Posted on 01/09/2018 4:28:29 AM PST by Kaslin
I won't make any assumptions about how many readers noticed I took a three-month break from column writing.
Nevertheless, I want to explain why.
I needed the time to finish the first volume of the biggest project of my life as a writer, a commentary on the first five books of the Bible, or what are called the Torah in Hebrew.
The commentary is addressed to people of every faith and, especially, to people of no faith.
I have believed all my life that the primary crisis in America and the West is the abandonment of Judeo-Christian values, or, one might say, the dismissal of the Bible. Virtually everyone on the left thinks America would be better off as a secular nation. And virtually all conservative intellectuals don't think it matters. How many intellectuals study the Bible and teach it to their children?
And yet, from the time long before the United States became a country until well into the 1950s, the Bible was not only the most widely read book in America; it was the primary vehicle by which each generation passed on morality and wisdom to the next generation.
Since that time, we have gone from a Bible-based society to a Bible-ignorant one; from the Bible being the Greatest Book to the Bible being an irrelevant book. Ask your college-age child, niece, nephew or grandchild to identify Cain and Abel, the Tower of Babel or the ten plagues. Get ready for some blank stares. I recently asked some college graduates (none of whom were Jewish) to name the four Gospels. None could.
But what we have today is worse than ignorance of the Bible. It is contempt for it. Just about anyone who quotes the Bible, let alone says it is the source of his or her values, is essentially regarded as a simpleton who is anti-science, anti-intellectual and sexist.
Our society, one of whose mottos is "In God We Trust," is becoming as godless as Western Europe -- and, consequently, as morally confused and unwise as Europe. Just as most professors regard most Bible believers as foolish, I have more or less the same view of most college professors in the liberal arts. When I hear that someone has a Ph.D. in sociology, anthropology, political science or English, let alone women's studies or gender studies, I assume that he or she is morally confused and bereft of wisdom. Some are not, of course. But they constitute a small minority.
Whenever teenagers call my radio show or I meet one in person, I can usually identify -- almost immediately -- the ones who are receiving a religion-based education. They are far more likely to act mature and have more wisdom than their Bible-free peers.
One of our two greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln, rarely attended church, but he read the Bible daily. As he said while president, "In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, I believe the Bible is the best gift God has given to man."
Were he able to observe America today, Lincoln would be shocked by many things. But none would shock him as much as the widespread ignorance of and contempt for the Bible.
I have taught the Torah, from the Hebrew original, for 40 years. Of the many things I have been blessed to be able to do -- from hosting a national radio show to conducting orchestras -- teaching Torah is my favorite.
When asked how it has affected my life, I often note that in my early 20s, when I was working through issues I had with my parents, there was nevertheless not a week during which I did not call them. And there was one reason for this: I believe that God commanded us to "Honor your father and your mother."
In my commentary, I point out that while the Torah commands us to love our neighbor, love God and love strangers, it never commands us to love our parents. It was sophisticated enough to recognize that love of parents may be impossible but showing honor to a parent is a behavioral choice.
In America, there is an epidemic of children who no longer talk one or both of their parents. In a few cases, this is warranted. But in most cases, adult children are inflicting terrible, unfair pain upon their parent. This is one of a myriad of examples where believing in a God-based text is transformative. Secular callers tell me that they hardly need the Ten Commandments to desist from murdering anyone. That may well be true. But apparently, a lot of people could use the Ten Commandments to avoid inflicting terrible pain on (admittedly, flawed) parents.
The title of my work is "The Rational Bible" because my vehicle to God and the Bible is reason. If you have ever wondered why all of America's founders revered the Bible, let alone why anyone today might do so, this book should provide an explanation. My ultimate aim is to help make the Bible America's book once again.
Interesting when I see the 10 Commandments listed with headings using Roman Numerals.
Aren’t they always in Roman Numerals?
ping for your interest
I would hope that you read the Bible and have it instruct you, not pick and choose, but use the entire counsel of scripture to inform. Since you appear to be claiming you are Christian, the Bible should be authoritative for you. I've supplied many scriptures, not my opinion.
Let us know what a good Christian you are?
Don't you think a "good Christian" should read the Bible and heed the words of Jesus Christ? Perhaps you do not think the epistles of John are inspired and you reject 1 John. Jesus said pretty much the same thing about himself and father in John 5 and 8. Tell us all how we’re supposed to think as Christians?
I would hope that "as a Christian" that you would first and foremost be Biblically minded. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:16).
Beware your motives - your post has little to nothing do with anything he says in the article.
I paid careful attention to what he (Prager) says in the article. He references the "Bible" in a limited way. (I've done more Bible referencing in my few posts than he has in his article.) The Pentateuch may be the first 5 books of the Bible, but the Bible doesn't end there. There is an entire new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ which Jews reject outright. Prager, as a good Jew, also rejects this new convenant. Paul asks in 2 Corinthians 6:14: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"
I don't completely reject all things that Prager might say. He and I align closely on many policy positions. However, I completely reject anything Prager might have to say to me about God, since he does not know him.
Are you saying that Jesus would cast Prager’s observations and insights into outer darkness because Prager is not your particular brand of Baptist or AME or whatever?
A not so clever rhetorical trick. The Bible says the dead, who are to be judged based upon their own works, are cast into the lake of fire.
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15)
The Bible says that no one can attain to the law of righteousness by the works of the law.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; 33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (Romans 9:30-33)
Jesus Christ is that rock of offense.
The title of my work is "The Rational Bible" because my vehicle to God and the Bible is reason. If you have ever wondered why all of America's founders revered the Bible, let alone why anyone today might do so, this book should provide an explanation. My ultimate aim is to help make the Bible America's book once again.
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