www.jeffthefish.com

It took forever, but I uploaded all of my vacation photos to photobucket.  Here’s the album.  I dare to look at all of them.

Lenny Esposito, whom you may remember doesn’t know what evolution is, has an article on his site that ostensibly seeks to answer the question, “Does the Bible approve of slavery?” Now, I don’t intend to write up something on every article he has on his site. For one, I’m not qualified to speak to many of the subjects he covers (am I the only person who thinks this is a good idea?), and for another, I’m just not interested.

But I couldn’t pass this one up. Again, the article starts off with an email Lenny received:

Hey Lenny,I know you’re probably busy, but I was wondering if you had any special verses off-hand or suggestions as to how to effectively address this issue with a non-believer.
My friend recently wrote a blog that said:
I DO NOT LIKE EXTREMISTS

Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” - Basically homosexuality is wrong.

Leviticus 25:44 “And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have-from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.” - Basically you can buy slaves so long as they are from neighboring nations.

You can not have your cake without your ice cream. If you use Leviticus to justify the hate of homosexuals, then you are a supporter of slavery.

I mean, aside from the obvious differences in phrasing (one being stated as a command), I know there is context missing and I don’t want to jump into a debate with him being that I feel slightly uneducated on this particular subject.

I was wondering if you might be able to enlighten me just a little bit more…?

Thanks!
Jessica

How does Lenny reconcile the apparently obvious meaning of the text with our modern anti-slavery sensibilities? He basically explains that slavery was a fact of life that you could not avoid, and besides, the Hebrews were commanded to treat their slaves like paid workers, so no biggie!

One of the great things about the God of the Bible is that He provides a realistic approach to the issues of the times. Slavery is definitely not the optimal form of relationship for individuals, but for most of the world’s history it is a reality. Therefore, the Bible addresses slavery and provides certain safeguards to make sure that slave are not mistreated and that their humanity will be respected.

…

Overall, all the admonitions are targeted toward the slave owners. In other words, slavery in this day was inevitable, so let’s make sure that there are specific protections in place to keep any abuse to a minimum.

Here is my first problem with Lenny’s answer. It’s so glaringly, I don’t want to say hypocritical, because I’m really trying to be polite, but hell, it is. Let me show you why:

One of the great things about the God of the Bible is that He provides a realistic approach to the issues of the times. Homosexuality is definitely not the optimal form of relationship for individuals, but for most of the world’s history it is a reality. Therefore, the Bible addresses homosexuality and provides certain safeguards to make sure that gays are not mistreated and that their humanity will be respected.

…

Overall, all the admonitions are targeted toward the heterosexuals. In other words, homosexuality in this day is inevitable, so let’s make sure that there are specific protections in place to keep any abuse to a minimum.

Imagine how much better off the world would be if modern Christians could be a fraction as understanding as God. People literally die because this has never ocurred to the church. If what Lenny says about God’s condoning of slavery is true, then it should be a FREAKING NEON SIGN explaining how Christians should treat homosexuals.

But it gets better!

Let’s look at the passage in question then make some quick points:

“If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

“If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God. (Lev 25.35-43)

Hol’ up! This is not “the passage in question”! These verses immediately precede the verses in the guy’s letter. They are specifically talking about their own countrymen! Sure, the Israelites may have treated slaves like hired workers, BUT ONLY IF THEY WERE FELLOW ISRAELITES!

Leviticus 25:44-46, the very next verses, say:

Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

Read that a few times and let it sink in. These are the very next verses following the ones Lenny quotes, yet they are not mentioned in Lenny’s article, even after someone pointed them out to him. I can honestly see only two reasons for this: Lenny really didn’t know they were there (even though someone told him), or he purposely left them out. Either way, this is a classic strawman argument, much like his evolution article.

This is the kind of thinking that young Christians are growing up with. No wonder they give up Christianity altogether! All of this nonlogic and silly apologetics does more to damage Christianity than PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins could ever do. Fundamentalism is an atheist factory. Congratulations.

Day 12: Phoenix

After we left White Sands, MN, we headed toward Phoenix, where we saw cool lizards:

Then we went to the home of my coworker, Chris Warren, who used to live in Seattle but now works remotely from Phoenix. He has the nicest dog on Earth!

