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To: SirJohnBarleycorn
No human laws "pre-date" God's relationship with man.

The Bible says that God wrote His law in the hearts of men, and that man's own conscience bears witness against him.

It sounds like you are saying something, but in reality there isn't anything useful there. You say all law is inspired by God, yet also allow that man-made law can fall short of God's will. So what can we conclude about any given law? Nothing. It could either be consistent or inconsistent with God's will.

Your original contention that all civilized law is based upon Judeo-Christian principles is contradicted by your own claim that societies can err. Therefore not all law is based upon true Judeo-Christian principles.

Historically, the percentage of people aquainted with the Judeo-Christian bible, let alone adhering to it, has been but a subset of the entire earthly population. Your escape around this historical divergence is to claim that everyone already knows all the laws, from the ancient Egyptians to the pre-Columbus American Indians, to the far eastern India Indians.

A simpler explanation is that certain "laws" have rather obvious joint benefits and rational creatures will discover and apply the obvious. No need for a lot of religious mumbo jumbo to explain the obvious.

26 posted on 08/29/2006 9:26:40 AM PDT by Dracian
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To: Dracian
I'll be happy to clarify my position:

In the final analysis, to the extent they are inherently good, all of the laws and morality of our civilization are ultimately founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs, in other words, God's natural law.

30 posted on 08/29/2006 9:33:50 AM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
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To: Dracian

well done.


75 posted on 08/29/2006 10:48:10 AM PDT by King Prout (many complain I am overly literal... this would not be a problem if fewer people were under-precise)
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To: Dracian
A simpler explanation is that certain "laws" have rather obvious joint benefits and rational creatures will discover and apply the obvious.

Not really, considering how rule by might has traditionally been the rule of the human race.

No need for a lot of religious mumbo jumbo to explain the obvious

Yet religion has been part of every society, and the societies whose religion includes the rejection of God have been by far the worst.

93 posted on 08/29/2006 11:02:17 AM PDT by Tribune7
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To: Dracian

Chicken/egg?


238 posted on 08/29/2006 4:23:24 PM PDT by ladyinred (Leftists, the enemy within.)
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