Consume Product

OK folks, it's time for some exegesis.

He's referring to Deuteronomy 18:20 which reads (KJV):

> But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

Literally, this is not a commandment to kill. It merely says that such a prophet will die. Compare with Genesis 2:17 which says "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." God isn't commanding someone to kill Adam and Eve, he is stating that they will die.

If you read up in Exodus 20:4-6, it's clear that people who don't worship the True God are not to be killed -- God will punish them in his own way. If you do follow the True God, however, you will be richly blessed.

Note CAREFULLY some historical facts:

1. The children of Israel often went after other gods. It's not uncommon to read that they were worshiping one god or another and then a prophet would appear and call the people back to the God of Israel. The punishment for worshiping other gods was never death. God only promised that they would lose wars, but put into slavery to foreign nations, be chased out of their land, etc...
2. The only place where God seems to command his people to kill false prophets is in Deuteronomy. This is highly suspicious. You'd think that these commandments would be in Exodus or Leviticus, not the last of the 5 books found around the time of the reign of King Josiah with no providence. ("We the priestly class just happened to find this document that came from Moses that says everyone must do what the priests say! Weird, huh?")

When scholars have analyzed the text of the first five books, some curious patterns emerge. It becomes evident that the books were heavily edited. So heavily, in fact, that many accounts are doubled, as if the accounts were included twice from two different sources. The repeated accounts also have significant differences. Furthermore, it's clear that the last voice that edited the documents is the same voice as Deuteronomy. That's why Deuteronomy reads so easily, it's one person or group writing one account that isn't heavily edited like the other 4 books.

In other words, based on objective evidence, the original 5 books are not the original texts that Moses wrote, but amalgamation from various sources that were subsequently edited by the authors of deuteronomy.

When you read deuteronomy and compare it with the other 4, you will start to see those patterns emerge for yourself.

This man seems to try and take the text of deuteronomy super-literally and has put the text into action. The key takeaway from this is that I see deuteronomy for what it is, a document not too dissimilar from the Koran and other violent religious texts. We Christians have avoided this problem because we simply toss out anything in the OT that is overridden by the NT. (It's also why people notice that the God of the OT seems so different than the God of the NT -- a group of people went through and CHANGED the original OT and so God had to manifest himself to call people back.)

If you know someone who takes Deuteronomy super literally and who doesn't appreciate what the NT does to the more violent passages, you MUST be on your guard. This is no different than a muslim looking at you and reading the Koran thinking "I can kill you and it will be righteousness."

If you're one of those ridiculous "Christians" who worship the TEXT of the Bible as god, then you have bigger problems than the jews. At least they understand that the text is not simple to understand nor is it clear or consistent.