I am left with no option but to join in debate here in the debate forum.
The members of the Judaism DIR refuse to discuss topics of interest in the DIR.
My own view is that traditional religion is obsolete and illogical. Man invented G-d not vice versa. Who wrote the Bible ? A bunch of Rabbi’s.
What do you think??
You should read Gilgamesh and some of the Egyptian myths.
Since a few geniuses deciphered ancient Egyptian and Babylonian its clear that many of the bible stories are complete rewrites of older stories, rewritten to change the moral or to have a moral. What was adoration of war was rewritten to emphasize peace, cooperation and feminine qualities. In those days masculinity was equated with warfare, stubbornness, anger. Rather than flaws these were considered awesome and to be immitated. Young men were encouraged to excel at fighting and to rapturously pillage. This was royalty, godliness and better than best. Over millennia circumcision and the Jewish story changed all of that. It seems (since I am guessing) circumcision is an extreme commitment to oppose war, to suppress the inner tendencies of violence rather than to tribute them. I observe it is a commitment that works.
This changed the world for the better, so a bit of reverence is not uncalled for. I don't worry about it, however I note that if that Jewish fraternity ends we will have lost something immortal. I hope Jews find a way to keep things going and stay Jewish. What has worked in the past continues to work in many ways. Many people, such as yourself, question whether its necessary to go on as before. I don't know what to tell you. Some question if circumcision is still necessary and all the rituals and eating restrictions. I'm aware that a lot of the answers about origins are either lost or are secret, so nobody really knows why Jews don't eat certain foods or why they circumcise or why they won't do anything on the sabbath. For religious Jews answers always come down to Talmud which is their link to the past. For ages they lived with that as their only answers.
What is divine about the Jewish books is that they have captured a ghostly image of God. They didn't start as a search for divinity but as search for cooperation. Jews have through this torah adventure of theirs discovered means to develop a way for people to live together peacefully, to welcome strangers, to acknowledge and use innovations. In this their mystics detected God, but as you probably know Torah is more important than what is mystical. It is action and not belief which matters. Those ancient ones together with Jews all along the millennia help to boot up modern life, making it possible. They continue also to help it to exist. The scriptures are analogous to the invention of the straightedge which can then be used to invent the lathe which can in turn be used to invent the engine which can then be used to mix cement.
The question of obsolescence equals the question of whether modern society can be considered permanent. I don't think its permanent. I think humanity destroys itself regularly and fall back into trouble, at which point we need once again a straightedge. We start again from zero just trying to eliminate stupid ideas like "King of the mountain."
