An interesting moral test

Question: if you had Jesus' magic all-knowing super-powers, would you have taken a mere 10 minutes out of your entire life to simply say to your disciples: "write this down: wash your hands before you eat because bad things happen when you don't - they are called 'germs'"?

Me, yes, of course I would have, as that 10 minutes would have been virtually the most cost-effective 10 minutes anyone has ever spent in world history to save millions of lives. Millions have died over the last 2000 years, especially the first, say, 1500 years after Jesus, due to not knowing this. Coming from Jesus it would have way more weight to many people than if some doctor said it at that time, I guess.

What about YOU, would you have said that?

 

The same goes for all religions that teach divine revelation. Of all of the supposed "scientific truths" Muslims and Christians claim are revealed by their religious scriptures, none would have been as important to share as the germ theory of disease.

 

Excellent point as always.
So it's pretty obvious that all religions that teach divine revelation are con-jobs, meant to enrich and/or empower the founders (Qur'an 8:41 is probably the best example of this - give a certain percentage of the booty you plunder to Mohammad....)

 

Good news, you passed the moral test. Hopefully others can as well.

 

I would have passed on germ theory, and the equality message.

Funny how the Abrahamic god only told the scribes stuff they already knew. Weird.

 

first century Jews did wash their hands before they ate.

 

YES, IT'S WEIRD...it's almost, almost, like the scribes just invented the stuff......THEMSELVES. But that can't be true, or else that means that Jesus was a liar and con man who told people what they wanted to hear so they'd put him up and feed him because being a carpenter back in those days was dangerous and/or hard menial work.
Nah, couldn't be!

 

Germ theory was not expanded upon enough to really save people's lives until SCIENCE showed us, many many years later. Jesus missed a great opportunity...or maybe he wasn't really divine.
The god known as "wiki" doesn't say that Jesus told us (and being all-knowing/god he'd know), but rather: "The germ theory was proposed in the mid-16th century and gained widespread credence when substantiated by scientific discoveries of the 17th through the late 19th century. It supplanted earlier explanations for disease, such as Galen's miasma theory."
If Jesus was real it would read: "and of course we are all thankful that our Lord and Savior enlightened us about germ theory, and electricity, etc., in the year 33 AD".

 

Jesus didn't know to simply take 10 minutes out of his entire life and tell people "women and homosexuals are to be treated equally to straight men, and you fools, stop enslaving people, Jesus H Christ!"

 

Orthodox Jews MUST wash their hand before every meal.

And they say a special prayer as they do it.

Its partially why we survived many European plagues at higher rates than others.

 

You sure expect a LOT from the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-caring, all-loving, all-everything, only son of god, don't you!

 

I guess I do expect more than the primitive warblings of bronze age desert dwellers with a lust for power. It's crazy, I know. Expecting that a universe creating supergod, who loves us more than anything in all of the aforementioned universes (which he only created as a playground for us), and who knows everything that will ever happen, into the infinite future and beyond, might move a nanostep beyond primitive warblings. What was I thinking.

 

Yes, exactly, young lady!
By the way, if I convert back to Christianity the first thing I'll do is remind you that Jesus never corrected this type of sentiment (so it must be right!): "Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says." - 1 Corinthians 14:34. That's solid advice right there, let me tell you. Jesus said he had come to fulfill the law in Mt. 5:17. So if convert back to Christianity, I will fully expect you to know your place as a woman, and remain silent on this forum, as well.

 

Actually, I'd LOVE to see you convert to Christianity, because the first thing you'd do would be to reform the living sh** out of the Bible! You'd gut that sucker like a gutted trout! It would be almost unrecognizable after you got through with it...and, you'd ADD to it, the very best parts of Buddhism, the very best parts of Hinduism, the great parts of Islam ("killing one man is like killing the whole world"), the great parts of Modern Secular Humanism....and you'd leave in the great parts like "love thy neighbor", and the Golden Rule. It would truly be a work of art.
You're better than Jesus, and I think you know that.

 

actually it'd be a really short book. maybe one page, so more like a pamphlet

I'd breath it to my lesbian friends up the road, because they're really trustworthy, intelligent, and compassionate women, with a great sense of social justice and a passion for honesty. I'd breath the following:

"don't be a d#ck"

 

I'll gladly pay for the first copy to be sent to.....Cupid Dave.

 

I wouldn't like to send him anything which included the word 'd#ck'

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_washing_in_Judaism

 

muslims do ritual washing also. in fact, I've never experienced such dedication to cleaning (the house, the body, the clothes, etc etc) as that which I've seen in muslim countries and muslim communities. in one country, where there is a non-muslim population, you could always tell you were entering an enclave (of non-muslims) because the villages were disgustingly filthy

 

"germ theory" appears to be what I was after, in hind-sight.

- - - Updated - - -

Good thinking, his mistress might get suspicious.

 

it was more that d#cks seem to be a thing for our hero. frequent references to mutual masturbation and other gay party tricks, etc.

we wouldn't want to arouse his .... righteous indignation

 

The laws of quarantine are extremely well expressed in the bible. "Wash your hands" is a joke compared to the degree of information available to the Israelites at the time. They were WAY beyond that. The folks that Jesus spoke with were all highly educated in matters of Mosaic Law. During all the various plagues over the centuries, it was the practicing Jews who had the lowest rates of illness and death because they knew their laws and followed them. It worked so well, they were actually accused of STARTING the plagues.

A respectful request, please---if you are going to badmouth Jesus, at least read the bible before jumping to conclusions.

 

most atheists 'badmouth Jesus' because they DID read the bible. if you think he (and his dad/self) was a swell guy, then I submit you haven't read it.

and I have a respectful request for you. if you are going to make your religious inclinations public, be prepared for mockery.

 

I am disappointed that your reply completely ignored the part of my reply dealing with the quarantine laws in the bible. I don't understand. After reading them, how could someone think that Jesus failed to protect us by not telling us to "wash our hands?"