Re: OT: Racial superiority / Intelligent design was Re: OT:Thanksgiving

Judson McClendon wrote:
"Howard Brazee" <howard@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

However most all Christians believe in the Old Testament, even if
they pick and choose which parts apply to them. I don't know of
any who believe that no parts of the Old Testament apply.

The Old Testament is just as true as it ever was, and certainly most
of it still applies. But the Mosaic Law, which required false prophets
be put to death (and was the issue I was responding to), has been
superceded by the New Covenant of Grace. The Mosaic Law was much
more than a standard of personal conduct, it also defined how the
government (a theocracy) would function. For example, the Biblical
principle "an eye for an eye" was never about personal conduct, but
about judicial punishment, which is very clear in every context in
which it appears. In more modern law, a similar principle is stated
"let the punishment fit the crime."

Oh, so much more than that. Mosaic law governed contracts, torts, planting
of beans, evidentiary sufficiency, marriage, inheritance, adoption, the
conduct of war, the administration of peace, the use of weapons, testimony,
alliances and treaties, animal cruelty, theory of law, commerce, weights and
measures, travel, admiralty, monopolies and fair trade, liabilities,
harvesting and storing foodstuffs, taxes, road building, public order and
safety, oaths, and so on. The entire corpus of human interaction.

The Talmud is roughly equivalent to the United States Code. Plus the Church
Canons. Plus Supreme Court opinions. It's a lot. It continues.

For example, the Hebrew scriptures list seven birds that cannot be eaten.
But what is permitted? The rabbis puzzled on this a great deal. They looked
at the list trying to determine if any of the prohibited birds had something
in common from which they could extrapolate. Some of the proscribed birds
were scavengers, but not all. Some had two toes forward and two toes back.
But not all. Finally, the rabbis said we can't figure out exactly what God
wants so we'll fall back on the known "clean" birds offered in sacrifice:
doves, quail, duck, etc.

For TWO THOUSAND years, there was not a single Jew on the planet who was
least unsure of which birds were kosher.

Jews came early to the new world (The navigator on Columbus' voyage was
Jewish). There they found - wait for it now - the TURKEY! Letters went back
and forth... you can imagine. Finally it was decided that the turkey was
more like a big chicken than a flightless vulture. Jews can eat turkey. Yum.

Another few hundred years pass...

The penguin(!).

Oh well. I don't think any Jews have started the ball rolling again, but you
never know what'll turn up.


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