Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site pur-phy.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!mhuxn!houxm!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!CS-Mordred!Pucc-H:pur-phy!act From: act@pur-phy.UUCP (Alex C. Tselis) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Bible on sacredness of human life Message-ID: <1544@pur-phy.UUCP> Date: Mon, 3-Dec-84 05:42:04 EST Article-I.D.: pur-phy.1544 Posted: Mon Dec 3 05:42:04 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 4-Dec-84 08:57:06 EST References: <228@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> <945@aecom.UUCP> Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept., IN Lines: 85 > > The Bible says some other things, too. Here is a sampling: > > > > [Ex. 21:17] Whoever reviles his father or mother shall be put to death. > > > > [Ex. 20:5] For I the Lord your God am a jealous God; I punish the children > > for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who > > hate me. > > > > Anyone who thinks The Boss was kidding about being jealous should > > consider the following passage [Deut. 13:6-16]: > > > > "If your brother, your father's son or your mother's son, or your son > > or daughter, or the wife of your bosom or your dearest friend should > > entice you secretly to go and worship other gods -- gods whom neither > > you nor your fathers have known, gods of the people round about you, > > near or far, at one end of the land or the other -- then you shall not > > consent or listen. You shall have no pity on him, you shall not spare > > him nor shield him, you shall put him to death; your own hand shall > > be the first to be raised against him and then all the people shall > > follow. You shall stone him to death, because he tried to lead you > > astray from the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the > > land of slavery. All Israel shall hear of it and be afraid; never > > again will anything as wicked as this be done among you. > > > > "When you hear that miscreants have appeared in any of the cities which > > the Lord your God is giving you to occupy, and have led its inhabitants > > astray by calling on them to serve other gods whom you have not known, > > then you shall investigate the matter carefully. If, after diligent > > examination, the report proves to be true and it is shown that this > > abominable thing has been done among you, you shall put the inhabitants > > of that city to the sword. You shall lay the city under solemn ban > > together with everything in it. You shall gather all its goods into > > the square and burn both city and goods as a complete offering to > > the Lord your God; and it shall remain a mound of ruins, never to be > > rebuilt." > > This is not meant to be a complee response to this article but raher just a start. > I live in America. The country has laws by which I must abide. I have > very little power in changing these laws, in fact almost none at all except > for the right to cast a vote in an election to elect a person sympathetic > to my views. > If I were to disobey a law of this country I would expect to be > punished according to the laws of this country. I could not really argue > and complain that the law does not recognize the human soul or spirit. In > fact such arguing would only be wasting time. > Why then, do you say that the Being who set up human life in the first > place and put us all here ( as I believe G-D did and does every day ),why > can He not make rules about how to live in his province, which we call the > universe. And if we transgress why should G-D not be able to punish us as > He sees fit. I's no as if He's meteing out a punishment without our knowing > of it. All the rules are spelled out in the Bible ( sometimes not too > clearly, but the're there nonetheless ).If G-D gave us a spirit and soul, > He can take it if we break the rules of the game ( and even if we don't ). > I'd like to ask the following thing: Suppose that someone with a different religion came up to you, and tried to convert you to their religion. The above quotes from the Bible seem to say that you should immediately beat them up, if not kill them. Is this what you would do? If not, then you would seem to be disobeying God's rules. I'm assuming that the above quotes from the Bible are accurate. I'm assuming that you wouldn't murder a proselytizer from a different religion. How do you square this with what you say about obeying God's Law? It seems to me that the Bible is an incredibly complicated work, involving history, metaphor, hortatory philosophy, ethics, and a lot of other stuff like that. People have used the Bible for very unChristian ends, justifying the most pernicious doctrines by saying that it's in the Bible. What they're really doing is starting out with their own prejudices, finding something in the Book which seems to fit what they need, and then using it to justify themselves. The Bible has been used to justify all sorts of bloodbaths and misery that simply saying that one does something or believes something because it's in the Bible is no longer good enough. I think that when people do this, they are showing great disrespect to both the Bible and to God, that they are verging on some sort of blasphemy. The best parts of the Bible, and those closest to the REAL spirit of both Christianity and Judaism, are the parts which exhort love and tolerance for others. This does NOT include calling people names when they disagree with you, it does NOT include murdering innocent civilians in Central America (or even the guilty ones), it does NOT include throwing the first stone. It certainly does NOT include pillorying those who disagree with you. The story of the Samaritan is very instructive in this respect, I think. Furthermore, part of the soul God gave you is your ability to think. And that means that you are to use your ability to think to understand the spirit of the Bible, not just its words. The words themselves are arbitrary constructions but the concepts contained therein are not, and are the very meat of both Judaism and Christianity. Man was not made for the Law, but the Law was made for Man.