Curses Should Be Eliminated from the Bible
The Israeli-Palestinian problem is not just another typical
regional conflict; it is a major global conflict! In fact, the
entire Middle East problem is the world's "Gordian knot". If
humanity manages to solve it, then we can hope that present
civilization may survive. If not, then apocalyptic tragedies
await the world. Therefore, it is in everybody's interests to
contribute peacefully towards the solution of this long and
fierce conflict. This article is my own humble contribution to
this end.
It is an axiom that words, especially when they are fortified
with strong emotion, are powerful "tools", both for blessing and
for cursing. People have known this instinctively and
experientially since languages were formed, and they have used
their tongue as a weapon to bring good and, unfortunately more
often, evil on fellow human beings.
Some people's words are inherently more powerful than those of
others, and the most effective ones are those of prophets,
especially when they are pronounced in the name of God, even
without His approval. In the Old Testament we find many accounts
of the fulfilment of catastrophic prophecies pronounced against
Israel by its prophets, whenever the "chosen people" failed to
obey God's - the prophets' - commandments.
In the knowledge of the above, the critical question to which
all believers are called to answer is this: How is Israel
affected today by the curses of its Old Testament prophets,
taking into account that millions of Bible believers consider
them as God inspired? To what degree is Israel still "bound" by
them?
Difficult questions, indeed, which take a true mystic to answer
for sure. (By the way, I do not claim to be one...)
If the answer to these questions is "YES", then the next
question must be: how could Israel be loosed from the curses the
Jewish prophets have bound around its neck, thousands of years
ago? Let us remember that Jesus said, "Whatever you loose on
earth will be loosed in heaven". Could Christians, or any other
compassionate believers, intercede on behalf of Israel, although
they know that the loosening from those curses was invariably
tied with specific conditions that still have not been met by
Israel?
Furthermore, wouldn't it help if all these curses that are
written in the Bible were eliminated and the relevant chapters
deleted? In my opinion, these curses receive spiritual energy by
those who believe them as God inspired, and so they appear to
remain forever effective.
Personally, I would have never bothered wondering about curses
pronounced over a people some thousands years ago, nor would I
ever suspect that they would, in any way, be still effective, if
there hadn't been such a continuous bloody conflict in the "Holy
Land", and if, of course, the Jews had not suffered so much by
the "gentiles" over the centuries.
Of course I am aware of the realistic problems of land-sharing
between Israelis and Palestinians and that the solution to those
requires understanding and a realistic approach by both parties.
However, it has been in my heart for a long time to highlight
the possible negative effect of those curses and what could the
world do about them.
Bearing in mind that the Bible, however holy and inspired in
certain parts, is a book written by fallible human beings with
limited understanding of God's Ultimate Truth, contemporary
enlightened spiritual leaders should not hesitate to suggest
elimination of every curse from the Bible. Humanity urgently
needs another model of God, if the world is to find some peace.
Isn't it strange that I feel inhibited and embarrassed even to
quote here what is written in a Book considered being the
"infallible and "inerrant" Word of God? I am sure, you, the
unbiased reader, will have difficulty even reading those curses.
I really feel to apologize in advance, but please remember, I
did not write the Bible! And I am only doing this out of
compassion for a people carrying a heavy yoke given by its
prophets, in their zeal to make them a holy nation. But
individuals have been granted the freedom to decide how they
want to conduct their own lives and nobody can force them to be
saints against their will, pronouncing curses upon them! This
practice, apart from being unholy, it just doesn't work!
In any case, although with great hesitancy, I must quote here a
few of those heavy curses, and let those who are spiritually
aware seek enlightenment, discernment and revelation on how to
free Israel from them.
Deut. 27:1 - Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the
people, saying, "Keep the whole commandment that I command you
today." (...) (...)
Deut. 28:15 - "But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD
your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his
statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall
come upon you and overtake you." (...) (...)
Deut. 28:25 - "The LORD will cause you to be defeated before
your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee
seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the
kingdoms of the earth." (...) (...)
Deut. 28:45 - "All these curses shall come upon you and pursue
you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not
obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments
and his statutes that he commanded you."
As you can see, I have omitted all the specific curses between
the above verses, for they are utterly repulsive and sickening.
Christian leaders of all denominations should seriously consider
eliminating these and all other curses from a Book they consider
to be the "Word of God"!
After all, Christ said, "Bless and not curse"! What excuses do
they have for keeping any curses in the Bible? And what excuses
do Christians have for believing that these curses are really
God inspired? Isn't this a blasphemy against the Creator, "Who
makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain
on the just and on the unjust"?
The time has come for Christians to open their spiritual eyes
and stop idolizing a Book with curses!