In the Old Testament, our Martian reads the first chapter, glances at
the chronology, and is immediately bewildered since he has a fair
knowledge of our scientific advances. As he reads on, he becomes aware
of a host of errors, contradictions, and manifest absurdities. When he
questions the zealous Hebrew, he comes in contact with what he is
informed is Concordism, which he perceives is a false science that
consists in determining, at any cost, a perfect harmony between modern
science and the knowledge possessed by God's people. He is thus told
that the days of creation were not days at all, but periods; although
the Bible mentions the morning and evening of each day. Delving further
in this most holy of revelations, he learns that God is represented in a
manner most unworthy of what such a being should be represented. He
finds the Lord walking in the cool of the evening, showing his hind
quarters to Moses, ordering abominable massacres, and punishing chiefs
who had not killed enough people. On further perusal, there is revealed,
"A great deal of Oriental bombast, incoherence and absurdity, that the
marvels recounted are often ludicrous or grotesque."
In a chance moment, when the Hebrew had relaxed his hold for a second, a
vile heretic points out to the visitor (_Exodus XXII, 18_): "Thou shalt
not suffer a witch to live!" and explains the witchcraft delusion to
him.
From a comparison between Exodus XXXIV and Exodus XX, he is at a loss to
decipher which are the true commandments that the Lord gave to Moses.
The first five books of the Pentateuch, he finds, are attributed to
Moses, although they contain the account of the latter's death. On
inquiry, he learns that this is still maintained by the synagogue. His
Martian intellect is unable to comprehend the logic of a God who would
demand human and animal sacrifice, and the story of Abraham about to
sacrifice his son Isaac fills him with disgust. His estimate of the
mentality of Jehovah receives a severe jolt when he reads in Leviticus
XVI, "Herewith shall Aaron come unto the holy place with a young bullock
for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the
holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh,
and he shall be girded with the linen girdle, and with the linen mitre
shall he be attired; they are the holy garments; and he shall bathe his
flesh in water and put them on. And he shall take of the congregation of
the children of Israel two he-goats for a sin offering, and one ram for
a burnt offering. And Aaron shall present the bullock of the sin
offering, which is for himself, and he shall make atonement for himself
and for his houses. And he shall take the two goats and set them before
the Lord at the door of the tent of the meeting."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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