Incest

[Grace2022]

I find it very disturbing reading Genesis. The amount of incest going on! Genesis chapter 20 verse 12. Why on earth did Abraham marry his sister Sarah? The repulsive aspects of Chapter 19 verses 31 to 38. Lot's daughters actions.

Incest is a repugnant and biologically bad thing. Children of such acts are usually unhealthy and weakened. I wonder why these significant characters of the Bible did this?

In all ages and cultures, incest is surely regarded as a bad idea. Humans are surely naturally programmed to find even the idea repulsive. So why so prevalent in the Old Testament? Could God have regarded it as acceptable? He does not seem to punish Lot or Abraham for it. How could great nations have sprung from all this?

 

[Jonaitis]

I find it very disturbing reading Genesis. The amount of incest going on! Genesis chapter 20 verse 12. Why on earth did Abraham marry his sister Sarah? The repulsive aspects of Chapter 19 verses 31 to 38. Lot's daughters actions.

Incest is a repugnant and biologically bad thing. Children of such acts are usually unhealthy and weakened. I wonder why these significant characters of the Bible did this?

In all ages and cultures, incest is surely regarded as a bad idea. Humans are surely naturally programmed to find even the idea repulsive. So why so prevalent in the Old Testament? Could God have regarded it as acceptable? He does not seem to punish Lot or Abraham for it. How could great nations have sprung from all this?

Incest had to occur for the earth to be populated, and at that time it was necessary for survival. While it is biologically bad today, it wasn't in the early period of human history. We are different genetically than they were, we are talking about genetic mutations that were not yet developed through time and isolation in a specific region over thousands of years. For us, it would really screw up a healthy reproduction.

You are judging the morals of God who decide what is moral, that's ironic.

 

[Jonathan Walkerin]

Incest had to occur for the earth to be populated, and at that time it was necessary for survival. While it is biologically bad today, it wasn't in the early period of human history. We are different genetically than they were, we are talking about genetic mutations that were not yet developed through time and isolation in a specific region over thousands of years. For us, it would really screw up a healthy reproduction.

You are judging the morals of God who decide what is moral, that's ironic.

You are in effect saying that incest with condoms is totally ok morally and God is fine with that.

Are you sure you have thought this through ?

 

[Jonaitis]

You are in effect saying that incest with condoms is totally ok morally and God is fine with that.

Are you sure you have thought this through ?

I don't know how you read that in there.

Incest is morally wrong now because God said it is.

 

[Jonathan Walkerin]

Incest is morally wrong now because God said it is.

Ah ok, just seemed that all the negatives were on the biological side. Glad to have that covered.

Incidentally since Eve was made from Adam`s rib was she actually Adam`s clone then biologically apart from Y chromosome ? Wonder if reproducing with your clone is considered incest ?

 

[Anguspure]

Ah ok, just seemed that all the negatives were on the biological side. Glad to have that covered.

Incidentally since Eve was made from Adam`s rib was she actually Adam`s clone then biologically apart from Y chromosome ? Wonder if reproducing with your clone is considered incest ?

Perhaps it is something that we have lost in the Church. The early Church lived in familial relationship with one another, as close as brothers and sisters, so close in fact that the outside world regarded our marriages as incestuous (but of course they weren't in any way sexually incestuous in contrast to the Pagan worlds accusation).

"A stranger complaint of critics was this: Christians were cannibals and practiced incest....How could pagans associate these myths with Christianity? Most likely the critics misread the Christian Scriptures. New Testament writers referred to their fellow Christians as brothers and sisters (James 2:15) and encouraged them to greet one another with a “holy kiss” (Rom. 16:16). This could have been misunderstood as incestuous, especially if a married couple were referred to as a brother and sister in Christ. This perspective may have been intensified by the secrecy of early eucharistic services, which were open only to baptized Christians." J. David Cassel
Defending the Cannibals | Christian History Magazine

When Yeshua says that at the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; this is because our relationships with one another in the Kingdom of heaven are such that all but the very best marriages will pale in comparison to the relationships we have with one another.

 

[paul1149]

Could God have regarded it as acceptable?

Sarah was Abraham half-sister. Whether God found it acceptable or merely overlooked it, I don't think we know. But man's DNA apparently was stronger back then and could stand closer intermarriage than we now can.

Lot is another story. We have no indication that God was pleased with the arrangement his daughters concocted. It is clear from the story of Sodom that Lot has some serious family problems. Offering his daughters to the raving mob must have marked the girls deeply regarding self-worth. Lot lost everything due to his dalliance in the green fields of Sodom, and was holed up in a cave with his daughters. The nation they sired was the Moabites, known for their immorality and a mortal enemy of Israel.

 

[NBB]

Wait abraham married his sister, that a new one for me.
No wait, he said it was his sister lying... she was not her sister.

