I think this book does http://www.amazon.com/Permission-Receive-Lawrence-Kelemen/dp/1568710992/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447300222&sr=1-2&keywords=permission+to+believe
The 1 star comments though put up some decent arguments
Nu answers to the comment? You brought it up. I gave some possible answers in bold. Don't have tome right now to do more. If anyone wants to add...
I can think of some but others are pretty good questions:
1. The Torah itself states that the Israelites did NOT witness the revelation. They only saw the "thunderings and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking" but were too afraid to witness the actual revelation, and thus "they stood afar off and said to Moses, 'You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die'" and this is what in fact happened according to Exodus 20. The Jews did not witness God speaking to Moses. Moses spoke with God alone, and then passed on His word to the people. This is repeated in Deuteronomy 5: "I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare unto you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire, and went not up into the mount".
A. They did hear the first 2, and there are other stories like the exodus story that they did all witness. 2. If it is true that the entire Jewish nation witnessed God giving the Torah, why have the Jews, according to the Biblical story (Exodus 32), turned to worship the Golden Calf the moment they thought Moses was dead? Is it conceivable that a nation that just witnessed God Himself, would turn to worship idols a moment later?
A. If Adam was just created how can he sin in the world? It is a silly question quationing the nature of men and their reasons.3. No extant Jew can provide us with any details about this event not already found in the textbooks. If it's true that 2-3 million people witnessed this event and passed the information on to the following generations, why can't anyone add any additional details to the event? Surely millions of people who witnessed such a momentous event would have their own versions of their testimonies - but none are found. The only existing account is the account found in the Torah, and that is the one passed on. Sure seems like all those who tell that tale, took it from the Torah itself, and have no independent, eye-witness information to relay.
A. The oral tradition was admittedly lost so that makes sense. Just like we don't have oral stories of many things from that time period yet we believe stone carvings from the era, just because there is no oral tradition doesn't discredit a written one.4. There are countless questions regarding the Exodus and the event on Mount Sinai. For example: Where is Mount Sinai? Which path did the Israelite take from Egypt to Israel (there are two or possibly three distinct versions within the text)? When was the Torah given (there are several possibilities, all of which are full of questions and contradictions)? If millions of people witnessed these events, and faithfully past on the information generation after generation, how come there isn't a single Jew today that can shed light on those questions?
Furthermore, the Talmudic Sages themselves were split on many issues regarding the Giving of the Torah. For instance: which day of the month was the Torah given? Which Hebrew scrip did God use to write the Torah? In what language was the Torah given? How were the tablets written - 5 Commandments on each, 10 Commandments on each, 20 Commandments on each, or 40 Commandments on each. And more. In the Talmud and Medrash, we learn that the Sages tried to settle those questions by interpreting Torah passages. If it is true that there's a faithful eye-witness account of those events, why didn't the Sages simply survey the Jews of their time for their accounts? Surely, if millions of Jews witnessed the event, and passed the information on, some of their descendants would know the answers to those questions. But, of course, the Rabbis didn't do that, because there really ISN'T any such eye-witness account.
A. Again the oral tradition was admittedly lost hence they had to write down many traditions, and in the mishna they argue about those traditions which is why they wrote it down, but no one claims the written tradition was lost. So having questions about the oral tradition does not negate the written one. Also these are people that got lost for 40 years in a relatively small desert and your asking how they don't know where one mountain is? Seriously?5. There are TWO versions of the Ten Commandments. Which version did God give? No one knows the answer, even though millions allegedly witnessed that and have faithfully passed on the information.
6. If there ever was such a testimonial chain, it must have been broken. We find much evidence to that even within the Jewish texts. First, in 2 Kings 22-23 we learn that Hilkiah, the high priest, found a Torah scroll in the temple, it was brought to King Josiah, and based on it he enacted various reforms. Among the reforms was keeping Passover, "as it is written in this book of the covenant. For there was not kept such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah." This proves that the Bible itself acknowledges that there was a break in the chain of tradition. Likewise, we find in Nehemiah 8, that Ezra read to the people the Torah and they learned how to celebrate Sukkot. They rejoiced as they have not observed the holiday since the days of Joshua.
7. Even in modern times we find reports of huge crowds allegedly witnessing impossible things, and there isn't the slightest indication to think these are true accounts. For example, on October 1, 1917 in Portugal, a crowd of 30,000 to 100,000 allegedly witnessed the sun careening towards the earth in a zigzag pattern. The event was attributed by believers to an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three young shepherd children in 1917. Another event occurred in 1968, in the Zeitoun district of Cairo, Egypt. According to witnesses, the Virgin Mary appeared in different forms over the Church of Saint Mary at Zeitoun for a period of 2-3 years. This was allegedly witnessed by many thousands of people. If such foolishness can be reported in the 20th century, without the slightest shred of evidence, why can't it be reported thousands of years ago, particularly that 3000 years ago people weren't as scientific in their thinking processes and prone to attributing supernatural causes to natural events?
8. The premise of this argument is wrong. One can easily conceive a plausible scenario as to how this myth was born and perpetuated into Jewish folklore, just as ALL myths are incorporated into all people's folklore. We need not assume that every parent told the identical story to their children, and thus, if it did not happen, it would have immediately raised a question. Instead, we can imagine a scattered, illiterate people, who formed collective, oral myths, some of which were eventually written down. At some point in history (possibly under Ezra) those myths and laws were codified into one book. This book was passed on, and as the population learned how to read, more and more people told the story that they've read in the book. At some point reading the book became a requirement during the Sabbath services, and thus all participants in the prayers would have heard those stories, and passed them on. Nothing suggests that merely because something is written, and then told on, it must be true.
9. There isn't a shred of evidence for the entire story of the Jews' exile in Egypt, their escape, and their wanderings in the desert. If in fact 2-3 million people wandered a relatively small desert for 40 years, we should have found SOME evidence of that, if not archeological evidence, at the very least some written reference in the writings of the time. But none exist. As a comparison, a mere 30,000 Roman soldiers have surrounded Mesada for several months, and we find a plethora of evidence for that. Yet not a shred of evidence was found of a huge nation of millions traveling 40 years in a small desert. Without such evidence, the Exodus story and the Revelation on Mount Sinai, must be considered nothing more than myth and folklore.
A: The cloud was protecting them so no evidence would be found because most of the usual evidence wouldn't exist based on the cloud supplying everything. And this was a thousand years before the Romans, how much do we have written down from that region of the sinai dessert at all int he era?