"And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: All the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses." Numbers 15:32 – 15:36
Quite often in our oh-so American parochial world we forget that there is almost as much religious silliness going on outside our borders as there is here. Such is the case with the recent riots in Jerusalem in response to the city opening a parking lot where people can park on Shabbat. 28 demonstrators were arrested and 6 were injured, one seriously as they threw poop filled diapers at police. It seems Orthodox Jews save up on poop filled diapers. Orthodox Jews riot for Shabbat.
Please keep in mind that this is not like eating a shrimp cocktail or having a homosexual relationship in which one is denied life after death, but where God explicitly calls for real world vigilante public execution of the people, by the people and for the people.
So with that said, the first thing that comes to mind is the restraint this group of Old Testament believers showed by not stoning to death anyone (everyone) who works on Saturday (or parks their car on Saturday or may turn on the stove to cook a chicken on Saturday)… AS GOD COMMANDS! So let’s give them that! Hear! Here!
This came to me because of a series of photographs I happened upon. When we see Muslims doing what God Commands it’s seldom funny what with all the body parts flying through the air, but gosh, this is just too funny to pass up. This silly story in pictures at gigapica
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