Bokoura

This just in:

'If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard." Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge all evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.' -Deuteronomy 21:18-21

(Emphasis mine.)

Comments?

sweetpea7

Isn't it wonderful that a loving, all-knowing, unchanging god provided such advanced child- rearing techniques? Of course if a parent really wanted to give their child a second chance, maybe they could just sell their child into slavery.

Anat

Well, the Talmudists made the definition of a rebellious son very specific, making it almost impossible to apply to anyone. See The Stubborn and Rebellious Son (Sanhedrin 68b-71a) and Finishing on the Stubborn and Rebellious Son. It is claimed that there never was a rebellious son and there never will be (according to their criteria), but the law was given for the Jews to study it and be rewarded for its study. Well, makes as much sense as most other religious logic.

spin

If you give your seed to Molech, ya get stoned. (Lev 20:2)
If you've got a "familiar spirit", ya get stoned. (Lev 20:27)
If you say bad things about god, ya get stoned. (Lev 24:11-16)
If you work on the sabbath, ya get stoned. (Num 15:32-35)
If you check out the opposition gods, ya get stoned. (Deut 13:6-10, 17:2-5)
If you've lost your virginity before your betrothed takes it (and you're a damsel), ya get stoned (Deut 22:20-21)

We should all get stoned.


spin

dog-on

SO you would not feel so all alone...

Bokoura

That last part is what scares me. Sounds like some sort of evil overlord talking to his people before a battle: THEY WILL HEAR US AND BE AFRAID!

semiopen

This is an excellent explanation.

The rebellious son is a difficult passage that confuses even learned Rabbis. Parents are not allowed as witnesses against their sons (and vice versa) and someone cannot be condemned to death without being warned by "two or three witnesses." Obviously this can not be carried out as Anat's links explain.

I am an admirer of the recent books on atheism by Hitchens, Dawkins, David Ramsay Steele, etc. One area where these books are weak however is in their treatment of the Hebrew bible.

How much weaker then are nasty posts with out of context quotes and facile condemnations. If there is a problem with the Hebrew bible, it is with the character and mental defects of people who interpret it poorly, and those who impose those conclusions on others. Why not attack the real problem intelligently instead?

spin

Umm, Dylan?


spin

dog-on

The great Bob Dylan, of course.

Bokoura

Who condemned or interpreted falsely? Seems to me to be right. Also, I did not do any such thing. I said discuss.