So then, where do I start? Right from the beginning let me say this: What you are about to read over the next few entries in the following vignettes will upset some who are religious, especially those who lean toward the more orthodoxy of religious belief and practice; be they Jew, Christian, Muslim and the myriad of other strict adherents of religious dogma regardless of the sub-group involved.
I will be discussing several religious topics over the next few weeks that I personally have always questioned the validity of. I know I am not alone in this head scratching because I have heard from and been a part of many discussions over nearly 75 years of my life on these subjects. I will try a be as brief as possible with these various ideas.
I will be discussing several religious topics over the next few weeks that I personally have always questioned the validity of. I know I am not alone in this head scratching because I have heard from and been a part of many discussions over nearly 75 years of my life on these subjects. I will try a be as brief as possible with these various ideas. offer in the way of guidance in daily life. However, that doesn't negate the questions, inquiries and thoughts I and others have concerning the teachings of not only Rabbinic Judaism but religion as a whole.
In the text of the very first book in the Jewish Bible called Bereshit in Hebrew and Genesis in English there is a tale told of an infamous tree that sits in the midst of a fanciful paradise that was called the Tree of Knowledge. The supposed forebears of all human beings were given strict instructions not to eat of this tree for in doing so their eyes (thoughts/minds) would be open to the concept of Good and Bad. That would indicate that the parents of all humanity were lacking in that knowledge — meaning they were by natural inclination as innocent as newborn babes; why else would they have passed up that other well known tree, the Tree of Life and all that implies for something that may be harmful to them. After all who is more easily deceived - an innocent, naive and untried infant or a fully grown, well adjusted and experienced adult with a lifetime of situations to have learned from? If the story is a literal truth (which is highly unlikely) then these progenitors of humanity didn’t stand a chance, or at least at most they had a 50/50 chance — even odds. I don’t like those odds and would never place my bet against the House.
That’s the first idea expressed here that will piss a lot of people off. I’m not setting out to piss anyone off but humans, being what we are, can be a tad touchy about things that are important to us when they are challenged, especially when it comes to our religions. When we are pushed out of our comfort zone or ousted from our safe-place we will recoil away from it. That’s just the way we tend to be. That's just the way our first parents apparently were as well when they were forced out of their safe space, their comfort zone into the cold realities of life outside of innocence.
