Religionskritik
herausgegeben von Alois Payer (payer@payer.de)
Zitierweise / cite as:
Mark Twain <i.e. Samuel Langhorne Clemens> <1835 - 1910>: Letters from the earth. -- 1909. -- Fassung vom 2004-04-08. -- URL: http://www.payer.de/religionskritik/MarkTwain.htm
Erstmals publiziert: 2004-04-08
Überarbeitungen:
©opyright: Public Domain
Dieser Text ist Teil der Abteilung Religionskritik von Tüpfli's Global Village Library
The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable
continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before him
rose the black night of Space, like a wall. His mighty bulk towered rugged
and mountain-
When the Creator had finished thinking, He said, "I have thought. Behold!"
He lifted His hand, and from it burst a fountain-
At the end of an hour the Grand Council was dismissed.
They left the Presence impressed and thoughtful, and retired to a private place, where they might talk with freedom. None of the three seemed to want to begin, though all wanted somebody to do it. Each was burning to discuss the great event, but would prefer not to commit himself till he should know how the others regarded it. So there was some aimless and halting conversation about matters of no consequence, and this dragged tediously along, arriving nowhere, until at last the archangel Satan gathered his courage together -- of which he had a very good supply -- and broke ground. He said: "We know what we are here to talk about, my lords, and we may as well put pretense aside, and begin. If this is the opinion of the Council -- "
Abb.: Erzengel Michael mit dem teuflischen Drachen / Radierung von Martin
Schongauer (1450 - 1491), 1470
"It is, it is!" said Gabriel and Michael, gratefully interrupting.
"Very well, then, let us proceed. We have witnessed a wonderful thing; as to that, we are necessarily agreed. As to the value of it -- if it has any -- that is a matter which does not personally concern us. We can have as many opinions about it as we like, and that is our limit. We have no vote. I think Space was well enough, just as it was, and useful, too. Cold and dark -- a restful place, now and then, after a season of the overdelicate climate and trying splendors of heaven. But these are details of no considerable moment; the new feature, the immense feature, is -- what, gentlemen?"
"The invention and introduction of automatic, unsupervised, self-
Abb.: Méphistophélès dans les air /
Lithographie von Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), 1828
"That is it!" said Satan. "You perceive that it is a stupendous idea. Nothing approaching it has been evolved from the Master Intellect before. Law -- Automatic Law -- exact and unvarying Law -- requiring no watching, no correcting, no readjusting while the eternities endure! He said those countless vast bodies would plunge through the wastes of Space ages and ages, at unimaginable speed, around stupendous orbits, yet never collide, and never lengthen nor shorten their orbital periods by so much as the hundredth part of a second in two thousand years! That is the new miracle, and the greatest of all -- Automatic Law! And He gave it a name -- the LAW OF NATURE -- and said Natural Law is the LAW OF GOD -- interchangeable names for one and the same thing."
"Yes," said Michael, "and He said He would establish Natural Law -- the Law of God -- throughout His dominions, and its authority should be supreme and inviolable."
Abb.: Erzengel Gabriel, Faras (Sudan) [Bildquelle:
http://www.khm.at/system2E.html?/staticE/page2377.html. -- Zugriff am
2004-04-07]
"Also," said Gabriel, "He said He would by and by create animals, and place them, likewise, under the authority of that Law."
"Yes," said Satan, "I heard Him, but did not understand. What is animals, Gabriel?"
"Ah, how should I know? How should any of us know? It is a new word."
[Interval of three centuries, celestial time -- the equivalent of
a hundred million years, earthly time. Enter a Messenger-
"My lords, He is making animals. Will it please you to come and see?"
They went, they saw, and were perplexed. Deeply perplexed -- and the Creator noticed it, and said, "Ask. I will answer."
"Divine One," said Satan, making obeisance, "what are they for?"
"They are an experiment in Morals and Conduct. Observe them, and be instructed."
There were thousands of them. They were full of activities. Busy, all busy -- mainly in persecuting each other. Satan remarked -- after examining one of them through a powerful microscope: "This large beast is killing weaker animals, Divine One."
"The tiger -- yes. The law of his nature is ferocity. The law of his nature is the Law of God. He cannot disobey it."
"Then in obeying it he commits no offense, Divine One?"
"No, he is blameless."
"This other creature, here, is timid, Divine One, and suffers death without resisting."
"The rabbit -- yes. He is without courage. It is the law of his nature -- the Law of God. He must obey it."
"Then he cannot honorably be required to go counter to his nature and resist, Divine One?"
"No. No creature can be honorably required to go counter to the law of his nature -- the Law of God."
After a long time and many questions, Satan said, "The spider kills the fly, and eats it; the bird kills the spider and eats it; the wildcat kills the goose; the -- well, they all kill each other. It is murder all along the line. Here are countless multitudes of creatures, and they all kill, kill, kill, they are all murderers. And they are not to blame, Divine One?"
"They are not to blame. It is the law of their nature. And always the law of nature is the Law of God. Now -- observe -- behold! A new creature -- and the masterpiece -- Man!"
Men, women, children, they came swarming in flocks, in droves, in millions.
"What shall you do with them, Divine One?"
"Put into each individual, in differing shades and degrees, all the various Moral Qualities, in mass, that have been distributed, a single distinguishing characteristic at a time, among the nonspeaking animal world -- courage, cowardice, ferocity, gentleness, fairness, justice, cunning, treachery, magnanimity, cruelty, malice, malignity, lust, mercy, pity, purity, selfishness, sweetness, honor, love, hate, baseness, nobility, loyalty, falsity, veracity, untruthfulness -- each human being shall have all of these in him, and they will constitute his nature. In some, there will be high and fine characteristics which will submerge the evil ones, and those will be called good men; in others the evil characteristics will have dominion, and those will be called bad men. Observe -- behold -- they vanish!"
"Whither are they gone, Divine One?"
"To the earth -- they and all their fellow animals."
"What is the earth?"
"A small globe I made, a time, two times and a half ago. You saw it, but did not notice it in the explosion of worlds and suns that sprayed from my hand. Man is an experiment, the other animals are another experiment. Time will show whether they were worth the trouble. The exhibition is over; you may take your leave, my lords."
Several days passed by.
This stands for a long stretch of (our) time, since in heaven a day is as a thousand years.
Satan had been making admiring remarks about certain of the Creator's sparkling industries -- remarks which, being read between the lines, were sarcasms. He had made them confidentially to his safe friends the other archangels, but they had been overheard by some ordinary angels and reported at Headquarters.
He was ordered into banishment for a day -- the celestial day. It was
a punishment he was used to, on account of his too flexible tongue. Formerly
he had been deported into Space, there being nowhither else to send him,
and had flapped tediously around there in the eternal night and the Arctic
chill; but now it occurred to him to push on and hunt up the earth and
see how the Human-
By and by he wrote home -- very privately -- to St. Michael and St. Gabriel about it.
This is a strange place, and extraordinary place, and interesting. There
is nothing resembling it at home. The people are all insane, the other
animals are all insane, the earth is insane, Nature itself is insane. Man
is a marvelous curiosity. When he is at his very very best he is a sort
of low grade nickel-
Moreover -- if I may put another strain upon you -- he thinks he is the Creator's pet. He believes the Creator is proud of him; he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes, and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to Him, and thinks He listens. Isn't it a quaint idea? Fills his prayers with crude and bald and florid flatteries of Him, and thinks He sits and purrs over these extravagancies and enjoys them. He prays for help, and favor, and protection, every day; and does it with hopefulness and confidence, too, although no prayer of his has ever been answered. The daily affront, the daily defeat, do not discourage him, he goes on praying just the same. There is something almost fine about this perseverance. I must put one more strain upon you: he thinks he is going to heaven!
Beispiel für solche Gebete: Fürbitten für Erdbebenopfer 2003 "Wir bitten für unsere Mitmenschen,
die von den Naturkatastrophen der vergangenen Woche
hart getroffen worden sind:
durch die Erdrutsche auf den Philippinen,
durch die Explosion der giftigen Erdgas-Quelle in China
und durch das Erdbeben, das die Stadt Bam im Iran zerstört hat.Wecke in den Überlebenden die Kräfte, die helfen,
die ersten furchtbaren Tage zu überstehen,
unter Schock, voller Trauer und hilflos
und ohne zu wissen,
wie es weiter gehen wird.Lass sie Halt finden
in der Notgemeinschaft der Überlebenden
und in dem Trost, den ihre Religion
und ihre Traditionen zu geben vermögen.
Bereite den Helferinnen und Helfern den Weg.
Lass ihre Organisationen nicht mit leeren Händen dastehen,
weil es an Hilfsbereitschaft fehlt.Sei der Helfer der Helferinnen und Helfer
auch in den kommenden Wochen und Monaten,
wenn die große Not anhält,
ohne noch die Aufmerksamkeit der Welt zu finden.Lass die internationale Gemeinschaft der Hilfe
im Trümmerfeld der Stadt Bam
Früchte tragen über der Tag hinaus,
weil sie bei den Machthabern des Iran
und anderer Mächte das Vertrauen weckt,
den Weg zur Überwindung politischer Feindschaft zu betreten.Stärke das Verantwortungsbewusstsein aller,
die verpflichtet sind,
Vorbeugungsmaßnahmen gegen Naturkatastrophen zu treffen,
damit das Menschenmögliche geschieht
und das Maß von Tod und Leiden
nicht unnötig vergrößert wird.Bewahre uns vor der Torheit, zu glauben,
wir seien dir lieber, als unsere Mitmenschen,
weil uns Katastrophen nicht getroffen haben,
sondern stelle uns denen zur Seite, die heute unsere Hilfe brauchen."[Quelle: http://www.diakonie-katastrophenhilfe.de/gemeinden/401_684_DEU_HTML.php. -- Zugriff am 2004-04-08]
He has salaried teachers who tell him that. They also tell him there is a hell, of everlasting fire, and that he will go to it if he doesn't keep the Commandments. What are Commandments? They are a curiosity. I will tell you about them by and by.
"I have told you nothing about man that is not true." You must pardon me if I repeat that remark now and then in these letters; I want you to take seriously the things I am telling you, and I feel that if I were in your place and you in mine, I should need that reminder from time to time, to keep my credulity from flagging.
For there is nothing about man that is not strange to an immortal. He looks at nothing as we look at it, his sense of proportion is quite different from ours, and his sense of values is so widely divergent from ours, that with all our large intellectual powers it is not likely that even the most gifted among us would ever be quite able to understand it.
For instance, take this sample: he has imagined a heaven, and has left entirely out of it the supremest of all his delights, the one ecstasy that stands first and foremost in the heart of every individual of his race -- and of ours -- sexual intercourse!
Abb.: Himmel, Ausschnitt aus "Das Jüngste Gericht" / von Fra Angelico (1387 -
1455), Florenz, 1432 - 1435
It is as if a lost and perishing person in a roasting desert should
be told by a rescuer he might choose and have all longed-
His heaven is like himself: strange, interesting, astonishing, grotesque. I give you my word, it has not a single feature in it that he actually values. It consists -- utterly and entirely -- of diversions which he cares next to nothing about, here in the earth, yet is quite sure he will like them in heaven. Isn't it curious? Isn't it interesting? You must not think I am exaggerating, for it is not so. I will give you details.
Most men do not sing, most men cannot sing, most men will not stay when others are singing if it be continued more than two hours. Note that.
Only about two men in a hundred can play upon a musical instrument, and not four in a hundred have any wish to learn how. Set that down.
Many men pray, not many of them like to do it. A few pray long, the others make a short cut.
More men go to church than want to.
To forty-
Of all the men in a church on a Sunday, two-
The gladdest moment for all of them is when the preacher uplifts his hands for the benediction. You can hear the soft rustle of relief that sweeps the house, and you recognize that it is eloquent with gratitude.
All nations look down upon all other nations.
All nations dislike all other nations.
All white nations despise all colored nations, of whatever hue, and oppress them when they can.
White men will not associate with "niggers," nor marry them.
They will not allow them in their schools and churches.
All the world hates the Jew, and will not endure him except when he is rich.
I ask you to note all those particulars.
Further. All sane people detest noise.
All people, sane or insane, like to have variety in their life. Monotony quickly wearies them.
Every man, according to the mental equipment that has fallen to his share, exercises his intellect constantly, ceaselessly, and this exercise makes up a vast and valued and essential part of his life. The lowest intellect, like the highest, possesses a skill of some kind and takes a keen pleasure in testing it, proving it, perfecting it. The urchin who is his comrade's superior in games is as diligent and as enthusiastic in his practice as are the sculptor, the painter, the pianist, the mathematician and the rest. Not one of them could be happy if his talent were put under an interdict.
Now then, you have the facts. You know what the human race enjoys, and what it doesn't enjoy. It has invented a heaven out of its own head, all by itself: guess what it is like! In fifteen hundred eternities you couldn't do it. The ablest mind known to you or me in fifty million aeons couldn't do it. Very well, I will tell you about it.
They prize it thus highly; yet, like all their so-
Consider the deafening hurricane of sound -- millions and millions of voices screaming at once and millions and millions of harps gritting their teeth at the same time! I ask you: is it hideous, is it odious, is it horrible?
Consider further: it is a praise service; a service of compliment, of flattery, of adulation! Do you ask who it is that is willing to endure this strange compliment, this insane compliment; and who not only endures it, but likes it, enjoys it, requires if, commands it? Hold your breath!
It is God! This race's god, I mean. He sits on his throne, attended by his four and twenty elders and some other dignitaries pertaining to his court, and looks out over his miles and miles of tempestuous worshipers, and smiles, and purrs, and nods his satisfaction northward, eastward, southward; as quaint and nave a spectacle as has yet been imagined in this universe, I take it.
It is easy to see that the inventor of the heavens did not originate
the idea, but copied it from the show-
All sane white people hate noise; yet they have tranquilly accepted
this kind of heaven -- without thinking, without reflection, without examination
-- and they actually want to go to it! Profoundly devout old gray-
As you have seen, that singular show is a service of praise: praise by hymn, praise by prostration. It takes the place of "church." Now then, in the earth these people cannot stand much church -- an hour and a quarter is the limit, and they draw the line at once a week. That is to say, Sunday. One day in seven; and even then they do not look forward to it with longing. And so -- consider what their heaven provides for them: "church" that lasts forever, and a Sabbath that has no end! They quickly weary of this brief hebdomadal Sabbath here, yet they long for that eternal one; they dream of it, they talk about it, they think they think they are going to enjoy it -- with all their simple hearts they think they think they are going to be happy in it!
