lab@qubix.UUCP (Larry Bickford) (09/01/83)
[This was long enough, so I split it off from my other article] Steve Den Beste has asked me to be serious, but his latest article made it a bit difficult: "Paul Dubuc has asked for a place where the modern Christian church has consciously changed the teachings of the Bible to satisfy modern governments. "'Thou shalt not kill.' "Generally, this commandment is interpreted as not allowing any human to kill another human." Am I expected to believe that Steve has found this statement and completely missed the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures? Even before the giving of the Law, God had ordained capital punishment (Genesis 9). Even in the giving of the Law, God set certain capital crimes. He also made note of the "avenger of blood," whose job it was to KILL the one who had killed another; the only refuge was a city of refuge, and then only if the killing was accidental. Steve's two main points were war and self-defense. Israel was at war so many times the first point is ridiculous. And even in the days of Nehemiah, the men were commanded to be armed as they were working on the wall. If you prefer something in the Christian era, be it known that several battalions of the Roman army were predominantly Christian, who would be loyal to Caesar, to fight his battles for him - and did nobly. Yet they did draw the line when Caesar asked them to kill "the king's enemies" - Christians. [I don't know if I can be serious now, but I will try.] Back to the discussions of sexual compatibility and of abortions... Rather than quote much, I have tried to find Steve key statements: "My contention is that without premarital sex, sexual compatibility is a matter of luck rather than planning." ... "Often the sexual problems caused by other things are caused by a whole cultural thing about sex having to do with performance and self-esteem, which I consider extremely unhealthy." ... "I believe that Sex is part of Love - I just don't think that either should be confined to marriage." I know of too many cases of compatibility to call it "luck." I would add one thing to the middle statement - a major problem is over-high expectations, which cause major problems when not fulfilled. The two go together with proper premarital planning and counseling - well enough that even if there are problems with the mechanics, the genuine love is not hurt. For the third, sex is an expression of a special love of commitment - literally baring yourself before another person, the two essentially becoming one. And without the commitment, why have marriage? "My cousin [affected with Down's syndrome] is not capable of taking care of himself - he doesn't even know what "money" is; how is he supposed to understand 'everlasting salvation'?" Perhaps you are thinking too hard. Jesus said that except a person humble himself and become as a little child, he would in no way enter the kingdom of God. It is probably easier for your cousin to have faith than for you or me. "If the child is likely to be severely handicapped, many decide to abort the fetus and try again." First of all, this is rare compared to all the abortions that are done. And most abortions are done on UNPLANNED pregnancies, so "try again" doesn't fit. And where do we draw the line? Will the line extend out to those already born. Suppose the handicap ISN'T detected? (Malpractice mega-suit!) Will we have another Infant Doe, but perhaps older (say, a handicap as the result of an accident)? [discussion of controlling overpopulation to save our planet] Abortion is a near-idiotic means to try to control population growth in areas of greatest poulation increase. You have to work on attitude - in those areas there is no DESIRE for birth control, and it is this attitude you would have to work on first. The males want children for several reasons: 1. More children == more bodies to help in work 2. The greater number of children adds special status to manhood. 3. A certain percentage of children can be expected to die before adulthood. However, the declining death rate due to modern medicine has not been matched by a declining birth rate. Unless you change what's inside, changing what's outside won't help. (Hmmm, that's sounds familiar...))) "They are so concerned with the next life that they won't do anything about this one." Some are so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good. We are commanded to do those things which will help others here (James 2:16). But my confidence in God is that WWIII *won't* destroy this planet - because there will be people alive when Christ returns to reign. "Mail doesn't go to /dev/null" {ittvax,amd70}!decwrl!qubix!lab Larry Bickford, {ihnp4,ucbvax,decvax}!decwrl!qubix!lab