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Is the Old Testament a source of violence in the Middle East?

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posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 02:01 PM
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Deuteronomy 13
King James Version


1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;

3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which 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;

7 Namely, of the gods of the people which 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;

8 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:

9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.


www.biblegateway.com...



posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 02:03 PM
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Israel is a jewish state.

The jews still believe in the Old Testament, as it is.

The Old Testament says you should kill the "infidels", including your own brother, your own daughter, or your own wife...

Is this a cause for so much violence in the Middle East?



posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 02:20 PM
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Did the people in the Middle East fight before the Bible existed? There's your answer.
edit on 5-6-2012 by jjkenobi because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 04:06 PM
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Originally posted by jjkenobi
Did the people in the Middle East fight before the Bible existed? There's your answer.
edit on 5-6-2012 by jjkenobi because: (no reason given)



People did fight in the WHOLE world, since humanity started to exist.

I didn't ask if the Old Testament is THE source of violence in the Middle East. I asked if the Old Testament is A source of violence in the Middle East. I never said it would be the ONLY source.

So, the question remains: is the Old Testament A source of violence in the Middle East?



edit on 5-6-2012 by GLontra because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 04:42 PM
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The Old Testament is not the source of violence in the Middle East.

Violence came about because that entire area used to be incredibly fertile and wonderful to the point where living was easy and they had time to build huge monuments and cities. And then they stupidly overgrazed and overpopulated and completely ruined the whole the area, allowed the desert to encroach, and pretty soon the nice places were harder and harder to come by. Naturally, different tribes and countries fought each other for the scarce resources. It's an old story that continues to this day, although now in addition to resources the people there fight for historical reasons, too. "Homelands," and all that other nonsense.

Unfortunately, unlike the old days where you could literally wipe a tribe from existence like the Perizzites, Hivites, Hittites, Jebusites, Moabites, and so on, nobody in the area has enough power these days to kill everybody else off and take complete control and stop all the fighting. So it just goes on and on and on...



posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 04:46 PM
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Blaming ancient writings for individuals' decisions is shifting responsibility in a very unproductive way.

Individual choices and actions are responsible for violence. Nothing more.

People kill people. Not books.



posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 04:53 PM
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No, it is not a source of violence in the Middle East. The souls of people are the source of violence. People need an excuse to do and get what they want.... those who are violent because of the Old Testament had violence in their heart(s) before they picked up any book.

That being said, it is the most violent book I have ever read....



posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 04:55 PM
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Old Testament, New Testament, the Quran...take your pick.

All three are sources for violence in the Middle East.



posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 04:59 PM
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reply to post by LifeInDeath
 


Words do have power, this cannot be denied. When those words supposedly come from God himself words can be even more powerful. However, if you blame the books you are taking the responsibility away from who it belongs to; the hateful, ignorant people that continue to oppress, terrorize, and kill.
edit on 5-6-2012 by Osiris1953 because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 10:30 PM
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Originally posted by GLontra
Israel is a jewish state.

The jews still believe in the Old Testament, as it is.

The Old Testament says you should kill the "infidels", including your own brother, your own daughter, or your own wife...

Is this a cause for so much violence in the Middle East?


No, i'd say the source of the conflict is the Quran and the Talmud. If either Muslims or jews believed in Jesus and obeyed his commandments none of that crap would be going on right now, because he preached forgiveness, mercy and self sacrifice and to love your enemies as you love your friends and neighbors. There's a reason he is called the Prince of Peace.



posted on Jun, 5 2012 @ 10:34 PM
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Originally posted by UltimateSkeptic1
Blaming ancient writings for individuals' decisions is shifting responsibility in a very unproductive way.

Individual choices and actions are responsible for violence. Nothing more.

People kill people. Not books.


People do what they want, old books have a small part to play in that those people who want to take your crap try to use those books to justify taking whats yours.

Throw those books away and this will not stop, because war, murder, greed, avarice, lust, anger and hate are ingrained in human nature. Very few can actually rise above any one of them by themselves let alone all of them. Not something that can be done by human means.



posted on Jun, 6 2012 @ 05:24 AM
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Originally posted by Osiris1953
reply to post by LifeInDeath
 


Words do have power, this cannot be denied. When those words supposedly come from God himself words can be even more powerful. However, if you blame the books you are taking the responsibility away from who it belongs to; the hateful, ignorant people that continue to oppress, terrorize, and kill.
edit on 5-6-2012 by Osiris1953 because: (no reason given)

People use what they can to justify their own hate, but also you cannot deny that for ever Sermon on the Mount or Song of Solomon, there is also a Book of Revelation or a massacre of the Amalekites, and these latter stories are designed for just that purpose in my opinion, to explain away as the "will of God" or give excuse to future generations who wish to perform such atrocities. The words reinforce the deeds, the deeds are excused by the words. Neither exists in a vacuum.
edit on 6/6/2012 by LifeInDeath because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 6 2012 @ 07:54 AM
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Originally posted by lonewolf19792000

Originally posted by GLontra
Israel is a jewish state.

The jews still believe in the Old Testament, as it is.

The Old Testament says you should kill the "infidels", including your own brother, your own daughter, or your own wife...

Is this a cause for so much violence in the Middle East?


No, i'd say the source of the conflict is the Quran and the Talmud. If either Muslims or jews believed in Jesus and obeyed his commandments none of that crap would be going on right now, because he preached forgiveness, mercy and self sacrifice and to love your enemies as you love your friends and neighbors. There's a reason he is called the Prince of Peace.



And what about the verses from the Old Testament, cited in the first post of this thread?

Kill your own daughter if she has a different religious view from yours?

Isn't that a source for violence?



posted on Jun, 6 2012 @ 08:31 PM
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Originally posted by GLontra


And what about the verses from the Old Testament, cited in the first post of this thread?

Kill your own daughter if she has a different religious view from yours?

Isn't that a source for violence?


I think that you are missing something. You have to read all of the laws and not just a few. What you have cited are crimes that can carry a death sentence, but not always.

The guilt or innocence, as well as the sentencing is up to the court to decide.

"Appoint yourselves judges and police for your tribes in all your settlements that God your Lord is giving you, and make sure that they administer honest judgment for the people." Deuteronomy 16:18

It wasn't just some freewheeling lawless time where you could just kill some one for anything. The matter had to be brought before a court. In fact, in cases that could potentially involve a death penalty more than one witness is required.

"If anyone kills a human being, the murderer shall be put to death on the basis of eyewitness testimony. However, a single eyewitness may not testify against a person where the death penalty is involved." Numbers 53:30

Why is it that when some one brings up a law from the bible, that could carry the death penalty, they never mention that a court is who administers the punishment?



posted on Jun, 6 2012 @ 08:41 PM
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reply to post by LifeInDeath
 


We don't disagree really. I just think the accountability lies solely with those who actually perpetrate the violence. If not a holy book, they would find something else to justify unjust action.



posted on Jun, 6 2012 @ 08:45 PM
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If you think the Old Testament is a source of negativity, look up the Talmud (see link below).

www.rense.com...




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