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From: teitz@aecom.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Bible on sacredness of human life
Message-ID: <945@aecom.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Nov-84 14:31:14 EST
Article-I.D.: aecom.945
Posted: Wed Nov 14 14:31:14 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Nov-84 07:56:48 EST
References: <228@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP>
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 83

> <>
> 
> Tom Albrecht writes:
> 
> > The reason I am against abortion and for capital punishment is that this is
> > what the Bible teaches.  The Bible says that human beings are created in 
> > the image of God and that the taking of innocent human life is wrong, so
> > abortion is wrong.  
> 
>    The Bible says some other things, too.  Here is a sampling:
> 
> [Ex. 21:28]  When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be
> stoned....
> 
> [Lev. 20:16]  If a woman approaches any animal to have intercourse with it,
> you shall kill both woman and beast.
> 
> [Ex. 21:17]  Whoever reviles his father or mother shall be put to death.
> 
> [Ex. 20:5]  For I the Lord your God am a jealous God; I punish the children
> for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who
> hate me.
> 
>    Anyone who thinks The Boss was kidding about being jealous should
> consider the following passage [Deut. 13:6-16]:
> 
>    "If your brother, your father's son or your mother's son, or your son
> or daughter, or the wife of your bosom or your dearest friend should
> entice you secretly to go and worship other gods -- gods whom neither
> you nor your fathers have known, gods of the people round about you,
> near or far, at one end of the land or the other -- then you shall not
> consent or listen.  You shall have no pity on him, you shall not spare
> him nor shield him, you shall put him to death; your own hand shall
> be the first to be raised against him and then all the people shall
> follow.  You shall stone him to death, because he tried to lead you
> astray from the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the
> land of slavery.  All Israel shall hear of it and be afraid; never
> again will anything as wicked as this be done among you.
> 
>    "When you hear that miscreants have appeared in any of the cities which
> the Lord your God is giving you to occupy, and have led its inhabitants
> astray by calling on them to serve other gods whom you have not known,
> then you shall investigate the matter carefully.  If, after diligent
> examination, the report proves to be true and it is shown that this
> abominable thing has been done among you, you shall put the inhabitants
> of that city to the sword.  You shall lay the city under solemn ban 
> together with everything in it.  You shall gather all its goods into
> the square and burn both city and goods as a complete offering to
> the Lord your God; and it shall remain a mound of ruins, never to be
> rebuilt."
> 
>    Apparently the religion of the Hebrews spread through having the Toughest
> God in the Neighborhood; the other gods must have quietly left town after
> hearing a few speeches like this.  It is also evident that the Lord takes,
> shall we say, a broad view of the "sacredness of human life."
> 
> 				Richard Carnes
> 				ihnp4!gargoyle!carnes
> 
> Education:  That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish
> their lack of understanding.  [A. Bierce]

     This is not meant to be a complee response to this article but raher just  a start.
      I live in America. The country has laws by which I must abide. I have
 very little power in changing these laws, in fact almost none at all except
 for the right to cast a vote in an election to elect a person sympathetic
 to my views.
      If I were to disobey a law of this country I would expect to be
 punished according to the laws of this country. I could not really argue
 and complain that the law does not recognize the human soul or spirit. In
 fact such arguing would only be wasting time.
      Why then, do you say that the Being who set up human life in the first
 place and put us all here ( as I believe G-D did and does every day ),why
 can He not make rules about how to live in his province, which we call the
 universe. And if we transgress why should G-D not be able to punish us as
 He sees fit. I's no as if He's meteing out a punishment without our knowing
 of it. All the rules are spelled out in the Bible ( sometimes not too 
 clearly, but the're there nonetheless ).If G-D gave us a spirit and soul,
 He can take it if we break the rules of the game ( and even if we don't ).

					Eliyahu Teitz.