Moses and Einstein at 9pm on CNN

My recent studies of the great pharaohs, courtesy of PBS, taught me that many pharaohs felt the need to leave their own greater-than-life tales. The last great pharaoh, Ramses II (pictured below for your pleasure), wrote his version of history to say he single-handedly defeated an army of thousands enemy soldiers. Many of the pharaohs made praise to their God(s) for blessing them with great power, believing the Egyptians were God's chosen people. After all, they enjoyed great prosperity for thousands of years. Thousands! Thank you, Sun God.



Embellishment, sensationalism, and creativity were important tools for the day that drew people in; creating characters that defied human nature, and Gods that once ruled the earth, only to disappear thousands of years later.

I wondered how Moses fit in with my studies, so I turned to my trusted source for knowledge, Wikipedia.

Even though there are no known Egyptian records that speak of Moses and his God, Moses tells us that the Hebrews were basically slaves in Egypt and that he was sent by the Sun God, err, just God, to free the Hebrews, God's new chosen people. Here are some other quick facts about Moses and his mission:

-Moses was set adrift in a basket on the Nile river, only to be found by the pharaoh’s daughter

-One day he saw an Egyptian mis-treating a Hebrew so Moses killed him and buried him in the sand

-Knowing he could be put to death, he fled and became a shepherd for 40 years where one day he saw a burning bush through which God was able to tell him to go free the Hebrews from bondage

-On the way back to Egypt, Moses was nearly killed by God since his son was not circumsized (oops!)

-Moses and the pharaoh had a battle of magic where they turned rods into serpents, rivers into blood, and made frogs appear in mass quantities

-With pharaoh’s magic reaching its peak, he was not able to control against the ten plagues, which culminated in the killing of the Egyptian’s first born sons (take that!) With Moses winning out, he was able to lead his people out.

-While in the wilderness with his people, Moses came down to deliver the ten commandments but saw the people worshiping an idol, so he had thousands of them killed. This was not the only mass killing of his people that was overseen by Moses.



And thus, Moses led his people out of Egypt to a better life. The nation of Israel was created and Moses is now remembered as, well, you know– the great prophet- Moses.

Ironically just last night I stumbled across an article I read many years ago about Albert Einstein’s thoughts on religion and his Jewish heritage.

Addressing the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people, Einstein wrote that "the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups. I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them...For me the Jewish religion, like all other religions, is an incarnation of…superstitions."



Because of the great influence these two men have, even today, I would love to see a debate about their disagreement. It could even be televised on CNN with Anderson Cooper as the moderator. Whether we would see any magic tricks, or just some mad science tricks, I cannot say.

For now we will just have to settle for Mitt Romney on CNN as he internally tip-toes around Moses’ magic while he answers questions in his bid for President of one nation, under God.

Ancient Egypt, Missionary Work, Kaua'i

So far I have learned the following about ancient Egypt from a PBS documentary I am enjoying:

1) Egypt is considered the first great civilization
2) Compared to other cultures, it was pretty great to be a woman in ancient Egypt. We hear all this fuss about having our first female president. Did you know Egypt had a female Pharaoh 3300 years ago?
3) It was also great to be a man. Well, if you are into polygamy that is. Most pharaoh's had their "main" wife - but they also had "minor" wives - a harem if you will. As a peace offering, many kings from surrounding lands sent their daughters to be part of the harem.
4) Egyptians were very concerned with their knowledge of death. They had a Book of the Dead that contained instructions for passing through to eternal life. If you failed to recite the proper words or do the proper things you were out of luck. Hmmm - that sounds like something I have heard before....
5) There are claims that the LDS facsimiles that are in Book of Abraham come right out of the Book of the Dead.
6) One Egyptian pharaoh is credited with the idea of using diplomacy as a tool for power and peace (over conquest). He is also credited with using "mass media" as a propaganda tool -by founding Fox News errrr, I mean sending out writing on rock-shaped beetles.
7) Obelisks, such as the Washington Monument, were first built in ancient Egypt (by that female pharaoh I told you about)
8) Monotheism was first born in Egypt - an idea that is now prevalent in, well, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Ronald McDonaldism.


The other day I was thinking that my favorite thing about missionary work was this: You put on a little black tag and people open up to you. You sit in their living room, eat their food, hear and see their problems. Diagnose their problems and prescribe a writ of ancient text and ask them to apply daily. Repeat. That was as close as I will ever be to being a fly on the wall of real people. Well, until I reincarnate.

Exodus 34
19 All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.

20 But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

You got that? Good.

The thing I didn't like about being a missionary is that it wasn't in Kauai. And it wasn't with Jenn. Combining those two, plus a better-than-wave pool wave pool = life is good.