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Show The SaitLake ee Section C BENTERTAINMENT/C-4.5 COICS/C5 8 TV-SCHEDULE//C7 ee FUNDS to benefit schools/C-2 SATURDAY,MAY 2, 1998 Millennium Sparks Israel Tackles Big Issue of Interest in Lost Tribes Church & State Ethnic groupsin Asia and Africa could be descendantsof Israel BY DAVID MARGOLIS RELIGION NEWSSEI JERUSALEM— Fornearly three mil- lenniums the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel have exerted a powerfulpull on the popular imagination. Lost to history 2,700 years ago after being conquered by As- syria, the tribes are enshrinedin biblical prophecy and celebrated in religious folklore. The lost tribes were those tribes — era With the approaching millennium, a new interest in the subject has surfaced among somereligious researchers, who say ethnic groups in remote corners of people of the India-Myanamar (Burma) border region, the Lembaof central and southern Africa, the Pathan tribesman of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, or the Chiangmin of China have any connection to the lost tribes. Shalva Weil, a professor cf anthropology at Jerusalem's Hebrew University who has studied the phenomencn, said While the tribes are generally thought to have assimilated into Assyrian culture, various biblical passages hint at their continued existence and eventual reunification with the Jewish mainstream. Over the centuries, people as dispa- rate as American Indians, the Japanese and even the British have beenidentified bride was Jewish — nearly scuttled the ceremony to which hundreds of guesis wereinvited. Half a century after the creation of Israel, a single thread binds together Tel Aviv’s jean-clad secular Jewish yuppies claimsof descent from thelost tribes are as valid, or invalid, as the claim that the Danes derive from the tribe of Dan — and Jerusalem’s black-coated ultra-Orthodox Jews, for whom religious tradition guides every move. Both groupsare birthed, married, divoreed and buried according tothe ancient Jewish legal code recogrilzed as binding law whatever governmenthas held power heresince the Middle Ages. interesting, even fascinating, but scientifically unprovable. Also highly skepticalis the israeli government, whichis fearful of being overwhelmedby a flood of Third World immigrants, and Israel’s Orthodox Jewish with the lost tribes, though scholars widely discount such claims. Among be- rabbinical establishment, which maintains strict standards for bestowing Jew- lieving Jews and Christians, the return” ish identity. of the lost tribes is viewed as one sign of TEL AVIV, Israel — They werea chic Israeli-American couple set to wed here with a champagnedinnerin the lush surroundings of this seaside city’s botanical gardens. Yet a last-minute glitch — the Orthodox rabbis marrying them demanded written proof that the American Still, most researchers reject the notion that groups such as the Shinlung kingdom of Israel, which had split off from the kingdom of Judea to its south following King Solomon’s death. FLETCHER EWS SERVICE Africa and Asia could be descendant from thelosttribes. Reuben, Simon, Dan, Naphteli, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim and Manasseh — whoconstituted the ancient 50 yearslater, Israelis divided as ever onlink See LOST TRIBES, Page C-8 the imminent coming of the messianic Religion News Service The Shinlung people of the India-Myanmar borderclaim to be a remnantof the iost Jewish tribe of Manasseh. About 300 Shinlung havesettledin Israel. Mormon Doctrine Claims Unique Relationship to Ancient TribesofIsrael BY PEGGY FLETC: STACK THE SALT LAKE TRIF UNE Most Christians believe that as the world is coming to an end, thelost tribes ofIsrael will be reunited. But members of The Church of Jesus Church-owned Brigham Young University. As an LDSteen growing up in Louisi- ana, Millett had a teacher whotold him that the 10 tribes were “in the center of the earth” or on another planet Christ of Latter-day Saints have a particular twist on the stery and additional seriptures {o back it up. But Millett said that a close reading of the Book of Mormon and the Bible has The Seattering of Israel as weil as the gathering are foretold in the Bible as well as in the Book of Mormon, the LDS Church’s unique scripture. earth.” “Until recently, Latter-day Saints have supposed that the 10 tribes were just that — lost,” said Robert Millett, dean {of religious education at LDS led him to believe that the 10 tribes “are seattered among the nations of the “They are lost as much to their identi- ty as to their geography,” he said. These people will be “gathered the sameway as everyoneelse,” Millett said, “mainly through pxoselyting and bapism.” Worlds of Faith and Physics Mormons have been gathering the tribe of Joseph since the LDS Church was organized in 1830, he said. Latter-day Saints claim a uniquerelationshipto ancient Israelites through the blessings have designated Ephraim or Manassehas the main linkin this tracing, but othersof every tribe of Israel have also been named.” shake up — but not abolish — Israel's religious status quo. peared to church founder Joseph Smith Yet that status quo — with roots in medieval Ottoman Jaw and custom, as 3, 1836, the ancient prophet Moses ap- seph.” 4s Mormonsare given their “patriar- tribes from the land of the North.” past and future possibilities, they are or from which tribe they are descend- According to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, “the majority of modern tween religion and state that would Church membersbelieve that on April biblical figure Joseph and his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. “T don’t know how that works genetically,” Millett said, “but people whojjoin the church have the literal seed of Jochai blessings,” a sort of vision of their Yet as Israel celebratesits 50th anniversary — and its evolution froma spartan, agrarian society to an et§nomic powerhouseof high-tech compantes and shopping malls — a rising chorus of voices is calling for change in the nation’s system of religious law, which is virtually unique in the developed world. Key among those voives are the mayerick, leftist parliamentarian Yossi Beilin and his Orthodoxcolleague Alex Lubotzky, who recently joined in