The irony of all this is that the fundies do not understand the...

[Pacifist Patriot]

roots of their "family values." They claim a Judeo-Christian heritage yet remain either blithely ignorant or gleefully cherry-pick.

ANCIENT HEBREWS: Polygamy, stoning for adultery...

JESUS: (In the context of my belief the evidence supports the probability he was a Jewish Apocalyptic teacher)

Luke 20: 27-35

27Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30The second 31and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32Finally, the woman died too. 33Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"
34Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage,...

INTERPRETATION: First century Jewish Apocalypticism taught the end of the Evil Age was at hand. Everyone would be judged and then a Kingdom over which God and the forces of Good ruled would be ushered in...on Earth. Those judged good (the oppressed, poor, repentent sinners...) would be exalted and those judged evil (the powerful, rich, hypocrites...) would have no place in the Kingdom. In this literal kingdom everyone would be equal and there would be no need for the institution of marriage.

Mark 10: 5-12

5"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6"But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 7'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh.'So they are no longer two, but one. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."

How many wives have some of these fundie pukes in Congress had?

Matthew 10:34-36

34"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to turn
" 'a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her motherinlaw—
36a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'

INTERPRETATION: Again this is highly apocalyptic in tone and speaks to the coming judgment. Doesn't exactly resonnate with strong family values does it? Especially since the members of his own household would include spouses.

Overall though, Jesus had very little to say about marriage. Most likely his ministry dismissed marriage as absolutely irrevelant giving the coming reversal of fortune in the end times. He neither advocated for or against marriage. That is reflected in Paul's spread of Jesus' message.

PAUL

1 Corinthians 7:1-3

1Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. 2But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

INTERPRETATION: Since the end of the age is expected in his own lifetime, Paul saw no need for marriage if you were already unmarried...unless of course you could not restrain your sexual urges. In that case it was better to marry. Paul taught his followers to maintain the status quo. Since the end is near there is no point in changing your marital status. It'll all be taken care of in the judgment.

CATHOLIC CHURCH: Marriage is a sacrament, but I find it intereesting it is the only sacrament not administered through the intermediary power of the priesthood. The man and woman marry one another, the priest is but a witness.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION: The protestant groups retained only two sacraments from the Roman Catholic seven. They kept Baptism and the Eucharist. Marriage, while blessed by the church, was no longer considered sacramental and family law moved from ecclesiastical courts to the secular courts.

These so-called "family value" issues and marriage protection is absolute bullshit. They are a contemporary aggregation of values using false authoritatic claims in an attempt to establish social validity. It's fear and hatred exploited for political currency. It's evil.

[LaurenG]

1. They cherry pick and land on

the dark side of the values line. I have little tolerance for meanness especially when it is so self serving.

[xchrom]

2. thank you for pointing out how things change -- and for

pointing out that the christ is making sure that we all understand that we are all far from grace before god.

regardless of our ''marriage'' status.

[zeemike]

3. It's no surprise to me that the fundies do not understand.

The bible
One must read it before you can understand and it is obvious talking to them that they have not read it cover to cover like you would a book.
The don't know the story that is told and you cannot understand it without understanding the story.

[sutz12]

4. Generally speaking

They only know what their "leaders" tell them. Their faith has been transferred from the belief system to the people who preach to them.

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. Not only that, but those who have read it...

have little to no knowledge of the socio-historical context. Interpretation can shift radically depending upon the context. I just finished a book that placed the context of Old Testament stories within Egyptian sources more so than Mesopotamian/Babylonian. Changing the meaning of the stories dramatically. And in some cases gave me great pause.

[zeemike]

6. Well that would make sense

There has always been sa strong Egyptian influence on the Israelites, and an adversarial one with Mesopotamia.
But some of the fundies don't even know the basics and think Israel is the same as Judah and the Jews. Or that the jews alone are god's chosen people.