re: #203 Gus 802

Odd when you think about it. Imagine someone being involved in a burn accident in which they receive 3rd degree burns all over their body. If they even survive I couldn’t even imagine the pain and anguish that someone would have to suffer because of those injuries.

Now imagine hoping that someone should suffer that same pain not for one day or a month but for eternity. Not 1000 years, but millions of years — to infinity as they proclaim. What a sadistic and evil thought — pain, suffering and literal torture for infinity.

Reading the Old Testament literally leads to all sorts of ethical problems.

* Adam and Eve were banished from Eden because of something they did before they knew right from wrong (before they ate from the tree of knowledge).

* Abraham was commanded by God to murder his son Isaak. Although it was only a test, Abraham was rewarded for making the wrong choice (willingness to take an innocent life.)

* Joshua and the Israelites slaughtered every man women and child in the conquered cities of Canaan. Today that would be considered genocide.

Interpreted literally, the Bible is not about universal moral truths, but rather about blind obedience. Such blind obedience often leads to acts of extreme moral outrages.

Religeous conservatives claim to reject moral relativism. Then they must also biblical literalism.