DID THE LAW OF GOD/MOSES KNOW ABOUT INFECTION?
Bible-believers are confident that God told the ancient Hebrews things about
germs and infection that were only rediscovered centuries later. If they are
right then that would indicate that they knew things that nobody could have
found out unless they were told by some supernatural being or alien.
This is ironic for they say Jesus made all foods clean and
criticised the Jews for washing hands a lot. This is a miracle
Jesus failed at. He did not get all the dirt out of food and
make dirty hands safe. Jesus was clear that the Law was valid
and true so he was making the ban on dirt unnecessary and that is
not the same as saying it is wrong. The decision Jesus made
killed many women and children. Physicians and midwives killed
many babies and their mothers simply by having dirty hands.
The Law of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy were supposed to have been revealed by God and have
absolute infallibility.
Is the fundamentalist notion that Deuteronomy 14:21, which forbids the Hebrews
to eat an animal that died naturally, proves that they knew about bacteria long
before they were discovered, credible? How can it be when the verse doesn’t say
why it must not be eaten except that it is ritually unclean?
The Bible says that touching a seat used by a menstruating woman was unclean so
perhaps unclean means that God doesn’t allow it and not that it necessarily is
dirty or infectious or that it is magically infectious. Even many pagan gods
hated dirt, real and imagined, and considered it disrespectful. Thus, some
believe they detect that eating animals that have died without being killed is
not forbidden because of the danger of infection at all. But the Hebrews saw a
connection between dirt and sickness but they did not know what the connection
was. They did not know about germs. They were thinking in terms of dirt
magically causing the dirt of sickness as did many occultic systems in those
days. The verse says that the animal may be given for food to other races. Are
we to conclude that God does not mind who dies from food poisoning and infection
as long as it is not people from Hebrew descent? We would if the fundamentalists
had their way for the Bible has a racist God. Many nations unrelated to the Law
encapsulated this ban on eating such animals in their own laws. This is a sign
that no miraculous enlightenment was required for knowing that the consumption
of animals who died naturally was not commendable.
Deuteronomy 23:12-14 tells the people to dispose of sewage by burying it away
from where people live. Fundamentalists drop their jaws in false amazement at
this pretending that it is proof that God knew that this prevents infection
which was not known in those days and that the Bible must be inspired. But the
text tells us that this must be done for God does not like it dirtying the land
or to see it when he goes about the land and who would want excrement on full
view? It also shows that God would despise sodomy for he would find it grossly
indecent.
Moses forbade people to drink water from stagnant pools and which flesh had
rotted in (Leviticus 11:29-36). This does not mean that God told him in advance
of science about the discoveries of bacteriology for God said that any pan
touched by this water must be broken and thrown away and not boiled to sterilise
it. God forbids it because he doesn’t like it – who would? – and not because it
is dangerous. God never said that contaminated water is infectious yet
fundamentalists pretend that this is the proper reasoning behind this verse!
Is the Bible law that people must avoid contact with leprosy (Leviticus 13)
evidence that God revealed to humanity that it is infectious? But the blasted
book says that leprosy could spread when it infects a damp wall so the sense
came from human observation and not from a divine revelation. Leprosy in the
Bible is any mould or rash or skin infection and is not just the disease we call
leprosy now (page 122, Bible Dictionary and Concordance, New American Bible).
Pigs are maligned as unclean food but they are not when cleaned and cooked
right. Animals revered by the pagan nations around Israel were thought to be
unclean just because Israel disputed other religionists (ibid 29).
The Bible has a magical and not a scientific understanding of infection. It
supposes that magical forces spread disease. It is plain that God did not know
about germs or understand fully how infection could be stopped.
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