Everybody with an interest in Christianity should buy a copy of THE X-RATED BIBLE by Ben Edward Ackerley. You can get it from Amazon for about $12, I think. It's an examination of the scriptures that Christians don't talk about much, there's a lot weird sex going on in the Bible that doesn't get adequate air-play. This is not just some cheesy exercise in Bible-bashing, Ackerley is a theologian and quotes the Bible accurately and carefully. Wonderful book for reference in times of doubt. Some of the chapter titles:

1) Incest: Implied, Single, Double, and Multiple
2) Sexual Pollution
3) Homosexuality
4) Rape: Solo and Group
5) Adultery: Attempted, Real and Forgiven
6) Indecent Exposure, Group Sex and Exhibitionism
7) Nudity and Striptease
8) Prostitution: Secular and Sacred, and Phallic Worship
9) Abortion, Pregnancy by Proxy, Sex Drugs and Husband Swapping
10) Circumcision of the Living and the Dead

...and there are more. Anybody pushing the Bible as the word of God really should check this out--unless, of course, you believe that ignorance is bliss.

I'm curious as to what religion this Ben Edward Ackerley claims to be apart of. I've yet to hear of a theologian that didn't practice a religion.

And I'd like to know where the bible says anything regarding abortion without a heavy dose of interpretation.

It sounds really interesting... I may have to read this. I donno how accurate it will be in terms of actually an interpretation of the bible, but I'm sure it will bring up a lot of good points from which point I can make my own judgements.

I suspect that he is a Christian, but just not a fundamentalist one. There is much good in the Bible and much bad as well, when one takes all of it as the ultimate word of God kept pure down through the ages then it becomes a twisted mess (in my opinion, becauses there is just too much dogma brought in from outside sources that contradicts the good teachings of Jesus). I think that one of the points he tries to make with this book is that there is a lot of sick stuff in the Bible that should make any reasonably thoughtful person realize how much the book has been influenced by and rewritten by people. Personally, I doubt that the Creator of the Universe has to act like the Bible often portrays Him/Her as acting.

Exodus 21:22-25

22 "If men fight with each other and hit a woman who is going to have a child so that she loses her baby but no other hurt comes to her, he must pay whatever the woman's husband says he must, as agreed upon by the judges. 23 But if there is other hurt also, then it is life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, cut for cut, sore for sore.

If you are going to read the book and want to look up scripture to compare different translations and versions of the Bible go to: http://www.biblegateway.com/

This site has a quick-lookup feature that allows you to access 20 English language versions of the Bible for comparison. It also has dozens of foreign language versions available as well if you are not a native English speaker.

That sounds more like a misscarriage as a result of physical violence, but not like abortion as we know it.

I also find it interesting that you aren't sure what religion this guy is. I couldn't find any info about him, only that he wrote the book. I'd also like to know what this has to do with the American Aetheists as I came across them more than once trying to find out more about this book.

A miscarriage is a spontaneous event. An abortion is deliberate in some sense. In the passage it does not specify why the injury is caused to the woman, but beating women to induce abortion was one of the earliest and most successful ways of preventing an unwanted pregnancy. As an aside, the orginal "kidskin" leather was obtained by beating pregnant sheep to cause them to abort at a certain stage in the development of the fetal lamb so that the finished leather would have that very desirable soft texture and feel.

And why would you ask me to explain the results of YOUR internet search because you kept coming up with references to the American Atheists?

Actually, we are both wrong. A Miscarriage is defined as a spontaneous abortion.

As far as the question of his religion, it is not out of context to know the religious preference of a theologian.

As for the American Atheist comment, I wasn't asking you to explain it. Though it does pose some question to his motives in writing such a book about the bible.

Perhaps at least a cursory examination of the the book is in order before one questions or impugns the author's motives. Discussing the actual things written in the Bible hardly seems anti-Christian, the Bible does mandate the death sentence for an amazing number of seemingly obscure crimes, like wearing clothes made of two kinds of material (cotton/polyester).

It is not unchristian to discuss things written in the bible. Its the way the references are used or missused or the context they might be put into.

Let's address Incest then.

Abraham's wife, Sarah was also his sister.

The wife for Abraham's son was from Abraham's family, suggesting that his son's wife was a cousin in some form.

The wives for Abraham's grandson that would be called Israel also came from Abraham's and Israel's mother's family.

After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra and Lot's wife being turned into a pillar of salt, Lot's daughters each got him drunk, had sex with him and got pregnant by him. One of the decendant's of those children was Ruth who later became a part of the lineage of Jesus.

God commanded (the nation of) Israel not to interbreed with other nations. Since they are all of the same blood line, they like all who are decended from Noah, are in some way related because at some distant point long ago, we all came from the same blood line.

So it can be said that long ago incest was endorsed by God. I'll admit that most of my references come from Genesis, but no more recent examples come to mind at the moment.

And your point is?