Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <bsr15 AT cantsl.it.canterbury.ac.nz>]

Shoshanna wrote:-

>I disagree, I do not think that it is racist to believe that Torah
>existed before Creation, [snip]

I think you're missing the point. Let me give you a bit of history.
Originally this list was set up as a religious list and was hosted
by a Christian institution. From the very start it was supposed to
welcome people of all faiths and no faith but discussions of
religious meaning and interpretation were allowed. That did not
work. We had a crisis when some Christians were really pushing
their religious view of the texts. Some of our Jewish scholars
found the heat too much and left. Unfortunately your posts often
remind me of that period of our existence. Privately you can believe
what you want, but it is a requirement that you respect other's beliefs
where you disagree. You can believe the Torah pre-existed
creation and no one should question your belief. By the same
token an athiest who believes the Torah is a human work devoid
of any divine content deserves the same respect.

I also think you need to learn the art of non-response. To
give you a concrete example, a while back I asked a question
about the development of language. I got some whacked-out
stupidity about how the Gibbs activation energy precluded
the existence of life before the person got round to even
trying to answer my question. Their view of the world is
so different to mine that I thought it was pointless to
engage in further discussion. So I chose not to respond.

I realize that some list members do push the boundaries.
The proper course of action is not to follow them
out there but stay on topic, which is the language of
Biblical Hebrew.

I really appreciate the contributions our Jewish members
make, but you have to chill out a bit and not take offense
where none is intended.

Bill Rea, ICT Services, University of Canterbury \_
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