Posted on 02/16/2004 7:50:27 AM PST by Hank Kerchief
No, we don't. The Bible deals with many things that are "facts" but are less optimal that the society that God had envisioned. This includes divorce, murder, etc. That the bible accepts these as facts and tells society how to deal with them, does not make the bible morally flawed. Any book that fails to consider man's fallen condition is probably worthless.
God told the Israelites that if they followed His commandments there would be no poor among them. That the bible then goes on to explain how to deal with the poor and slaves marks this as an exception on what to do if Israel departs from God's instructions.
The libertarians will no doubt say this (protecting the unborn life) is not a proper function of government. I wonder if the libertarians would be willing to give up the governmental protection of their own lives to stay consistent? Of course, they (the ones who wouldn't give up that protection) will undoubtably want to discriminate between the importance and value of their own lives and that of the unborn.
But they completely lose it on this one. This is a simple one too. This "not getting it" is the kind of thing that makes me sometimes think that Ayn Rand was an amoral crank who couldn't keep her legs closed.
That was my point. If God thinks slavery is wrong, He might have said so, at least once.
You siad: So, we can do away with the laws based on such quaint but naive teachings from the Bible such as "Thou shal not murder" or "bear false witness" or "steal." Wow, what a load off of our legal system that would be.
The Bible is hardly the only or the first source of the ideas that murder, lying, and stealing are wrong, and in fact, the same "God" that gave the commandments, also explained the proper handling of slaves, and gave instructions to "His chosen" on killing men, women, children, and animals, (murder) taking their land and confiscating their goods (stealing) and deceiving their enemies (lying). Hardly a good source for children to read to learn moral values.
If the only way one knows it is wrong to murder, steal, or lie is because some book says so, they have no moral principles.
Hank
I'm in full agreement with you, AreaMan, and I'm enjoying reading your posts, both for logic and humor.
This statement is also not true. And you take it out of context to imply that slaves and souls of men were merely items of commerse. Slavery in Israel, except volunatry servitude, carried the same penalty as murder.
I am unable to resist....DUH! Yes, the Gov. does control the "right to life", remember the words in the article...inalienble right to life?
How dumb, - you are begging the issue, -- which is the governments power to control the life of pregnant women..
Oooh! I am so busted...I want restrictive laws on abortion.
Yep, you're busted as wanting MORE authoritarian laws, to correct laws that violate our BOR's already.. Pretty dumb, imo.
Again, a resounding...DUH! The laws on abortion should be as restrictive as the other laws where, again, innocent and defenseless human life is being taken.
You see it that way, while I and many others don't, and you want to force me to see it your way.
Keep up the good work.. You're digging a deep hole.
Nonsense. There is not one verse of Scripture that suggests slavery is an exception and not one verse of Scripture that suggests there is anything wrong with it or that God does not approve of it.
Slavery is worse than murder and any book that does not flatly condemn slavery is just plain morally flawed.
Hank
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