RicOlie_2

R-5a

No worries if you do.

P-1c

That wasn't in a theocracy, and it wasn't fine for Hitler to make a decision like that. It is contrary to the Christological law which superceded the Mosaic law.

Bingowings said:

So...hang on... you are saying that this a medicinal painful execution...applied to a sickness as a means to avoid an eternity in a realm (which doesn't actually exist in Jewish mythology) but was created by the same diety?

Sort of, but it depends on whether or not I understand what you're asking.

The Jews of Levitican times believed all people (good or bad with a few exemptions like Enoch) ended up in Sheol. Which wasn't a place of punishment until it was translated into Greek and became associated with Hades or translated into medieval Nordic/Germanic languages and became associated with Hel.

No, the Jews didn't/don't believe in hell, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

The stoning for them was a form of living burial (the dead were buried under a pile of stones) not a cure or a mercy, just a disposal.

Catholics of a few centuries back thought burning people accused of witchcraft after confessing (usually after torture) spared them from Hellfire. Your view is more akin to that evil nonsense than the evil earlier nonsense.

Executions have no purpose anymore since Jesus' crucifixion and the introduction of Reconciliation/Confession.

Either way the God you are describing is one hell of a mixed up character.

He makes man with free will, orders him not to do something, then punishes the species with painful death followed by eternal torment if you don't say sorry and agree it was a fair punishment.

Maybe, but more likely those people would go to purgatory. AFAIK, it is not Church doctrine that hell is a place of eternal torment, though that is the traditional view. Hell is an absence of God, which could add up to torture, but since no one has ever experienced God's absence if God is real, we can't say how bad that is.

To paraphrase Flash Gordon, this God is a psycho or maybe it's just his followers?

 Sure seems that way at first glance. I don't think the Bible portrays him as such though, and it is important to read the Biblical stories in context, not from a modern view of the world.

Still yes, but if it was an alternate punishment to hell, it was a loving alternative. Maybe it doesn't seem that way, but I'd take finite punishment over infinite punishment any day.

Yes, but only members of that theocracy. I think that the stoning might have been to make up for the sin so that the person wouldn't end up in hell, but of course that's just an opinion.

Bingowings said:

Now you are comparing homosexuality with cannibalism.

In the example I gave, there would be nothing wrong with cannibalism at all except in the case of the existence of a God such as the one you described in the post prior to mine.

Is there no depth you cannot dig this hole to?

The example I gave would, if it were at all related to how I view homosexuality, give a more positive view than my previously stated one, not a more negative one.

Either the Old Testament is written by men and a fallible bronze aged, desert dwellers reflection on what seemed to make sense to them at the time or it's the timeless word of an insane murderous deity to whom we are but toys to squash for his pleasure.

I don't understand why it has to be one or the other, Bingo, because it's neither.

The latter is not a deity I can bring myself to admire.

It is a Golem, a Devil if you will.

Why anyone would draw spiritual inspiration from such a character is as much a mystery to me as Nazism.

I agree with that entirely.

If it's a fallible human account it should not be evoked in discourse other than comparative mythology.This same is true of the latter books of the New Testament, written as they were by men raised in the tradition of the earlier text (or by God's own hand).

If it were a fallible human account I would agree with this also.

Either way they are poor primary sources (if indeed they can be described even remotely as such) for any form of opinion let alone political discussion (like the shrimp).

 Agreed, but since neither way is true, your post is irrelevant to my points.

I don't understand why God would either expect something or not expect something regardless of a person or group's situation. If a person got lost in the arctic with some buddies and they all died, if he had no other food, he could either choose to eat them or die. In normal circumstances, cannibalism is not generally acceptable. The God you're describing would expect the man to choose starvation and death before eating his friends. The God I worship would expect the man to do his best to survive and this might include eating their dead bodies to stay alive and gain a better chance of surviving in the end.

If it the teaching existed in Leviticus only, then you would be right to tell me to ignore it. However, it is also present in the New Testament, minus the stoning bit. By the time of the NT a theocracy was no longer possible so punishments for things considered severe in a theocratic government was no longer applicable since those things were not necessarily considered seriously wrong by other people.

Only for the Israelites who lived in a theocracy--not a democracy, like I do.

Wow, a lot happened on that day. I usually don't put more than three dates though. If I do, I won't have anything to post next year. :)

January 21:

A.D. 1077: German King Heinrich (Henry) IV petitions Pope Gregory VII for absolution of his excommunication.

A.D. 1189: The Third Crusade is begun by Richard Cœur de Lion, Phillip II, and Henry II.

A.D. 1793: Louis XVI is guillotined in Paris.

A.D. 1799: Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine is introduced.

S-3b

Rx4a

*sigh*

I wish it was possible to have as much free time in my adulthood as I do now. I'm currently reading fifty-something books at once, but I won't be able to do that much longer. :P

No, I'm fine with a mini game (I'm not doing it to make you happy :)).

G-2b

Exactly, Warbler.

Boost, if I think abortion is seriously wrong, is it really just a baby step to thinking everyone who is involved in an abortion should be killed? Wouldn't that be counter-intuitive since one of the main reasons I oppose abortion is because I think life is valuable and precious and by ending people's lives I would be proving myself a hypocrite? Do you think all criminals should be executed? No? Then why do you think it is so easy to step from "homosexual sex is a serious sin" to "kill the f*****s!"?

I think it was fun. I prefer a larger game, but small games are nice and quick. I think I'd like to try Minishogi next, since we'll be deprived of our knights, which you are better able to use to your advantage than I.

You go first.

G-3b

S*2d

January 20:

A.D. 1892: The first basketball game is played.

A.D. 2009: Barack Obama is inaugurated as President of the U.S.A.

Sx3c

I don't think I can hold out much longer.

K-1c

Neither did I. I suspect the year is an estimate though, it just depends what you base it off of.

darth_ender said:

It makes it fun, IMO.  It just goes to show how much complexity can be put into shogi based games.  Soon I will teach you a variant I designed that is very unique in nature, if you're still interested by that point.  It has some unique geometry and would be a terrible game for a chess variant, but it works out rather well for shogi, I believe.

Sure, I wouldn't mind trying it when we get that far.

Anyway, S*3d.  

K-2b

The more this game progresses, the more I value the knight above what I value them in regular shogi.  Though they only have access to two squares each move, their unique move is impossible to block and has a far and unique reach, making them a threat in such close quarters to all pieces, even rooks and bishops.

Yes, and you have (one of) mine pinned right now. :(

I know, I'm rambling a lot.  There is a fantastic program called shogivar that was programmed back in the late 90s.  Sadly, it doesn't work on 64 bit operating systems like I'm running (Windows 7).  However, I discovered another amazing bit of software called VirtualBox that allows me to emulate other operating systems.  It's truly amazing.  Right now I'm running XP within Windows 7, and I've just installed a few shogi programs including shogivar that no longer work.  Very cool stuff!  It makes me happy to see these old bits of software working again.  What operating system are you using?

 I am also running Windows 7 right now. I may already have VirtualBox installed on my laptop since my Dad uses it to play his old computer games (the laptop was originally his). It's a neat program, that's for sure.