Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: Bible condoning abortion (was Re: The sin of shaving?)
From: adams@spss.com (Steve Adams)
Date: 31 Jul 92 13:15:58 GMT
 <1992Jul29.173334.1518@brtph560.bnr.ca> <1992Jul29.234333.9200@athena.cs.uga.edu> <1992Jul30.170512.9845@tss.com>
Organization: SPSS Inc.

burke@tss.com (Jim Burke) writes:


>I have had Christians who believe the Bible literally try to explain away
>the book of Numbers to me for years.  Whenever something of distaste to 
>their beliefs comes up, they yell that I am twisting the proper translation.
Well, let's see if what I have to say differs from others you have talked
to.

>Okay, I would like to hear a rational explaination of what takes place
>in Numbers 31.  
There is a clear, rational explanation.  The problem generally has to do
with OUR response to this explanation.  Many people don't particularly like
the explanation, but, since God is sovereign, it's not up to us to like it
or not.

>In this chapter, God tells Moses to command the people
>to kill men, women, and children (even infants) of the people who have
>been conqured.  Wholesale genocide and infanticide.  Oh, but they were to
>keep the virgins.  The virgins, along with all the rest of the booty, are
>to be distributed to first the fighting men, and then to the rest of the
>Israelites.  Why did these fighting men want the virgins?  It couldn't have
>been for the same reason other armies captured the virgins before slaughtering
>a town, could it?  There is no ambiguity in this chapter.  It is quite clear
>what is going on here.  Nothing Hitler ever did was any worse than what
>God commands his people to do here.  I'd love to have this one explained
>away for me.  
Well, I won't explain it away, since it clearly was commanded by God.
Let's examine what the case is.  Numbers 31 starts with God's command to
Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites.  Why would the Lord declare a
Holy War on Midian?  The evidence is scattered throughout the text, but a
specific example is Nu 25:16-18.  The Midianites had been responsilbe for
leading Israel astray, seducing them to engage in sexual immorality and to
worship the Baal of Peor.  Chapter 25 relates this, and shows how
Israelites profaned the Lord and things holy because of the Midianites.

We have the rationale for the battle.  Next, it is again made clear that
the battle is being fought at the command of the Lord (v. 7).  Among the
dead is Balaam, a man who had tried to use sorcery against Israel to bring
them to Baal (Nu 22-34).  He had failed in that instance, and almost
acheived it through his advice to the Midianites  (v16).  The troops have
NOT killed the women and the children in the course of battle.

Woman and children are ordered put to death for two reasons.  The male
children for they might interefere with the inheritence rights of Israelite
youths.  The woman who were not virgins were killed because they had a part
in the seduction of Israel, leading them away from God. (v 15-17).  The
virgins were unsoiled by pagan rituals or seduction, and thus considdered
'clean' to the Israelites.

Let's now look at things from two perspectives, ours and Gods.  No doubt
from our perspective it was bloody, evil and unjust.  But what about God?
God's people were being seduced back into polytheism and fertility cults.
The perpetrators of this action needed to be punished.  In this way, God
was protecting His people from the evil that false gods brought.  God acted
to destroy the threat to his people.

>(By the way, Numbers 3 seems very clear to most people, except
>those who want to explain away the fact that it obviously deals with 
>abortion).
I suspect you mean Number 5.  If so, sure it refers to abortion, but in a
particular limited circumstance.  Only in the case of pregnancy as a result
of adultery.  And it is by God's sovereign order.  Not generally
applicable.  Of course, if you want to go down this road, then we should be
executing fornicaters...and adulterers...etc.

 -Steve
--
 The opinions expressed above are those of the author and not SPSS, Inc.
                        -------------------
     adams@spss.com                           Phone: (312) 329-3522
     Steve Adams                              Fax:   (312) 329-3558
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc