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The Rational Bible: Genesis QUOTES

The Rational Bible: Genesis QUOTES

1 " The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

2 " psychiatrist Dr. Abraham Twerski puts it, “Human beings need four things: air, food, drink, and someone to blame. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

3 " The waters below are mayim (the Hebrew word for “water”), and waters above are sham-mayim—which some, but by no means all, scholars believe means “water there” (sham is Hebrew for “there”). "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

4 " If there is no God, we know there is no ultimate meaning or purpose to life: that all existence—including, of course, our own—is the result of random chance. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

5 " To be an atheist is to believe the universe came about by itself, life came from non-life by itself, and consciousness came about by itself. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

6 " Sodom resembled twentieth-century totalitarian regimes, where state employees were stationed in apartment buildings to monitor everyone who entered the building, a level of oppression those fortunate to live in free societies have difficulty fathoming. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

7 " As Abba Eban, Israel’s Foreign Minister from 1966 to 1974, expressed it: “Israel is the only nation whose citizens live on the same land, speak the same language and practice the same religion as their ancestors did 3,000 years ago. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

8 " The noted economist and intellectual George Gilder wrote about this in his book The Israel Test. By “Israel Test,” Gilder (a non-Jew) discerned a way to determine whether an individual or group will succeed or fail. Those who resent Israel’s outsized achievements are likely to fail morally, economically, and socially. Conversely, those who admire Israel and seek to emulate its achievements will likely create their own free and prosperous societies. A significant cause of Jew-hatred throughout history has been a resentment of Jews’ achievements.2 "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

9 " There are those who mock Jews and Christians who believe God promised the Land of Israel to the Jewish people. But, as noted, even an atheist would have to acknowledge no other people ever established a state there—as Jews have three times—or have claimed it as their own dating back three thousand years. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

10 " These three steps offer a classic presentation of the way people are often led to do wrong: Exaggerate, then denigrate the other side’s motive, then promise a reward. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

11 " Evening precedes morning for the simple and even obvious reason that darkness preceded light. Prior to the universe, all was dark. Light needed to be created, not darkness. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

12 " The Torah’s view is we are supposed to be preoccupied with making this world as heavenly as possible. Those who live by its moral laws and values are best able to achieve that goal. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

13 " Victor Hamilton writes: “Regarding the serpent’s origin, we are clearly told that he was an animal made by God. This information immediately removes any possibility that the serpent is to be viewed as some kind of supernatural, divine force. There is no room here for any dualistic ideas about the origins of good and evil. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

14 " God’s curse de-deified the serpent, which was worshipped in many pagan societies, including the Egyptian, Sumerian, Hittite, and Canaanite. Throughout the Torah, the Torah seeks to undermine polytheism by dethroning the gods of the ancient world. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

15 " In English, the word “left” derives from the Anglo-Saxon lyft, which means “weak” or “useless. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

16 " Anger is directly related to both good and evil. The difference is the answer to five questions: What am I angry about? Is the anger justified? Is the anger proportionate to the offense? What behavior will my anger lead me to do? Do I control my anger, or does my anger control me? Jacob condemned Simeon and Levi because they allowed justified anger to lead them to unjustifiable behavior—mass killing. Whether people get angry is not what reveals their character; it is what they get angry about and how they express it. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

17 " Telushkin makes a compelling argument that people with bad tempers who tell themselves they cannot control their anger are usually deceiving themselves: Mugging victims, for example, feel intense anger at their mugger, but virtually all of them—even those with bad tempers—politely hand over their money rather than curse or fight the attacker. They control their behavior, proving they can do so—when they want to. Telushkin offers a second example: If people with anger issues were offered a million dollars to significantly reduce the number of times they expressed excessive anger over a six-month period, most would become adept at controlling their temper. But in the absence of million-dollar incentives, people destroy marriages, family relationships, and friendships—things worth far more than a million dollars. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

18 " Very few of us can or will be famous. But all of us can be significant. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

19 " monotheism was not a specifically Jewish revolution because it predated Abraham by several generations. The Jewish revolution was ethical monotheism "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis

20 " By giving His Chosen People the name “Struggle with God,” (in Genesis 35:10, it is God Himself, not just the “divine being” of this chapter) God was not only giving people permission to struggle with Him; He was actually asking us to. Doing so makes our faith authentic. And it is that authenticity which keeps us from turning into religious automatons. "

― Dennis Prager , The Rational Bible: Genesis