{"id":10790,"date":"2009-09-15T19:24:31","date_gmt":"2009-09-16T03:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=10790"},"modified":"2009-09-15T19:34:58","modified_gmt":"2009-09-16T03:34:58","slug":"the-12-questions-goyim-ask-luke-about-judaism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=10790","title":{"rendered":"The 12 Questions Goyim Ask Luke About Judaism"},"content":{"rendered":"

From my live cam<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Casey:  I have about 12 questions<\/a>.  I tried to make it 9, a propos of Prager… but…
\nYourMoralLeader:  ok
\nCasey:  #1) who was the narrator?  I mean, I thought I detected that you were writing this in like ’95… what does 2009 think of all of that?
\nCasey:  (am I wasting my time with it?)
\nCasey:  In other words, do you think you were a schmaltzy 24-year old punk when you wrote that?
\nYourMoralLeader:  no, i w assimilar to now
\nCasey:  oh, ok — that’s good.  Otherwise that’d be about the last question.
\nCasey:  #2) what do you think about intelligence?  Does it play any role in discovering G-d\/ethics?
\nYourMoralLeader:  I agree with The Bell Curve
\nYourMoralLeader:  not sure
\nCasey:  Did your Dad notice that you were reading\/writing way above your "grade-level" at 14, for example?
\nYourMoralLeader:  yes, he always knew that
\nCasey:  #3) um… well, generically: "how does one know G-d?"
\nYourMoralLeader:  you cant
\nCasey:  Or… I didn’t quite catch why it was that you thought of Torah as authoritative.  You know, as opposed to the Diamond Sutra.
\nYourMoralLeader:  you can only know His will for humanity
\nYourMoralLeader:  = torah
\nYourMoralLeader:  it struck me as more profound
\nYourMoralLeader:  still does
\nCasey:  Oh, okay.   I get that… ok.
\nCasey:  What about historical Judaism… in particular, reform Judaism?  I mean, what in Torah made you think you could convert to Judaism?
\nCasey:  (that’s #4
\nCasey:  (Here I’m just uneducated… not leading–)
\nYourMoralLeader:  abraham converted
\nYourMoralLeader:  I think Reform is an authentic representation of part of the Jewish tradition
\nCasey:  Oh yeah.  Ok.  So it’s not a theological block to gentiles? (thanks for being a little patient on these should-be obvious points of theology)
\nYourMoralLeader:  no
\nCasey:  Okay #6: "Jews bother the world because its the Jewish mission to bother the world and to give it no peace so long as it has not God."–I kinda like that.  But doesn’t the world have lots of gods?  Do Jews bother the world towards Unity\/Oneness?
\nCasey:  (the quotes come from your autobio)
\nYourMoralLeader:  gods are not God
\nUser guest4 (76.94.237.158) entered the room.
\nCasey:  Riiight.  But I don’t understand what you mean by G-d. (but, okay… I mean, that’s a tedious conversation, right?)
\nCasey:  #7) What do you think it meant in 35 A.D. to be a follower of Jesus?… many Jews were.  Would you have been that kind of Jew?  Or the other kind?
\nCasey:  or is that impossible to know?
\nYourMoralLeader:  it meant you were seeking a this-world redeemer from the romans
\nCasey:  Right… yeah.  So, would you have been that kind of Jew?
\nYourMoralLeader:  Xtianity springs from hellenic-greek paganism married to the jesus story by paul
\nYourMoralLeader:  maybe
\nCasey:  Okay, I think I get that. 
\nCasey:  #8) Do you believe it’s possible to "teach" others to be ethical (i.e., to know G-d?)?
\nCasey:  [This one’s huge for me… you might say, "Sure, they can read Torah."  But I’m asking if you can teach them to… want to read Torah.]
\nYourMoralLeader:  8, yes
\nYourMoralLeader:  people inspire us all the time
\nYourMoralLeader:  to jog or study literature or paint or to be good
\nCasey:  I like that.
\nCasey:  9. There’s little about a psychological change… when did you go from Christian psychology (f**king up and suffering conscience) tohaving a Jewish mind…  living as if you took "ethics" from mother’s milk?
\nYourMoralLeader:  not sure
\nCasey:  10.Any thoughts on mysticism?–Jewish or otherwise (all the mystics end up together, don’t they?)?
\nYourMoralLeader:  i think psychology is overwhelmingly set in first four years
\nCasey:  Oh… wait.
\nYourMoralLeader:  mysticism is spiritual\/religious masturbation
\nCasey:  Wait, no, nevermind.  Those two questions all became awesome there together.
\nCasey:  Really? You take people like Buddha and St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila and just toss them out?
\nCasey:  Their experiences don’t testify to anything real?
\nYourMoralLeader:  i have no interest in them
\nCasey:  (in particular their reporting an overwhelming experience of being immersed in a Oneness)
\nCasey:  Okay.
\nYourMoralLeader:  they have no this-worldly significance
\nYourMoralLeader:  they’re only about escaping this world
\nCasey:  "Snakes infest my dreams." — Kundalini?
\nCasey:  (that’s 11)
\nYourMoralLeader:  lol
\nYourMoralLeader:  wow
\nYourMoralLeader:  maybe
\nCasey:  I had a seriously vivid snake dream on the eve of my only mystical experience (induced by Kundalini)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From my live cam: Casey:  I have about 12 questions.  I tried to make it 9, a propos of Prager… but… YourMoralLeader:  ok Casey:  #1) who was the narrator?  I mean, I thought I detected that you were writing this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[18959,2564,18958,5281,29823,18960],"class_list":["post-10790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-authentic-representation","tag-bell-curve","tag-diamond-sutra","tag-jewish-tradition","tag-reform-judaism","tag-schmaltzy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t