It is because they do not think at all; they only think they think. Whereas they can't think; not two human beings in ten thousand have anything to think with. And as to imagination -- oh, well, look at their heaven! They accept it, they approve it, they admire it. That gives you their intellectual measure.
He is a marvel -- man is! I would I knew who invented him.
Is it odd, is it curious, is it puzzling? It is exactly as I have said, incredible as it may sound. This sincere adorer of intellect and prodigal rewarder of its mighty services here in the earth has invented a religion and a heaven which pay no compliments to intellect, offer it no distinctions, fling it no largess: in fact, never even mention it.
By this time you will have noticed that the human being's heaven has been thought out and constructed upon an absolute definite plan; and that this plan is, that it shall contain, in labored detail, each and every imaginable thing that is repulsive to a man, and not a single thing he likes!
Very well, the further we proceed the more will this curious fact be apparent.
Make a note of it: in man's heaven there are no exercises for the intellect, nothing for it to live upon. It would rot there in a year -- rot and stink. Rot and stink -- and at that stage become holy. A blessed thing: for only the holy can stand the joys of that bedlam.
You have noticed that the human being is a curiosity. In times past he has had (and worn out and flung away) hundreds and hundreds of religions; today he has hundreds and hundreds of religions, and launches not fewer than three new ones every year. I could enlarge that number and still be within the facts.
One of his principle religions is called the Christian. A sketch of it will interest you. It sets forth in detail in a book containing two million words, called the Old and New Testaments. Also it has another name -- The Word of God. For the Christian thinks every word of it was dictated by God -- the one I have been speaking of.
It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables;
and some blood-
This Bible is built mainly out of the fragments of older Bibles that had their day and crumbled to ruin. So it noticeably lacks in originality, necessarily. Its three or four most imposing and impressive events all happened in earlier Bibles; all its best precepts and rules of conduct came also from those Bibles; there are only two new things in it: hell, for one, and that singular heaven I have told you about.
What shall we do? If we believe, with these people, that their God invented these cruel things, we slander him; if we believe that these people invented them themselves, we slander them. It is an unpleasant dilemma in either case, for neither of these parties has done us any harm.
For the sake of tranquility, let us take a side. Let us join forces with the people and put the whole ungracious burden upon him -- heaven, hell, Bible and all. It does not seem right, it does not seem fair; and yet when you consider that heaven, and how crushingly charged it is with everything that is repulsive to a human being, how can we believe a human being invented it? And when I come to tell you about hell, the stain will be greater still, and you will be likely to say, No, a man would not provide that place, for either himself or anybody else; he simply couldn't.
That innocent Bible tells about the Creation. Of what -- the universe? Yes, the universe. In six days!
Genesis I: die Schöpfung "Am Anfang schuf Gott Himmel und Erde. Und die Erde war wüst und leer, und es war finster auf der Tiefe; und der Geist Gottes schwebte auf dem Wasser. Und Gott sprach: Es werde Licht! Und es ward Licht. Und Gott sah, dass das Licht gut war. Da schied Gott das Licht von der Finsternis und nannte das Licht Tag und die Finsternis Nacht. Da ward aus Abend und Morgen der erste Tag.
Abb.: Der erste Schöpfungstag / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Und Gott sprach: Es werde eine Feste zwischen den Wassern, die da scheide zwischen den Wassern. Da machte Gott die Feste und schied das Wasser unter der Feste von dem Wasser über der Feste. Und es geschah so. Und Gott nannte die Feste Himmel. Da ward aus Abend und Morgen der zweite Tag.
Und Gott sprach: Es sammle sich das Wasser unter dem Himmel an besondere Orte, dass man das Trockene sehe. Und es geschah so. Und Gott nannte das Trockene Erde, und die Sammlung der Wasser nannte er Meer. Und Gott sah, dass es gut war .Und Gott sprach: Es lasse die Erde aufgehen Gras und Kraut, das Samen bringe, und fruchtbare Bäume auf Erden, die ein jeder nach seiner Art Früchte tragen, in denen ihr Same ist. Und es geschah so. Und die Erde ließ aufgehen Gras und Kraut, das Samen bringt, ein jedes nach seiner Art, und Bäume, die da Früchte tragen, in denen ihr Same ist, ein jeder nach seiner Art. Und Gott sah, dass es gut war. Da ward aus Abend und Morgen der dritte Tag.
Abb.: Der zweite Schöpfungstag / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Abb.: Der dritte Schöpfungstag / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Und Gott sprach: Es werden Lichter an der Feste des Himmels, die da scheiden Tag und Nacht und geben Zeichen, Zeiten, Tage und Jahre und seien Lichter an der Feste des Himmels, dass sie scheinen auf die Erde. Und es geschah so. Und Gott machte zwei große Lichter: ein großes Licht, das den Tag regiere, und ein kleines Licht, das die Nacht regiere, dazu auch die Sterne. Und Gott setzte sie an die Feste des Himmels, dass sie schienen auf die Erde und den Tag und die Nacht regierten und schieden Licht und Finsternis. Und Gott sah, dass es gut war. Da ward aus Abend und Morgen der vierte Tag.
Und Gott sprach: Es wimmle das Wasser von lebendigem Getier, und Vögel sollen fliegen auf Erden unter der Feste des Himmels. Und Gott schuf große Walfische und alles Getier, das da lebt und webt, davon das Wasser wimmelt, ein jedes nach seiner Art, und alle gefiederten Vögel, einen jeden nach seiner Art. Und Gott sah, dass es gut war. Und Gott segnete sie und sprach: Seid fruchtbar und mehret euch und erfüllet das Wasser im Meer, und die Vögel sollen sich mehren auf Erden. Da ward aus Abend und Morgen der fünfte Tag.
Abb.: Der vierte Schöpfungstag / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Abb.: Der fünfte Schöpfungstag / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Und Gott sprach: Die Erde bringe hervor lebendiges Getier, ein jedes nach seiner Art: Vieh, Gewürm und Tiere des Feldes, ein jedes nach seiner Art. Und es geschah so. Und Gott machte die Tiere des Feldes, ein jedes nach seiner Art, und das Vieh nach seiner Art und alles Gewürm des Erdbodens nach seiner Art. Und Gott sah, dass es gut war. Und Gott sprach: Lasset uns Menschen machen, ein Bild, das uns gleich sei, die da herrschen über die Fische im Meer und über die Vögel unter dem Himmel und über das Vieh und über alle Tiere des Feldes und über alles Gewürm, das auf Erden kriecht. Und Gott schuf den Menschen zu seinem Bilde, zum Bilde Gottes schuf er ihn; und schuf sie als Mann und Weib. Und Gott segnete sie und sprach zu ihnen: Seid fruchtbar und mehret euch und füllet die Erde und machet sie euch untertan und herrschet über die Fische im Meer und über die Vögel unter dem Himmel und über das Vieh und über alles Getier, das auf Erden kriecht. Und Gott sprach: Sehet da, ich habe euch gegeben alle Pflanzen, die Samen bringen, auf der ganzen Erde, und alle Bäume mit Früchten, die Samen bringen, zu eurer Speise. Aber allen Tieren auf Erden und allen Vögeln unter dem Himmel und allem Gewürm, das auf Erden lebt, habe ich alles grüne Kraut zur Nahrung gegeben. Und es geschah so. Und Gott sah an alles, was er gemacht hatte, und siehe, es war sehr gut. Da ward aus Abend und Morgen der sechste Tag."
Abb.: Der sechste Schöpfungstag / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
God did it. He did not call it the universe -- that name is modern. His whole attention was upon this world. He constructed it in five days -- and then? It took him only one day to make twenty million suns and eighty million planets!
What were they for -- according to this idea? To furnish light for this
little toy-
It is quite manifest that he believed his fresh-
For three hundred years, now, the Christian astronomer has known that his Deity didn't make the stars in those tremendous six days; but the Christian astronomer does not enlarge upon that detail. Neither does the priest.
In his Book, God is eloquent in his praises of his mighty works, and calls them by the largest names he can find -- thus indicating that he has a strong and just admiration of magnitudes; yet he made those millions of prodigious suns to light this wee little orb, instead of appointing this orb's little sun to dance attendance upon them. He mentions Arcturus in his book -- you remember Arcturus; we went there once. It is one of the earth's night lamps! -- that giant globe which is fifty thousand times as large as the earth's sun, and compares with it as a melon compares with a cathedral.
However, the Sunday school still teaches the child that Arcturus was created to help light this earth, and the child grows up and continues to believe it long after he has found out that the probabilities are against it being so.
According to the Book and its servants the universe is only six thousand years old. It is only within the last hundred years that studious, inquiring minds have found out that it is nearer a hundred million.
During the Six Days, God created man and the other animals.
He made a man and a woman and placed them in a pleasant garden, along with the other creatures. they all lived together there in harmony and contentment and blooming youth for some time; then trouble came. God had warned the man and the woman that they must not eat of the fruit of a certain tree. And he added a most strange remark: he said that if they ate of it they should surely die. Strange, for the reason that inasmuch as they had never seen a sample death they could not possibly know what he meant. Neither would he nor any other god have been able to make those ignorant children understand what was meant, without furnishing a sample. The mere word could have no meaning for them, any more than it would have for an infant of days.
Genesis 2,8-17: das Paradies "Und Gott der HERR pflanzte einen Garten in Eden gegen Osten hin und setzte den Menschen hinein, den er gemacht hatte. Und Gott der HERR ließ aufwachsen aus der Erde allerlei Bäume, verlockend anzusehen und gut zu essen, und den Baum des Lebens mitten im Garten und den Baum der Erkenntnis des Guten und Bösen. Und es ging aus von Eden ein Strom, den Garten zu bewässern, und teilte sich von da in vier Hauptarme. Der erste heißt Pischon, der fließt um das ganze Land Hawila, und dort findet man Gold; und das Gold des Landes ist kostbar. Auch findet man da Bedolachharz und den Edelstein Schoham. Der zweite Strom heißt Gihon, der fließt um das ganze Land Kusch. Der dritte Strom heißt Tigris, der fließt östlich von Assyrien. Der vierte Strom ist der Euphrat.
Und Gott der HERR nahm den Menschen und setzte ihn in den Garten Eden, dass er ihn bebaute und bewahrte. Und Gott der HERR gebot dem Menschen und sprach: Du darfst essen von allen Bäumen im Garten, aber von dem Baum der Erkenntnis des Guten und Bösen sollst du nicht essen; denn an dem Tage, da du von ihm issest, musst du des Todes sterben.
Presently a serpent sought them out privately, and came to them walking upright, which was the way of serpents in those days. The serpent said the forbidden fruit would store their vacant minds with knowledge. So they ate it, which was quite natural, for man is so made that he eagerly wants to know; whereas the priest, like God, whose imitator and representative he is, has made it his business from the beginning to keep him from knowing any useful thing.
Genesis 3: der Sündenfall Aber die Schlange war listiger als alle Tiere auf dem Felde, die Gott der HERR gemacht hatte, und sprach zu dem Weibe: Ja, sollte Gott gesagt haben: ihr sollt nicht essen von allen Bäumen im Garten?
Da sprach das Weib zu der Schlange: Wir essen von den Früchten der Bäume im Garten; aber von den Früchten des Baumes mitten im Garten hat Gott gesagt: Esset nicht davon, rühret sie auch nicht an, dass ihr nicht sterbet!
Da sprach die Schlange zum Weibe: Ihr werdet keineswegs des Todes sterben, sondern Gott weiß: an dem Tage, da ihr davon esset, werden eure Augen aufgetan, und ihr werdet sein wie Gott und wissen, was gut und böse ist.
Und das Weib sah, dass von dem Baum gut zu essen wäre und dass er eine Lust für die Augen wäre und verlockend, weil er klug machte. Und sie nahm von der Frucht und aß und gab ihrem Mann, der bei ihr war, auch davon, und er aß.
Da wurden ihnen beiden die Augen aufgetan, und sie wurden gewahr, dass sie nackt waren, und flochten Feigenblätter zusammen und machten sich Schurze. Und sie hörten Gott den HERRN, wie er im Garten ging, als der Tag kühl geworden war. Und Adam versteckte sich mit seinem Weibe vor dem Angesicht Gottes des HERRN unter den Bäumen im Garten.
Abb.: Der Sündenfall / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Abb.: Adam und Eva verstecken sich vor dem Angesicht des Herrn / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Und Gott der HERR rief Adam und sprach zu ihm: Wo bist du?
Und er sprach: Ich hörte dich im Garten und fürchtete mich; denn ich bin nackt, darum versteckte ich mich.
Und er sprach: Wer hat dir gesagt, dass du nackt bist? Hast du nicht gegessen von dem Baum, von dem ich dir gebot, du solltest nicht davon essen?
Da sprach Adam: Das Weib, das du mir zugesellt hast, gab mir von dem Baum, und ich aß.
Da sprach Gott der HERR zum Weibe: Warum hast du das getan? Das Weib sprach: Die Schlange betrog mich, so dass ich aß.
Da sprach Gott der HERR zu der Schlange: Weil du das getan hast, seist du verflucht, verstoßen aus allem Vieh und allen Tieren auf dem Felde. Auf deinem Bauche sollst du kriechen und Erde fressen dein Leben lang. Und ich will Feindschaft setzen zwischen dir und dem Weibe und zwischen deinem Nachkommen und ihrem Nachkommen; der soll dir den Kopf zertreten, und du wirst ihn in die Ferse stechen.
Und zum Weibe sprach er: Ich will dir viel Mühsal schaffen, wenn du schwanger wirst; unter Mühen sollst du Kinder gebären. Und dein Verlangen soll nach deinem Manne sein, aber er soll dein Herr sein.
