[Vision2020] Read the Whole Bible

[Menelick I]

Michael,

Here is yet another take on your comment.

I.

You:  

"the woman is pregnant from adultery and is 'guilty.'"

Bible (translation given):  

"If a man suspects that his wife has had intercourse with another man -- and possibly has become pregnant"

Does this mean that you believe that the test for "guilt" by drinking water infused with dust from an animal slaughter contaminated surface administered by a priest is a foolproof test to determine if the woman is pregnant from an from adulterous relationship?


II.

Does this mean that it is OK to abort a fetus that is the result of a sinful (adulterous) relationship and not otherwise?  If so, then the right-to-life is not absolute, but depends on the progenitors?  Though the life (fetus) created in an adulterous relationship has not sinned anymore than one created in a licit relationship, the first somehow has had its right-to-life abrogated?  Isn't that punishing (with a terminal sentence) an innocent person (fetus)?  Is this your concept of fairness and goodness?  Would it be OK to hang Comb-Over Courtney for a murder that Slowman Farris committed?

Isn't rape by someone other than one's spouse a sinful (adulterous) relationship?  Does a resulting fetus from such a rape therefore forfeit its right-to-life like the one conceived in adultery?  Shouldn't then the rape generated fetus be cleared for abortion according to the verses at issue?


III.

Does it not strike you as a little odd that in these cases, it is men making the decision to abort, not the women?  

Notice this translation requires the man to put his merely suspected wife through the ordeal.  How easy is it for someone who doesn't like the wife, for example, to raise a suspicion?  Suppose it was your wife.  And one of your fellow Grimfriars said to you:  

"Cultmaster Wilson has been surreptitiously and lasciviously eyeing your wife for many months now.  He practically salivates at and a bulge grows just below his middle while looking at her.  Two months ago at the Christ Church Cult annual Pork Lard and Pinto Bean Festival, Wilson and your wife disappeared into the Cultmaster's chambers for quite a spell.  They were both quite flushed and disheveled when they emerged.  I notice your wife now has the unmistakable glow of pregnancy.  Whose child is she carrying?"

Does the Bible now require you to put your wife through the above described ordeal?  Would you believe the results?  If not, why not?  Or would you simply ignore that passage from the inerrant Bible?  If so, are there any other passages you ignore?


IV.

The above passage describes the ordeal the possibly pregnant, possibly adulterous woman must endure.  What ordeal is in store for the man she possibly had an adulterous fling with in the context of Numbers?


Eagerly awaiting your answers,

W.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Michael 
To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 3:29 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Read the Whole Bible


Ralph writes:

 

"2. Intentional abortion. If a man suspects that his wife has had intercourse with another man -- and possibly has become pregnant -- he shall take her to the tabernacle, where the priest will mix holy water with dust off the floor, where animals are slaughtered for sacrifice, and force the woman to drink it. If she is guilty, her womb will discharge and her uterus will drop. In other words, she will have had an abortion (Numbers 5:11-21). "

 

Me:

In this case, the woman is pregnant from adultery and is 'guilty.' It seems we should interpret this in the broader context of what sort of moral and civic guilt was placed on adultery.  If we condone 'free sex' in our society today civilly (and perhaps even morally!), then how could one go about applying this particular passage?

 

Thanks

Michael Metzler 

 



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