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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Omega: [QB] [i]Your claim is that the bible is divinely inspired. In effect, Yahweh was the editor who made sure that what he wanted written got written. So why would he inspire someone to write "Solomon was a really great guy who fucked an ass-load of women."? If he wanted people to know that he disapproved, he would have inspired something more like "Solomon was a pretty good guy, but he sure had trouble keeping his hands off women. But, other than that, he was okay.".[/i] Well, then you get into the question of exactly how far inspiration goes. It's one of the running debates of Christianity that we all realize doesn't much matter to how we're gonna live our lives. Unfortunately, that means we tend not to have a firm answer when an unbeliever asks for one! The question is whether God controlled every letter written, effectively using the writers to write exactly whay he wanted; or whether God just ensured that there were no major factual errors in what was being written anyway. I tend to lean towards the second one, for just such reasons as this. :) Of course, the Bible also has a tendancy not to hit you over the head. If Solomon married dozens of foreign wives and then lead the people into idolatry, the Bible doesn't say "...and it was WRONG THAT HE DID SO!" That's bleeding obvious, now isn't it? On a few occasions you get an "evil in the sight of the Lord", but that's about as far as it goes, and sometimes in reference to events that aren't specifically described anyway. The histories as written assume that the reader is a member of the (in the case of the Old Testament) Hebrew culture, and thus make certain assumptions about your knowledge and beliefs re: the law of God. [i]If you believe that those laws were stated by a god, and that that god is the ruler of Everything, then you can't say that certain people have to obey his laws, and others don't.[/i] Sure I can. God said "You people here, I'm making a deal with YOU. Not these other people, YOU. You follow THESE rules, I bless you. Got it?" I am not a member of those people, therefore the terms of that deal do not apply to me. How is that nonsensical? [i]Otherwise, you could never tell another person what they can and cannot morally do.[/i] Not quite. Those specific laws applied only to the Jews. But those laws are an expression of the general contours, to cop a phrase, of the will of God for human life. He may not want all people to always stone a man for disrespecting his parents, but it's always true that God wants people to respect their parents. God may not want us to burn witches, but we certainly shouldn't think that witchcraft (whatever that term meant in 2,000 BC) is just fine and dandy. Some ethical theorists divide things into four levels: immediate responses, rules, principles, and central character. Immediate responses are where you do things because that's what your immediate reaction is, no rationalle behind it. Rules is like old Judaism, I do this because the rules tell me to. Principles is like what I'm proposing above: disrespecting parents is bad, and should be ended; however, human life is to be valued; therefore, find way to end disrespect without killing the kid. Finally, central character brings you full-circle. You no longer need to determine what the rules say, or what your principles demand, because you embody their meaning. If we are trying to change our lives to be as God intended, then it's not a question of following rules, it's a question of (sorry, but) what would Jesus do? I need to learn what God's motivations are, and make them my own. And somehow, I doubt God's ultimate goal requires, in all cases, stoning people who work on the Sabbath. Otherwise Jesus would have died a lot sooner. :) [i]And what were you going to say about witches? It only applies to Jewish witches???[/i] The same thing I said about the three or four things immediately preceeding that question. :) [i]are you saying that it would be a good idea for Ariel Sharon to go ahead and reinstate the death penalty for oh...working on the Sabbath, being an unruly child, if you're not a virgin when marrying, etc. Or is this a case of "ha-ha, its your own damn fault for not switching to Christianity in the first place"[/i] That would seem to be consistant with Judaism. I'm not sure how he resolves that conflict. Thus the flaw of a rule-based system of ethics, and why Christianity as taught by Christ would seem to qualify as a superior ethical model. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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