-Caveat Lector-
Well, Tenebrous, aside from it being his brother's *widow*, your remarks are
right in line with standard mainstream theological thinking today. You're
quite correct that there aren't any other references to anything that could
be construed as masturbation, in either the Old Testament or the New
Testament. Virtually all of the O.T. references to prohibited sex acts occur
in tandem with prohibited *religious* practices, which leads to the logical
conclusion that the sex acts in question actually formed part of the
prohibited "pagan" (i.e., non-Yahwist) practices. Now, lest someone charge
me with being too far off-list, I hasten to submit that this is a perfect
example of editorial censorship in the compilation of the Bible over the
centuries. *All* of the confusion stems from the deletion of explicit
references to the deity or deities whose cult was prohibited. There is some
(admittedly controversial) evidence, which we have discussed before on the
list, that prior to the Exile, the Hebrews were, at least part of the time,
*henotheistic*--that is, they worshipped *several* gods, of whom Yahweh
Sabaoth, "the Lord of Hosts" (i.e., the Generalissimo of Heaven), was primus
inter pares, much like Zeus among the Olympians. (x-ref the thread DasGOAT
and I got going a while back which included the considerable evidence for
cultural and religious interaction between Greece and Palestine-Syria.)
Apparently Yahweh had at least one consort, Asherah, plus possibly Tanit of
the Phoenicians. The Deuteronomic reforms under "Good King Josiah," as
Robert Graves calls him, stripped off the consorts and other "impure"
accretions, then recast the Law of Moses in the scroll that was "found" in
the Temple and brought to Josiah, which became what we know today as
Deuteronomy (that is, "the second law"). It is this new legal recension that
forms the basis of the subsequent social code that lies behind much of our
modern social customs, or rather the "officially-sanctioned" version of
those customs.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Thursday, December 16, 1999 7:21 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [CTRL] Politically Correct Jesus
>
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> In a message dated 12/16/99 3:38:06 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
> >
> > << his tremor
> > caused him to masturbate, which is a sin. >>
> >
> > I've heard a lot of strange things from Christian beliefs, but this is
> the
> > first I've heard of this. God denies ugly Christians this only form of
> > relief? I don't recall seeing this in the ten commandments.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Bob Stokes
>
> It is a hotly debated topic. Most of the people who say that masturbation
> is
> a sin point out one particular passage of scripture to support the view.
> It's in the OT somewhere, where God commands a man named Onan to go into
> his
> brothers wife (or some such) and have sex with her in order to produce an
> heir (at least this is how I remember the story). Onan fails to do so,
> and
> is said to have "spilled his seed on the ground". God then kills Onan.
> Personally I think Onan was killed for disobeying God and not for the
> masturbation, or the spilling of the seed. That is of course predicated
> on
> the notion that any of that stuff has any basis in fact, or that it is a
> canon you hold to. I am not aware of any other passages of the Bible
> which
> prohibit the activity, though I am quite certain the Roman Church has it
> listed as a sin.
>
>
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