Und zum Manne sprach er: Weil du gehorcht hast der Stimme deines Weibes und gegessen von dem Baum, von dem ich dir gebot und sprach: Du sollst nicht davon essen -, verflucht sei der Acker um deinetwillen! Mit Mühsal sollst du dich von ihm nähren dein Leben lang. Dornen und Disteln soll er dir tragen, und du sollst das Kraut auf dem Felde essen. Im Schweiße deines Angesichts sollst du dein Brot essen, bis du wieder zu Erde werdest, davon du genommen bist. Denn du bist Erde und sollst zu Erde werden.
Und Adam nannte sein Weib Eva; denn sie wurde die Mutter aller, die da leben.
Und Gott der HERR machte Adam und seinem Weibe Röcke von Fellen und zog sie ihnen an.
Und Gott der HERR sprach: Siehe, der Mensch ist geworden wie unsereiner und weiß, was gut und böse ist. Nun aber, dass er nur nicht ausstrecke seine Hand und breche auch von dem Baum des Lebens und esse und lebe ewiglich!
Da wies ihn Gott der HERR aus dem Garten Eden, dass er die Erde bebaute, von der er genommen war. Und er trieb den Menschen hinaus und ließ lagern vor dem Garten Eden die Cherubim mit dem flammenden, blitzenden Schwert, zu bewachen den Weg zu dem Baum des Lebens. "
Abb.: Die Vestoßung aus dem Paradies / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and at once a great light streamed into their dim heads. They had acquired knowledge. What knowledge -- useful knowledge? No -- merely knowledge that there was such a thing as good, and such a thing as evil, and how to do evil. they couldn't do it before. Therefore all their acts up to this time had been without stain, without blame, without offense.
But now they could do evil -- and suffer for it; now they had acquired
what the Church calls an invaluable possession, the Moral Sense; that sense
which differentiates man from the beast and sets him above the beast. Instead
of below the beast -- where one would suppose his proper place would be,
since he is always foul-
The Church still prizes the Moral Sense as man's noblest asset today, although the Church knows God had a distinctly poor opinion of it and did what he could in his clumsy way to keep his happy Children of the Garden from acquiring it.
Very well, Adam and Eve now knew what evil was, and how to do it. They knew how to do various kinds of wrong things, and among them one principal one -- the one God had his mind on principally. That one was the art and mystery of sexual intercourse. To them it was a magnificent discovery, and they stopped idling around and turned their entire attention to it, poor exultant young things!
In the midst of one of these celebrations they heard God walking among the bushes, which was an afternoon custom of his, and they were smitten with fright. Why? Because they were naked. They had not known it before. They had not minded it before; neither had God.
In that memorable moment immodesty was born; and some people have valued it ever since, though it would certainly puzzle them to explain why.
Adam and Eve entered the world naked and unashamed -- naked and pure-
The convention miscalled modesty has no standard, and cannot have one,
because it is opposed to nature and reason, and is therefore an artificiality
and subject to anybody's whim, anybody's diseased caprice. And so, in India
the refined lady covers her face and breasts and leaves her legs naked
from the hips down, while the refined European lady covers her legs and
exposes her face and her breasts. In lands inhabited by the innocent savage
the refined European lady soon gets used to full-
You have never seen a person with clothes on. Oh, well, you haven't lost anything.
To proceed with the Biblical curiosities. Naturally you will think the threat to punish Adam and Eve for disobeying was of course not carried out, since they did not create themselves, nor their natures nor their impulses nor their weaknesses, and hence were not properly subject to anyone's commands, and not responsible to anybody for their acts. It will surprise you to know that the threat was carried out. Adam and Eve were punished, and that crime finds apologists unto this day. The sentence of death was executed.
As you perceive, the only person responsible for the couple's offense escaped; and not only escaped but became the executioner of the innocent.
In your country and mine we should have the privilege of making fun of this kind of morality, but it would be unkind to do it here. Many of these people have the reasoning faculty, but no one uses it in religious matters.
The best minds will tell you that when a man has begotten a child he is morally bound to tenderly care for it, protect it from hurt, shield it from disease, clothe it, feed it, bear with its waywardness, lay no hand upon it save in kindness and for its own good, and never in any case inflict upon it a wanton cruelty. God's treatment of his earthly children, every day and every night, is the exact opposite of all that, yet those best minds warmly justify these crimes, condone them, excuse them, and indignantly refuse to regard them as crimes at all, when he commits them. Your country and mine is an interesting one, but there is nothing there that is half so interesting as the human mind.
Very well, God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden, and eventually
assassinated them. All for disobeying a command which he had no right to
utter. But he did not stop there, as you will see. He has one code of morals
for himself, and quite another for his children. He requires his children
to deal justly -- and gently -- with offenders, and forgive them seventy-
On the contrary! He elected to punish their children, all through the ages to the end of time, for a trifling offense committed by others before they were born. He is punishing them yet. In mild ways? No, in atrocious ones.
You would not suppose that this kind of Being gets many compliments.
Undeceive yourself: the world calls him the All-
Beispiel solcher Lobhudelei Umdichtung des altkirchlichen Tedeum, von Ignaz Franz 1719-1790
1. Großer Gott, wir loben dich,
Herr, wir preisen deine Stärke,
Vor dir beugt die Erde sich
Und bewundert deine Werke.
Wie du warst vor aller Zeit,
So bleibst du in Ewigkeit.2. Alles, was dich preisen kann,
Cherubim und Seraphinen,
Stimmen dir ein Loblied an;
Alle Engel, die dir dienen,
Rufen dir in sel'ger Ruh':
Heilig, heilig, heilig! zu.3. Heilig, Herr Gott Zabaoth!
Heilig, Herr der Kriegesheere!
Starker Helfer in der Not,
Himmel, Erde, Luft und Meere
Sind erfüllt von deinem Ruhm
Alles ist dein Eigentum.4. Sieh dein Volk in Gnaden an;
Hilf uns, segne, Herr, dein Erbe,
Leit es auf der rechten Bahn,
Daß der Feind es nicht verderbe.
Wart und pfleg es in der Zeit,
Heb es hoch in Ewigkeit.5. Alle Tage wollen wir
Dich und deinen Namen preisen
Und zu allen Zeiten dir
Ehre, Lob und Dank erweisen.
Rett aus Sünden, rett aus Tod,
Sei uns gnädig Herre Gott.6. Herr, erbarm, erbarme dich!
Auf uns komme, Herr, dein Segen!
Deine Güte zeige sich
Allen der Verheißung wegen.
Auf dich hoffen wir allein;
Laß uns nicht verloren sein!6a. Herr, erbarm, erbarme dich
Laß uns deine Güte schauen
Deine Treue zeige sich
Wie wir fest auf dich vertrauen
Auf dich hoffen wir allein
Laß uns nicht verloren sein.7. Der Apostel heil'ger Chor,
Der Propheten große Menge
Schickt zu deinem Thron empor
Neue Lob- und Dankgesänge!
Der Blutzeugen große Schar
Lobt und preist dich immerdar.8. Auf dem ganzen Erdenkreis
Loben Große und auch Kleine
Dich, Gott Vater, dir zum Preis
Singt die heilige Gemeinde:
Sie verehrt auf seinem Thron
Deinen eingebornen Sohn.8a. Dich, Gott Vater auf dem Thron
Loben Große, loben Kleine.
Deinem eingebornen Sohn
Singt die heilige Gemeinde
Und sie ehrt den Heilgen Geist
der uns seinen Trost erweist.9. Sie verehrt den Heil'gen Geist,
Welcher uns mit seinen Lehren
Und mit Troste kräftig speist;
Der, O König aller Ehren,
Der mit dir, Herr Jesu Christ,
Und dem Vater ewig ist.10. Du, des Vaters ewger Sohn
Hast die Menschheit angenommen
Bist vom hohen Himmelsthron
Zu uns auf die Welt gekommen
Hast uns Gottes Gnad gebracht
Von der Sünd uns frei gemacht.11. Durch dich steht das Himmelstor
Allen, welche glauben, offen
Du stellst uns dem Vater vor
Wenn wir kindlich auf dich hoffen
Du wirst kommen zum Gericht
Wenn der letzte Tag anbricht.12. Herr, steh deinen Dienern bei
Welche dich in Demut bitten
Kauftest durch dein Blut uns frei
Hast den Tod für uns gelitten
Nimm uns nach vollbrachtem Lauf
Zu dir in den Himmel auf
So the First Pair went forth from the Garden under a curse -- a permanent one. They had lost every pleasure they had possessed before "The Fall"; and yet they were rich, for they had gained one worth all the rest: they knew the Supreme Art.
Abb.: Adam und Eva nach der Vertreibung / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872
), 1860
They practiced it diligently and were filled with contentment. The Deity ordered them to practice it. They obeyed, this time. But it was just as well it was not forbidden, for they would have practiced it anyhow, if a thousand Deities had forbidden it.
Results followed. By the name of Cain and Abel. And these had some sisters; and knew what to do with them. And so there were some more results: Cain and Abel begot some nephews and nieces. These, in their turn, begot some second cousins. At this point classification of relationships began to get difficult, and the attempt to keep it up was abandoned.
Genesis 4: Kain und Abel "Und Adam erkannte sein Weib Eva, und sie ward schwanger und gebar den Kain und sprach: Ich habe einen Mann gewonnen mit Hilfe des HERRN. Danach gebar sie Abel, seinen Bruder. Und Abel wurde ein Schäfer, Kain aber wurde ein Ackermann. Es begab sich aber nach etlicher Zeit, dass Kain dem HERRN Opfer brachte von den Früchten des Feldes. Und auch Abel brachte von den Erstlingen seiner Herde und von ihrem Fett. Und der HERR sah gnädig an Abel und sein Opfer, aber Kain und sein Opfer sah er nicht gnädig an.
Abb.: Die Opfer Kains und Abels / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860Da ergrimmte Kain sehr und senkte finster seinen Blick. Da sprach der HERR zu Kain: Warum ergrimmst du? Und warum senkst du deinen Blick? Ist's nicht also? Wenn du fromm bist, so kannst du frei den Blick erheben. Bist du aber nicht fromm, so lauert die Sünde vor der Tür, und nach dir hat sie Verlangen; du aber herrsche über sie. Da sprach Kain zu seinem Bruder Abel: Lass uns aufs Feld gehen! Und es begab sich, als sie auf dem Felde waren, erhob sich Kain wider seinen Bruder Abel und schlug ihn tot.
Abb.: Der Brudermord / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860Da sprach der HERR zu Kain: Wo ist dein Bruder Abel? Er sprach: Ich weiß nicht; soll ich meines Bruders Hüter sein? Er aber sprach: Was hast du getan? Die Stimme des Blutes deines Bruders schreit zu mir von der Erde. Und nun: Verflucht seist du auf der Erde, die ihr Maul hat aufgetan und deines Bruders Blut von deinen Händen empfangen. Wenn du den Acker bebauen wirst, soll er dir hinfort seinen Ertrag nicht geben. Unstet und flüchtig sollst du sein auf Erden. Kain aber sprach zu dem HERRN: Meine Strafe ist zu schwer, als dass ich sie tragen könnte.* *Luther übersetzte: "Meine Sünde ist größer, denn dass sie mir vergeben werden möge." Siehe, du treibst mich heute vom Acker, und ich muss mich vor deinem Angesicht verbergen und muss unstet und flüchtig sein auf Erden. So wird mir's gehen, dass mich totschlägt, wer mich findet. Aber der HERR sprach zu ihm: Nein, sondern wer Kain totschlägt, das soll siebenfältig gerächt werden. Und der HERR machte ein Zeichen an Kain, dass ihn niemand erschlüge, der ihn fände. So ging Kain hinweg von dem Angesicht des HERRN und wohnte im Lande Nod, jenseits von Eden, gegen Osten.
Abb.: Die Auswanderung der Kainiten / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Und Kain erkannte sein Weib; die ward schwanger und gebar den Henoch. Und er baute eine Stadt, die nannte er nach seines Sohnes Namen Henoch. Henoch aber zeugte Irad, Irad zeugte Mehujaël, Mehujaël zeugte Metuschaël, Metuschaël zeugte Lamech. Lamech aber nahm zwei Frauen, eine hieß Ada, die andere Zilla. Und Ada gebar Jabal; von dem sind hergekommen, die in Zelten wohnen und Vieh halten. Und sein Bruder hieß Jubal; von dem sind hergekommen alle Zither- und Flötenspieler. Zilla aber gebar auch, nämlich den Tubal-Kain; von dem sind hergekommen alle Erz- und Eisenschmiede. Und die Schwester des Tubal-Kain war Naama. Und Lamech sprach zu seinen Frauen: Ada und Zilla, höret meine Rede, ihr Weiber Lamechs, merkt auf, was ich sage: Einen Mann erschlug ich für meine Wunde und einen Jüngling für meine Beule. Kain soll siebenmal gerächt werden, aber Lamech siebenundsiebzigmal.
Adam erkannte abermals sein Weib, und sie gebar einen Sohn, den nannte sie Set; denn Gott hat mir, sprach sie, einen andern Sohn gegeben für Abel, den Kain erschlagen hat. Und Set zeugte auch einen Sohn und nannte ihn Enosch. Zu der Zeit fing man an, den Namen des HERRN anzurufen."
The pleasant labor of populating the world went on from age to age, and with prime efficiency; for in those happy days the sexes were still competent for the Supreme Art when by rights they ought to have been dead eight hundred years. The sweeter sex, the dearer sex, the lovelier sex was manifestly at its very best, then, for it was even able to attract gods. Real gods. They came down out of heaven and had wonderful times with those hot young blossoms. The Bible tells about it.
Genesis 6,1-4: Gottessöhne und Menschentöchter "Als aber die Menschen sich zu mehren begannen auf Erden und ihnen Töchter geboren wurden, da sahen die Gottessöhne, wie schön die Töchter der Menschen waren, und nahmen sich zu Frauen, welche sie wollten.
Abb.: Die Kinder Gottes vermischen sich mit den Kindern der Welt / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Da sprach der HERR: Mein Geist soll nicht immerdar im Menschen walten, denn auch der Mensch ist Fleisch. Ich will ihm als Lebenszeit geben hundertundzwanzig Jahre.
