Moses: Dazed and Confused?

According to Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Moses was actually on "psychedelic" drugs when God revealed Himself in the burning bush (Exodus 3) and when he (Moses) received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20:1-21).

Speaking on Israeli public radio, Shanon said:

"As far as Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't' believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics." (1)

Shanon's "theory," however, crumbles under critical thought. Even if we are gullible enough to believe that Moses received the greatest moral code ever given to mankind by way of a drug induced haze, how does one explain the rest of the people of Israel experiencing the very same vision or hallucination? This is simple not what different individuals experience when under the influence of psychedelic drugs, hallucinogens, or other mind-altering substances. Hallucinations are understood to be private, subjective, and individual mental experiences (or projections) that do not correspond to objective reality. (2) So how does Shanon explain all the Israelites and Moses himself seeing the same "vision(s)?" Simple put, with the available data we have regarding the life of Moses and the Israelites, we have no logical reason to believe he or they were under the influence of any type of mind-altering substances.

Shanon's work only serves to prove once again how intelligent, well-educated people can become so non-nonsensical when they examine available evidence through the eyes of their own anti-supernatural pre-suppositions.

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad A. Gross

Resources
:

1) http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080304120710.ad7gm7i6&show_article=1, March 4, 2008.
2) Kenneth Samples, Without a Doubt, p. 144.

For those interested in investagating the life of Moses, please checkout the following links
:

1) http://www.biblicaldefense.org/Writings/old_testament_reliability.htm- Evidence of the reliability of the Old Testament.

2) http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/1782- Did Moses Write the Torah and Does it Even Matter?

3) http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/thera.html- Evidence for the Exodus

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