"SUNDOWNER" AND ISRAEL
Sir,-My little bit of fun with "Sundowner" threatens to lead us into unprofitable depths. I accept Berdyaev’s view that the God v-orshipped by orthodox religionists is a purely human invention. D. F. B. Eyres considers that in the Old Testament a supreme being called God "reveals" himself. If that is true I must point out that the self revealed is jealous, fickle, vengeful,. cruel and a sender of evil spirits that lead men to do evil, When Solomon celebrated the conclusion of the building of the temple he slaughtered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep as offerings to this tribal deity. The number of unedifying episodes in the Old Testament is no recommendation of the deity "revealed,’’ Mr. Eyres does not accept the view that there was any conflict in Israel between the shepherding and the agricultural ways of. life. I side with more competent students than I who think there was-but the point is not worth labouring. I have no doubt whatever that the Old Testament ‘is a salad of oral traditions, folk lore inventions and some historical data that makes really fascinating reading. And I have no doubt whatever that it has the same validity as a spiritual guide as the Koran or the Book of Mormon or the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius; that is to say, you can get out wh it what you take to it.
J. MALTON
MURRAY
(Oamaru).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 653, 11 January 1952, Page 5
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236"SUNDOWNER" AND ISRAEL New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 653, 11 January 1952, Page 5
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