Zu der Zeit und auch später noch, als die Gottessöhne zu den Töchtern der Menschen eingingen und sie ihnen Kinder gebaren, wurden daraus die Riesen auf Erden. Das sind die Helden der Vorzeit, die hochberühmten."
By help of those visiting foreigners the population grew and grew until it numbered several millions. But it was a disappointment to the Deity. He was dissatisfied with its morals; which in some respects were not any better than his own. Indeed they were an unflatteringly close imitation of his own. They were a very bad people, and as he knew of no way to reform them, he wisely concluded to abolish them. This is the only really enlightened and superior idea his Bible has credited him with, and it would have made his reputation for all time if he could only have kept to it and carried it out. But he was always unstable -- except in his advertisements -- and his good resolution broke down. He took a pride in man; man was his finest invention; man was his pet, after the housefly, and he could not bear to lose him wholly; so he finally decided to save a sample of him and drown the rest.
Genesis 6,5 - 22: Noah "Als aber der HERR sah, dass der Menschen Bosheit groß war auf Erden und alles Dichten und Trachten ihres Herzens nur böse war immerdar, da reute es ihn, dass er die Menschen gemacht hatte auf Erden, und es bekümmerte ihn in seinem Herzen, und er sprach: Ich will die Menschen, die ich geschaffen habe, vertilgen von der Erde, vom Menschen an bis hin zum Vieh und bis zum Gewürm und bis zu den Vögeln unter dem Himmel; denn es reut mich, dass ich sie gemacht habe.
Aber Noah fand Gnade vor dem HERRN.
Dies ist die Geschichte von Noahs Geschlecht. Noah war ein frommer Mann und ohne Tadel zu seinen Zeiten; er wandelte mit Gott. Und er zeugte drei Söhne: Sem, Ham und Jafet.
Aber die Erde war verderbt vor Gottes Augen und voller Frevel. Da sah Gott auf die Erde, und siehe, sie war verderbt; denn alles Fleisch hatte seinen Weg verderbt auf Erden. Da sprach Gott zu Noah: Das Ende alles Fleisches ist bei mir beschlossen, denn die Erde ist voller Frevel von ihnen; und siehe, ich will sie verderben mit der Erde. Mache dir einen Kasten von Tannenholz und mache Kammern darin und verpiche ihn mit Pech innen und außen. Und mache ihn so: Dreihundert Ellen sei die Länge, fünfzig Ellen die Breite und dreißig Ellen die Höhe. Ein Fenster sollst du daran machen obenan, eine Elle groß. Die Tür sollst du mitten in seine Seite setzen. Und er soll drei Stockwerke haben, eines unten, das zweite in der Mitte, das dritte oben. Denn siehe, ich will eine Sintflut kommen lassen auf Erden, zu verderben alles Fleisch, darin Odem des Lebens ist, unter dem Himmel. Alles, was auf Erden ist, soll untergehen. Aber mit dir will ich meinen Bund aufrichten, und du sollst in die Arche gehen mit deinen Söhnen, mit deiner Frau und mit den Frauen deiner Söhne. Und du sollst in die Arche bringen von allen Tieren, von allem Fleisch, je ein Paar, Männchen und Weibchen, dass sie leben bleiben mit dir. Von den Vögeln nach ihrer Art, von dem Vieh nach seiner Art und von allem Gewürm auf Erden nach seiner Art: von den allen soll je ein Paar zu dir hineingehen, dass sie leben bleiben. Und du sollst dir von jeder Speise nehmen, die gegessen wird, und sollst sie bei dir sammeln, dass sie dir und ihnen zur Nahrung diene.
Abb.: Verkündigung der Sündflut und Bau der Arche / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Und Noah tat alles, was ihm Gott gebot."
Nothing could be more characteristic of him. He created all those infamous people, and he alone was responsible for their conduct. Not one of them deserved death, yet it was certainly good policy to extinguish them; especially since in creating them the master crime had already been committed, and to allow them to go on procreating would be a distinct addition to the crime. But at the same time there could be no justice, no fairness, in any favoritism -- all should be drowned or none.
No, he would not have it so; he would save half a dozen and try the
race over again. He was not able to foresee that it would go rotten again,
for he is only the Far-
He saved out Noah and his family, and arranged to exterminate the rest. He planned an Ark, and Noah built it. Neither of them had ever built an Ark before, nor knew anything about Arks; and so something out of the common was to be expected. It happened. Noah was a farmer, and although he knew what was required of the Ark he was quite incompetent to say whether this one would be large enough to meet the requirements or not (which it wasn't), so he ventured no advice. The Deity did not know it wasn't large enough, but took the chances and made no adequate measurements. In the end the ship fell far short of the necessities, and to this day the world still suffers for it.
Noah built the Ark. He built it the best he could, but left out most
of the essentials. It had no rudder, it had no sails, it had no compass,
it had no pumps, it had no charts, no lead-
For not only was a sample of man to be saved, but business samples of the other animals, too. You must understand that when Adam ate the apple in the Garden and learned how to multiply and replenish, the other animals learned the Art, too, by watching Adam. It was cunning of them, it was neat; for they got all that was worth having out of the apple without tasting it and afflicting themselves with the disastrous Moral Sense, the parent of all immoralities.
Noah began to collect animals. There was to be one couple of each and
every sort of creature that walked or crawled, or swam or flew, in the
world of animated nature. We have to guess at how long it took to collect
the creatures and how much it cost, for there is no record of these details.
When Symmachus made preparation to introduce his young son to grown-
Genesis/: Die Sintflut "Und der HERR sprach zu Noah: Geh in die Arche, du und dein ganzes Haus; denn dich habe ich gerecht erfunden vor mir zu dieser Zeit. Von allen reinen Tieren nimm zu dir je sieben, das Männchen und sein Weibchen, von den unreinen Tieren aber je ein Paar, das Männchen und sein Weibchen. Desgleichen von den Vögeln unter dem Himmel je sieben, das Männchen und sein Weibchen, um das Leben zu erhalten auf dem ganzen Erdboden. Denn von heute an in sieben Tagen will ich regnen lassen auf Erden vierzig Tage und vierzig Nächte und vertilgen von dem Erdboden alles Lebendige, das ich gemacht habe. Und Noah tat alles, was ihm der HERR gebot. Er war aber sechshundert Jahre alt, als die Sintflut auf Erden kam. Und er ging in die Arche mit seinen Söhnen, seiner Frau und den Frauen seiner Söhne vor den Wassern der Sintflut. Von den reinen Tieren und von den unreinen, von den Vögeln und von allem Gewürm auf Erden gingen sie zu ihm in die Arche paarweise, je ein Männchen und Weibchen, wie ihm Gott geboten hatte.
Und als die sieben Tage vergangen waren, kamen die Wasser der Sintflut auf Erden. In dem sechshundertsten Lebensjahr Noahs am siebzehnten Tag des zweiten Monats, an diesem Tag brachen alle Brunnen der großen Tiefe auf und taten sich die Fenster des Himmels auf und ein Regen kam auf Erden vierzig Tage und vierzig Nächte.] An eben diesem Tage ging Noah in die Arche mit Sem, Ham und Jafet, seinen Söhnen, und mit seiner Frau und den drei Frauen seiner Söhne; dazu alles wilde Getier nach seiner Art, alles Vieh nach seiner Art, alles Gewürm, das auf Erden kriecht, nach seiner Art und alle Vögel nach ihrer Art, alles, was fliegen konnte, alles, was Fittiche hatte; das ging alles zu Noah in die Arche paarweise, von allem Fleisch, darin Odem des Lebens war. Und das waren Männchen und Weibchen von allem Fleisch, und sie gingen hinein, wie denn Gott ihm geboten hatte. Und der HERR schloß hinter ihm zu.
Abb.: Die Sündflut / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Und die Sintflut war vierzig Tage auf Erden, und die Wasser wuchsen und hoben die Arche auf und trugen sie empor über die Erde. Und die Wasser nahmen überhand und wuchsen sehr auf Erden, und die Arche fuhr auf den Wassern. Und die Wasser nahmen überhand und wuchsen so sehr auf Erden, daß alle hohen Berge unter dem ganzen Himmel bedeckt wurden. Fünfzehn Ellen hoch gingen die Wasser über die Berge, so daß sie ganz bedeckt wurden. Da ging alles Fleisch unter, das sich auf Erden regte, an Vögeln, an Vieh, an wildem Getier und an allem, was da wimmelte auf Erden, und alle Menschen. Alles, was Odem des Lebens hatte auf dem Trockenen, das starb. So wurde vertilgt alles, was auf dem Erdboden war, vom Menschen an bis hin zum Vieh und zum Gewürm und zu den Vögeln unter dem Himmel; das wurde alles von der Erde vertilgt. Allein Noah blieb übrig und was mit ihm in der Arche war. Und die Wasser wuchsen gewaltig auf Erden hundertundfünfzig Tage."
How many animals? We do not know. But it was under five thousand, for
that was the largest number ever gathered for those Roman shows, and it
was Titus, not Symmachus, who made that collection. Those were mere baby
museums, compared to Noah's contract. Of birds and beasts and fresh-
Thousands and thousands of those things are very difficult to catch, and if Noah had not given up and resigned, he would be on the job yet, as Leviticus used to say. However, I do not mean that he withdrew. No, he did not do that. He gathered as many creatures as he had room for, and then stopped.
If he had known all the requirements in the beginning, he would have been aware that what was needed was a fleet of Arks. But he did not know how many kinds of creatures there were, neither did his Chief. So he had no Kangaroo, and no 'possom, and no Gila monster, and no ornithorhynchus, and lacked a multitude of other indispensable blessings which a loving Creator had provided for man and forgotten about, they having long ago wandered to a side of this world which he had never seen and with whose affairs he was not acquainted. And so everyone of them came within a hair of getting drowned.
They only escaped by an accident. There was not water enough to go around. Only enough was provided to flood one small corner of the globe -- the rest of the globe was not then known, and was supposed to be nonexistent.
However, the thing that really and finally and definitely determined Noah to stop with enough species for purely business purposes and let the rest become extinct, was an incident of the last days: an excited stranger arrived with some most alarming news. He said he had been camping among some mountains and valleys about six hundred miles away, and he had seen a wonderful thing there: he stood upon a precipice overlooking a wide valley, and up the valley he was a billowy black sea of strange animal life coming. Presently the creatures passed by, struggling, fighting, scrambling, screeching, snorting -- horrible vast masses of tumultuous flesh! Sloths as big as an elephant; frogs as big as a cow; a megatherium and his harem huge beyond belief; saurians and saurians and saurians, group after group, family after family, species after species -- a hundred feet long, thirty feet high, and twice as quarrelsome; one of them hit a perfectly blameless Durham bull a thump with its tail and sent it whizzing three hundred feet into the air and it fell at the man's feet with a sigh and was no more. The man said that these prodigious animals had heard about the Ark and were coming. Coming to get saved from the flood. And not coming in pairs, they were all coming: they did not know the passengers were restricted to pairs, the man said, and wouldn't care a rap for the regulations, anyway -- they would sail in that Ark or know the reason why. The man said the Ark would not hold the half of them; and moreover they were coming hungry, and would eat up everything there was, including the menagerie and the family.
All these facts were suppressed, in the Biblical account. You find not a hint of them there. The whole thing is hushed up. Not even the names of those vast creatures are mentioned. It shows you that when people have left a reproachful vacancy in a contract they can be as shady about it in Bibles as elsewhere. Those powerful animals would be of inestimable value to man now, when transportation is so hard pressed and expensive, but they are all lost to him. All lost, and by Noah's fault. They all got drowned. Some of them as much as eight million years ago.
Very well, the stranger told his tale, and Noah saw that he must get
away before the monsters arrived. He would have sailed at once, but the
upholsterers and decorators of the housefly's drawing room still had some
finishing touches to put on, and that lost him a day. Another day was lost
in getting the flies aboard, there being sixty-
Then at last, Noah sailed; and none too soon, for the Ark was only just
sinking out of sight on the horizon when the monsters arrived, and added
their lamentations to those of the multitude of weeping fathers and mothers
and frightened little children who were clinging to the wave-
On the third day, about noon, it was found that a fly and been left behind. The return voyage turned out to be long and difficult, on account of the lack of chart and compass, and because of the changed aspects of all coasts, the steadily rising water having submerged some of the lower landmarks and given to higher ones an unfamiliar look; but after sixteen days of earnest and faithful seeking, the fly was found at last, and received on board with hymns of praise and gratitude, the Family standing meanwhile uncovered, our of reverence for its divine origin. It was weary and worn, and had suffered somewhat from the weather, but was otherwise in good estate. Men and their families had died of hunger on barren mountain tops, but it had not lacked for food, the multitudinous corpses furnishing it in rank and rotten richness. Thus was the sacred bird providentially preserved.
Providentially. That is the word. For the fly had not been left behind
by accident. No, the hand of Providence was in it. There are no accidents.
All things that happen, happen for a purpose. They are foreseen from the
beginning of time, they are ordained from the beginning of time. From the
dawn of Creation the Lord had foreseen that Noah, being alarmed and confused
by the invasion of the prodigious brevet fossils, would prematurely fly
to sea unprovided with a certain invaluable disease. He would have all
the other diseases, and could distribute them among the new races of men
as they appeared in the world, but he would lack one of the very best --
typhoid fever; a malady which, when the circumstances are especially favorable,
is able to utterly wreck a patient without killing him; for it can restore
him to his feet with a long life in him, and yet deaf, dumb, blind, crippled,
and idiotic. The housefly is its main disseminator, and is more competent
and more calamitously effective than all the other distributors of the
dreaded scourge put together. And so, by foreordination from the beginning
of time, this fly was left behind to seek out a typhoid corpse and feed
upon its corruptions and gaum its legs with germs and transmit them to
the re-
It is most difficult to understand the disposition of the Bible God,
it is such a confusion of contradictions; of watery instabilities and iron
firmness; of goody-
However, when after much puzzling you get at the key to his disposition, you do at last arrive at a sort of understanding of it. With a most quaint and juvenile and astonishing frankness he has furnished that key himself. It is jealousy!
