Are scriptural laws from God or were they from humans and necessary for survival? Were these laws written before the discovery of antiseptics and many were needed for cleanliness and survival? Maybe the men sleeping with men as a woman scriptures were about cleanliness rather than morality. I'm thinking of the saying that "cleanliness is next to Godliness."

Other laws that were for survival of the species were about not killing, etc. Some laws were to keep your mind in a healthier place, such as not coveting.

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Well my view is that scriptural laws or ordinances have a Divine origin but they were revealed for a specific time and conditions that obtained when they were revealed...

About "morality", I think this is something that has also changed over time but it is complicated when you are addressing the issue of sexuality.... The traditional view is that "sex" is encouraged say in marriage to produce offspring and have sons to inherit property and so on...and keep property in the family perhaps. Sex as lust for it's own sake as an end in itself is usually discouraged.

- Art

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"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

Well, the rules you are talking about are rules that I don't see as valid, because I don't follow a Bible based religion. I think that sex is natural and we should all enjoy it (for example). Of course we should try to be clean, but let's face it, life is messy. I think it is more important to enjoy life, and forget other people's rules. But it could be just me.

Scriptural "laws" are no different than anything else that we try to do in an effort to protect ourselves and others.

The Mosaic law against eating pork was undoubtedly a reflection of the high potential for trichinosis at the time. This is no longer an issue, so we ignore the "law." However, when the law was written, it is not difficult to see how the notion of "unclean" animals might spread from pigs to other animals. We are human, and we look for patterns that we can draw conclusions from. So animals that were good to eat pretty routinely had cloven hooves and chewed the cud. Pigs didn't. Maybe other animals that didn't might also be dangerous. Why take the chance?

These days, we publish in our newspapers and books of every kind (modern day "scripture-on-the-fly") warnings about tobacco, about the health benefits and risks of various kinds of food in large quantities. Most people pay some attention, some don't.

As we become more and more frightened of the next impending flu epidemic, we are repeatedly admonished, again in our modern "scriptural" medical journals, newspapers, magazines and television, that the most effective thing that we can do is to wash our hands -- for as long as it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice, being sure to wash the backs as well as the fronts, using soap, removing rings, etc. Talk about prescribing ritual!!

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evangelicalhumanist: Greek "eu"=good and "angelos"=messenger. Spreading the good news of Humanism.

"Scriptural "laws" are no different than anything else that we try to do in an effort to protect ourselves and others. "
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This is not entirely correct . There is more to "scripture" than that . It is not a "get well" book , the Bible , as so many add to it as that , but it is written by those who " knew" something but also knew they were not allowed to put it in writing as they knew the Bible , before the first word was written in it , they knew that all of Earth would be in awareness of it , this book , the Bible .

And when you read it you must convert to Faith even though it is so hard to do and it must be true Faith that God can absorb and glorify you when He sees that your purity of intentions in what you think and do are in His realms.

Also there are parts of the Bible that are not understandable because they incorporate things of a Miracle nature which today it seems that Man needs to see a miracle first hand to believe and some have seen the miracle in front of their awaken face and know also of the Truth and why we cannot all know this Truth , but go on Faith as our ancestors after Christ did.

Mooomooo, do you have a personal hot-line to the Big Guy? You make so many statements about that which you cannot possibly know otherwise, that it's the only thing I can assume.

I didn't say the Bible was a "get well" book, and I didn't restrict my conception of it to only those things that affect health. It should be obvious that I intended to convey the health of the community, which is social cohesion and cooperation, among many other things. That would include, obviously, the moral codes and values which allow humans to interact without killing each other (most of the time ).

And of course, you are also saying that all other books written by all other faith traditions DO NOT COUNT, or at least don't count in any of the substantive ways that you credit to the Bible. I think that is a pretty good example of exactly the kind of Christian arrogance that has led to so much horror throughout history. (I do not blame only the Christians, of course. Other religions have their share of similar arrogance).
No, I must not convert to Faith. I read the Bible, as did Thomas Paine, and am mostly horrified by what I find there:

• God sending she-bears to kill 42 children for teasing an old man? Gimme a break. That ain't no kind of "holiness."
• Page after endless page of the brutal and wanton killing of every sort of Canaanite? Several entire books of the Bible are given over to killing, killing and more killing. That ain't holy, that's genocide. Nowadays, we don't like that sort of thing.
• Ananias and Sephira didn't cough up every last penny to the apostle's that they got for the sale of their land (maybe they wanted to be able to afford to eat one more meal, or maybe feed their kids?) so thy up and die? Hah! We are meant to understand that that was the work of God through the apostles, and if it was, it was just another evil act.
• What God does to the Egyptians is unspeakable! Pharaoh held the slaves, every Egyptian family, who'd never even met a Hebrew, lost a first-born child. Wonderful work, God!
• How many died in Sodom and Gomorrah who didn't deserve to? How many died in the flood who didn't deserve to? (C'mon, how many new-born children have even had time to debauch themselves?)
• And salvation! Don’t get me started on the confusion about how that works.
  • Predestination: Ephesians 1:4-5, Acts 13:48, Psalm 139:16
  • Lottery: Psalm 65:4, Romans 9:16-21
  • Good Works: Acts 10:34-35, James 1:26-27, Micah 6:8, Luke 10:25-28
  • Faith Only: Acts 16:30-31, John 3:18
  • Faith and Baptism: Mark 16:16
  • Faith is One Pathway: John 6:35, John 8:12
  • Faith and Works: James 2:14-17
  • Universalism: 1 Corinthians 15:22, Romans 11:32, 1 Timothy 4:10

Oh, the list of terrible things that goes on in that book is lengthy. I'd write it all out for you, but who has time to read it?

Defend the Bible all you like, but first, read it. Every single line. Every brutal murder. Every absurdity. Find out how many men have castrated themselves because they took Matthew 19:11-12 literally. Ouch!
Well, as I said, you seem to have a hot-line right up there, because you seem to know what we cannot know, and why.

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evangelicalhumanist: Greek "eu"=good and "angelos"=messenger. Spreading the good news of Humanism.