Jesus was a Galilean Jew. His ancestors may have moved from Judea to
Galilee some time after Astribolus I annexed Galilee (along with part
of Ituria) to the Hasmonian kingdom in 105 bc. Or, his ancestors may
have been among those local residents who were circumcised and
converted to Judaism.
Galileans may have
been more influenced by Greek and Roman cultures and ideas, than were
the Judeans. Sepphoris—a primarily Jewish city near Nazareth--had a
Roman theater, bath-houses and mosaic floors with human figures.
Jesus preached in the Decapolis, which was largely inhabited by the
descendants of Gentile Greek settlers.
At the time of
Jesus, Judeans recognized Galileans by their hick Aramaic accents,
and possibly low levels of concern about some of the details of
Jewish observance (for example, the rules of Sabbath rest).
Jesus may have taken
this a step further, and, in Mark 7, basically says that you can go
ahead and eat meats that were forbidden to Jews (including,
presumably, pork). In Matthew 19, Jesus makes the rather astounding
statement that “there be eunuchs, which have made themselves
eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.” This contrasts sharply
with the traditional Jewish teaching of Deuteronomy 23: “He that is
wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not
enter into the congregation of the LORD.” Jesus must have been
giving a nod to the worship of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, which had
been incorporated into the state religious practices of Rome, and
which included eunuch priests (called gallī).
In intellectual
Greek circles, pederasty between a teacher and a pupil was common,
and possibly expected. From Plato's Symposium
(http://faculty.sgc.edu/rkelley/SYMPOSIUM.pdf):
“I know not any greater blessing to a young man who is beginning
life than a virtuous lover, or to the lover than a beloved youth.”
In Mark 14: “And
there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast
about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him. And he left
the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.” This was after Jesus’
other disciples had already forsaken him and fled, on the morning of
his arrest.
The gospel of Mark
was originally written in Greek. A great teacher enjoying a night
with a naked pupil would not have garnered much attention to a Greek
audience. The verse appears more-or-less out of the blue, without
further background information or explanation given. It doesn't
appear that the author was concerned about covering up something that
might arouse the suspicion of pederasty.
Clerical pederasty
has been exposed recently as one of the more sordid features of
Christianity. Paul was an asexual, and recommended heterosexual
marriage for those who absolutely could not contain. In Paul’s
first letter to Timothy, he states that a church leader should have a
wife. Paul’s distaste for fornication, effeminacy and “abusers of
themselves with mankind” seems contrary to the prevailing attitudes
of Hellenistic and Roman culture, which profoundly influenced Jesus.
While Paul would
have disapproved, Jesus may have been more of a libertine, and less
of a stick-in-the-mud, than that for which he is usually credited. He
turned water into wine, and knew how to have a good time. Probably he
engaged in at least a bit of pederasty with some of his pupils,
without the shame attendant upon modern practitioners who worship
him.
Protestant parents still keep the Bible handy in the house, so that the children can study it, and one of the first things the little boys and girls learn is to be righteous and holy and not piss against the wall. They study those passages more than they study any others, except those which incite to masturbation. Those they hunt out and study in private. No Protestant child exists who does not masturbate. That art is the earliest accomplishment his religion confers upon him. Also the earliest her religion confers upon her.
For Roman Catholics, an especially popular passage from the Bible is Genesis 38:
And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her,
and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not
be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife,
that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his
brother. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he
slew him also.
Roman Catholics regard this passage as proof that God strenuously opposes both masturbation, and what they call unnatural intercourse between a man and a woman, and even go so far as to assert that "the Lord took Onan's life because Onan engaged in contraceptive sex." Which is arrant nonsense. The issue here wasn't the wasted sperm--it was that Onan was
specifically supposed to impregnate his brother's wife, and Onan didn't
want his brother to have any heirs. If God really did have an issue
with men spilling their seed willy-nilly, then God would have said so
elsewhere in the Bible, especially in the Torah, and most particularly
somewhere in Leviticus. Yet, this is really all that the Catholics can cum up with. Leviticus 15 says
...if any man's seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all
his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even. And every garment,
and every skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with
water, and be unclean until the even.
A little bit of wanking is okay. You just have to wash your clothes and take a bath after.