We left Casa de Warren in the early afternoon and headed toward California. The landscape west of Phoenix is wonderful! We saw tons of dust devils too!

Day 13: Joshua Tree National Park

We woke up in Banning, CA and decided to visit Joshua Tree National Park. We loved it!

I found this pile of bones and scat drying in the desert. I think the bones must be vertebrae, but they’ve been weathered smooth and round by the harsh environment. The scat contained tiny bones!

Then we saw this adorable ground squirrel! I bet the bones belonged to his relatives!

Then there were more Joshua Trees. Blah blah blah.

And a bunch of cholla cactus.

And then we headed to Riverside, CA to hang out with our pals the Marianos!

Day 14: La Brea Tar Pits

So we did some hanging out with the Marianos, some of our dearest friends on Earth. Greg had to work during the day, so Jen and I headed to La Brea Tar Pits in the middle of downtown Los Angeles!

The first pit I saw was this tiny fenced off one! Litter makes me angry!

Here’s a video of me getting angry. This is a different pit with trash in it.

Here’s the biggest tar pit, which you may remember from The Last Action Hero starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s actually a lake / tar pit, thanks to miners in the early 20th century. Thanks, humans!

We had to check out the museum before we finished looking at the tar pits, because we got there 50 minutes before the museum closed. We always do that. Here is a sloth:

I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of it, but there was one display that took up an entire wall that was a grid of 400 dire wolf skulls found in the tar pits. You could clearly see the variation in the skulls, and it was a nice lesson in evolution. I also bought a book about dog evolution, but for some reason it made me feel cool instead of nerdy.

Then we went back outside and looked at more tar pits, including this teenerz one:

And this one that had a pair of boots stuck in it. I guess the guy didn’t die.

And this one was bubbling enthusiastically!

Day 15: Huntington Beach

First we ate lunch at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles, which Leanor recommended to us.

I was under the impression that it was going to be chicken wrapped in waffles. I mean, it was good like it was, but not really the kind of thing I normally eat from restaurants.

But then we went to Huntington Beach to hopefully catch Ray Comfort doing his street preaching thing. I had no plans to engage him, I just wanted to see him “live” and possibly get my picture taken with him. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard him say that he preaches at Huntington Beach every Saturday. I watched a video on YouTube and asked the Marianos if they knew where in Huntington Beach he was. This is the one we watched. Note the Subway in the background:

Well, here’s that Subway, but no Ray Comfort:

There was an information booth manned by a lady, so I asked if she was familiar with street performer with a moustache and a New Zealand accent named Ray Comfort. “Is he with a church?” she asked. I said that he was. She told me that he only shows up some of the time, and he hadn’t been there yet that day, but that I was in the right place.

Oh well. We hung out for about an hour, just in case, but he didn’t show up. I did find a booth that had a totally cool fossil mackerel shark tooth, about 30 million years old, and for a good price. I gave that to Greg. He thought it was really cool.

And then over the next two days we drove back to Seattle! That’s the end!

Anyone should know that.

The Creationists are basically right about Ernst Haeckel.  He did fudge on the similarities of vertebrate embryos in his famous woodcarving.

But his basic principle was still true: vertebrate embryos are remarkably similar. To illustrate this, I’d like someone to tell me what animals these embryos represent:

Anyone should know that.

On Tuesday night we brought Mr. Foofie home from Leah’s house.  It’s official!  Vacation is over!  It’s finally happened! And since we pretty much returned home and went straight to work, I haven’t had the energy to finish writing about the last days of our vacation.  I’ll try to finish that this weekend though.  I’m pretty sure the best stuff is already up though.

[12:30] Filipino Friend: my life is running out of control
[12:30] Me: how so?
[12:30] Filipino Friend: ooh.
[12:31] Filipino Friend: just saying.
[12:31] Filipino Friend: anyways, let’s go camping!!!!!!

I mentioned recently that, contrary to what every Creationist website says, evolution is not random chance.  I likened it to the difference between playing the lottery and playing poker.  Today as I was catching up on my blogs I read a great post over at HJHOP that has a beautiful illustration of this principle, and he presents it while making fun of Brannon Howse, which is always the right thing to do! Go check it out!

I’ll tell you: you’re a hypocritical idiot!