Before I went to sleep on April 6, I posted this charming verse:
"'If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.'--Deuteronomy 22:28-29"
Tough but fair. According to the New Jerusalem Bible, a shekel of silver was a unit of weight equal to about .39 ounces. Fifty of those would be 19.5 ounces. As of April 7, silver was worth $18.19 an ounce, so fifty shekels (19.5 ounces) would be worth $354.71. "Good," Donna replied. "That's what he gets. I hope she turned into a harridan."
"What's your game?" Kevin asked, a question I dodged by answering, "Scrabble!" I did that for two reasons. First, I knew this blog series was coming, so I'd answer it then. Second, I didn't know the answer yet. Yes, I'm contrarian. That was part of it. It took me until yesterday to realize what I was up to, so I'll save that to build narrative tension. I'm a writer-type person!
April 7: "['Then the LORD said to Moses...'] 'If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.'--Exodus 21:20-21"
The "LORD said" bit is from the chapter before, just for context. Incidentally, the verse from Exodus 21 is from the same divine lecture in which "the LORD" (an NIV substitute for "YHWH," the personal name of the Hebrew God) gave us the Ten Commandments. These slave-beating restrictions, then, have equal weight with Thou Shalt Not Kill. Let's set aside the issue of whether God should condone slavery. I think we all agree He dropped the ball on that one. But beating your male or female slave within an inch of his or her life, then getting off scot-free because he or she rallies a day later, well...that just seems...okay, I'm gonna say it, so...stay with me here...immoral. The Bible, at least the parts God dictated in Exodus, are not always moral. There, I said it. I'll fall on the sword. I'm the bad guy.
"But what if he beats his male or female slave with something else," Colin asked, "like pillows?"
As he is wont to do, Eric posed a reasonable, intelligent, compassionate rebuttal. I hope he won't mind if I quote it extensively here:
"If it's not fair for someone to cherry pick only the verses that they like to defend the bible and/or Christianity, why is it fair for someone to cherry pick only the verses they don't like to tear it down?...I, as a Christian, am told by atheists that what I believe is 'myth and fantasy,' outdated, irrelevant...and even downright stupid and wrong. I'm told that if I believe these things that I'm a hate-monger, racist, elitist, misogynistic, unforgiving, etc., etc. Are YOU telling me these things? I don't think so...and I hope that I don't paint all atheists/agnostics with that type of broad brush."
These comments followed my contention that "we irreligious folks are told 'ALL Scripture [not just the New Testament] is God-breathed [given by inspiration of God] and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,' AND that the Bible is the moral foundation of American law and government, AND that Bibilical morality is so righteous that atheists, who do not share it, cannot be trusted to run a civilization. I'm actually not arguing for the overthrow of religion. I'm just saying that if we're going to disregard Bible verses none of us like (which is fine, by the way), then maybe we could also disregard the verses in which, say, God calls for the death of all gay people and nonbelievers." This hints at my ultimate purpose, so I'll let Eric have the last word for today:
"I would argue 'ALL Scripture IS God-breathed (given by inspiration of God) and IS useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,' AND that the Bible and its teachings ARE what our country was founded on and the main source of its morality. Does that make our country, those who founded it, and/or the Bible perfect? No. The Bible was inspired by God, yes, but written by and translated (many many times in many many languages) by men. Flawed, human, imperfect, prone to their own agenda...men....
"The REAL point of Christianity isn't being sinless...it's about accepting Gods grace. It's about knowing and accepting that, in fact, you WILL sin, and that if you honestly are repentant for it, you will ALWAYS be forgiven.
"It's too bad that too many Christians and atheists alike can't see that."
...To be continued-er!