{"id":135345,"date":"2017-11-10T08:17:20","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T15:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135345"},"modified":"2017-11-10T09:12:30","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T16:12:30","slug":"roy-moore-biblical-basis-30-year-old-guys-hitting-14-year-old-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/10\/roy-moore-biblical-basis-30-year-old-guys-hitting-14-year-old-girls.html","title":{"rendered":"On Roy Moore and the Biblical basis for 30 year old guys hitting on 14 year old girls"},"content":{"rendered":"

I confess I abhor Roy Moore and his theocratic leanings far too much to allow myself to easily enjoy the allegations of his scandalous behavior from forty years ago.The sources seem credible (these are not local Democratic activists or Mitch McConnell’s distant relatives), and the only open question seems to be whether Moore will maintain a defiant denial of the allegations as “spiritual warfare” by demons against his holy cause, or throw himself on the mercy of forgiving Christians so as to still be electable to the US Senate. (My vote is for the former; Moore is nothing if not pugnacious and defiant.)<\/p>\n

What’s as fascinating to me<\/i> is the contortions into which dyed-in-the-wool Moore supporters are going to defend his actions.<\/p>\n

For example, Alabama state auditor Jim Ziegler, who seems to believe that this is all Scripturally sound behavior:<\/p>\n

\u201cTake the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist,\u201d Ziegler said choosing his words carefully before invoking Christ. \u201cAlso take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let’s leave aside the question of 2000-year old Middle Eastern traditions being used as a rationale for 20th Century skeevery. Let’s even put aside how some conservative Christians use a child marriage by Mohammed to accuse him of pedophilia, but seem quite happy to give Roy (and Joseph) a pass.<\/p>\n

The problem with this particular defense is that it’s non-Scriptural.<\/p>\n

In the case of Joseph and Mary, there is a strong tradition (and a number of apocryphal sources never accepted into the Biblical canon) that portray Joseph as an adult or even elderly man, vs. Mary being a virgin \/ young woman. But Joseph’s age is never referred to in the Gospels (he’s never even mentioned in Paul or in the Gospel of Mark, the earliest sources); the tradition seems to have arisen because by the time Jesus is doing his preaching thing, Joseph is gone from the picture, Mary apparently widowed (if not divorced or abandoned; she is simply alone in the world).<\/p>\n

Rather than chalking up Joseph’s death as premature, due to a nasty carpentry accident or a plague or something, the early writers simply assumed \/ asserted that Joseph naturally lived out the course of his life, just advanced by a few decades from Mary’s.<\/p>\n

But that’s not actually in<\/i> the Gospels, any more than the names of the Three Wise Men are (or that there even were<\/i> three of them).<\/p>\n

The Zachariah \/ Elizabeth thing is even sketchier. The relative different of age of the two are never given in the sole Gospel account they are mentioned in, Luke ch. 1, only that both<\/i> of them are very old. Any other assertions are non-Scriptural tradition.<\/p>\n

I’m not claiming those particular traditions are wrong (or that they are right), merely that they are non-Biblical.<\/i> Which makes using them by devout Baptists as a defense of Roy Moore more than a little bit weird.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nThe Strange Defenses From Roy Moore Loyalists<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I confess I abhor Roy Moore and his theocratic leanings far too much to allow myself to easily enjoy the allegations of his scandalous behavior from forty years ago.The sources seem credible (these are not local Democratic activists or Mitch McConnell’s distant relatives), and the only open question seems to be whether Moore will maintain … Continue reading “On Roy Moore and the Biblical basis for 30 year old guys hitting on 14 year old girls”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,715,9,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-crime-punishment","category-politics-law","category-religious-zanies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Holy-Family.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":135623,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/12\/well-faith-america-alabama-strengthened.html","url_meta":{"origin":135345,"position":0},"title":"Well, my faith in America (and Alabama) is strengthened","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 12-Dec-17 10:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'll ignore hundreds of thousands that voted for Roy Moore, and focus on the majority who voted for Jones and\/or against Moore. Yeah, I'm happy that the GOP majority in the US Senate has shrunk to 51-49. In a hyper-partisan era, this close of a vote means that the extremism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Moore-Jones.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135511,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/04\/not-surprisingly-gop-leaders-backed-off-condemning-roy-moore.html","url_meta":{"origin":135345,"position":1},"title":"Not surprisingly, GOP leaders have backed off condemning Roy Moore","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 4-Dec-17 2:33pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The votes must flow. Republicans, initially eager to distance themselves from Moore after women alleged that he romantically pursued or in some cases assaulted them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s, have grown more muted in their criticism and appear to be softening toward the idea\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/roy-moore-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135439,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/27\/romantic-tale-destiny-um-squickiness.html","url_meta":{"origin":135345,"position":2},"title":"A romantic tale of destiny and … um, squickiness","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 27-Nov-17 9:19am","format":false,"excerpt":"When he saw her, he knew she was something special, and that she would play a special role in his life. Which sounds kind of romantic, until you realize it's: 1. Roy Moore, accused of pursuing and sexually assaulting under-age teens when he was in his 30s. 2. Roy Moore\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/roy-moore-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135543,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/05\/latest-roy-moore-defense-plenty-teens-arent-accusing.html","url_meta":{"origin":135345,"position":3},"title":"Latest Roy Moore defense: there are plenty of teens who AREN’T accusing him","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 5-Dec-17 11:06am","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cWe need to make it clear that there\u2019s a group of non-accusers, that have not accused the judge of any sexual misconduct or anything illegal,\u201d explains one of Moore\u2019s campaign spokespeople on CNN. Yes, Jane Porter, Roy Moore spokesperson, is setting the bar of proof at \"Well, if not every\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/moore-spox-other-girls.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135518,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/04\/republicans-go-roy-moore-donald-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":135345,"position":4},"title":"The Republicans go all-in with Roy Moore (and Donald Trump)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 4-Dec-17 11:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Republican National Committee will transfer funds to the Alabama Republican Party following President Donald Trump's endorsement Monday of GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore in that state's special election next week, according to a senior RNC official. The official added, \"The RNC is the political arm of the president and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/trump-moore.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135639,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/13\/president-conveniently-never-loses.html","url_meta":{"origin":135345,"position":5},"title":"The President Who Conveniently Never Loses","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 13-Dec-17 9:11am","format":false,"excerpt":"Donald Trump had a complicated relationship with Roy Moore. He formally endorsed Luther Strange in the primary, for reasons that were never altogether clear (as a favor to Jeff Sessions, perhaps?), but quickly threw Strange under the bus once Moore won the primary. It's not surprising that Trump backed Moore.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Trump%2Bmeme%2Broy%2Bmoore%2Bloss.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Trump%2Bmeme%2Broy%2Bmoore%2Bloss.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Trump%2Bmeme%2Broy%2Bmoore%2Bloss.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135350,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135345\/revisions\/135350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}