I would like to present my religious views and I welcome feedback.
I am a reactionary in that I believe in moral traditions. I love the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible, Tanach). I believe in inductive reasoning, not the supernatural. I considered existing religions, but none work for me. Most religions support the supernatural which I can't accept. So I decided to make a religion by starting with the Old Testament and bringing it up to date by adding what is needed to work in the modern world. I did this with a friend and we now have a religion with a grand total of 2 members. That's okay, popularity was never my biggest concern.
I figure a religion based on the Old Testament ought to be called Judaism. Modern Judaism is actually just one sect of historic Judaism, the sect of the Pharisees. Today this is called Rabbinic Judaism or Talmudic Judaism. This form of Judaism doesn't appeal to me. (Just try reading the Talmud and tell me if it is anything like the Old Testament.) But I don't see why there can't be other forms of Judaism today just as there were historically. And in fact there is a small sect of Karaite Judaism today which is another form of Judaism. So my religion is called Biblic Judaism since it is primarily based on the Bible.
Biblic Judaism considers God to be reasonable and understandable. Deuteronomy 6:24 makes clear that the commandments are for our benefit, and therefore we can analyze the commandments based on how they benefit us. This makes Biblic Judaism somewhat like the Mu'tazila movement of Islam, but with greater emphasis on inductive reasoning instead of deductive reasoning. So this allows us to rationally interpret the Bible.
The Old Testament emphasizes avoiding corruption by surrounding corrupt cultures. This problem applies very much today when we are surrounded by a very decadent and evil modern Western culture. The Old Testament solution was just to slaughter evil cultures in one piece of land to make room for a moral culture. This approach does not work today. The approach that does work is the one practiced by ultra-Orthodox Judaism which is to set oneself apart from mainstream culture while continuing to live in it. This is done by having distinct practices and a distinct appearance. Biblic Judaism recognizes the wisdom of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish approach and we have sought to copy it. We have defined 5 core practices of which 4 address this issue and the other is a demand for tolerance towards other moral people. Our 5 core practices are also designed to be compatible with Orthodox Judaism so that Biblic Jews can comfortably attend Orthodox synagogue (as Noahides or Jews to the Orthodox depending on ethnicity) if they seek a local community.
Proselytizing is against the rules here, which is fine because I don't want most people to join Biblic Judaism. But I literally struggled for years to find a religion that I could follow. Now I have one that I am happy with, and I think I should at least let other people know about it in case others are in the position that I was in. And of course I welcome feedback and debate from anyone who has another point of view.
I am a reactionary in that I believe in moral traditions. I love the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible, Tanach). I believe in inductive reasoning, not the supernatural. I considered existing religions, but none work for me. Most religions support the supernatural which I can't accept. So I decided to make a religion by starting with the Old Testament and bringing it up to date by adding what is needed to work in the modern world. I did this with a friend and we now have a religion with a grand total of 2 members. That's okay, popularity was never my biggest concern.
I figure a religion based on the Old Testament ought to be called Judaism. Modern Judaism is actually just one sect of historic Judaism, the sect of the Pharisees. Today this is called Rabbinic Judaism or Talmudic Judaism. This form of Judaism doesn't appeal to me. (Just try reading the Talmud and tell me if it is anything like the Old Testament.) But I don't see why there can't be other forms of Judaism today just as there were historically. And in fact there is a small sect of Karaite Judaism today which is another form of Judaism. So my religion is called Biblic Judaism since it is primarily based on the Bible.
Biblic Judaism considers God to be reasonable and understandable. Deuteronomy 6:24 makes clear that the commandments are for our benefit, and therefore we can analyze the commandments based on how they benefit us. This makes Biblic Judaism somewhat like the Mu'tazila movement of Islam, but with greater emphasis on inductive reasoning instead of deductive reasoning. So this allows us to rationally interpret the Bible.
The Old Testament emphasizes avoiding corruption by surrounding corrupt cultures. This problem applies very much today when we are surrounded by a very decadent and evil modern Western culture. The Old Testament solution was just to slaughter evil cultures in one piece of land to make room for a moral culture. This approach does not work today. The approach that does work is the one practiced by ultra-Orthodox Judaism which is to set oneself apart from mainstream culture while continuing to live in it. This is done by having distinct practices and a distinct appearance. Biblic Judaism recognizes the wisdom of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish approach and we have sought to copy it. We have defined 5 core practices of which 4 address this issue and the other is a demand for tolerance towards other moral people. Our 5 core practices are also designed to be compatible with Orthodox Judaism so that Biblic Jews can comfortably attend Orthodox synagogue (as Noahides or Jews to the Orthodox depending on ethnicity) if they seek a local community.
Proselytizing is against the rules here, which is fine because I don't want most people to join Biblic Judaism. But I literally struggled for years to find a religion that I could follow. Now I have one that I am happy with, and I think I should at least let other people know about it in case others are in the position that I was in. And of course I welcome feedback and debate from anyone who has another point of view.
