VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Dinah|DATE|1357579078|CONTENT|Slightly off topic, but the piece before TFTD this morning was about what the modern world could learn from hunter-gatherer and tribal societies.  It was pointed out that the idealised view of these societies, such as them being at one with nature, always looking after their elderly etc. was only true for some communities, whilst others killed their elderly or encouraged them to wander off into the desert or jungle.

Much the same could be said for contributors on TFTD who routinely hold the bible up as an exemplar for how to live.  As has already been pointed out on this thread, this is easy enough to do if large swathes of the texts are ignored and selective quotes used which ignore their original contexts.  Mostly, the lives of people who existed during biblical times were in the words of Thomas Hobbes, nasty, brutish and short, and few of us today if we were transported to those times without our modern comforts, conveniences, medicines, democracy, recourse to law, and other things we take for granted, would appreciate the experience.

As for church communities - many of these communities, though by no means all, do provide an extended family for the elderly, the lonely and the misfits in society.  This is probably one of the main reasons why Christianity still survives, albeit in a weakened form, though it is by no means certain that all those who take advantage of the fellowship of churches are believers in what those churches are there for.  
|IP-ADDRESS|79.71.127.230|MODERATIONFLAG|