Now, many Christians will be ready to quote Matthew 5:
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
In the days before the internet, a lot of masturbation took place
without pornography. Or, perhaps, with some stimulation from the National Geographic magazine. I know that I used to look forward to each month's issue.
Technically, though, it only counts as "adultery" if the
woman is married. Still, a strict interpretation of Matthew 5 would
apply if you're out girl-watching at the beach. And, a woman has to doll
herself up, and cause men to lust after her in their hearts, if she is
to have any chance of breeding. At least in the Western World, we have generally
moved away from arranged marriages. In Saudi Arabia, where men and women
are strictly separated, there is much less opportunity to look at and
lust after women. Granted, the Unification Church does arranged marriages, and no lusting occurs until after the nuptials. And, some Christian women who are quite homely do find husbands:
I'll bet that President Trump keeps his hands off of this pussy. Still, per Matthew 19:
If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
Why deny a man his pornography, if you aren't going to sell everything that you have and give the money to the poor?
Another popular passage for Christians comes from is 1 Corinthians 7:
It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid
fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have
her own husband...Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with
consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer;
and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
Paul was an asexual, for whom the preferred state was to remain celibate. But, "it
is better to marry than to burn." The purpose of having a wife is to avoid fornication, not masturbation.
The wife, then, is to
serve as a cum dumpster for men who have a hard time with celibacy. And, married couples are supposed to keep up the coitus continuously, only
taking a mutually-agreed-upon break for fasting and prayer. Suppose the
husband wants some, but the wife is indisposed? To prevent fornication, the wife might make another orifice available, or otherwise assist her husband with administering an ejaculation.
(especially of a man) bring (a child) into existence by the
process of reproduction. ‘they hoped that the King might beget an heir
by his new queen’
Cause; bring about. ‘killings beget more killings’
Origin: Old English begietan ‘get, obtain by effort’ (see be-, get).
In Matthew 1, we have so-and-so begat so-and-so, which seems clearly
consistent with Definition 1 (i.e., Abraham copulated with Sarah, and
the result was Isaac). Similarly, Genesis 5 shows a lot of copulating and begetting going on. So much so that, in Genesis 6, the "Sons of God" wanted to joint the fun.
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the
earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the
daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all
which they chose...There were giants in the earth in those days; and
also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men,
and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were
of old, men of renown.
The sons of God were "coming in unto" the daughters of men, and doing some begetting (Definition 1, above). How did the "sons of God" come into being? They were most likely the result of some jiggery-pokery between Yahweh (then known as El) and his consort Asherah.
Which means that Jesus is not God's "only begotten son." God has some immortal half-brothers, presumably living in Heaven, and no longer seeking to have good times with our hot young blossoms here on Earth.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty...And in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all
worlds (æons), Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father;
What the heck is that supposed to mean? It continues that Jesus
came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, and was made man;
Wouldn't this be the point at which Jesus was begotten--when the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary got together?
In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance,
power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son
is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding
from the Father and the Son.
"Eternally begotten?" Once the sperm cell hits the egg, begetting ends.
Republicans in Michigan want to spend a billion dollars to upgrade the Poe Lock, which allows ships to pass between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and which is in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
This is an absolute waste. If God had intended for ships to go back and forth between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, then God would have certainly made the two lakes the same level, instead of making Lake Superior 21 feet higher than Lake Huron.
The United States really has no money for such nonsense. If we're really going to upgrade this lock, then Canada needs to pay for. And, for a big, beautiful border wall, to keep Canadians from entering the United States. If Canada doesn't want to pay, then we'll just fill in the lock, and Canada will have to pay just for the wall.
The wall will stretch across Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and be strong enough not only to prevent boats from crossing into the United States from Canada, but also to stop Canadians from getting into the United States by walking across the ice during the winter.
Canadians are absolutely horrible people. They are murderers. They are rapists. Absolutely none of them are good people, and possess no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The glorious President Trump said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has "done a terrible job so far", and that he "should be ashamed to call himself the president of Canada." I would also be ashamed to call myself President of Canada.
When Canadians come to the United States, they infest our towns and cities. They bring crime. They bring drugs. They bring diseases. They bring pornography. They breed like cockroaches. They are nothing but vermin. Any Canadians in the United States ought to be shot on sight.
