Re: >^..^< The cats on Candlemas 2008

In article <jPqpj.42187$ow.41920@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
 "Karl Johanson" <karljohanson@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> "David Friedman" <ddfr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
> > In article <U1opj.41959$ow.26499@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> > "Karl Johanson" <karljohanson@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >
> >> >> Abortion is a comparatively minor sin, according to the Bible.
> >>
> >> ><<big snip>>
> >>
> >> >Your citations are ALL from the OT, concerning the Mosaic law.
> >>
> >> Two examples rates an all caps "ALL"? Hmmm...
> >>
> >> The 'New Testement' clearly states that all the leaders or all
> >> nations
> >> are there at god's will, as there is only god's will and that you
> >> must
> >> submit yourself to that will. In your country's example: Richard
> >> Nixon
> >> was the leader when it was made it illegal for individual states in
> >> the
> >> US to ban abortion. That (according to the New Testament) was god's
> >> will.
> >
> > I don't follow the logic of your argument.
> 
> My initial point is that (according to the Bible) abortion (abortion 
> violently induced by another in this case) is considered a minor sin 
> compared to picking up sticks on Saturday. 

According to the Old Testament, whose rules Christians believe have 
since been modified.

....

> I was talking about what the Bible and 
> one of the Catholic catechisms say outright. That there is only god's 
> will, that the leaders of all nations are there by god's will and that 
> we're supposed to submit to that will. That abortion was made legal in 
> some areas by god's will, isn't evidence that god wants everyone who 
> can, to rush out and have an abortion. It's evidence that she considers 
> it a minor sin (if a sin at all). 

It's not even evidence of that. Presumably, if there is a God who 
created the world, he not only made abortion legal (in some societies at 
some times), he also made it possible, and similarly for murder, rape, 
....  . The usual explanation of that, as I understand it, is linked to 
the explanation of free will--in some sense it is better to have people 
who could have sinned and didn't than to have people who didn't sin 
because doing so was impossible.

-- 
 http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
 Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic.
 Published by Baen, in bookstores now