Re: Religious content in Boys' Life
Paul S. Wolf (aa854@CLEVELAND.FREENET.EDU)
Tue, 30 Jan 1996 14:21:34 -0500
Reply to message from Bill Paul <BillP463@AOL.COM>
>
>Friends,
>
>Perhaps the title of the Cartoon is the real problem.The bible stories I have
>read in Boy's life have all been from the Old Testament, which comes from the
>Torah (Jewish scouters advise me if this is wrong). These stories are also
>found in the Koran (Muslim scouters advise me if this is wrong). I would like
>to see stories from other religions, but I'm sure somebody will be offended
>and therin lies the problem.
>
A few comments to clarify the above, then a personal comment:
1. The Old Testament (OT) is, in general, comparable to what Jews call
the Tanach or Holy Scripture. There are some minor differences in the
order and some names of the various books may be different.
2. Jews only recognize as valid the Tanach, and don't use the term "Old
Testament", since it implies that there is a NT.
3. Most but not all of the cartoons are from the portion of the Bible
that Christians refer to as the Old Testament (OT). Some are taken from the
New Testament (NT). I'll use OT and NT from here.
4. Tanach is reallly an acronym T-N-CH for the three portions of the OT -
Torah - The Law - the Five Books of Moses
Neviim - Prophets
Ketubim - Writings (Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Esther, etc)
Thus Torah comes from the OT - not the other way around as stated above.
5. I am not familiar with what is in the Koran, but I do know that some of
the stories change from the Bible to the Koran. For example, in the Bible,
Abraham binds his son, Isaac, for a sacrifice, and then saves him to become
the forefather of the Jews. In the Koran, I believe it is Abraham's other
son, Ishmael, that is bound.
Thus the recent Telling of the story of the binding of Isaac is, in effect,
a statement that the Koran is wrong.
It has bothered me too that only Bible stories (whether from the OT or NT)
are used as a basis for that cartoon series. I would also like to see
stories from the Koran, and from Hindu, Bhuddist, etc. writings to teach
the youth that all religions have morals to live by.
--
Paul S. Wolf, P.E. aa854@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu
Traffic Engineer, Cuyahoga County Engineer's Office
SIGOP, The Scouting Center on The Cleveland Freenet
Honorary Pres., Great Lakes Region, Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
