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Abraham, St. George, and Headless Statues

August 17, 2009

This awesome video from YouTube reminded me of an ancient story:

I could watch that video many, many times, and it would make me giggle every time. A suggestion to the church where this took place: Perhaps, the octogenarians are not the most physically suited members of the congregation for the task of carrying heavy objects. Just saying.

At least the old guys stood up the headless statue to show off their handiwork before they fled to the side. Behold your Saint George. Nice work guys. Nice work.

Anyways, an ancient story of how Abraham experienced something similar:

When I was watching over the gods of my father Farah [Terah] and my brother Nahor, I was experimenting [to find out] which god was truly the strongest. Then, at the time when my [priestly] lot came up and I was to finish the service of my father Farah’s sacrifice to his gods of wood and stone, of gold and silver and copper and iron, I, Abraham, having entered their sanctuary for the service, found a god named Marumat: which had been carved out of stone, fallen at the feet of an iron god, Nakhin. And it came to pass that, when I saw this, my heart was troubled, and I thought to myself that I, Abraham, would be unable to return it to its place all by myself, since it was heavy, [carved] out of a great stone; so I went to inform my father, and he went in with me. And as we both were moving it to return it to its place, its head fell off of it in such a way that I was left holding on to its head.

And it came to pass, when my father saw that the head of his god, Marumat, had fallen off of it, he said to me, “Abraham,” and I replied, “Here I am.” And he said: “Bring me a chisel from the house.” And I brought it. Then he carved another Marumat, without a head, out of another stone, and [placed on it] the head that had been broken off from [the first] Marumat, and then smashed that [first] Marumat. Then I said to myself, “What are these useless things that my father is doing? Is he not rather a god to his gods, since it is by virtue of his sculpting and shaping, by his skillfulness, that they come into being? It would be more fitting for them to bow down to my father, since they are his handiwork.

Yet what is my father’s reward from his labors? Behold, Marumat fell down and was unable to get up in his own temple, nor could I lift him on my own, until my father came and then we lifted him together. And even so we were unable, and [Marumat's] head fell off of him, and [my father] placed it upon another stone of another god which he had made without a head. . .” , And I said to myself, “If it is thus, how then can my father’s god Marumat, having a head made from one stone and [the rest] being made from another stone, save someone or hear a person’s prayer and grant him anything?”

Apocalypse ofAbraham chs. 1,3

I wonder if the members of the modern church in Toronto will experience as much cognitive dissonance as their ancient forebear?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Ian6oV5RQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fshipoffools.com%2Ffruittube%2Fpages%2F014.html&feature=player_embedded
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3 Comments leave one →
  1. August 17, 2009 2:29 pm

    Wow, Jim, that head just sorta shot right off, didn’t it?

    What? Where am I? You mean this isn’t Jim West’s blog? Scotter-who? Dam , the sudden template change threw me off….

    • August 18, 2009 4:39 pm

      LOL. Yeah, except if I was Jim I would also change my template two or three times more this week!

  2. Michael B permalink
    August 18, 2009 7:32 am

    Someone was awfully quick with their camera…

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