 

[Dave-W]

Wait abraham married his sister, that a new one for me.
No wait, he said it was his sister lying... she was not her sister.

Genesis 20:11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. 12 Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife;

 

[NBB]

Genesis 20:11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. 12 Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife;

Ah look.

 

[Resha Caner]

Could God have regarded it as acceptable?

There is no indication the law changed with regard to incest, nor is there any indication God found it acceptable. Just because Abraham (or Lot or whomever) did it doesn't mean God condoned it.

Whether God found it acceptable or merely overlooked it, I don't think we know.

This. The Bible indicates God has handed us over to our sinfulness. If he didn't, well, it would be Noah over and over and over again.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

QUOTE="Lilly54, post: 74477991, member: 399090"]
I find it very disturbing reading Genesis.

The amount of incest going on! Genesis chapter 20 verse 12.

Why on earth did Abraham marry his sister Sarah?

The repulsive aspects of Chapter 19 verses 31 to 38. Lot's daughters actions.

Incest is a repugnant and biologically bad thing. Children of such acts are usually unhealthy and weakened.

I wonder why these significant characters of the Bible did this?

In all ages and cultures, incest is surely regarded as a bad idea.

Humans are surely naturally programmed to find even the idea repulsive.

So why so prevalent in the Old Testament?

Could God have regarded it as acceptable?

He does not seem to punish Lot or Abraham for it. How could great nations have sprung from all this?[/QUOTE]

Out of all the world, who did Yahuweh Almighty Sovereign Creator of all life
call to be His Own ?

Out of all the world, Who is in charge of what nations rise, and what nations fall ?
Who is in charge of making a nation great, and
Who is in charge of bringing nations down ?

When did men and women start talking about incest - what century ?

Why do men and women TODAY call it incest, if God Himself does not ?
Why do men and women TODAY call it bad, if God Himself does not ?
(who is most wise and knowledgeable ? God or men/women ? )

Who cares for men and women and children in the best possible way, with the best possible wisdom, in perfect knowledge , with no iniquity and no errors ?

Why do men and women doubt God ?

 

[Resha Caner]

Incest had to occur for the earth to be populated ....

No, it didn't. We don't know what God's plan was because sin got in the way, but there are many possibilities.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

When and if God says something is < ______ > (anything), THEN IT IS.

If He Says something is BAD,

THEN it is.

If He Says something is GOOD,

THEN it is.

If He Directs His Plan His Way with (very fallible people in mankind),

THEN it is as He Says it is.

 

[MyChainsAreGone]

I find it very disturbing reading Genesis. The amount of incest going on! Genesis chapter 20 verse 12. Why on earth did Abraham marry his sister Sarah? The repulsive aspects of Chapter 19 verses 31 to 38. Lot's daughters actions.

Incest is a repugnant and biologically bad thing. Children of such acts are usually unhealthy and weakened. I wonder why these significant characters of the Bible did this?

In all ages and cultures, incest is surely regarded as a bad idea. Humans are surely naturally programmed to find even the idea repulsive. So why so prevalent in the Old Testament? Could God have regarded it as acceptable? He does not seem to punish Lot or Abraham for it. How could great nations have sprung from all this?

This is really pretty simple.

God's revelation happened over time.

The law--which for the first time defined and forbade incest (Leviticus 18) was written down by Moses... WAY later than Abraham or Lot.

So, before that time, we really don't know if there was any societal stigma against the marriage to close relatives.

And when you take the Genesis creation account at face value, you have to conclude that in the beginning, Adam and Eve's children would have had to marry and have children with their own siblings. Again, this is way before any codification of laws against incest. At that time, it would have been no big deal because it was just expected... and the only possible way for the human race to actually start and populate the planet from just one man and one woman.

Only later... when the new nation of Israel was 2 million strong... did God finally speak up about "incest" by defining it and forbidding it.

Why should that bother us at all? What happened before that law was given is not subject to that law.

David

 

[Grace2022]

L

This is really pretty simple.

God's revelation happened over time.

The law--which for the first time defined and forbade incest (Leviticus 18) was written down by Moses... WAY later than Abraham or Lot.

So, before that time, we really don't know if there was any societal stigma against the marriage to close relatives.

And when you take the Genesis creation account at face value, you have to conclude that in the beginning, Adam and Eve's children would have had to marry and have children with their own siblings. Again, this is way before any codification of laws against incest. At that time, it would have been no big deal because it was just expected... and the only possible way for the human race to actually start and populate the planet from just one man and one woman.

Only later... when the new nation of Israel was 2 million strong... did God finally speak up about "incest" by defining it and forbidding it.

Why should that bother us at all? What happened before that law was given is not subject to that law.

David[/QUOTE

Yes, i should keep it in perspective. You have good points there.

 

[Grace2022]

Indeed, yes i should keep it in perspective.