[Tertullian]

Yes, literalists must be vigilant not to slip off that "narrow way" and onto the slippery slope of questioning and reasoning and thinking about causes and consequences. I feel for them. I used to be one, so in their eyes I'm sure my story would be a cautionary tale.

It is indeed a pity that with so much that can be learned (and used) from the Bible, to improve the condition of our fellow men and women, literalists try to force us to accept idiocies that would not be tolerated in any other piece of literature, and do NOTHING to improve life on this planet! What they do is present a god who is contradictory, cantankerous and criminal i.e. How can we tell our children that it is monstrous to kill infants, when the god of the Old Testament ORDERS the wholesale slaughter of innocent women and children, merely to keep his reputation and taboos intact??

[N0help4u]

ONLY if you believe that Yahweh actually tried to find a helpmeet for Adam among the animals.....as is suggested when Yahweh realizes "it is not good for the man to be alone" and begins to parade the animals for Adam to choose.

Always wondered why Yahweh did not realize WHEN he created Adam that it would not be good for the man to be alone. :)

Where do you get that??
I think you are reading into things.

Gen 2
19 And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for man there was not found a help meet for him.

That simply means that he named the animals and there was no mate for him on earth.
Not meaning he was looking to the animals for a mate...

Talk about literalists...

[Tertullian]

God commanded the species to be kept 'to their kind'
As I said Cain could not be held accountable to having a sister be his wife when that law didn't exist at that time. Although because the Bible says from the land of NOD I take it as meaning there may have been another group of people on the earth that God didn't feel necessary to include in the Bible just as he didn't feel it important to mention many women unless they were important to the whole scheme of things.

Am I confusing your response?
You seem to be suggesting that it was MOSES who outlawed incest, and not YAHWEH. And yet Yahweh insisted on incest so that species could be kept 'to their kind'. Your post also suggests that, despite claims that God is unchanging, and unchangeable, he can and does change his mind and his laws at whim.

[Tertullian]

Where do you get that???
I think you are reading into things.

Gen 2
19 And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

20 And the man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for man there was not found a help meet for him.

That simply means that he named the animals and there was no mate for him on earth.
not meaning he was looking to the animals for a mate.......

talk about literalists.....

Was it an oversight that you left out the first line of Genesis 2:18 that led Yahweh to create the animals?? "And the Lord God said: It is not good for the man to be alone: I will make him a help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field.......but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him." Did Yahweh not KNOW this when he was creating the animals??

Try not to take life so seriously; my reply to labman was a facetious rejoinder. :)

[N0help4u]

I don't take that to mean that he intended them to be for Adam.
I take that to mean that what was created from the earth was inferior to have a helpmate created for Adam from the ground.
I believe that they are two different things. Sort of like when you multi task and then you explain all the things to somebody but they aren't necessarily related.
I don't take life so seriously, but I do like to think about a wide variety of things.

[Curlyben]

Thread closed due to alias abuse