Canadians had the temerity to loot and plunder our capitol city, ravage and rape our citizens, and burn down the White House. The Canadians also captured Mackinac Island, during prime tourist season, and scalped our refined and well bred tourists, leaving them to bleed to death on the steps of the Grand Hotel.
Even the dastardly Mexicans never attempted anything as dastardly as this. Canada also gave asylum to our fugitive slaves. If we'd had a big, beautiful wall along our Canadian border, then these atrocities would never have happened. Believe me.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is dishonest and very weak, and who constantly makes false statements, said
Canadians, we're polite. We're reasonable. But we also will not be pushed around.
What an upstart! Canada: you will be pushed around, and you will enjoy it! Your Prime Minister has a very pretty face. It would be too bad if something really awful happened to it.
There are indeed eunuchs [who] from the womb of their mother were born thus, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made eunuchs of themselves the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens. The [one] being able to receive [it], let him receive [it].
One of Christianity's great mysteries is: who exactly were the eunuchs who had made eunuchs of themselves for the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens? Some English translations have gone so far as to change the meaning of "eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs" to people who have chosen not to marry, or who have elected to practice celibacy, for the "Kingdom of Heaven's sake" (also changing the plural "Heavens" to the singular "Heaven"). Roman Catholics are especially big on celibacy, and, the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition states, in a footnote to the above passage:
Jesus means that a life of continence is to be chosen only by those who are called to it for the sake of the kingdom of God.
For Roman Catholics, it is very important for priests, nuns, etc. to abstain from sexual acts and never to marry, in spite of 1 Timothy 3:
A bishop then must be
blameless, the husband of one wife...One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?).
Some people may argue that, in light of the context of the conversation that preceded Jesus' declaration about eunuchs,
"And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and
shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which
is put away doth commit adultery."
His disciples say unto him, "If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry."
that Jesus was using the word "eunuch" as an euphemism for "choosing not to marry", or for "living a life of celibacy", rather than cutting off one's balls, for the sake of the Kingdom of God. If in saying "eunuchs who made eunuchs of themselves" Jesus had really
meant people who chose not to marry, or who chose a "life of continence", then Jesus probably
would not have used the word "eunuch", which not only has a wholly different meaning, but which also may induce castration anxiety among men who hear about it. Moreover, the sentiment "if the case of the man be so with his wife, it is good not to marry" seems consistent with modern MGTOW. The disciples aren't saying that "it is not good to marry" for "the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens", but rather to avoid the risks associated with marriage.
The Rabbis distinguished two kinds of eunuchs: (1) "seris adam," a
eunuch made by man; (2) "seris ḥamma," a eunuch made by the sun; that is
to say, one born incapable of reproduction, so that the sun never shone
on him as on a man. According to the Shulḥan 'Aruk, "seris ḥamma" means
"castrated in consequence of fever."...A
seris adam is not allowed to enter into the assembly of the Lord (Yeb.
70a), as it is written (Deut. xxiii. 2 [A.V. 1]): "He who is wounded in
the stones . . . shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord";
that is to say, shall not marry an Israelitish wife. Removal of or
defect in either or both of the testicles disqualifies for admission to
the assembly of the Lord.
A eunuch of either kind is not to be
judged as a rebellious son (see Deut. xxi. 18) because he is not
considered as a man (Yeb. 80b). As every Israelite is commanded to
perpetuate his race, it is a sin liable to severe punishment to cause
one to become a eunuch (Shab. 111a)...
The seris hamma and seris adam match the first two types of eunuchs described by Jesus. Clearly neither celibacy, nor making oneself a eunuch "for the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens", derived from Judaism. Per Deuteronomy 23:
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.
By the time of Isaiah, Jewish attitudes towards eunuchs seem to have softened:
...neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even
unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a
name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an
everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
Christian churches did come to welcome both castrated and uncircumcised men. Eunuchs, the castrati, performed in Christian choirs from ancient times until the beginning of the 20th century.
