quote:Originally posted by b50m:quote:If you cannot read the plain text and arrive at the conclusion that everyone else does, no complex is necessary.
That's the point, NS. Not everyone else does. The Catholic church does not teach it this way. Many other people do not read it that way.
Answer this:
If she was going to be cooked for dinner, why give her two months to moan about being a virgin? She could have fixed that in about 10 minutes. Why did he not immediately slit her throat and yell dinner's up!
Really, for a logical guy, killing her is illogical, morally wrong, and not allowed by scripture.
But please enjoy your version. You can't have God be benevolent now can you?
LOL, now we're getting someplace. First, killing her is entirely logical. Jephthah made a deal with a bloodthirsty god, and had to make good on it.
Timbrel-babe bewailed her virginity because she knew she would die unmarried and horny. Nothing illogical about that.
Morally wrong? YES! That is the whole point! It was morally abhorrent, much like god helping Jephthah murder all those Ammonites with a great slaughter. That wasn't even sporting. The book is immoral, you see, and this is just one example.
Not allowed by scripture?? It IS the scripture!
b, you're trying to rationalize your way out of an uncomfortable story but it won't work. Judges 11:39! Timbrel-babe is toast! Sorry, but god was not benevolent toward her, if one is to believe the story.
You may take comfort in knowing it's likely a fairy tale, as is so much of the bible. But you cannot say that the KJV, from which I borrowed that passage, says Jephthah did not kill his daughter.
I don't care what the Catholics say, I know what the book says. Sounds like Bill, doesn't it? God help me.
But this speaks to a theme I've discussed for years here. The bible is simply a Rorschach blot. It is an assembly of vague stories from which you may take anything that strikes you. Feel free, but don't call it certainty and please don't say it was not the invention of men.
nsns