Skeptic Friends Network

Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?
Home | Forums | Active Topics | Active Polls | Register | FAQ | Contact Us  
  Connect: Chat | SFN Messenger | Buddy List | Members
Personalize: Profile | My Page | Forum Bookmarks  
 All Forums
 Our Skeptic Forums
 Religion
 Moses was high on drugs, Israeli researcher says
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly Bookmark this Topic BookMark Topic
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  

HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 03/14/2009 :  03:14:07  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Judge for yourself. In my opinion, the "researcher's" got nothing but an opinion, but no evidence. We seem to see such "scientific" explanations for completely mythical events about four times a year. (Gotta love the ABC illustration, though!)

Note the quote from the antiscience rabbi at the end. And what he objects to isn't even science, just the opinion of a "cognitive philisopher":
Psychedelic Cocktail May Explain Vision of the Burning Bush, Professor Says
By SIMON MCGREGOR-WOOD
JERUSALEM, March 5, 2008



Moses and the Israelites were on drugs, says Benny Shanon, an Israeli professor of cognitive philosophy.

Writing in the British Journal Time and Mind, he claims Moses was probably on psychedelic drugs when he received the Ten Commandments from God.

The assertions give a whole new meaning to Moses being "high" on Mount Sinai.

According to Shanon, a professor at Hebrew University, two naturally existing plants in the Sinai Peninsula have the same psychoactive components as ones found in the Amazon jungle and are well-known for their mind-altering capabilities. The drugs are usually combined in a drink called ayahuasca.

. . .

Orthodox rabbi Yuval Sherlow, quoted by Reuters speaking on Israel radio, said: "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."



Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.

Edited by - HalfMooner on 03/14/2009 03:21:06

filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 03/14/2009 :  03:51:40   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Heh, why not?

Could it be that Moe was tweaked out of his gourd and really never left the cook fire? It's as good a version as any including the official one.....

Ayahuasca (ayawaska pronounced [aja#712;waska] in the Quechua language) is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of the Psychotria bush. It was first described academically in the early 1950s by the late Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes who found it employed for divinatory and healing purposes by Amerindians of Amazonian Colombia.
I note that the revered professor fails to mention the species of Middle Eastern plants that resemble those of South America.






"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

Go to Top of Page

HalfMooner
Dingaling

Philippines
15831 Posts

Posted - 03/14/2009 :  04:02:34   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send HalfMooner a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by filthy

I note that the revered professor fails to mention the species of Middle Eastern plants that resemble those of South America.

Probably wants to bogart them all for himself.


Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive.
Go to Top of Page

Kil
Evil Skeptic

USA
13477 Posts

Posted - 03/14/2009 :  08:22:57   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Kil's Homepage  Send Kil an AOL message  Send Kil a Yahoo! Message Send Kil a Private Message  Reply with Quote
It would be nice if the story of the Exodus, or of the enslavement of the Jews in Egypt had some evidence to support it. It's a wonderful yarn, as bible stories go. But wouldn't we have to establish that the story is true before we get to speculating that Moses was stoned?

Just a thought...

Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.

Why not question something for a change?

Genetic Literacy Project
Go to Top of Page

Dave W.
Info Junkie

USA
26022 Posts

Posted - 03/14/2009 :  14:02:33   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Dave W.'s Homepage Send Dave W. a Private Message  Reply with Quote
There was a guy here a few years back talking up a High Times article on Jesus' annointing oil being full of marijuana. It was just a matter of time before someone asserted that Moses was tripping.

- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too.
Go to Top of Page

filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 03/14/2009 :  15:21:47   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Kil

It would be nice if the story of the Exodus, or of the enslavement of the Jews in Egypt had some evidence to support it. It's a wonderful yarn, as bible stories go. But wouldn't we have to establish that the story is true before we get to speculating that Moses was stoned?

Just a thought...
Well, yes, there doesn't seem to be much support for the story, does there? But even if it isn't true, why couldn't have been be ripped and on the nod anyway? Again assuming that he was more of a reality than the Exodus.






"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

Go to Top of Page

Simon
SFN Regular

USA
1992 Posts

Posted - 03/14/2009 :  16:36:09   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Simon a Private Message  Reply with Quote
In fact; archaeological evidences tend to falsify the events related just about Moses' putative life (not invasion of Israel by the returning tribes).
Furthermore, we know that Genesis was actually written relatively late, around 600 BC, at the time of the babylonian exile, centuries after the alleged events of the book and more than enough time for myths to build up.

In other words, there is little reason to believe that Moses ever existed, in fact, it is rather unlikely.

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996
Go to Top of Page
  Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly Bookmark this Topic BookMark Topic
Jump To:

The mission of the Skeptic Friends Network is to promote skepticism, critical thinking, science and logic as the best methods for evaluating all claims of fact, and we invite active participation by our members to create a skeptical community with a wide variety of viewpoints and expertise.


Home | Skeptic Forums | Skeptic Summary | The Kil Report | Creation/Evolution | Rationally Speaking | Skeptillaneous | About Skepticism | Fan Mail | Claims List | Calendar & Events | Skeptic Links | Book Reviews | Gift Shop | SFN on Facebook | Staff | Contact Us

Skeptic Friends Network
© 2008 Skeptic Friends Network Go To Top Of Page
This page was generated in 0.08 seconds.
Powered by @tomic Studio
Snitz Forums 2000