In the ancient Middle East, in ancient Greece, and in the ancient Roman Empire, eunuchs were fairly common, and, in some jurisdictions, held influential government positions (for example, Pothinus, a eunuch who served as regent for Pharoah Ptolemy XII of Egypt). In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus reports that Herod the Great had
...certain eunuchs...and on account of their
beauty was very fond of them; and the care of bringing him drink was entrusted
to one of them; of bringing him his supper, to another; and of putting
him to bed, to the third, who also managed the principal affairs of the
government;
Regarding the use of the word "eunuch" as a euphemism for a man who "chooses a life of continence" or who chooses not to marry: many eunuchs were not celibate at all, as illustrated in some of Martial's famous epigrams:
Pannychus, you wonder why your Caelia has so many eunuchs? Caelia wants to be fucked, not to give birth.
The Roman historian Suetonius tells us that the emperor Nero
tried to turn the boy Sporus
into a woman by castration, wed him in the usual manner, including
bridal veil and dowry, took him off to the Palace attended by a vast
crowd, and proceeded to treat him as his wife.
The lack of chastity among some eunuchs suggests that Jesus was not using the word "eunuch" as an euphemism for men who chose a "life of continence" for the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens. Rather, Jesus must have been talking about actual eunuchs, who had made eunuchs of themselves for the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens, the Galli:
priests, often temple attendants or wandering mendicants, of the ancient Asiatic deity, the Great Mother of the Gods, known as Cybele, or Agdistis, in Greek and Latin literature. The Galli were eunuchs attired in female garb, with long hair fragrant
with ointment. Together with priestesses, they celebrated the Great
Mother’s rites with wild music and dancing until their frenzied
excitement found its culmination in self-scourging, self-laceration, or
exhaustion. Self-emasculation by candidates for the priesthood sometimes accompanied this delirium of worship.
The first Galli arrived in Rome when the Senate officially adopted Cybele as a state goddess in 204 BC. ...The Galli castrated themselves during an ecstatic celebration called the Dies sanguinis, or "Day of Blood", which took place on March 24. At the same time they put on women's costume, mostly yellow in color, and a sort of turban, together with pendants and ear-rings. They also wore their hair long, and bleached, and wore heavy make-up. They wandered around with followers, begging for charity, in return for which they were prepared to tell fortunes. On the day of mourning for Attis they ran around wildly and disheveled. They performed dances to the music of pipes and tambourines, and, in an ecstasy, flogged themselves until they bled.
In the Philippines, some Christians continue the ancient tradition of self-flagellation during Holy Week.
From the Hellenistic period, some Jews acquired an enthusiasm for things Gentile, as described in 1 Maccabees:
At that time there appeared in the land of Israel a group of traitorous Jews who had no regard for the Law and who had a bad influence on many of our people. They said, "Let's come to terms with the Gentiles, for our refusal to associate with them has brought us nothing but trouble." This proposal appealed to many people, and some of them became so enthusiastic about it that they went to the king and received from him permission to follow Gentile customs. They built in Jerusalem a stadium like those in the Greek cities. They had surgery performed to hide their circumcision, abandoned the holy covenant, started associating with Gentiles, and did all sorts of other evil things.
The author of 1 Maccabees obviously disapproves, but there was increasing mixture and blending of cultures as empires expanded. The Decapolis was a group of ten cities (including Beth-Shean in Judea), largely founded by Greeks during the Hellenistic period, and which flourished during the Roman empire. Some of Jesus' followers came from the Decapolis.
Galilee, at the time of Jesus, was a heavily populated province with a great deal of diversity. Jews of Judea tended to look down upon the Galileans, their language being an unpolished dialect of Syriac, with a mixture of other languages. Predominantly Gentile cities in Galilee included Hippos-Sussita,Sepphoris and Tiberias. Archaeologists have discovered Greek and Roman temples and ancient Aphrodite figures in Hippos-Sussita.
Herod the Great, in addition to greatly expanding the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, had Pagan temples built throughout the region. Given that the Romans had adopted Cybele as an official goddess, it is likely that some Galli worshipped in Cybele's temples in Judea or surrounding provinces. In light of their flamboyance, the Galli would have been very hard to miss.
Celibacy was especially characteristic of priest-devotees of the Great Mother cults. The well-organized priesthood of the religion of Isis, for example, represented a serene sacerdotalism; sexual abstinence was an absolute requirement of those who celebrated her holy mysteries. In many other cults—e.g., Manichaeism, Gnosticism, and Hermeticism—an inner circle of worshipers was required to observe strict continence. The philosophical and religious ideals of celibacy in the Classical world strongly influenced subsequent practices of celibacy and monasticism in Christianity.
