Does the Bible's '2 witnesses' rule give evidence of divine inspiration?

by scout575 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  scout575

  At Deut 17:6 the law is given that states that for the death penalty to be imposed on someone guilty of a capital offence, there have to be 2 or 3 witnesses to the crime. If there weren't at least 2 witnesses then no conviction could be made and therefore no punishment meted out to the offender.

  Consider the following scenario: An Israelite girl is being sexually abused by her Israelite father ( incest was a capital offence under the Mosaic law - Leviticus 18:6,29 ). She approaches the city elders and tells them what her father is doing to her. They summon her father and ask him if the allegations are true. He denies it. As there aren't at least 2 witnesses to the crimes, the father is left unconvicted and unpunished. The outcome for the girl? She goes home and continues to be abused by her father. Does the Bible's '2 or 3 witnesses' rule give evidence of divine inspiration?
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  Legolas

  Yea pretty stupid isn't it!

  One could almost do anything to someone and then deny it and they will get away with it!
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  Shazard

  Another scenario. Fathed does not allow his doughter use drugs and throws out her does. She get's angry, summons 2 witnesses and goes to city elders and sayes her Father abuses her. 2 witnesses agrees and her Father dies.
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  funkyderek

  Clearly nothing about the Bible has any valid claim to divine origin, but the law requiring two witnesses is actually a good one. It prevents people being punished unjustly. Anybody can accuse a person of a crime, but without evidence (and there was no forensic science in ancient Israel) it's just one person's word against another. Punishing someone on the word of one other person is obviously unjust.

  However, it is a mistake to use this rule to avoid punishing child molestors. The merest hint of a suspicion of a crime of this nature should be investigated thoroughly, and while nobody should be convicted without evidence, slavishly following the letter of an ancient law code is ridiculous given that we live in a completely different world.
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  Dune

  An elder once told me a story about how this sister was disfellowshipped because her husband and one of his friends accused her of immorality (when she in fact wasnt).

  She was difellowshipped and continued to go to the meetings and soon enough it was found out that her husband was lying.

  The moral of the story was to help me appreciate that even though the elders DF'd her, she relied on jehovah and he straightened out the matter.

  In my mind i was like "Hell, if they did that to me, they'd never hear from me again".
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  scout575

  Funkyderek: Whilst the law at Deut.17:6 obviously does have some merit in that it would, in some cases, protect the innocent from unwarranted punishment, the posting by Dune, and my own scenario shows how it can also allow for the guilty to go unpunished and for the innocent to be punished. Someone who believes in the God of the Bible might be tempted to wonder why his all-powerful, all-loving, all-just and all-wise God didn't come up with a method of justice that is superior to the one at Deut.17:6.
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  Narkissos

  Side yet related question: would a transparent world (in which factual certainty would be accessible and perfect justice always possible beyond any doubt) be a better world?

  I doubt it.

  What God didn't do Interpol might do someday...
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  FairMind

  it is a mistake to use this rule to avoid punishing child molestors. The merest hint of a suspicion of a crime of this nature should be investigated thoroughly, and while nobody should be convicted without evidence, slavishly following the letter of an ancient law code is ridiculous given that we live in a completely different world

  funky, on this point we agree.

  The law given to the Israelites was the best God could do considering it was imperfect men administering the law. Mistakes can happen even in today's modern world, which DNA evidence has shown. The problem with the two-witness rule as used by JWs is that Child Molestation is a CRIME and even the suspicion of such should have been referred to the police who are trained to investigate such matters.
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  scout575

  Fairmind: Child molestation was just as much a crime in Israelite times as it is today ( Under the Mosiac law it warranted the death penalty ). I completely agree that suspected cases of child abuse should be reported to the police. I pity the abused Israelite girl for whom there was no police force - she just had to carry on being molested. Shame that 'Almighty God' couldn't have come up with some way of protecting her. Shame that today's police service is better equipped to deal with child abuse than 'Almighty God' ever was.