I expect that to take your breath away. You are aware -- for I have
already told you in an earlier letter -- that among human beings jealousy
ranks distinctly as a weakness; a trade-
Jealousy. Do not forget it, keep it in mind. It is the key. With it you will come to partly understand God as we go along; without it nobody can understand him. As I have said, he has openly held up this treasonous key himself, for all to see. He says, naïvely, outspokenly, and without suggestion of embarrassment: "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God."
Exodus 20, 1-7: Die zehn Gebote (1. - 3. Gebot) "Und Gott redete alle diese Worte:
Abb.: Moses empfängt die Gesetzestafeln / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Ich bin der HERR, dein Gott, der ich dich aus Ägyptenland, aus der Knechtschaft, geführt habe.
Du sollst keine anderen Götter haben neben mir.
[Du sollst dir kein Bildnis noch irgendein Gleichnis machen, weder von dem, was oben im Himmel, noch von dem, was unten auf Erden, noch von dem, was im Wasser unter der Erde ist: Bete sie nicht an und diene ihnen nicht! Denn ich, der HERR, dein Gott, bin ein eifernder Gott, der die Missetat der Väter heimsucht bis ins dritte und vierte Glied an den Kindern derer, die mich hassen, aber Barmherzigkeit erweist an vielen Tausenden, die mich lieben und meine Gebote halten.
Du sollst den Namen des HERRN, deines Gottes, nicht missbrauchen; denn der HERR wird den nicht ungestraft lassen, der seinen Namen missbraucht."
You see, it is only another way of saying, "I the Lord thy God am a small God; a small God, and fretful about small things."
He was giving a warning: he could not bear the thought of any other God getting some of the Sunday compliments of this comical little human race -- he wanted all of them for himself. He valued them. To him they were riches; just as tin money is to a Zulu.
But wait -- I am not fair; I am misrepresenting him; prejudice is beguiling me into saying what is not true. He did not say he wanted all of the adulations; he said nothing about not being willing to share them with his fellow gods; what he said was, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
It is a quite different thing, and puts him in a much better light -- I confess it. There was an abundance of gods, the woods were full of them, as the saying is, and all he demanded was that he should be ranked as high as the others -- not above any of them, but not below any of them. He was willing that they should fertilize earthly virgins, but not on any better terms than he could have for himself in his turn. He wanted to be held their equal. This he insisted upon, in the clearest language: he would have no other gods before him. They could march abreast with him, but none of them could head the procession, and he did not claim the right to head it himself.
Do you think he was able to stick to that upright and creditable position? No. He could keep to a bad resolution forever, but he couldn't keep to a good one a month. By and by he threw aside and calmly claimed to be the only God in the entire universe.
As I was saying, jealousy is the key; all through his history it is
present and prominent. It is the blood and bone of his disposition, it
is the basis of his character. How small a thing can wreck his composure
and disorder his judgement if it touches the raw of his jealousy! And nothing
warms up this trait so quickly and so surely and so exaggeratedly as a
suspicion that some competition with the god-
To this day his reason has never recovered from that shock; a wild nightmare of vengefulness has possessed him ever since, and he has almost bankrupted his native ingenuities in inventing pains and miseries and humiliations and heartbreaks wherewith to embitter the brief lives of Adam's descendants. Think of the diseases he has contrived for them! They are multitudinous; no book can name them all. And each one is a trap, set for an innocent victim.
The human being is a machine. An automatic machine. It is composed of thousands of complex and delicate mechanisms, which perform their functions harmoniously and perfectly, in accordance with laws devised for their governance, and over which the man himself has no authority, no mastership, no control. For each one of these thousands of mechanisms the Creator has planned an enemy, whose office is to harass it, pester it, persecute it, damage it, afflict it with pains, and miseries, and ultimate destruction. Not one has been overlooked.
From cradle to grave these enemies are always at work; they know no rest, night or day. They are an army: an organized army; a besieging army; an assaulting army; an army that is alert, watchful, eager, merciless; an army that never relents, never grants a truce.
It moves by squad, by company, by battalion, by regiment, by brigade,
by division, by army corps; upon occasion it masses its parts and moves
upon mankind with its whole strength. It is the Creator's Grand Army, and
he is the Commander-
Disease! That is the main force, the diligent force, the devastating force! It attacks the infant the moment it is born; it furnishes it one malady after another: croup, measles, mumps, bowel troubles, teething pains, scarlet fever, and other childhood specialties. It chases the child into youth and furnishes it some specialties for that time of life. It chases the youth into maturity, maturity into age, age into the grave.
With these facts before you will you now try to guess man's chiefest
pet name for this ferocious Commander-
It is curious -- the way the human mind works. The Christian begins
with this straight proposition, this definite proposition, this inflexible
and uncompromising proposition: God is all-
This being the case, nothing can happen without his knowing beforehand that it is going to happen; nothing happens without his permission; nothing can happen that he chooses to prevent.
That is definite enough, isn't it? It makes the Creator distinctly responsible for everything that happens, doesn't it?
The Christian concedes it in that italicized sentence. Concedes it with feeling, with enthusiasm.
Then, having thus made the Creator responsible for all those pains and diseases and miseries above enumerated, and which he could have prevented, the gifted Christian blandly calls him Our Father!
It is as I tell you. He equips the Creator with every trait that goes to the making of a fiend, and then arrives at the conclusion that a fiend and a father are the same thing! Yet he would deny that a malevolent lunatic and a Sunday school superintendent are essentially the same. What do you think of the human mind? I mean, in case you think there is a human mind.
Abb.: Auszug aus der Arche / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
Noah and his family were saved -- if that could be called an advantage.
I throw in the if for the reason that there has never been an intelligent
person of the age of sixty who would consent to live his life over again.
His or anyone else's. The Family were saved, yes, but they were not comfortable,
for they were full of microbes. Full to the eyebrows; fat with them, obese
with them, distended like balloons. It was a disagreeable condition, but
it could not be helped, because enough microbes had to be saved to supply
the future races of men with desolating diseases, and there were but eight
persons on board to serve as hotels for them. The microbes were by far
the most important part of the Ark's cargo, and the part the Creator was
most anxious about and most infatuated with. They had to have good nourishment
and pleasant accommodations. There were typhoid germs, and cholera germs,
and hydrophobia germs, and lockjaw germs, and consumption germs, and black-
Constipation, O Constipation,
The Joyful sound proclaim
Till man's remotest entrail
Shall praise its Maker's name
Abb.: Noahs Dankopfer / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
The discomforts furnished by the Ark were many and various. The family
had to live right in the presence of the multitudinous animals, and breathe
the distressing stench they make and be deafened day and night with the
thunder-
By and by the other creatures would be distributed here and there about the earth -- scattered: the tigers to India, the lions and the elephants to the vacant desert and the secret places of the jungle, the birds to the boundless regions of empty space, the insects to one or another climate, according to nature and requirement; but the fly? He is of no nationality; all the climates are his home, all the globe is his province, all creatures that breathe are his prey, and unto them all he is a scourge and a hell.
To man he is a divine ambassador, a minister plenipotentiary, the Creator's
special representative. He infests him in his cradle; clings in bunches
to his gummy eyelids; buzzes and bites and harries him, robbing him of
his sleep and his weary mother of her strength in those long vigils which
she devotes to protecting her child from this pest's persecutions. The
fly harries the sick man in his home, in the hospital, even on his deathbed
at his last gasp. Pesters him at his meals; previously hunts up patients
suffering from loathsome and deadly diseases; wades in their sores, gaums
its legs with a million death-
Shem was full of hookworms. It is wonderful, the thorough and comprehensive
study which the Creator devoted to the great work of making man miserable.
I have said he devised a special affliction-
Abb.: "A nine year-old
Brazilian boy, displaying the hookworms and tapeworms he expelled when treated
by the Rockefeller Foundation staff", ca. 1920. -- . Bildquelle:
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/VV/B/B/J/C/_/vvbbjc.jpg. -- Zugriff am
2004-04-08]
Just so with diseases. If science exterminates a disease which has been
working for God, it is God that gets the credit, and all the pulpits break
into grateful advertising-
They forget to mention that he is the slowest mover in the universe; that his Eye that never sleeps, might as well, since it takes it a century to see what any other eye would see in a week; that in all history there is not an instance where he thought of a noble deed first, but always thought of it just a little after somebody else had thought of it and done it. He arrives then, and annexes the dividend.
Very well, six thousand years ago Shem was full of hookworms. Microscopic
in size, invisible to the unaided eye. All of the Creator's specially deadly
disease-
The very latest of these blessed triumphs of science is the discovery and identification of the ambuscaded assassin which goes by the name of the hookworm. Its special prey is the barefooted poor. It lies in wait in warm regions and sandy places and digs its way into their unprotected feet.
The hookworm was discovered two or three years ago by a physician, who had been patiently studying its victims for a long time. The disease induced by the hookworm had been doing its evil work here and there in the earth ever since Shem landed on Ararat, but it was never suspected to be a disease at all. The people who had it were merely supposed to be lazy, and were therefore despised and made fun of, when they should have been pitied. The hookworm is a peculiarly sneaking and underhanded invention, and has done its surreptitious work unmolested for ages; but that physician and his helpers will exterminate it now.
God is back of this. He has been thinking about it for six thousand years, and making up his mind. The idea of exterminating the hookworm was his. He came very near doing it before Dr. Charles Wardell Stiles did. But he is in time to get the credit of it. He always is.
Abb.: Charles Wardell Stiles [Bildquelle: http://www.weldonrailroad.com/Hookworm.htm. -- Zugriff am 2004-04-08]"Before 1900, few American physicians knew of hookworm disease. However, a zoologist from Hartford, Connecticut, Dr. Charles Wardell Stiles [1867 - 1941], studied medical zoology in Europe in the late 19th century and learned about hookworms while helping with animal autopsies and studies. Certain hookworm species live in specific animals.
When Stiles returned to the United States, he worked for the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., and taught at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He continually lectured his students about hookworms and the species that infect humans. Stiles helped spread information about the parasite and health problems associated with the worm, particularly in the South.
Rockefeller Sanitation CommissionIn 1910, with a $1,000,000 philanthropic donation from the Rockefeller Sanitation Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm Disease, Dr. Waller S. Leathers, director of public health in Mississippi, began a three-staged plan to cope with hookworm disease. Hookworm disease had been identified in Mississippi only a few years prior to the Rockefeller donation. Leathers decided that the best way to combat the disease would be through the combination of health education, patient treatment, and community cooperation.
Public education on the disease was most important since large numbers of Mississippians were infested because of Mississippi’s soil and climatic conditions. As a result, areas in the state known as the Long Leaf Pine and Short Leaf Pine districts, the Coastal region, and the Central Prairie were the sections where Leathers and other doctors began their campaign against hookworm because they were the areas most heavily infested.
Leathers started his program by having hookworm exhibits at the 1910 Jackson State Fair and the Harrison County Fair. He knew that thousands of Mississippians who attended the fairs would see the hookworm information and learn how to control the spread of the worms through proper sanitation.
The Mississippi State Board of Health under Leathers’s direction also began distributing literature about hookworm disease to school children throughout the state. Students between the ages of six and eighteen were tested in the most heavily infested regions. Doctors discovered heavy hookworm infestations among the school children. They sent instructions home to parents on how to take proper health measures such as the need to wear shoes and how to build sanitary privies, or outhouses. "
[Quelle: http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/features/feature31/hookworm.html. -- Zugriff am 2004-04-08]
It is going to cost a million dollars. He was probably just in the act of contributing that sum when a man pushed in ahead of him -- as usual. Mr. Rockefeller. He furnishes the million, but the credit will go elsewhere -- as usual. This morning's journal tells us something about the hookworm's operations:
The hookworm parasites often so lower the vitality of those who are affected as to retard their physical and mental development, render them more susceptible to other diseases, make labor less efficient, and in the sections where the malady is most prevalent greatly increase the death rate from consumption, pneumonia, typhoid fever and malaria. It has been shown that the lowered vitality of multitudes, long attributed to malaria and climate and seriously affecting economic development, is in fact due in some districts to this parasite. The disease is by no means confined to any one class; it takes its toll of suffering and death from the highly intelligent and well to do as well as from the less fortunate. It is a conservative estimate that two millions of our people are affected by this parasite. The disease is more common and more serious in children of school age than in other persons.
Widespread and serious as the infection is, there is still a most encouraging outlook. The disease can be easily recognized, readily and effectively treated and by simple and proper sanitary precautions successfully prevented [with God's help].
The poor children are under the Eye that never sleeps, you see. They have had that ill luck in all the ages. They and "the Lord's poor" -- as the sarcastic phrase goes -- have never been able to get away from that Eye's attentions.
Abb.: Mann im letzten Stadium der Afrikanischen Schlafkrankheit (Trypanosomiasis)
(Foto: WHO). -- Bildquelle:
http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v4/n6s/fig_tab/embor858_f5.html. --
Zugriff am 2004-04-089
Yes, the poor, the humble, the ignorant -- they are the ones that catch it. Take the "Sleeping Sickness," of Africa. This atrocious cruelty has for its victims a race of ignorant and unoffending blacks whom God placed in a remote wilderness, and bent his parental Eye upon them -- the one that never sleeps when there is a chance to breed sorrow for somebody. He arranged for these people before the Flood. The chosen agent was a fly, related to the tsetse; the tsetse is a fly which has command of the Zambezi country and stings cattle and horses to death, thus rendering that region uninhabitable by man. The tsetse's awful relative deposits a microbe which produces the Sleeping Sickness. Ham was full of these microbes, and when the voyage was over he discharged them in Africa and the havoc began, never to find amelioration until six thousand years should go by and science should pry into the mystery and hunt out the cause of the disease. The pious nations are now thanking God, and praising him for coming to the rescue of his poor blacks. The pulpit says the praise is due to him. He is surely a curious Being. He commits a fearful crime, continues that crime unbroken for six thousand years, and is then entitled to praise because he suggests to somebody else to modify its severities. He is called patient, and he certainly must be patient, or he would have sunk the pulpit in perdition ages ago for the ghastly compliments it pays him.