Whereas these men
shun the pleasures as vice, they consider self-control and not
succumbing to the passions virtue. And although there is among them a
disdain for marriage, adopting the children of outsiders while they
are still malleable enough for the lessons they regard them as family
and instill in them their principles of character: without doing away
with marriage or the succession resulting from it, they nevertheless
protect themselves from the wanton ways of women, having been
persuaded that none of them preserves her faithfulness to one man.
Regarding one of the orders of Essenes, Josephus writes
Though agreeing with the others about
regimen and customs and legal matters, it has separated in its
opinion about marriage. For they hold that those who do not marry cut
off the greatest part of life, the succession, and more: if all were
to think the same way, the line would very quickly die out. To be
sure, testing the brides in a three-year interval, once they have
been purified three times as a test of their being able to bear
children, they take them in this manner; but they do not continue
having intercourse with those who are pregnant, demonstrating that
the need for marrying is not because of pleasure, but for children.
Baths are taken by the women wrapping clothes around themselves,
just as by the men in a waist-covering. Such are the customs of this
order.
The Essenes seem generally to have eschewed the pleasures of coitus, but at least one order allowed for marriage for the sake of reproduction. One hypothesis, put forward by advocates of chastity, is that Jesus meant Essenes as the "eunuchs who made eunuchs of themselves the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens." Some have suggested that Jesus may have been an Essene himself. However, the New Testament makes frequent reference to Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees, but makes no mention of the Essenes.
Regarding Jesus' words, we have two competing interpretations:
There are eunuchs who were born that way, eunuchs who were made eunuchs by other men, and men who cut off their balls for the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens,
versus
There are eunuchs who were born that way, eunuchs who were made eunuchs
by other men, and men who choose a life of continence for the sake of
the Kingdom of the Heavens.
Jesus indisputably begins by describing two ordinary types of eunuchs (starting with born eunuchs, and then proceeding to eunuchs who were made eunuchs by other men). Such eunuchs might or might not have been religious. Controversy ensues over the rhetorical climax towards which Jesus was building. Was he talking about actual eunuchs who had emasculated themselves? Or was he suddenly shifting gears and using the word "eunuchs" metaphorically for celibates? It may suit the theological preferences of some Christians to interpret the words of Jesus Christ, "eunuchs who made eunuchs of themselves the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens", to mean not what he said, but rather to serve as a euphemism for celibates. This interpretation fits the context poorly, and it is more likely that Jesus was referring to actual eunuchs--most likely the Galli of the official cult of Cybele. Eunuchs enjoyed a relatively high social status in the ancient world.
There were eunuchs who served Herod the Great and other rulers. There
were eunuch priests. Eunuch slaves were more expensive than ordinary
slaves. Even angels were depicted as eunuchs. Simply practicing sexual
abstinence would not have given one the same status as an eunuch.
There have been great men, such as Nikola Tesla and Isaac Newton, who did remain lifelong celibates. They were very focused on their research, and did not have time to entangle themselves with women. A quote attributed to Isaac Newton:
I consider my greatest accomplishment to be lifelong celibacy.
Even greater than inventing calculus?
Most Catholic priests probably aren't as intense as Nicola Tesla or Isaac Newton,
and do take time to relax. Moreover, Tesla and Newton were scientists,
and priests have a much more social role. The social role may render them vulnerable to temptations, as they interact with a wide
variety of people, of whom some might tend to excite certain desires.
Self-castration might help to ease some of the temptations.
He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Well, well, well. Another "Christian" politician, claiming to possess "Christian" values.
Judge Roy Moore, an acclaimed sexual predator of teen-aged girls, who considers homosexuality among consenting adults to be a grave sin that should be illegal. I discussed the hypocrisy of such "Christians" in a prior blog post. Mr. Moore describes homosexual behavior as a "crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it." A Christian really should be more familiar with Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, in particular the admonition:
Judge not, that ye be not judged.For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?Thou
hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt
thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
The Obama-Clinton Machine’s liberal media lapdogs just launched the most
vicious and nasty round of attacks against me I’ve EVER faced! We are are in the midst of a spiritual battle with those who want to silence our message.The forces of evil will lie, cheat, steal –– even inflict physical harm
–– if they believe it will silence and shut up Christian conservatives
like you and me. I believe you and I have a duty to stand up and fight back against the
forces of evil waging an all-out war on our conservative values! Our nation is at a crossroads right now — both spiritually and politically.Our children and grandchildren’s futures are on the line. So rest assured — I will NEVER GIVE UP the fight!
