"Let My People Go!"

It has been hard for me to let go of the Exodus story, even though I already knew it was mostly apocryphal. As Wiki says, it is one of the most beloved stories in the Judeo-Christian tradition. My favorite part is when Moses stands up before the pharaoh and fearlessly demands that he "Let my people go!". I'm surprised that you, who were so disdainful of authority in your younger days, didn't identify with that.

Okay, so the Israelites were just regular Canaanites who "got religion". From whence did they get it? Religions don't just drop out of the sky you know. Most religions start with a prophet who has some kind of transcendental experience and can't wait to tell all his friends about it. Most people consider Abraham to be the founder of Judaism, except the Muslims who consider him to be the founder of Islam. Truth be known, Abraham wasn't much of a role model, and neither was Isaac or Jacob. They all did some goofy things that would be frowned upon in today's culture. Moses, however, was the law giver. Okay, so he probably got the idea from Hammurabi, but few people today remember Hammurabi, while everybody knows about Moses. I'm going to miss him.

I still want to know where Egypt fits in with all this. Wiki says that the Egyptians conquered Canaan before the Israelites did. Did the Israelites kick the Egyptians out, or did they just move in to fill the power vacuum after the Egyptians left for some other reason?

I don't think you can kick books out of the Bible. By some accounts, there were books that should have been included and weren't, but that's not exactly the same thing. The Bible doesn't say anything about itself because it is a collection of books by different authors. Most Bibles have some kind of introduction printed in them, but the introduction isn't really part of the original Bible. Be that as it may, if you just blow off the book of Revelation, you still have to deal with everything that Peter, Paul, and Jesus said about the Resurrection. If you want to go to Heaven immediately after you die, join the Persian followers of Zarathustra. They are still around, you know, have their own website and everything. Trouble is, with them, you still have to be resurrected after mankind has purged all the evil from the Earth, although you will likely have to wait longer for that to happen than you will have to wait for Jesus to come back and do it for us.

Like I said, most Protestant and Jewish congregations have some kind of board of directors that is elected by the members. When they need to fill a vacancy, they advertise in some magazine that all the preachers who are looking for work read. Then they interview the applicants and pick their favorite, but I think their choice of candidates still has to be approved by a vote of the general membership.

Morality and religion, religion and morality, potato, potahto. It's all formulated by people who are trying to make their lives better. The original Deists in the 18th Century wouldn't have been concerned with environmental issues because those hadn't been invented yet. In those days, people were still trying subdue Mother Nature and put her to work for the benefit of mankind. I don't know if there are any Deists still around today, and I don't want to find out. Practicing an extinct religion all by yourself has certain benefits: You don't have to go to church or Sunday school, you don't have to sing in the choir, you don't have to go to rummage sales and spaghetti suppers and, best of all, you don't have to give them your money.