If adultery/promiscuity was recognized as a sin deserving of hell fire (Jesus warned all evil-doers of this in Matthew CH. 13) then people may have a greater appreciation for both the danger in succumbing to temptation AND the price Christ paid in dying on the cross, the love and forgiveness he has shown us to imitate. People need to have a fear to prevent them from doing something immoral if they can't see the good in marital fidelity. When it is belated then the feeling of humility is appropriate, and through trust in God innocence will be restored. The sins of the flesh are the most proliferate, but it all began with a deceitful tongue and in the end how do you think it will be reversed? You do not help your neighbor by lessening the damage you think our collective sinfulness--and the devil--merits. The Lord desires mercy over sacrifice but He did not come to abolish the old Law entirely; the remnant remains and so does the punishment only God can administer. The Faithful are counseled to approach those outside their circle with relative kindness of spirit while being on stricter watch for those inside their community, and even seeming to have contempt when needed. This does not mean contradicting the truths of scriptures nor loosening their intention. It is only fanatics who are going around in real life cursing people to hell all the time. They are extrapolating from what they see if a person continues down their path. I have heard of these accusations of 'going to hell' when an excommunication was on the line. They cause a serious 'conflagration' depending on the tone one uses in such disputes. Let us simply remember we are all sinners in need of grace, in thinking hate towards our brother we are like the murderer and so approach each other in honesty because we care.
Originally posted by checkbaiter"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image". Idolatry is apparently a "sin" for Christians but it cannot in all seriousness be described as "immoral". The same can be said for failing to obey "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy".
Can you give an example ?
Originally posted by twhiteheadThe OT is a record of the Hebrews' spiritual journey from a bronze age patriarchal authority model to a concept of civil law, from pre-historic custom to codified morality. A few bits left over from the previous pre-historic system found their way into the record because they were too deeply rooted to be expunged immediately.
Do you think they were moral when they did apply? If not, then why did you say that sentence?
According to the archaic model, what the patriarch said was law. According to the archaic model, there was no such crime as rape; women were considered chattel. The 'taking' of a woman was no crime against her but against her husband if she was married, or against her nearest male relative if not. The crime of adultery was not that of extra-matital sex, but that of shaming the reputation of her 'owners' (i.e., her husband or nearest male relative).
Stoning an adulteress is what we would now call "honor killing" (still practised in some parts of the world)--it's a holdover from the time before the giving of the Commandments to Moses as recorded in the OT. Stoning adulteresses was a custom left over from the bronze age, when patriarchal clans ruled and civil authority had not yet fully replaced the clan mentality. It's very little to do with what God said; much more to do with an archaic custom which was only very gradually eradicated by successive revelations.
Read Leviticus: it is a very ancient and primitive pagan rite which is described there, splattering blood all over and siphoning off the fat and so on.... really barbaric, gorey stuff. No wonder they stoned wayward women too. I would not say it was considered "moral" when it was practised; it was just the way things were. The concept of "morality" was still a thousand years in the future then.
Originally posted by moonbusI don't see any answer in there. Do you, or do you not, think the laws were moral at the time they did apply?
The OT is a record of the Hebrews' spiritual journey from a bronze age patriarchal authority model to a concept of civil law, from pre-historic custom to codified morality. A few bits left over from the previous pre-historic system found their way into the record because they were too deeply rooted to be expunged immediately.
According to the archaic mode ...[text shortened]... st the way things were. The concept of "morality" was still a thousand years in the future then.