Now, now, Mr. Moore. Christians do not "fight." Once again, from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.But
I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good
to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you..
In Mr. Moore's defense, Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler stated that Mr. Moore is
as clean as a hound's tooth. Take the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zacharia was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also, take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus. There is nothing illegal or immoral here. Maybe just a little bit unusual.
Southern Baptists really don't know much about the Bible at all, do they? The Bible does not state that "Zacharia was extremely old to marry Elizabeth." Rather, per Luke 1
There was in the days
of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the
course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name
was Elisabeth.And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they BOTH were now well stricken in years....But
the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard;
and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his
name John...
Very similar to the story of Abraham and Sarah. The point being that neither Abraham nor Zachariah were out cruising for fresh young pussy. Rather, their elderly post-menopausal wives miraculously gave them sons. Mr. Ziegler's comparison of Mr. Moore to Joseph makes even less sense, as Christians universally believe Mary to have been a virgin, impregnated by the Holy Spirit, and that Joseph and Mary engaged in absolutely NO jiggery-pokery prior to their wedding. Moreover, we have absolutely no idea what the age spread was between Mary and Joseph. If a Biblical precedent is absolutely necessary, then I would refer Mr. Ziegler to the story of David and Abishag in 1 Kings:
Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat.Wherefore
his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a
young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish
him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat.So
they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and
found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.
13A-6-70: (c) A
person is deemed incapable of consent if he is: (1) Less than 16
years old...
13A-6-67 : (a) A
person commits the crime of sexual abuse in the second degree if: ...
(2) He, being 19
years old or older, subjects another person to sexual intercourse who
is less than 16 years old, but more than 12 years old.
13A-6-62 (a) A
person commits the crime of rape in the second degree if: ...
(1) Being 16 years
old or older, he or she engages in sexual intercourse with a member
of the opposite sex less than 16 and more than 12 years old;
provided, however, the actor is at least two years older than the
member of the opposite sex.
13A-6-64 : (a) A
person commits the crime of sodomy in the second degree if: ...
(1) He, being 16
years old or older, engages in deviate sexual intercourse with
another person less than 16 and more than 12 years old....
(b) As used in this
section, sex act means sexual intercourse with any penetration,
however slight; emission is not required.
(c) As used in this
section, deviant sexual intercourse means any act of sexual
gratification between persons not married to each other involving the
sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another.
...he picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her
about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was
and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and
pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and
underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his
underwear...
While Mr. Moore was in the business of imprisoning men for far less than what he did with Miss Corfman, it does appear that Mr. Moore was within his legal rights. There was no penetration, and there was no touching of sex organs with the mouth or anus. Touching through the clothes kept the encounter technically legal in Alabama. Mr. Moore is a smart man. However, Mr. Moore did violate the Law by plying a teenaged girl with booze:
Gloria Thacker Deason says she was an 18-year-old cheerleader when Moore
began taking her on dates that included bottles of Mateus Rosé wine.
The legal drinking age in Alabama was 19.
Know
ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take
the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God
forbid.What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.Flee
fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he
that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
The mothers, who granted Mr. Moore permission to date their daughters, are no better than ordinary procurers, and Mr. Moore is no better than a common whoremonger. But, even God knows that some men are incapable of containing themselves, and provides the solution to Mr. Moore's lechery in 1 Corinthians 7:
It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband...But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. For
I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his
proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I.But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
A person commits adultery when he engages in sexual intercourse with
another person who is not his spouse and lives in cohabitation with that
other person when he or that other person is married.
Alabama's laws are quite liberal when it comes to adultery: you can fornicate a married woman, and it doesn't count as adultery, so long as you don't live in cohabitation with her. But what does the Bible, which is the source of all Christian morality, say? Matthew 5:
whosoever shall put away
his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit
adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth
adultery.
Oh, that damned Jesus with his infernal Sermon on the Mount. By marrying a divorced woman, Mr. Moore is guilty of adultery. Also, 1 Corinthians 7 again:
...unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband..
Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived:
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind,Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
As mentioned in my immediately preceding post, the White-Slave Traffic Act (aka the Mann Act) has been putting men in prison for more than 100 years. Since 1994, the law has read thus:
TITLE 18. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I. CRIMES
CHAPTER 117. TRANSPORTATION FOR ILLEGAL SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND
RELATED CRIMES @ 2421.
Transportation generally
Whoever knowingly transports any individual in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, with intent that such individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
One fellow who should have been prosecuted under the White-Slave Traffic Act is former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. Temeka Rachelle Lewis, who was sentenced to one year of probation for her role as a booking agent for the Emperor's Club prostitution ring, made the arrangements for Governor Spitzer (aka Client 9) to have a sexual encounter with Ashley Dupré (professionally known as "Kristen") on the day before Valentine's Day, 2008, for $4300. From transcripts of wiretapped calls between Miss Lewis and Miss Dupré:
...At approximately 4:03 p.m., LEWIS received a call from "Kristen."
During the call, "Kristen" said that she had heard the message, and that
was fine. LEWIS and "Kristen" then discussed the time that "Kristen"
would take the train from New York to Washington, D.C.
LEWIS told "Kristen" that there was a 5:39 p.m. train that arrived at
9:00 p.m., and that "Kristen" would be taking the train out of Penn Station.
LEWIS
confirmed that Client-9 would be paying for everything - train tickets,
cab fare from the hotel and back, mini bar or room service, travel
time, and hotel...
Very clearly Mr. Spitzer knew that he was transporting "Kristen" in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution. It should have been an easy conviction. However, Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced on 8 November, 2008, that he would not seek criminal charges Mr. Spitzer:
...ELIOT SPITZER has acknowledged to this Office that he was a client of, and made payments to, the Emperors Club VIP. Our investigation has shown that on multiple occasions, Mr. SPITZER arranged for women to travel from one state to another state to engage in prostitution. After a thorough investigation, this Office has uncovered no evidence of misuse of public or campaign funds. In addition, we have determined that there is insufficient evidence to bring charges against Mr. SPITZER for any offense relating to the withdrawal of funds for, and his payments to, the Emperors Club VIP.
In light of the policy of the Department of Justice with respect to prostitution offenses and the longstanding practice of this Office, as well as Mr. SPITZER's acceptance of responsibility for his conduct, we have concluded that the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter.
"Insufficient evidence?" "Longstanding practice of this Office?" What a putz. Other Americans are routinely sentenced to death with a heck of a lot less evidence than that. Mr. Garcia couldn't even be bothered to put Mr. Spitzer away for five years? Possibly Mr. Spitzer's high-powered legal team succeeded in softening Mr. Garcia's heart. Maybe Mr. Garcia thought that Mr. Spitzer was just too pretty, too popular, or too well connected to send to prison. Or, as Mr. Spitzer had expertise in money-laundering, and quite a LOT of money at his disposal, a substantial bribe might have done the trick. Or, perhaps Mr. Spitzer's high-powered legal team had some information that Mr. Garcia was also cavorting with prostitutes, and transporting them across state lines, and it would have been highly inconvenient for Mr. Garcia if such information had come to light. We'll never know for sure. All we'll ever know is that prisons were never built for the wealthy and influential. To think that this fellow was not only proud to have made what he did a felony in New York,
I’m proud that we did sign that human-trafficking law, that was the
right thing to do, it is important. It is something I believed in then,
and believe in now.
but was both proud and delighted to have gotten away with it.
The decision was made based upon the standards set by the Department of Justice and made by the U.S. attorney’s office. They looked at the office and dealt with me the way they dealt with everyone else in my situation.
Oh really? Here is what Kristin Davis, who had procured prostitutes for Mr. Spitzer on various occasions, had to say:
I spent four months in Rikers Island from which I returned penniless,
homeless, and forced to take sex offender classes for five months with
pedophiles and perverts, while he returned to his wife in his 5th Ave.
high rise without ever being fingerprinted, mug shot, remanded, or
charged with a crime under the very law he signed.
