Kent West wrote:
> He married a sister. No problem with that, if one takes the Genesis
> record at face-value. Early on, there was not genetic load that would
> cause problems with close-relations.
Er, somehow inbreeding didn't have an effect then as it does now?
> It wasn't until several thousand
> years later that the prohibition of incest was put into place. (You'll
> notice that after the Flood, lifespans took a major nosedive over the
> next half-millennium,
Yeah, a nosedive. From a few hundred years down to under a hundred.
>> What I believe is irrelevant. What *you* believe is because you are the
>> one that said if the Bible says it, you believe it. The bible says to kill
>> those who break the sabbath. So, again, how many have you killed today.
> I think perhaps your understanding of the Bible is a bit flawed.
Read what I wrote above. My understanding is immaterial. *I* am not the
one who says that if a work of fiction says it, it must be true. If I
misunderstand it what's the worst that'll happen. I'll think it's a really
crappy book. No surprise, that's my take on it.
But if a true believer misunderstands it what's the worst that can happen?
Ask Barnett Slepian's family.
http://www.cnn.com/US/9810/24/doctor.killed.02/
Ask the families of the 3000 slain on 9/11 and the hundreds of others in
Spain and Brittan afterwards the price of misunderstanding when the person
truly, in his gut, believes their tomes as the absolute truth above all.
Now, realize this. I am not talking about my misunderstanding. If you
think this interpretation is mine because I'm an Atheist realize that the
examples I have chosen have been used as the justification of extreme racism,
genocide and homophobia from those who have read these passages and take them
as literal truth.
When one is looking at it from the outside one has to take it as literal
(not that the allegorical take is much better) because that is how the
extreme, violent and dangerous expressions take it.
> That law to observe the Sabbath (and to kill non-observers) was a
> national law, given to the nation of Israel.
And carried out of there for generations in other lants.
> Your misunderstanding is understandable, since many Christians seem to
> think (and tell their cultures) that the 10 Commandments is something
> that applies to all people.
My point exactly. Of course one might forgive their misunderstanding
since they're pretty much commanded to convert or kill anyone who doesn't
think as they do.
--
Steve C. Lamb | But who decides what they dream?
PGP Key: 8B6E99C5 | And dream I do...
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