A Miscarriage of Biblical Justice

[arendt]

A Miscarriage of Biblical Justice
by arendt

....B. The Book of the Covenant
....Laws concerning blows and wounds

....(Yahweh said to Moses...)

....If people quarrel and one strikes the other a blow with stone or fist so
....that the injured party, though not dead, is confined to bed, but later
....recovers and can go about, even with a stick, the one who struck the
....blow will have no liability, other than to compensate the injured party
....for the enforced inactivity and to take care of the injured party until the
....cure is complete.

....If someone beats his slave, male or female, and the slave dies at his
....hands, he must pay the penalty. But should the slave survive for one
....or two days, he will pay no penalty because the slave is his by right
....of purchase.

....If people, when brawling, hurt a pregnant woman and she suffers a miscarriage
....but no further harm is done, the person responsible will pay compensation as
....fixed by the woman's master, paying as much as the judges decide. If
....further harm is done, however, you will award life for life, eye for eye...

........Exodus 21:18-24

Can someone tell me what Bible the fundamentalists are reading?
Could the words above be any clearer? God says to Moses
that a causing a miscarriage shall be punished by no more than a fine.
How, then, can it be Biblically-correct to try people for murder when a
miscarriage occurs? (Such laws have been put on the books in
Theocratic America recently.)

The Jews, who also include Exodus in their sacred texts, disagree.
The Jewish religion believes that the soul enters the body with the first
breath. They also believe that it is a sin to knowingly bring a seriously
defective child into the world to suffer. They encourage abortion for
Tay-Sachs and other genetic diseases. So, we have two religions, both
reading the same book and coming to completely opposite conclusions.

It is laughable that the fundamentalists don't mention this verse. It sits two
verses away from one of the most well-known examples of Biblical cruelty -
the infamous call for eye-for-an-eye justice that has led to endless cycles of
revenge murders in places like Ireland, Yugoslavia, Kashmir, and the Middle East.

That is about as far as I can take the straightforward, "God said do this" form
of Biblical analysis. But, as someone who believes in rational laws, the surrounding
context is appalling.

In these few verses, we see the casual acceptance of literal slavery, the casual
acceptance that it is perfectly OK to beat your slaves to death because they
are, after all, your property. But, they must die slowly and quietly or you must
pay an unstated "penalty". Probably for upsetting the frail sensibilities of
the slave-owning class.

As far as violence goes, if a quarrel turns violent, but not murderous, there
is no penalty for the one who struck first and started the violence, even if
the blow caused the victim to be crippled for life. There is only the requirement
to nurse the sick person until they are out of danger of death. This is "justice"?
This is "compassionate conservatism"? I beg to differ.

This is primitive, might makes right, tribal rule. Aggression against slaves is,
worst case (murder) punished by some vague penalty. Aggression against
non-slaves is considered a matter of minimal provision of health care.

So, tell me, Biblical literalists, Leviticans, why is it that poor people who hurt
each other in fights get huge jail sentences in America? According to your
justice, they should hand each other a band-aid and call it even.

If fundamentalists can see these contradictions to American law and don't really
want America to be a slave-holding, women-hating theocracy, they are hypocrites.
If they can't see them, they are delusional and dangerous revolutionaries. This crap
cannot be justified in a modern society. This violence cannot be elevated to divine law.
It is a call to slavery, which this country fought a Civil War to end. It is a call to push
women back down into the status of property.

So, Leviticans, if you are literal, you should be arrested for advocating crimes
under the current laws. If you aren't literal, you are a pathetic bunch of whining
losers. My opinion is the former. I've never heard a Levitican whine. I hear their
snarling under my window day and night. America has become a dark place
because of it.

[intheflow]

1. If you make an arguement from the Old Testament, the Fundies will say

"But the New Testament superceded those teachings." Of course, if you disagree with their interpretation of Christ's teachings, they will quote the OT and not blink twice--because Christ was inspired by the Hebrew Bible (OT). In other words, there's no point in arguing with some people.

:shrug:

[arendt]

3. The logic is for rational people, not the fundies

Rational people need to see the kind of crap that can be
pulled out of the Bible to justify repression.

The "Bible says to kill homos" stuff is pure OT. Jesus didn't
say one word about it. And as widely known, it sits right next
to the death penalty for eating shellfish.

The point is that anything in the Bible can be used as
"justification" by these animals; and anything they don't
like can be ignored.

arendt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. As Mark Twain said:

"The bible is a book with some beautiful poetry, a blood stained history, a wealth of obscenety, and upwards of 10,000 lies."

[Joey Liberal]

4. Fundies have hijacked the Bible and Christianity

The fundies have mixed religion with politics, which is very scary. They have hijacked the Bible for their own political agenda, which is homophobic and anti-freedom. The goal if the fundies is to put a republican in every elected office in America. The fundies are no better than the Taliban.

[thereismore]

5. We honor the truth, right? Read on.

We at DU honor the truth, right? Truth be said, Exodus 21:22 does not say "suffers a miscarriage", which would imply dead children. The original Hebrew says, literally, "her children come out". The next verse says, literally, "But if there is injury, then you shall appoint life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth," etc. It seems to me that a natural reading of the whole affair is this: If you accidently hit a pregnant woman and she goes into premature labor, and the children and she are fine, you pay as much as the moman's husband asks of you. If a child or woman dies, you die.

Go research this for yourself.

[Lars39]

7. And the truth for many....

who gives a good damn about what the bible has to say about anything?
Truly.

[thereismore]

9. I do. n/t

[earth mom]

6. I'm not a Christian, but it's OBVIOUS to even me that these fundies

aren't following the bible. If they were, they would be caring for the sick, the poor, the downtrodden. Even I know that much. It's a JOKE. :eyes:

[thereismore]

8. That much is clear. n/t