Opus 2024-113: The Evils of Cheeseburgers

I continue to think about the Law given in the Pentateuch.

As I was pursuing a question in trying to understand the Law revealed to Moses, I focused on the statement that we were not to “seethe a kid in its mother’s milk.”  It occurs three times.  Here is the first,

(Exo 23:19 KJV)  The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

I was trying to figure out how this statement evolved into the ban on cheeseburgers.  In case you were not aware, observant Jews will not eat cheeseburgers because they claim it violates this law of God.  Their desire to please God is praiseworthy.  Their logic and Biblical understanding could use some work.

As I did a bit of internet research, one site I was led to was called “Ask a Rabbi”.  That seemed like a good place to start.  It was an interesting study in understanding modern Judaism.  The issue was summed up in a phrase I found,

“Regardless, all the Sages of the Talmud are in agreement that these verses forbid more than the literal meaning implies.”

Modern Judaism is based on the rulings of the “Sages of the Talmud.”  In case you slept through that Sunday School class, the Talmud is a commentary on the Torah.  It was written by Rabbis over thousands of years and it currently over 60 volumes.  The Torah is the Law which is mostly found in the first five books of the Bible.  They may talk about verses in the Bible but their ultimate source of authority is not the written word but the combination of traditions passed down orally from Moses and what the Rabbis have decided they mean over the centuries.

“ When everyone in the Talmud agrees to something, we can be quite certain that the law is a tradition passed from Sinai...” (EO)

Keep in mind that most of what you hear about the Law of Moses and how hard it is to keep, most of what you hear is the opinions of the Rabbis, not what Christians would consider the written Word.  The Rabbis also have something that was called the Oral Torah until it was written down about 200 years after the time of Jesus.  It is like secret knowledge known only to the Rabbis and several sources have told me that the oral law is preferred to the written law.

As I was following various links I came across one from the Times of India.  What could the Times of India have to say about kosher?  Nothing.  It seems that there is a form of medicine used in India that has similar rules.

“As per the books of Ayurveda combining milk and meat or drinking milk after eating meat is considered to be a wrong combination.”

I find it interesting that a law of kosher is almost identical to the teachings of a pagan document thousands of miles away.

The thought process will continue.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-113: Non-Partial Justice

In reading through Exodus I came across an important reminder of the difference between God’s idea of justice and the Progressives* of today,

(Exo 23:2-3 NAS77) "You shall not follow a multitude in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.

Christians are to be different in many ways and we need to remember that it also means in how we deal with the poor around us.  While the Bible is full of condemnation of the oppression of the poor it also talks about the poor oppressing other poor and over all is a demand for a justice that is not based on your victim quotient.  

Biblical justice is not based on the qualities of the individual.  Those are always variables.  Variables need to be considered but the justice of God is based on the character of God, which never changes.  Justice is rooted in objective truth not subjective conditions.  Thus, Biblical justice is not based on social justice.  That is a term created by the Progressives* to make it possible to tweak any situation to provide the outcome they want.  It is the difference between equal opportunity and equal outcome.  

Our Progressive* overlords are trying to divide us based on class, race, religion, gender and brand of perversion.  If you listen to them and then make your decisions you will be the manipulated fool.  You will be the person described in the first part of the verse.

There is a reason that the statue of justice is wearing a blindfold.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, MSM, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-154: Headlines: They Are Coming for Jesus

You may have read about the hate filled individual who is now calling for statues of Jesus to be removed.  He virtue signals that it is because of some strange type of white supremacy.  In going through the memes at Georges Grouse I came across one that gave the real reason.  In case you went to public university, it is a quote from the Old Testament in the Bible.

(Exo 23:1-3 KJV) Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.  Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:  Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.

Progressives* tend to have an intense hatred for anything having to do with the God of the Bible.  The attack on statues of Jesus is just an open expression of that hatred.  Yes, I know this is the Old Testament and Jesus is in the New.  It is still the same God and the same truth.  It is the same sense of justice that says, “Don’t follow the crowd.  Don’t give special treatment to the poor any more than the rich.  Don’t lie to win.”  It is a sense of justice that says truth does not change with today’s headlines or change of special interest groups. 

Obviously the issue is not the lives of black people.  All data shows that most black people who are murdered are murdered by other black people.  The issue is anything that destroys the moral fiber of the countries that are based on Christian values.

In case they are not paying attention, they need to read the Book.  I have.  I know who wins.

*(Liberals, educators, socialists, communists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, etc)

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-159, Sabbath Observations: Roots of the Weekend, Part 1, A Day for Renewal

I cannot picture what is was like being a slave, let alone a slave in a pagan culture.  How do you deal with being on call 24/7 at someone else’s whim?  What is it like to never be sure of a time of rest. 

From the Old Testament we get the idea of a Sabbath.  The concept was established at creation and is tied in with the seven days. 

(Exodus 20:8-11 KJV)  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

What was the purpose of the Sabbath?  It was to be holy.  That means set aside for special use.  It was to be a day of no work.  The word Sabbath means “to cease, desist, rest.”

This is elaborated more a little further into Exodus.

(Exodus 23:12 KJV)  Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

The purpose of the Sabbath was to refresh us.  It was for renewal.  It was a time to recharge our batteries.

Notice that it was to be for everyone, not just the ruling class.  The “handmaid” of the KJV is “female slave” in the NASB.  So many of the Bible’s teachings are like this.  You don’t rest by having someone else do the work.  Rest if for everyone.

To be continued...

homo unius libri