Yes, I'm double-posting. Sue me.
Actually, I just thought my post was getting a little long and I wanted to address DF's last post separately.
Okay, so Modus did open up the biblical contradictions can of worms. While I don't mind discussing that, it seems like it would hijack the thread. I don't really see how biblical contradictions relate to gay marriage.
Oh well, I'll bite...
DarthFerret said:
As for this first one. Genesis is chronologically before Leviticus and Deuteronomy. If you do believe in the Bible (which I do) then you know that Adam and Eve were the first and everyone else would be a brother or sister. Therefore, in the interest of population alone, interfamily relations are a must. However, after a certain period of time (be it acutal time, or measurement of population growth) God puts in place the law that you should not lie with your sister. Not sure if this is a good job of the chronological order or not.
Well, that's not really a contradiction. But it's kind of messed up. Something that was okay or even necessary before is all of the sudden "wicked"?
But your idea that intrafamily (which is what I assume you mean when you say interfamily) relations was a must because a sizeable population needed to be developed does contradict our knowledge of biology. A single family that all has the same parents is much, much too small to survive as a population. And by that I mean they don't have enough genetic diversity. The inbreeding would wipe them out after a few generations.
It is a bit late, and I am a bit too tired to actually look this up, but statements this short are quite possibly taken out of context.
Context: The first scripture explains why the Sabbath is so special. It's because it is a sign of the covenant between the LORD (I forget which god that's referring to, El or Yah) and his people. It represents the seventh day of creation, on which he rested. The second scripture is part of Isaiah's prophecy about how Babylon would enslave the Hebrews. After making this dire prediction, there's a whole lecture on the glory and majesty of the LORD/God. The bit that's relevant to our discussion is one in which we learn that he never gets tired.
There you go. Context. Unless I missed a part in one of those chapters where it said, "The following is a list of lies" it's a contradiction. Something that never tires can't rest.
I actually do not think that "keep them for yourselves" necessarily dictates rape. Mayhaps it means make of them your wife? We all know that women did not always have equal rights. They were told who to marry and when, and that was that.
So after killing the kings of Midian and butchering all of the men, capture the women and children, then bring them to Moses. He is absolutely livid because some of these women may have had something to do with Balaam (like, talked to him). So he has them butcher all of the male children/babies and all of the women that are not virgins. But he has them keep the virgin females alive for themselves.
And all you can say is that he might not actually have been instructing them to rape these girls? Where is your sense of proportion?
This is merely a rebut against the Bible contradictions.
Actually, you left the contradiction alone. If you seriously think there are no contradictions in the bible, I can generate a much more exhaustive list than what Modus did. And I'll even leave out implied contradictions or contradictions having to do with whether something was right or wrong at a given time.
The part about Midian had nothing to do with contradictions though. Modus was using it as an example of rape being considered okay by biblical standards. I wouldn't even say it's implied, because in context, that's what "take them for yourselves" meant. Of course, I'm not an historian and I can't be sure that's right, but I must say the case for there not having been any rape going on there doesn't look good. And it's not the only rape-friendly passage in the bible. Not by a long shot. But even if we assume that "take them for yourselves" meant something other than rape, that doesn't change the bit about massacring everyone except for the virgin females.
I do not think that female reporters have a "right" to be in a male team's locker room. Same as if it were a "gay" man. Also vice-versa.
What kind of right? And are you saying that gay athletes should be barred from using locker rooms? This all seems pretty ridiculous.
Will pedophiles ask for equal rights? What about confirmed and self-admitted terrorists?
Okay, so this is a slippery slope fallacy. But why not? Why can't pedophiles and terrorists have equal rights?
What about my equal right to crash this entire message board (don't worry, I have no intention of and no clue how to do that...he he)?
You're not making any sense. You do understand what equal rights means, don't you? It means if I am allowed to do something, you should be allowed to do it too. If I'm allowed to wear red and the government bans you from wearing red because you fit into some group, then we don't have equal rights. Neither of us has the right to hack other people's websites. Equal rights doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. It just means you aren't marginalized. This seems simple.
Does the free information act cover child porn? Curse words? Sexually explicit material? Illegal drug sales (they are not illegal in every country right?). Lines must be drawn somewhere. The question is not only who draws the lines but where they must be drawn.
Well, there's this thing we have for that called the law. You may have heard of it. It's not perfect, but it does draw lines, lots of them.