed up in a lava vent or river when incence was thrown onto it.
'God is a consuming fire' means god is a volcano
'You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.' means a volcano erupted and killed some people.
'To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.' means they didn't know what a volcano was when they saw one and thought it was instead their god making fire on top of a mountain. Mountain worship originated from volcano worship because it was assumed all tall mountains could attract a magician to reside in it.
'Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side.' means lava rivers flow out from the volcano and kill people all around.
'The peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD.' peaceful meadows will be devasted by an eruption.
'thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.' clothes/hair = clouds, throne = top of erupting volcano.
'The heavens will disappear with a roar' heavens = clouds in the sky...also small clouds of smoke above the volcano described as heaven. (heaven as a place for the afterlife started later. There was no suggestion of an afterlife during the time of 'the mountain of god'.)
'the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai' heaven = clouds
'"The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from
'The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah,' a crack in the ground caused by techtonic plate shift or an earthquack....notice the lack of the use of 'His' or 'He'. It's just 'the earth' and not 'He opened His mouth'.
'fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages.' lava flows devour outside of the volcano and inside a fire rages.
'When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.' a volcano
'When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke' trumpeting noise coming from erupting volcano.
'pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light' means at night they could see the pillar of fire from the volcano and during the day a pillar of smoke.
'voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder' means the noise from an erupting volcano.
'There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.' angels = flaming gas leaks on the slopes of the volcano Mt Sinai.
In addition, hail in the Bible is sometimes volcanic hail, 'holy smoke' may well have been a metaphor for 'divine' smoke from volcanoes, 'My Rock' could have refered to the volcano deity and 'His Holy Temple' and 'Holy Hill' were certainly describing Mt Sinai.
The ideas posited here - I believe have merit. Why WOULDN'T people connect the dots? I admit, some may be a small stretch, but still much less of a distance to take the stories literally! I cannot understand how full grown adults carry around this childish behavior in believing something out there is reading their thoughts. This thing acts just like a human, his knowledge is only at the stage of our ancient ancestors, and proscribes morals that were no more remarkable than any commoner of the day would have, speaking to his lack of "Wisdom" we should expect out of a "Higher Being" that is supposed to know and predict everything!
ReplyDeleteYO Troy,
Delete1.5 BILLION BELIEVE THIS MYTH
MUHAMMAD’S NIGHT JOURNEY
No Muslim can deny the importance of Mohammed's night journey in Islam, because this trip determined the Islamic rituals of praying five times a day, and performing ablution - or washing before prayer. In other words Mohammed's night journey should impact the lives of 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world - five times - each and every day.
Qur’an, sura 17.1
“Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things)”.
Mohammed's alleged overnight trip covered the 1,000 miles from Mecca to Jerusalem, a trip to heaven, and a return to Mecca by morning, and is described in part as follows:
Sahih Muslim, Book 001, Number 0309:
It is narrated on the authority of Anas b. Malik that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: I was brought al-Buraq Who is an animal white and long, larger than a donkey but smaller than a mule, who would place his hoof a distance equal to the range of vision. I mounted it and came to the Temple (Bait Maqdis in Jerusalem), then tethered it to the ring used by the prophets. I entered the mosque and prayed two rak'ahs in it, and then came out and Gabriel brought me a vessel of wine and a vessel of milk.
So Mohammed flew on al-Buraq to the temple in Jerusalem, tied it up to a ring "the prophets" had used in the past, and went on in to the Temple to pray. Because of the fantastic nature of Mohammed's claims, some 21st century Muslims try to suggest that this was a vision or dream, but according to perhaps the most highly regarded historian of Islam:
Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 228:
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
The sights which Allah's Apostle was shown on the Night Journey when he was taken to Bait-ul-Maqdis (i.e. Jerusalem) were actual sights, (not dreams). And the Cursed Tree (mentioned) in the Quran is the tree of Zaqqum (itself).
Additionally, the rock enshrined in the Dome of the Rock on the temple mount, is supposed to be where Mohammed and Baraq launched from, for the leg of the trip to heaven. So it would be untenable to suggest that Mohammed's journey was a dream or vision, while at the same time claiming that he launched from a very much physical and tangible rock, on the temple mount.