Science has this to say about the Sleeping Sickness, otherwise called the Negro Lethargy:
It is characterized by periods of sleep recurring at intervals. The disease lasts from four months to four years, and is always fatal. The victim appears at first languid, weak, pallid, and stupid. His eyelids become puffy, an eruption appears on his skin. He falls asleep while talking, eating, or working. As the disease progresses he is fed with difficulty and becomes much emaciated. The failure of nutrition and the appearance of bedsores are followed by convulsions and death. Some patients become insane.
It is he whom Church and people call Our Father in Heaven who has invented the fly and sent him to inflict this dreary long misery and melancholy and wretchedness, and decay of body and mind, upon a poor savage who has done that Great Criminal no harm. There isn't a man in the world who doesn't pity that poor black sufferer, and there isn't a man that wouldn't make him whole if he could. To find the one person who has no pity for him you must go to heaven; to find the one person who is able to heal him and couldn't be persuaded to do it, you must go to the same place. There is only one father cruel enough to afflict his child with that horrible disease -- only one. Not all the eternities can produce another one. Do you like reproachful poetical indignations warmly expressed? Here is one, hot from the heart of a slave:
Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!
I will tell you a pleasant tale which has in it a touch of pathos. A man got religion, and asked the priest what he must do to be worthy of his new estate. The priest said, "Imitate our Father in Heaven, learn to be like him." The man studied his Bible diligently and thoroughly and understandingly, and then with prayers for heavenly guidance instituted his imitations. He tricked his wife into falling downstairs, and she broke her back and became a paralytic for life; he betrayed his brother into the hands of a sharper, who robbed him of his all and landed him in the almshouse; he inoculated one son with hookworms, another with the sleeping sickness, another with gonorrhea; he furnished one daughter with scarlet fever and ushered her into her teens deaf, dumb, and blind for life; and after helping a rascal seduce the remaining one, he closed his doors against her and she died in a brothel cursing him. Then he reported to the priest, who said that that was no way to imitate his Father in Heaven. The convert asked wherein he had failed, but the priest changed the subject and inquired what kind of weather he was having, up his way.
Man is without any doubt the most interesting fool there is. Also the most eccentric. He hasn't a single written law, in his Bible or out of it, which has any but just one purpose and intention -- to limit or defeat the law of God.
He can seldom take a plain fact and get any but a wrong meaning out of it. He cannot help this; it is the way the confusion he calls his mind is constructed. Consider the things he concedes, and the curious conclusions he draws from them.
For instance, he concedes that God made man. Made him without man's desire of privity.
This seems to plainly and indisputably make God, and God alone, responsible for man's acts. But man denies this.
He concedes that God has made the angels perfect, without blemish, and immune from pain and death, and that he could have been similarly kind to man if he had wanted to, but denies that he was under any moral obligation to do it.
He concedes that man has no moral right to visit the child of his begetting with wanton cruelties, painful diseases and death, but refuses to limit God's privileges in this sort with the children of his begetting.
The Bible and man's statutes forbid murder, adultery, fornication, lying, treachery, robbery, oppression and other crimes, but contend that God is free of these laws and has a right to break them when he will.
He concedes that God gives to each man his temperament, his disposition, at birth; he concedes that man cannot by any process change this temperament, but must remain always under its dominion. Yet if it be full of dreadful passions, in one man's case, and barren of them in another man's, it is right and rational to punish the one for his crimes, and reward the other for abstaining from crime.
There -- let us consider these curiosities.
Take two extremes of temperament -- the goat and the tortoise.
Neither of these creatures makes its own temperament, but is born with it, like man, and can no more change it than can man.
Temperament is the law of God written in the heart of every creature by God's own hand, and must be obeyed, and will be obeyed in spite of all restricting or forbidding statutes, let them emanate whence they may.
Very well, lust is the dominant feature of the goat's temperament, the
law of God is in its heart, and it must obey it and will obey it
the whole day long in the rutting season, without stopping to eat or drink.
If the Bible said to the goat, "Thou shalt not fornicate, thou shalt
not commit adultery," even Man -- sap-
On its face this is stupid, for, by temperament, which is the real law of God, many men are goats and can't help committing adultery when they get a chance; whereas there are numbers of men who, by temperament, can keep their purity and let an opportunity go by if the woman lacks in attractiveness. But the Bible doesn't allow adultery at all, whether a person can help it or not. It allows no distinction between goat and tortoise -- the excitable goat, the emotional goat, that has to have some adultery every day or fade and die; and the tortoise, that cold calm puritan, that takes a treat only once in two years and then goes to sleep in the midst of it and doesn't wake up for sixty days. No lady goat is safe from criminal assault, even on the Sabbath Day, when there is a gentleman goat within three miles to leeward of her and nothing in the way but a fence fourteen feet high, whereas neither the gentleman tortoise nor the lady tortoise is ever hungry enough for solemn joys of fornication to be willing to break the Sabbath to get them. Now according to man's curious reasoning, the goat has earned punishment, and the tortoise praise.
"Thou shalt not commit adultery" [Exodus 20, 15] is a command which makes no distinction between the following persons. They are all required to obey it:
Children at birth.
Children in the cradle.
School children.
Youths and maidens.
Fresh adults.
Older ones.
Men and women of 40.
Of 50.
Of 60.
Of 70.
Of 80.
Of 90.
Of 100.
The command does not distribute its burden equally, and cannot.
It is not hard upon the three sets of children.
It is hard -- harder -- still harder upon the next three sets -- cruelly hard.
It is blessedly softened to the next three sets.
It has now done all the damage it can, and might as well be put out of commission. Yet with comical imbecility it is continued, and the four remaining estates are put under its crushing ban. Poor old wrecks, they couldn't disobey if they tried. And think -- because they holily refrain from adulterating each other, they get praise for it! Which is nonsense; for even the Bible knows enough to know that if the oldest veteran there could get his lost heyday back again for an hour he would cast that commandment to the winds and ruin the first woman he came across, even though she were an entire stranger.
It is as I have said: every statute in the Bible and in the law-
The law of God, as quite plainly expressed in woman's construction is this: There shall be no limit put upon your intercourse with the other sex sexually, at any time of life.
The law of God, as quite plainly expressed in man's construction is this: During your entire life you shall be under inflexible limits and restrictions, sexually.
During twenty-
But man is only briefly competent; and only then in the moderate measure
applicable to the word in his sex's case. He is competent from the
age of sixteen or seventeen thence-
By the woman's make, her plant has to be out of service three days in the month, and during a part of her pregnancy. These are times of discomfort, often of suffering. For fair and just compensation she has the high privilege of unlimited adultery all the other days of her life.
That is the law of God, as revealed in her make. What becomes of this high privilege? Does she live in free enjoyment of it? No. Nowhere in the whole world. She is robbed of it everywhere. Who does this? Man. Man's statutes -- if the Bible is the Word of God.
Now there you have a sample of man's "reasoning powers," as he calls them. He observes certain facts. For instance, that in all his life he never sees the day that he can satisfy one woman; also, that no woman ever sees the day that she can't overwork, and defeat, and put out of commission any ten masculine plants that can be put to bed to her.[**] He puts those strikingly suggestive and luminous facts together, and from them draws this astonishing conclusion: The Creator intended the woman to be restricted to one man.
So he concretes that singular conclusion into law, for good and all.
And he does it without consulting the woman, although she has a thousand times more at stake in the matter than he has. His procreative competency is limited to an average of a hundred exercises per year for fifty years, hers is good for three thousand a year for that whole time -- and as many years longer as she may live. Thus his life interest in the matter is five thousand refreshments, while hers is a hundred and fifty thousand; yet instead of fairly and honorably leaving the making of the law to the person who has an overwhelming interest at stake in it, this immeasurable hog, who has nothing at stake in it worth considering, makes it himself!
You have heretofore found out, by my teachings, that man is a fool; you are now aware that woman is a damned fool.
Now if you or any other really intelligent person were arranging the
fairness and justices between man and woman, you would give the man one-
1. Könige, 11,1 - 4: König Salomos Frauen "Aber der König Salomo liebte viele ausländische Frauen: die Tochter des Pharao und moabitische, ammonitische, edomitische, sidonische und hetitische - aus solchen Völkern, von denen der HERR den Israeliten gesagt hatte: Geht nicht zu ihnen und laßt sie nicht zu euch kommen; sie werden gewiß eure Herzen ihren Göttern zuneigen. An diesen hing Salomo mit Liebe.
Und er hatte siebenhundert Hauptfrauen und dreihundert Nebenfrauen; und seine Frauen verleiteten sein Herz.
Und als er nun alt war, neigten seine Frauen sein Herz fremden Göttern zu, so daß sein Herz nicht ungeteilt bei dem HERRN, seinem Gott, war, wie das Herz seines Vaters David."
Abb.: Salomo verfällt in Abgötterei / Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872 ), 1860
To save his life he could not have kept two of these young creatures satisfactorily refreshed, even if he had had fifteen experts to help him. Necessarily almost the entire thousand had to go hungry years and years on a stretch. Conceive of a man hardhearted enough to look daily upon all that suffering and not be moved to mitigate it. He even wantonly added a sharp pang to that pathetic misery; for he kept within those women's sight, always, stalwart watchmen whose splendid masculine forms made the poor lassies' mouths water but who hadn't anything to solace a candlestick with, these gentry being eunuchs. A eunuch is a person whose candle has been put out. By art.[**]
From time to time, as I go along, I will take up a Biblical statute and show you that it always violates a law of God, and then is imported into the lawbooks of the nations, where it continues its violations. But those things will keep; there is no hurry.
The Ark continued its voyage, drifting around here and there and yonder, compassless and uncontrolled, the sport of the random winds and swirling currents. And the rain, the rain, the rain! It kept falling, pouring, drenching, flooding. No such rain had ever been seen before. Sixteen inches a day had been heard of, but that was nothing to this. This was a hundred and twenty inches a day -- ten feet! At this incredible rate it rained forty days and forty nights, and submerged every hill that was four hundred feet high. Then the heavens and even the angels went dry; no more water was to be had.
As a Universal flood it was a disappointment, but there had been heaps of Universal Floods before, as is witnessed by all the Bibles of all the nations, and this was as good as the best one.
At last the Ark soared aloft and came to rest on top of Mount Ararat, seventeen thousand feet above the valley, and its living freight got out and went down the mountain.
Noah planted a vineyard, and drank the wine and was overcome.
Abb.: Schande und Verspottung des trunkenen Noah : Deckenfresko zur
Schöpfungsgeschichte in der Sixtinischen Kapelle, Vatikan / Michelangelo
Buonarroti (1475 - 1564), 1508-1512
This person had been selected from all the populations because he was the best sample there was. He was to start the human race on a new basis. This was the new basis. The promise was bad. To go further with the experiment was to run a great and most unwise risk. Now was the time to do with these people what had been so judiciously done with the others -- drown them. Anybody but the Creator would have seen this. But he didn't see it. That is, maybe he didn't.
It is claimed that from the beginning of time he foresaw everything that would happen in the world. If that is true, he foresaw that Adam and Eve would eat the apple; that their posterity would be unendurable and have to be drowned; that Noah's posterity would in their turn be unendurable, and that by and by he would have to leave his throne in heaven and come down and be crucified to save that same tiresome human race again. The whole of it? No! A part of it? Yes. Now much of it? In each generation, for hundreds and hundreds of generations, a billion would die and all go to perdition except perhaps ten thousand out of the billion. The ten thousand would have to come from the little body of Christians, and only one in the hundred of that little body would stand any chance. None of them at all except such Roman Catholics as should have the luck to have a priest handy to sandpaper their souls at the last gasp, and here and there a presbyterian. No others savable. All the others damned. By the million.
Shall you grant that he foresaw all this? The pulpit grants it. It is the same as granting that in the matter of intellect the Deity is the Head Pauper of the Universe, and that in the matter of morals and character he is away down on the level of David.
The two Testaments are interesting, each in its own way. The Old one gives us a picture of these people's Deity as he was before he got religion, the other one gives us a picture of him as he appeared afterward. The Old Testament is interested mainly in blood and sensuality. The New one in Salvation. Salvation by fire.
Abb.: Der römische Klerus in der Hölle : Holzschnitt <Ausschnitt> / Matthias
Gerung (†1570), 1546
The first time the Deity came down to earth, he brought life and death; when he came the second time, he brought hell.
"Wie Jesus die Hölle beschreibt
Das Wort für Hölle, das in den Evangelien verwendet wird (gehenna), bezeichnet eigentlich den "Müllplatz" von Jerusalem, das Tal Hinnom südöstlich vor der Stadtmauer, wo die Kadaver von Tieren und sogar Leichen von Kriminellen verbrannt wurden.
Wie beschreibt der Herr Jesus nun die Hölle? Oft beschreibt er sie als ein Feuer (Matthäus 5,22; 18,8; 25,41 u.v.a.). Johannes der Täufer sagte, dass Christus der ist, der mit Feuer taufen wird, d.h. der die Gottlosen ewig ins Feuer tauchen wird. Sie werden hineingeworfen werden in den "Feuersee" (Offenbarung 20,14.15). Das bedeutet größtmöglichen Schmerz an jeder Stelle des Körpers. Man wird einen unsterblichen Ewigkeitskörper bekommen und an Geist, Seele und Leib einen unendlich intensiven, unaufhörlichen Schmerz leiden, ohne jede Hoffnung auf Linderung.
In Matthäus 13,42 beschreibt er die Hölle sogar als "Feuerofen", in den die Gesetzlosen am Tag des Gerichts hineingeworfen werden. Dort lösen sich diese Sünder jedoch nicht in Asche auf, sondern - wie der Herr im selben Vers sagt - wird dort "das Weinen und das Zähneknirschen sein" (vgl. Matthäus 8,12; 22,13 ). Weinen und Zähneknirschen sprechen von endloser Traurigkeit und Wut.
Endlos? Ja, in Markus 9,48 sagt der Herr Jesus, dass die Hölle der Ort ist, "wo ihr Wurm nicht stirbt und das Feuer nicht erlischt". Ewig wird ihr nagendes Gewissen und ihr Groll sie von innen zerfressen und von außen das Feuer des gerechten Gerichts Gottes sie strafen.
