Gotta love those biblical morals!
10Aug. 09
Having just come back from an event with the University of Melbourne Secular Society early in order to study, I’ll have to make this a rather short post. As well as the cohort of infidels, a theology student showed up. It made for…a lively evening.
It was quite hard to get a word in edgewise with conversation getting rather heated, but I did manage to pose a question to him: As he was pushing the idea that moral relativism is incorrect (I won’t comment on what my position on that is in this post), I posed him the question, “If we grant that there is an objective morality, how do we know what it is? That is, you seem to be claiming that not only is there an objective morality, but that it is useful — given that, what method can we use to determine what is good and bad?”
Without skipping a beat, he responded: “The Bible.”
Upping the ante — so I met his challenge. “So what do you think the punishment should be for being raped in a city?”
Sadly, debate roared up again and that question never did get properly answered, which is a shame as I feel it’s an important question to ask. For those who may be confused — if you are a betrothed woman, the punishment for being raped in the city is to be stoned to death. If you don’t believe me, you can check it yourself — Deuteronomy 22:23 – 24. There seems, to me at least, to be something fundamentally screwed up about that.
Of course, that’s not the only screwed up thing in that chapter of Deuteronomy…and with that thought, I’ll leave you with Deuteronomy 22:28 – 29:
“If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, that is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.”
What a lucky girl!
Tags: Bible, ethics, morality, Richard Hughes
August 10th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Oh — that’s the OT so it’s doesn’t apply anymore.
Err… except the 10 commandments. And those bits about homosexuals. Oh, and the other parts about being good to each other and stuff. But the rest we can safely ignore.
Idiots.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Arguing with a theistard is a waste as far as the theistard is concerned but it makes for interesting play for those around the discussion. Keep at it and asking questions is the best policy as it puts the pressure on the theistard to not look stupid.
Remember…never argue with an idiot in public as the crowd cannot tell who is the idiot. Always ask questions.….ya I fail at that too.