A few years in a federal penitentiary, followed by a year of sex-offender classes with pedophiles and perverts, would have done Mr. Spitzer a world of good, and saved other women and girls from becoming his victims. Assuming a statute of limitations of five years for Mann Act violations, Mr. Spitzer would now be safe from prosecution, assuming that he has behaved himself since then (which seems highly unlikely, given his apparent addiction). Herman Cain, the colorful presidential candidate, still isn't out of the woods.
Mr. Cain's candidacy was quite a hoot: the "9-9-9" Tax Plan (which came directly from the Sim City computer game, and which enchanted Republicans because of the prospects of raising taxes sharply for the poor while drastically cutting taxes for the rich); his proposal to electrocute Mexicans; his claim to be the half-brother of Charles and David Koch;
and, his charming recital of poetry from a children's Pokémon movie.
For a brief time, the Republicans allowed Mr. Cain to be the front-runner for the Republican nomination, so that they could advance the claim that Republicans weren't racists.
Mr. Cain's campaign started falling apart when various White women stated that he had molested them sexually. His campaign ended when Ginger White came forward, on Fox News, with the admission that she had served as Mr. Cain's concubine for the previous 13 years.
With that, Mr. Cain's candidacy was finished, and the Republican Party was done with him. Mr. Cain couldn't even get any air time on Fox News. He had to go to Wolf Blitzer on CNN to give his side of the story.
From the Fox News show:
...Miss White says she met Herman Cain in the late 90s in Louisville, Kentucky, when as president of the National Restaurant Association, he made a presentation. She was impressed. She says they shared drinks afterwards and he invited her back to his hotel room.
“’I’d like to see you again,’” White said Cain told her. “’You are beautiful to me, and I would love for us to continue this friendship.’”
She says in his hotel room, he pulled out a calendar and invited her to meet him in Palm Springs. She accepted, and she says the affair began....
...Ms. White says during the next 13 years, he would fly her to cities where he was speaking and he lavished her with gifts....
2010 Georgia Code
TITLE 16 - CRIMES AND OFFENSES
CHAPTER 6 - SEXUAL OFFENSES
§ 16-6-19 - Adultery
A
married person commits the offense of adultery when he voluntarily has
sexual intercourse with a person other than his spouse and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.
Mr. Cain perpetrated the criminal offense of adultery--a misdemeanor in his home state of Georgia. But, by bringing Miss White to other states for some adultery, Mr. Cain committed a felony offense under the White-Slave Traffic Act: "Whoever knowingly transports any individual in interstate commerce,...with
intent that such individual engage in...any sexual
activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense,
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years." It doesn't matter whether the criminal offense was a misdemeanor in one's home state: once you bring a person to another state for some illegal sexual activity, it becomes a federal felony.
Moreover, Mr. Cain brought Miss White to Florida, where The Law states:
798.01 Living in open adultery.—Whoever lives in an open state of adultery shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. Where either of the parties living in an open state of adultery is married, both parties so living shall be deemed to be guilty of the offense provided for in this section.
798.02 Lewd and lascivious behavior.—If any man and woman, not being married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together, or if any man or woman, married or unmarried, engages in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior, they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
The laws seem odd, given Florida's status as a major tourist destination, and the penchant of certain tourists to indulge in lewd and lascivious behavior whilst on vacation in the state. Still, laws must be obeyed, and transgressors punished. Otherwise, what would be the point of having any laws at all? Writing a bunch of laws, and only enforcing the ones that certain government officials want to enforce, is an uncivilized, uncouth, and half-assed way of proceeding. Either enforce all laws equally, or don't have any laws at all.
Mr. Cain formally announced his candidacy on November 14, 2011. According to Miss White, Mr. Cain dismissed her as his concubine two months prior to the announcement--which would give the federal government until September, 2016 (at the latest) to launch its prosecution. If President Obama's Department of "Justice" were neither completely corrupt nor utterly incompetent, then Mr. Cain would have been toast by now. How else are we to protect the women and girls of America from this sexual predator and brazen philanderer? Not to mention our a massive prison-industrial complex that continually requires more inmates.
We need to consign Mr. Cain to federal prison before that statute of limitations passes, and it is too late. He'll make for quite a trophy, and his imprisonment will serve as a shining example to other would-be philanderers and adulterers. Plus, Mr. Cain ought to find several years in a federal penitentiary to be a humbling experience, and no-one is in greater need of humbling right now than Herman Cain himself.
