Was Moses high on Mount Sinai?
JERUSALEM — When Moses
brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai, he may have been high on a
hallucinogenic plant, according to a new study by an Israeli psychology
professor.
Writing in the British philosophy journal Time and Mind, Benny Shanon of
Jerusalem’s Hebrew University said two plants in the Sinai desert contain the
same psychoactive molecules as those found in plants from which the powerful
Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca is prepared.
The thunder, lightning and blaring of a trumpet which the Book of Exodus
says emanated from Mount Sinai could just have been the imaginings of a people
in an “altered state of awareness,” Shanon hypothesized.
“In advanced forms of ayahuasca inebriation, the seeing of light is
accompanied by profound religious and spiritual feelings,” Shanon wrote.
“On such occasions, one often feels that in seeing the light, one is
encountering the ground of all Being ... many identify this power as God.”
Shanon wrote that he was very familiar with the affects of the ayahuasca plant,
having “partaken of the ... brew about 160 times in various locales and
contexts.”
He said one of the psychoactive plants, harmal, found in the Sinai and
elsewhere in the Middle East, has long been regarded by Jews in the region as
having magical and curative powers.
Shanon acknowledged that he had "no direct proof of this
interpretation" and said such proof cannot be expected.
Biblical scholars scoffed at Shanon's suggestion. Orthodox rabbi Yuval
Sherlow told Israel Radio: “The Bible is trying to convey a very profound
event. We have to fear not for the fate of the biblical Moses, but for the fate
of science.”
Read More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23468364/ns/technology...
The book is filled with fairy tales and many of them have been proven to never have happened at all.
Christians do not need anyone to discredit them, they do that all by themselves. All you have to do is look directly at the vatican.
As for the vatican is you think that is simply flawed and sinful people, I would rather remain an atheist with human dignity and love of humanity on my side than listen to the horrific stories of abuse that has gone on for centuris behind the vatican walls.
he he he
9 And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord.
10 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.
12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:
13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and...
he he he
9 And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord.
10 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.
12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:
13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.
16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
20 And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.
21 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.
22 And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.
23 And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.
24 And the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them.
25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
1. I DO NOT worship satan. Satan does not exist and neither does your god.
2. I have read the bible many times.
3. Your statements 9 - 25 certainly sound like smoke and mirrors to me and nothing more than superstition and ignorance that has NEVER been proven to anyone at all. It is far more likely to be an alien encounter than any fictional god. The facts do exist that there are ancient drawings of alien encounters with alien type visitors all over the planet in history.
4. Everything that is written in black and white is not evidence or the truth. Harry Potter is a classic example of that.
5. You are trying to use circular reasoning to support your falacie. You CANNOT use the same book or source to prove that book or souce is right. Christians are a master at trying to use the bible to prove the bible is right. It is a complete mockeryof all that is logic and rational.
6. The truth is that christianity is a violent and hostile present on this planet and has distroyed many ethnic groups trying to spread the word of their god in the process.
5. The complete lack of morality within the christian ideology and the scripture is a testament to how they live their lives today in total hippocracy in society.
How are the passages you state here proof that god exists? It is just as much proof that the flying spaghetti monster exists.
interpretation" and said such proof cannot be expected.<<
And yet, atheists everywhere -- those champions of "proof and evidence" that they claim to be -- will hold this up in their arguments that God isn't real.
It must be nice to be a member of a group that allows itself to assert anything it wants without proof or evidence -- while strictly demanding proof and evidence from everyone else.
Moses didn't exist, most historical documents, and anthropological evidence can find no proof of a tribe wandering the desert for 40 years.
Now, let me ask you, since I dismissed his claim.
Did moses exist? use evidence. I demand proof.
Christian are always commenting on other and demanding proof, yet the foundation of all religion is on belief and faith which by definition requires absolutely no proof of any kind.
CAN ANYTHING BE FOR HYPPOCRITICAL THAN THAT.
It certainly deserves some research.
The effect
For centuries a strongly hallucinating potion made from leaves and liane
"Ayahuasca produces an experience that lasts for 3 to 4 hours. The first effect can be seen within 5 minutes.... Vomitting, dizziness and diarrhoea are among the first physical phenomenons that can occur. Some users may hear a humming in their ears, may perspire excessively or start trembling. After the first few effects the experience becomes mainly visual; people may see dreamlike visions, geometric figures, manifestatins of ghost-assistants, gods, demons and animals. People have also experienced effects effects like visions of their own death, flying through space, euphoria or, on the contrary, aggressive feelings or witnessing events that happen at a long distance. With a better control of the effects of this "plant of the Gods" visions and experiences can become more intense and more complex".
http://www.ibogaine.desk.nl/b...
'Ingestion of Ayahuasca usually induces nausea, dizziness, vomiting, and leads to either an euphoric or an aggressive state. Frequently the Indian sees overpowering attacks of huge snakes or jaguars. These animals often humiliate him because he is a mere man. The repetitiveness with which snakes and jaguars ...
The effect
For centuries a strongly hallucinating potion made from leaves and liane
"Ayahuasca produces an experience that lasts for 3 to 4 hours. The first effect can be seen within 5 minutes.... Vomitting, dizziness and diarrhoea are among the first physical phenomenons that can occur. Some users may hear a humming in their ears, may perspire excessively or start trembling. After the first few effects the experience becomes mainly visual; people may see dreamlike visions, geometric figures, manifestatins of ghost-assistants, gods, demons and animals. People have also experienced effects effects like visions of their own death, flying through space, euphoria or, on the contrary, aggressive feelings or witnessing events that happen at a long distance. With a better control of the effects of this "plant of the Gods" visions and experiences can become more intense and more complex".
http://www.ibogaine.desk.nl/b...
'Ingestion of Ayahuasca usually induces nausea, dizziness, vomiting, and leads to either an euphoric or an aggressive state. Frequently the Indian sees overpowering attacks of huge snakes or jaguars. These animals often humiliate him because he is a mere man. The repetitiveness with which snakes and jaguars occur in Ayahuasca visions has intrigues psychologists. It is understandable that these animals play such a role, since they are the only beings respected and feared by the Indians of the tropical forest; because of their power and stealth, they have assumed a place of primacy in aboriginal religious beliefs. In many tribes, the shaman becomes a feline during the intoxication, exercising his powers as a cat. Yekwana medicine men mimic the roars of jaguars. Tukano Ayahuasca-takers may experience nightmares of jaguar jaws swallowing them or huge snakes approaching and coiling around their bodies … shamans of the Conibo-Shipibo tribe acquire great snakes as personal possessions to defend themselves in supernatural battles against other powerful shamans. The drug may be the shaman's tool to diagnose illness or to ward off impending disaster, to guess the wiles of an enemy, to prophesy the future. But it is more than the shaman's tool. It enters into almost all aspects of the life of the people who use it, to an extent equalled by hardly any other hallucinogen. Partakers, shamans or not, see all the gods, the first human beings, and animals, and come to understand the establishment of their social order. ,
http://www.ethnopharmacology....