,Study Aid

The Ten Commandments are a topic of discussion, with the speaker recalling the 1978 movie. There are different accounts of Moses's father-in-law (Jethro or Reuel) and the mountain where the commandments were received (Sinai or Horeb), suggesting multiple authorial voices in the biblical text. The class managed to list nine out of ten commandments, forgetting "honor thy father and thy mother."

A U.S. congressman, Len Westmoreland, advocated for displaying the Ten Commandments in the Capitol, despite the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of religion. When asked by Stephen Colbert to list them, Westmoreland could only recall three. The speaker then presents a list of ten commandments from Exodus 34, which differ significantly from the commonly known version. This highlights that the Ten Commandments appear three times in the Pentateuch, with variations, suggesting multiple authors with differing understandings. The earliest list is attributed to the Yahwist (J) source, while the more familiar one comes from the Elohist (E) and Deuteronomist (D) sources, with slight differences in the rationale for observing the Sabbath.

The speaker discusses an interview with Ira Glass, a Jewish atheist radio host, who grappled with the "love God" commandment. Glass found personal value in practicing rituals like Kaddish but questioned the purpose of praising a seemingly demanding God. The speaker suggests that Glass and other non-believers misunderstand the concept of God, often picturing a literal, human-like figure, a caricature derived from pagan imagery like Zeus.

The biblical prohibition against making idols or images of God is emphasized as a command against limiting the understanding of God. This stricture evolved in Judaism to even forbid uttering God's name (Yahweh, now often replaced with Adonai/Lord). Early Christians, particularly in the Eastern tradition, also grappled with iconoclasm, eventually allowing pictures but not statues of divine figures. Islam, similarly, forbids images of any kind.

The speaker argues that fixating on a literal, human-like image of God, as seen in some modern portrayals (e.g., Joseph Smith's vision), can lead to theological innovations that limit God's nature. The Bible itself contains tensions between portrayals of God as a finite, physical being and a cosmic, unpicturable entity.

The speaker then addresses the perceived "divide" between believers and non-believers, suggesting that often non-believers define themselves negatively, implying an intellectual superiority over past believers. However, the speaker asserts that intelligence is not the dividing line, citing numerous historical geniuses who were believers. The ancient wisdom of "not making an idol" is presented as a profound truth: God is unpicturable, unlimited, and beyond human conception, offering an endless source of meaning and exploration. The speaker concludes by advocating for reintroducing this expansive understanding of God into contemporary dialogue, helping intelligent non-believers grasp a more inclusive and universal concept of the divine that transcends literalistic interpretations and pagan influences.