In Lukas 13,28 sagt er, dass die Verlorenen "draußen und hinausgeworfen" sind. Sie sind abgeschnitten von allen Segnungen Gottes und von allem Guten: Sie werden nie wieder ein weiches Bett haben, kein leckeres Essen mehr, keine Freunde, keinen Trost, kein Sonnenschein, kein Vogelgezwitscher, nie mehr ...Außerdem beschreibt Jesus die Hölle in einem Gleichnis als "Gefängnis" (Matthäus 18,30). Dort gibt es keine Freiheit, keine Bewegung, ja, selbst der Geist, die Gedanken sind dann gefangen. Selbst in seinem innersten Leben wird sich dann niemand mehr selbst verwirklichen können. In einem irdischen Gefängnis hat man zumindest eine gewisse Bewegungsfreiheit und volle Freiheit der Gedanken - wie z.B. Paulus und Silas im Gefängnis Loblieder singen konnten, doch in der Hölle wird man noch nicht mal mehr das denken können, was man will.
In der Geschichte von Lazarus und dem reichen Mann (Lukas 16,19-31) beschreibt Jesus den Ort, an den die Verlorenen nach dem Tod gelangen, als einen Ort der Qual, der Pein und des sengenden Feuers. Dieser Ort ist durch "eine tiefe Kluft" vom Segensbereich Gottes getrennt.
In Matthäus 8,12 (vgl. 22,13) nennt der Herr Jesus die Hölle die "äußere Finsternis". Sie ist der Ort der völligen Hoffnungslosigkeit, der absoluten Abgeschiedenheit von allem, was Hilfe oder Linderung oder Freude oder Leben bringen könnte.
Ja, die Bibel bezeugt eindeutig, dass es die Hölle gibt, sie ist der Ort der "ewigen Strafe" (Matthäus 25,46). Dort existieren die Menschen, die in diesem Leben nicht zu Jesus Christus umgekehrt sind, in ewiger Gesellschaft des Teufels, der Dämonen und aller verdorbenen, bösartigen, hinterlisten und egoistischen Menschen. Sie finden "keine Ruhe Tag und Nacht" (Offenbarung 14,11): Bei all ihren Qualen können sie noch nicht einmal resignieren, keinen Moment abschalten oder den Schmerz wegmeditieren. "Der Rauch ihrer Qual steigt auf von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit" (Offenbarung 14,11). Das übersteigt all unser Vorstellungsvermögen: Diese Qual dauert nicht nur einen Tag, nicht nur einen Monat, nicht nur ein Jahr, nicht nur ein Jahrzehnt, nicht nur ein ganzes Leben lang, nicht nur mehrere Jahrhunderte und Jahrtausende, sondern auch noch nach 100.000 und Millionen und Milliarden von Jahren wird sie die Ungläubigen weiter peinigen - ohne Ende, Selbstmord unmöglich. Es sei denn, die Bibel lügt - was wir für unmöglich halten, denn Gott lügt nicht.
Warum ist die Strafe so schwer? Die Strafe ist unendlich, weil die Schuld unendlich ist. Die Schuld ist unendlich, weil derjenige, gegen den wir uns verschuldet haben, unendlich heilig und majestätisch ist. Wenn man einen Hund tötet, ist die Strafe sicher geringer, als wenn man einen Menschen tötet. Gott gibt Leben und Freude in Fülle, doch der Mensch versäumt es, dem heiligen, liebenden Gott Ehre und Dankbarkeit zu geben und rebelliert stattdessen gegen ihn. Gott verdient es, dass wir ihn mit unserem ganzen Herzen, unserer ganzen Seele, unserem ganzen Denken und all unserer Kraft dienen und lieben. In jedem Augenblick, wo wir das nicht tun, berauben wir ihn und rebellieren gegen ihn.
Stellen wir uns vor: Ein majestätischer König lädt uns ein, in seinem Palast in seiner Gemeinschaft zu leben, mit Essen, Trinken und Freude kostenlos, doch wir reagieren darauf, indem wir ihm ins Gesicht spucken. Was verdienen wir? Wir haben Grund, die Hölle zu fürchten. Wie viel mehr haben wir Grund, den zu fürchten, der Recht und Macht hat, uns in die Hölle zu werfen oder aber vor der Hölle zu retten! (Lukas 12,5)"
[Quelle: http://www.dasjahrderbibel.de/Wichtiges/Hoelle.htm. -- Zugriff am 2004-04-08]
Life was not a valuable gift, but death was. Life was a fever-
In time, the Deity perceived that death was a mistake; a mistake, in that it was insufficient; insufficient, for the reason that while it was an admirable agent for the inflicting of misery upon the survivor, it allowed the dead person himself to escape from all further persecution in the blessed refuge of the grave. This was not satisfactory. A way must be conceived to pursue the dead beyond the tomb.
The Deity pondered this matter during four thousand years unsuccessfully, but as soon as he came down to earth and became a Christian his mind cleared and he knew what to do. He invented hell, and proclaimed it.
Abb.: Die Hölle <Ausschnitt> / Hieronymus Bosch (†1516),
um 1500,Madrid, Prado
Now here is a curious thing. It is believed by everybody that while he was in heaven he was stern, hard, resentful, jealous, and cruel; but that when he came down to earth and assumed the name Jesus Christ, he became the opposite of what he was before: that is to say, he became sweet, and gentle, merciful, forgiving, and all harshness disappeared from his nature and a deep and yearning love for his poor human children took its place. Whereas it was as Jesus Christ that he devised hell and proclaimed it!
Which is to say, that as the meek and gentle Savior he was a thousand billion times crueler than ever he was in the Old Testament -- oh, incomparably more atrocious than ever he was when he was at the very worst in those old days!
Meek and gentle? By and by we will examine this popular sarcasm by the light of the hell which he invented.
While it is true that the palm for malignity must be granted to Jesus, the inventor of hell, he was hard and ungentle enough for all godlike purposes even before he became a Christian. It does not appear that he ever stopped to reflect that he was to blame when a man went wrong, inasmuch as the man was merely acting in accordance with the disposition he had afflicted him with. No, he punished the man, instead of punishing himself. Moreover, the punishment usually oversized the offense. Often, too, it fell, not upon the doer of a misdeed, but upon somebody else -- a chief man, the head of a community, for instance.
And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the Sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.
| "Und Israel lagerte in Schittim. Da fing das Volk an zu huren mit den Töchtern der Moabiter; die luden das Volk zu den Opfern ihrer Götter. Und das Volk aß und betete ihre Götter an. Und Israel hängte sich an den Baal- Peor. Da entbrannte des HERRN Zorn über Israel, und er sprach zu Mose: Nimm alle Oberen des Volks und hänge sie vor dem HERRN auf im Angesicht der Sonne, damit sich der grimmige Zorn des HERRN von Israel wende. Und Mose sprach zu den Richtern Israels: Töte ein jeder seine Leute, die sich an den Baal-Peor gehängt haben." |
Does that look fair to you? It does not appear that the "heads of the people" got any of the adultery, yet it is they that are hanged, instead of "the people."
If it was fair and right in that day it would be fair and right today, for the pulpit maintains that God's justice is eternal and unchangeable; also that he is the Fountain of Morals, and that his morals are eternal and unchangeable. Very well, then, we must believe that if the people of New York should begin to commit whoredom with the daughters of New Jersey, it would be fair and right to set up a gallows in front of the city hall and hang the mayor and the sheriff and the judges and the archbishop on it, although they did not get any of it. It does not look right to me.
Moreover, you may be quite sure of one thing: it couldn't happen. These people would not allow it. They are better than their Bible. Nothing would happen here, except some lawsuits, for damages, if the incident couldn't be hushed up; and even down South they would not proceed against persons who did not get any of it; they would get a rope and hunt for the correspondents, and if they couldn't find them they would lynch a nigger.
Things have greatly improved since the Almighty's time, let the pulpit say what it may.
Will you examine the Deity's morals and disposition and conduct a little further? And will you remember that in the Sunday school the little children are urged to love the Almighty, and honor him, and praise him, and make him their model and try to be as like him as they can? Read:
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou
be gathered unto thy people....
7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses;
and they slew all the males.
8 And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were
slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five
kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives,
and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all
their flocks, and all their goods.
10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly
castles, with fire.
11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and
of beasts.
12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil unto Moses,
and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel,
unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near
Jericho.
13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation,
went forth to meet them without the camp.
14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains
over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.
15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of
Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and
there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.
17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every
woman that hath known man by lying with him.
18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with
him, keep alive for yourselves.
19 And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any
person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves
and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.
20 And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and
all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood.
21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle,
This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses....
25 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou,
and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:
27 And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon
them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:
28 And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to
battle....
31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32 And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war
had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand
sheep,
33 And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,
34 And threescore and one thousand asses,
35 And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of woman that had not known
man by lying with him....
40 And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the Lord's tribute
was thirty and two persons.
41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord's heave offering,
unto Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses....
47 Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty,
both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which
kept the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses.
| "Und der HERR redete mit Mose und sprach: Übe Rache für die Israeliten
an den Midianitern, und danach sollst du versammelt werden zu deinen Vätern. Da redete Mose mit dem Volk und sprach: Rüstet unter euch Leute zum Kampf
gegen die Midianiter, die die Rache des HERRN an den Midianitern
vollstrecken. Aus jedem Stamm je tausend Mann sollt ihr aus allen Stämmen
Israels in das Heer schicken. Und sie nahmen aus den Tausendschaften Israels
je tausend eines Stammes, zwölftausend Mann gerüstet zum Kampf. Und Mose
schickte sie mit Pinhas, dem Sohn des Priesters Eleasar, in den Kampf, und
er hatte die heiligen Geräte und die Kriegstrompeten bei sich. Und sie zogen
aus zum Kampf gegen die Midianiter, wie der HERR es Mose geboten hatte, und
töteten alles, was männlich war. Samt diesen Erschlagenen töteten sie auch
die Könige der Midianiter, nämlich Ewi, Rekem, Zur, Hur und Reba, die fünf
Könige der Midianiter. Auch Bileam, den Sohn Beors, töteten sie mit dem
Schwert. Und Mose wurde zornig über die Hauptleute des Heeres, die Hauptleute über
tausend und über hundert, die aus dem Feldzug kamen, und sprach zu
ihnen: Warum habt ihr alle Frauen leben lassen? Siehe, haben nicht diese die
Israeliten durch Bileams Rat abwendig gemacht, dass sie sich versündigten am
HERRN durch den Baal-Peor, so dass der Gemeinde des HERRN eine Plage
widerfuhr? So tötet nun alles, was männlich ist unter den Kindern, und alle
Frauen, die nicht mehr Jungfrauen sind; aber alle Mädchen, die unberührt
sind, die lasst für euch leben. Und lagert euch draußen vor dem Lager sieben
Tage, alle, die jemand getötet oder die Erschlagene angerührt haben, dass
ihr euch entsündigt am dritten und siebenten Tage samt denen, die ihr
gefangengenommen habt. Auch alle Kleider und alles Lederzeug und alles
Pelzwerk und alle hölzernen Geräte sollt ihr entsündigen. Und der HERR redete mit Mose und sprach: Nimm die gesamte Beute an
Menschen und Vieh, die weggeführt wurde, auf, du und der Priester Eleasar
und die Häupter der Sippen der Gemeinde, und gib die eine Hälfte denen, die
in den Kampf gezogen sind und die Schlacht geschlagen haben, und die andere
Hälfte der ganzen Gemeinde. Du sollst aber für den HERRN als Abgabe erheben
von den Kriegsleuten, die in den Kampf gezogen waren, je eins von
fünfhundert, an Menschen, Rindern, Eseln und Schafen. Von ihrer Hälfte
sollst du sie erheben und dem Priester Eleasar geben als Opfergabe für den
HERRN. Aber von der Hälfte der Israeliten sollst du je eins von fünfzig
erheben, an Menschen, Rindern, Eseln und Schafen und von allem Vieh, und
sollst sie den Leviten geben, die den Dienst versehen an der Wohnung des
HERRN. Und es betrug die Beute, soviel am Leben geblieben war von dem, was das
Kriegsvolk erbeutet hatte, 675 000 Schafe, 72 000 Rinder, 61 000 Esel;
an Menschen aber 32 000 Mädchen, die nicht von Männern berührt waren. Und
die Hälfte, die denen gehörte, die in den Kampf gezogen waren, betrug 337
500 Schafe; davon waren Abgabe für den HERRN 675 Schafe. Desgleichen 36 000
Rinder; davon waren Abgabe für den HERRN 72. Desgleichen 30 500 Esel; davon
waren Abgabe für den HERRN 61. Desgleichen 16 000 Menschen; davon waren
Abgabe für den HERRN 32. Und Mose gab diese Abgabe als Opfergabe für den HERRN dem Priester
Eleasar, wie ihm der HERR geboten hatte. Und es traten an Mose heran die Anführer der Tausendschaften des Kriegsvolks, nämlich die Hauptleute über tausend und über hundert, und sprachen zu ihm: Wir, deine Knechte, haben die Summe der Kriegsleute aufgenommen, die unter unserm Befehl standen, und es fehlt nicht einer. Darum bringen wir dem HERRN als Gabe, was jeder gefunden hat an goldenem Gerät, Ketten, Armgeschmeide, Ringen, Ohrringen und Spangen, um für uns Sühne zu schaffen vor dem HERRN. Und Mose samt dem Priester Eleasar nahm von ihnen das Gold, allerlei Geschmeide. Und alles Gold, das die Hauptleute über tausend und über hundert als Opfergabe für den HERRN darbrachten, wog 16 750 Lot. Aber von den Kriegsleuten hatte jeder nur für sich selber Beute gemacht. Und Mose und der Priester Eleasar nahmen das Gold von den Hauptleuten über tausend und über hundert und brachten es in die Stiftshütte, damit es dazu diene, dass der HERR gnädig der Israeliten gedenke." |
10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim
peace unto it....
13 And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt
smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is
in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself;
and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath
given thee.
