Come on, not one of those is an example of eugenics. The Bible does not showcase the destrucruction of the unfit--- just the opposite--- look at Jesus with the lepers. It was the gnostics who despised the weak.
And I can't believe you used the Cretan example! That's not meant to be taken literally--- it's a joke--- the liar's paradox! You know the paradox about whether this
Cretan prophet: All Cretans tell nothing but lies.
is true or false!
Breeding plants isn't eugenics---- applying breeding principles to human beings *equals* eugenics.
i suppose you could call Plato a eugenicist. But do you really doubt that modern eugenics was inspired by Malthus, Spencer and Darwin and invented by Galton?
Plato was most definitely a eugenicist. And "modern" eugenics was practiced before Darwin. There were later popularizers, but they didn't invent the concept.
Greek warrior Spartan civilization. Weakling infants were left in the mountains to die.
The Republic, Book 5, Section 1. Plato recommended state-supervised selective breeding of children.
History of Australia. Before Darwin, England exiled criminals to purify the race.
Amazing how you can wave off scripture in a debate.
First, the prophet referred to in the Cretan example is seen in context not as a Cretan but "those of the circumcision" (Jews). Moreover, using simple literary logic, Paul specifically called the saying true: Cretans were lazy, were liars, and were gluttons and that Titus (servant to the Cretans) was to rebuke THEM SHARPLY that they (Cretans) be sound in faith. They were to be guided toward "righteousness" otherwise their doom was sealed. You see, the bible says the unrighteous will be burned up. God's not to keen on certain genetic predispositions and characteristics.
BTW. call it whatever you wish, husbandry is a form of eugenics. Man has been manipulating the gene pool for as long as history can record and the bible specifically speaks of it and endorses it. It is spoken of clearly or metaphorically throughout the bible on the subject of plant, animal, and human eugenics.
It is plain that Jesus destroyed trees that did not produce; however, he fed/supported trees that produced as a hubandman (Is 5:1-7). To produce a better crop, a better strain of crop, one performed eugenics. Conversely, eugenics also requires destruction of unworthy breeds: Jesus told you he would come and destroy the metaphorical unfruitful in a future conflagration. He said he separates goats from sheep. He calls some humans dogs in Revelation 22:14-15 and specifically draws a distinction between wanted and unwanted just as much as Obadiah shows a distinction. Is Christ specific on euthenizing specific humans?
God says that no one can change his mind on prophesy and that the Edomites and their kind will be utterly blotted out, along with the lineages of Gog and Magog (Ez. 38-39; Rev. 20:7-10). Now, that's what I call old fashion genocide!
But it's okay cuz God endorses it--where have I heard that before?
Paul calls his former Jewish brothers vines cut from the vine while gentiles were wild vines grafted in. Jeez Marie, what do you call that? Husbandry? Eugenics? Both. Paul seems to have cast off his Jewishness and condemned those unworthy vines to the shame of future christian history with what could only be described as a calculated attempt to destroy the entire tribe of Jews. What do you think backed up the pogroms and inquisitions but the biblical citations that Jews were Christ-killers, the cast out vines, and the sons of Cain?
My friends lost most of their families in Germany and Czechoslavokia to the Nazis because they were Juden. The survivors never heard of Darwin when they were persecuted. They never saw posters enflaming the population on Crystal Night to hurt Jews because of evolution. The name placed on them was Jew, Juden, Sabbath-keeper, line of Cain, and Christ-killers which was, whether perverted or true, a biblical creation.
Again it must be emphasized, the God of the old testament which Paul states emphatically is Christ the Rock demanded whole tribes be wiped off the face of the earth based on their genetic lineage. David was a man after God's own heart in this bloodlust but Saul was hated because he showed pity and compassion on people. David had his ten thousand Phonecian foreskins while Saul put up crappy numbers. Saul was condemned for his unfaithfulness. Samuel rebuked Saul, "...what is all this bleeting of sheep in my ears...?" Saul says, "I couldn't kill them all or my hostages." Samuel explains, "God has left you." Tehn Samuel slaughters them all. All because of their genetic lineage--men, women, children, livestock with no pity. JUST DAMN!
Is it any wonder that the popes and religious thinkers FEARFULLY pondered whether native americans and negroes were human or subhuman meant to be enslaved as the bible sentenced upon the lineage of Ham and/or Canaan. This bit of biblical treatment for some unworthy humans called Canaanites or Hamites is in your bible and existed long before Darwin or evolution was presented. Eugenics was here long before evolution. You see, when Jefferson Davis and John C. Calhoun were debating the merits of slavery they had their fingers firmly attached to their bibles not in the text entitled Origins of the Species. That's a fact.
Again, I do not support human eugenics. Unfortunately I know many ministers and religious people not only accept biblical eugenics but vehemently practice eugenics as they jeer and mock evolution.