unveiling a proposal for a new “covenant” be- and his close associate Oliver Cowdery andgave them “the keys of the gathering of Israel. . and the leading of the 10 In the LDSview, the gathering of Israel will include Jesus’ return, assembling church members into organized stakes (made up of several congregations) and the gathering of the descendants of Ja- cob’s 12 sons, including the lost 10 tribes, to the“land oftheir inheritance.” well as a pre-independencepact between secular Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion and ultra-Orthodox rabbis — has proven amazingly resilient to change, even amongIsraelis of the MTVgeneration. Despite the inequities existing in how religious laws are applied to the rich and poor and men and women, manysay the revolution in thinking aboutreligion and state has barely begun — andcould well last another half-century. See ISRAEL, Page C-3 air beginning... Starting New Conversations Scientists, theologians share ideas on exploring the universe BY JOHN YAUKEY GANNETT NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON — Physicists are tossing around the word “God” these days like a football at a Kennedypicnic. Theoretician and author Stephen Hawking claims that to know the ultimate laws of physics would be to know “the mind of God.” Nobel Prize winner Leon Ledermantitled his most recent book The God Particle, again touching on this link between the laws of physics and the almighty. What are these scientists talking about? God as a metaphorto explain oth- erwise secular theories of creation? Or God as a divine being whose handiwork is revealed through the fundamental laws of nature? centrality of Earth. The most recent incarnation, however, is a much morecreative affair, encouraging some scientists to court the divine while theologians explore the once purely secular world of data. The result is intriguing to some, and highly disturbing to others. At the heart of this most recent chapter is perhaps the most fundamental question of all: Where did the universe come from? Until recently, this question was dis- ».\ Everything of the universe back to the fuse that sparked the Big Bang 16 billion years ago, when the cosmos as we know it erupted out uf a point ofinfinite density, temperature and pressure. “Youget this creative use of the word ‘God’ now in a scientific context because Both. Recent and impending breakthroughs in the study of the infant universe trillionths of a second after the seminal Big Bang explosion have rekindled the longstanding and often fractiousrelationship many of the questions that God was introduced to answer long ago are capable now of being answered in a scientific gan with Galileo's threats to the cosmic See FAITH, Page C-2 between’ physics and the church that be- 9 Bang: missed by science as imponderable. But breakthroughs ‘have traced the evolution framework,” ? said Cornell physicist Bri- CilsToh co) ETuu) Blinding People of Other Faiths With Your Superior Knowledge Is Not Letting Your Light Shine For somepeople, religion isn’t a spiritual journey as much as it is an ego trip. If human beings can't come to terns over simple stuff like Classic Coke, it Proof seemsto be the increasing use of an stands to reason that we won't be able to already popular proselytizing tool: the evangelical insult. To show you what I mean, here are o few downloaded from religious chat reach a popular consensus about God, either. Still, it's more than just a little iroaic that people big on gospel love seem to think the best way to evangelize their faith Beptist to Mormon;“How can you be so stupid?" workings of a Catholic to Baptist: " contemptible mind.” Evangelist to atheist; ‘The dog retarn- You don't necessarily have to be reli- groups found on the Internet. ing to its vomet [sic] is you." Fundamentalist to all ‘Babylonian whores!” However, because I'm LDS, myperson al choice for thiemost ineffective religious dialogue of the year was an e-mailleft on an ex-Mormon Web site by two Mormon missionaries; “You are a total loser.” RELIGION Leaps offaith have oneteensy problem Too often they tend to be based on the circumstances of one’s birth and social surroundings rather than one's smarts. is to insult someone. For all their self-important blather, most Christians are Christians simply because gious to figure out that this kind of behav: they weren't bornand raised Hindus. ior is counterproductive. Tell the truth, how many of you,have ever been persuaded to change your views on anything be- cause someone insulted you? Floyd, Christ Jesus thinks you're 6 stinking heap of garbage.” Stuff like this only makes people dig their heols in harder. After ail, whywould they want to surrender their views to someone who thinks theyare worthless? So why do people doit? Probably be- anyone other than yourself. It requires something that cannot be proved empirically: namely, a leapof faith ROBERT KIRBY © 1996, The Salt LakeTribune cause they are more interested in having their say than in changing minds. Arguing over religion ts a waste of time. ‘The general nature of religious belief is that litve of ft can actually be proved to ‘A good way to figure out if this applies to you is howfast you get angry when someone or something challenges your beliofs. If it sends you into a tizzy, chances are thal yuur convictions are morecultur. ai than spiritual. This is got aboutthe free: oughtto be before you go around insulting people in his name. When Christ counseled his followers to let their light shine as a way to spread the news, he wasn't giving us the Parable of the Bug Zapper, nor was hetalking about the religious equivalent of poaching deer with a spotlight. Thetrue test of your faith is the ability to effectively dialogue with people who believe differently than you. If you are insulting them based on your notionof ec clesiastical correctness, it probably isn't working as well as you might think. Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert om to share your religious views with Kirby lives in Springville. The self-de- Being a follower of Jesus doesn't automat. at P.O. Box 684, Springville, UT 84663, others, but rather about your methods ically make youwise, something you really scribed “OryMormon”welcomes mail or e-mail at rkirby@altrib.com. |