15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off
from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
16 But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give
thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
| "Wenn du vor eine Stadt ziehst, um gegen sie zu kämpfen, so
sollst du ihr zuerst den Frieden anbieten. Antwortet sie dir friedlich und tut dir ihre Tore auf, so
soll das ganze Volk, das darin gefunden wird, dir fronpflichtig sein und dir
dienen. Will sie aber nicht Frieden machen mit dir, sondern mit dir
Krieg führen, so belagere sie. Und wenn sie der HERR, dein Gott, dir in die Hand gibt, so
sollst du alles, was männlich darin ist, mit der Schärfe des Schwerts
erschlagen. So sollst du mit allen Städten tun, die sehr fern von dir
liegen und nicht zu den Städten dieser Völker hier gehören. |
The Biblical law says: "Thou shalt not kill."
The law of God, planted in the heart of man at his birth, says: "Thou shalt kill."
The chapter I have quoted shows you that the book-
According to the belief of these people, it was God himself who said: "Thou shalt not kill." [Exodus 20,13]
Then it is plain that he cannot keep his own commandments.
He killed all those people -- every male.
They had offended the Deity in some way. We know what the offense was, without looking; that is to say, we know it was a trifle; some small thing that no one but a god would attach any importance to. It is more than likely that a Midianite had been duplicating the conduct of one Onan, who was commanded to "go into his brother's wife" -- which he did; but instead of finishing, "he spilled it on the ground." The Lord slew Onan for that, for the lord could never abide indelicacy. The Lord slew Onan, and to this day the Christian world cannot understand why he stopped with Onan, instead of slaying all the inhabitants for three hundred miles around -- they being innocent of offense, and therefore the very ones he would usually slay. For that had always been his idea of fair dealing. If he had had a motto, it would have read, "Let no innocent person escape." You remember what he did in the time of the flood. There were multitudes and multitudes of tiny little children, and he knew they had never done him any harm; but their relations had, and that was enough for him: he saw the waters rise toward their screaming lips, he saw the wild terror in their eyes, he saw that agony of appeal in the mothers' faces which would have touched any heart but his, but he was after the guiltless particularly, than he drowned those poor little chaps.
Genesis 38,8-10 "Da sprach Juda zu Onan: Geh zu deines Bruders Frau und nimm sie zur Schwagerehe, auf dass du deinem Bruder Nachkommen schaffest. Aber da Onan wusste, dass die Kinder nicht sein eigen sein sollten, ließ er's auf die Erde fallen und verderben, wenn er einging zu seines Bruders Frau, auf dass er seinem Bruder nicht Nachkommen schaffe. Dem HERRN missfiel aber, was er tat, und er ließ ihn auch sterben."
Abb.: Onan im Comic [Bildquelle: http://nowscape.com/mormon/lot/onan1b.htm. -- Zugriff am 2004-04-08]
And you will remember that in the case of Adam's posterity all the billions are innocent -- none of them had a share in his offense, but the Deity holds them guilty to this day. None gets off, except by acknowledging that guilt -- no cheaper lie will answer.
Some Midianite must have repeated Onan's act, and brought that dire disaster upon his nation. If that was not the indelicacy that outraged the feelings of the Deity, then I know what it was: some Midianite had been pissing against the wall. I am sure of it, for that was an impropriety which the Source of all Etiquette never could stand. A person could piss against a tree, he could piss on his mother, he could piss on his own breeches, and get off, but he must not piss against the wall -- that would be going quite too far. The origin of the divine prejudice against this humble crime is not stated; but we know that the prejudice was very strong -- so strong that nothing but a wholesale massacre of the people inhabiting the region where the wall was defiled could satisfy the Deity.
Take the case of Jeroboam. "I will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall." It was done. And not only was the man that did it cut off, but everybody else.
1. Könige 14,7-11 "Geh hin und sage Jerobeam: So spricht der HERR, der Gott Israels: Ich habe dich erhoben aus dem Volk und zum Fürsten über mein Volk Israel gesetzt und habe das Königtum von Davids Hause gerissen und dir gegeben. Du aber bist nicht gewesen wie mein Knecht David, der meine Gebote hielt und mir von ganzem Herzen nachwandelte, dass er nur tat, was mir wohlgefiel. Du hast mehr Böses getan als alle, die vor dir gewesen sind, bist hingegangen und hast dir andre Götter gemacht und gegossene Bilder, um mich zum Zorn zu reizen, und hast mir den Rücken gekehrt. Darum siehe, ich will Unheil über das Haus Jerobeam bringen und ausrotten von Jerobeam alles, was männlich ist, bis auf den letzten Mann in Israel und will die Nachkommen des Hauses Jerobeam ausfegen, wie man Unrat ausfegt, bis es ganz mit ihm aus ist. Wer von Jerobeam stirbt in der Stadt, den sollen die Hunde fressen; wer aber auf dem Felde stirbt, den sollen die Vögel des Himmels fressen; denn der HERR hat's geredet."
The same with the house of Baasha: everybody was exterminated, kinsfolks, friends, and all, leaving "not one that pisseth against a wall."
1. Könige 16,1-4 "Es kam aber das Wort des HERRN zu Jehu, dem Sohn Hananis, gegen Bascha: Weil ich dich aus dem Staub erhoben habe und zum Fürsten gemacht über mein Volk Israel und du doch wandelst in dem Wege Jerobeams und mein Volk Israel sündigen machst, daß sie mich erzürnen durch ihre Sünde, siehe, so will ich ausrotten Bascha und sein Haus und will dein Haus machen wie das Haus Jerobeams, des Sohnes Nebats: Wer vom Hause Baschas stirbt in der Stadt, den sollen die Hunde fressen; und wer von ihm stirbt auf dem Felde, den sollen die Vögel des Himmels fressen."
In the case of Jeroboam you have a striking instance of the Deity's custom of not limiting his punishments to the guilty; the innocent are included. Even the "remnant" of that unhappy house was removed, even "as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone." That includes the women, the young maids, and the little girls. All innocent, for they couldn't piss against a wall. Nobody of that sex can. None but members of the other sex can achieve that feat.
A curious prejudice. And it still exists. Protestant parents still keep the Bible handy in the house, so that the children can study it, and one of the first things the little boys and girls learn is to be righteous and holy and not piss against the wall. They study those passages more than they study any others, except those which incite to masturbation. Those they hunt out and study in private. No Protestant child exists who does not masturbate. That art is the earliest accomplishment his religion confers upon him. Also the earliest her religion confers upon her.
The Bible has this advantage over all other books that teach refinement and good manners: that it goes to the child. It goes to the mind at its most impressible and receptive age -- the others have to wait.
"Thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee."
| "Und du sollst draußen vor dem Lager einen Platz haben, wohin du zur Notdurft hinausgehst. Und du sollst eine Schaufel haben, und wenn du dich draußen setzen willst, sollst du damit graben; und wenn du gesessen hast, sollst du zuscharren, was von dir gegangen ist. Denn der HERR, dein Gott, zieht mit dir inmitten deines Lagers, um dich zu erretten und deine Feinde vor dir dahinzugeben. Darum soll dein Lager heilig sein, dass nichts Schändliches unter dir gesehen werde und er sich von dir wende." |
That rule was made in the old days because "The Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp."
It is probably not worthwhile to try to find out, for certain, why the Midianites were exterminated. We can only be sure that it was for no large offense; for the cases of Adam, and the Flood, and the defilers of the wall teach us that much. A Midianite may have left his paddle at home and thus brought on the trouble. However, it is no matter. The main thing is the trouble itself, and the morals of one kind and another that it offers for the instruction and elevation of the Christian of today.
God wrote upon the tables of stone: "Thou shalt not kill," Also: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." [Exodus 20, 14]
Paul, speaking by the divine voice, advised against sexual intercourse altogether. A great change from the divine view as it existed at the time of the Midianite incident.
1. Brief des Paulus an die Korinther 7,1-8 "Wovon ihr aber geschrieben habt, darauf antworte ich: Es ist gut für den Mann, keine Frau zu berühren. Aber um Unzucht zu vermeiden, soll jeder seine eigene Frau haben und jede Frau ihren eigenen Mann. Der Mann leiste der Frau, was er ihr schuldig ist, desgleichen die Frau dem Mann. Die Frau verfügt nicht über ihren Leib, sondern der Mann. Ebenso verfügt der Mann nicht über seinen Leib, sondern die Frau. Entziehe sich nicht eins dem andern, es sei denn eine Zeitlang, wenn beide es wollen, damit ihr zum Beten Ruhe habt; und dann kommt wieder zusammen, damit euch der Satan nicht versucht, weil ihr euch nicht enthalten könnt. 6 Das sage ich aber als Erlaubnis und nicht als Gebot. Ich wollte zwar lieber, alle Menschen wären, wie ich bin, aber jeder hat seine eigene Gabe von Gott, der eine so, der andere so. Den Ledigen und Witwen sage ich: Es ist gut für sie, wenn sie bleiben wie ich. Wenn sie sich aber nicht enthalten können, sollen sie heiraten; denn es ist besser, zu heiraten als sich in Begierde zu verzehren."
Human history in all ages is red with blood, and bitter with hate, and stained with cruelties; but not since Biblical times have these features been without a limit of some kind. Even the Church, which is credited with having spilt more innocent blood, since the beginning of its supremacy, than all the political wars put together have spilt, has observed a limit. A sort of limit. But you notice that when the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, adored Father of Man, goes to war, there is no limit. He is totally without mercy -- he, who is called the Fountain of Mercy. He slays, slays, slays! All the men, all the beasts, all the boys, all the babies; also all the women and all the girls, except those that have not been deflowered.
Abb.: Gnadenstuhl Westfälischer Meister : Wiesenkirche in Soest, um 1260-1270
He makes no distinction between innocent and guilty. The babies were innocent, the beasts were innocent, many of the men, many of the women, many of the boys, many of the girls were innocent, yet they had to suffer with the guilty. What the insane Father required was blood and misery; he was indifferent as to who furnished it.
The heaviest punishment of all was meted out to persons who could not
by any possibility have deserved so horrible a fate -- the 32,000 virgins.
Their naked privacies were probed, to make sure that they still possessed
the hymen unruptured; after this humiliation they were sent away from the
land that had been their home, to be sold into slavery; the worst of slaveries
and the shamefulest, the slavery of prostitution; bed-
It was the Father that inflicted this ferocious and undeserved punishment upon those bereaved and friendless virgins, whose parents and kindred he had slaughtered before their eyes. And were they praying to him for pity and rescue, meantime? Without a doubt of it.
These virgins were "spoil" plunder, booty. He claimed his share and got it. What use had he for virgins? Examine his later history and you will know.
His priests got a share of the virgins, too. What use could priests
make of virgins? The private history of the Roman Catholic confessional
can answer that question for you. The confessional's chief amusement has
been seduction -- in all the ages of the Church. Père Hyacinth [Charles Jean
Marie
Loyson, know a Père Hyacinthe, 1827-1912] testifies
that of a hundred priests confessed by him, ninety-
Abb.: Der Beichtstuhl als Ort der Verführung: Zigarettenreklame
There is nothing in either savage or civilized history that is more
utterly complete, more remorselessly sweeping than the Father of Mercy's
campaign among the Midianites. The official report does not furnish the
incidents, episodes, and minor details, it deals only in information in
masses: all the virgins, all the men, all the babies,
all "creatures that breathe," all houses,
all cities; it gives you just one vast picture, spread abroad here
and there and yonder, as far as eye can reach, of charred ruin and storm-
Out of history of yesterday's date. Out of history made by the red Indian of America. He has duplicated God's work, and done it in the very spirit of God. In 1862 the Indians in Minnesota, having been deeply wronged and treacherously treated by the government of the United States, rose against the white settlers and massacred them; massacred all they could lay their hands upon, sparing neither age nor sex. Consider this incident:
Twelve Indians broke into a farmhouse at daybreak and captured the family. It consisted of the farmer and his wife and four daughters, the youngest aged fourteen and the eldest eighteen. They crucified the parents; that is to say, they stood them stark naked against the wall of the living room and nailed their hands to the wall. Then they stripped the daughters bare, stretched them upon the floor in front of their parents, and repeatedly ravished them. Finally they crucified the girls against the wall opposite this parents, and cut off their noses and their breasts. They also -- but I will not go into that. There is a limit. There are indignities so atrocious that the pen cannot write them. One member of that poor crucified family -- the father -- was still alive when help came two days later.
Now you have one incident of the Minnesota massacre. I could give you fifty. They would cover all the different kinds of cruelty the brutal human talent has ever invented.
And now you know, by these sure indications, what happened under the personal direction of the Father of Mercies in his Midianite campaign. The Minnesota campaign was merely a duplicate of the Midianite raid. Nothing happened in the one that didn't happen in the other.
No, that is not strictly true. The Indian was more merciful than was the Father of Mercies. He sold no virgins into slavery to minister to the lusts of the murderers of their kindred while their sad lives might last; he raped them, then charitably made their subsequent sufferings brief, ending them with the precious gift of death. He burned some of the houses, but not all of them. He carried out innocent dumb brutes, but he took the lives of none.
Would you expect this same conscienceless God, this moral bankrupt, to become a teacher of morals; of gentleness; of meekness; of righteousness; of purity? It looks impossible, extravagant; but listen to him. These are his own words:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children
of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all
manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
| "DIE BERGPREDIGT
Als er aber das Volk sah, ging er auf einen Berg und setzte sich; und seine Jünger traten zu ihm.Und er tat seinen Mund auf, lehrte sie und sprach: Selig sind, die da geistlich arm sind; denn ihrer ist das Himmelreich. |
The mouth that uttered these immense sarcasms, these giant hypocrisies, is the very same that ordered the wholesale massacre of the Midianitish men and babies and cattle; the wholesale destruction of house and city; the wholesale banishment of the virgins into a filthy and unspeakable slavery. This is the same person who brought upon the Midianites the fiendish cruelties which were repeated by the red Indians, detail by detail, in Minnesota eighteen centuries later. The Midianite episode filled him with joy. So did the Minnesota one, or he would have prevented it.
The Beatitudes and the quoted chapters from Numbers and Deuteronomy
ought always to be read from the pulpit together; then the congregation
would get an all-
*NOTE: In the Sandwich Islands in 1866
a buxom royal princess died. Occupying a place of distinguished honor at
her funeral were thirty-
*NOTE: I purpose publishing these Letters here in the world before I return to you. Two editions. One, unedited, for Bible readers and their children; the other, expurgated, for persons of refinement. [M.T.]
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