MadJw, I'm aware that primitive ancient cultures (such as those described in the Bible and elsewhere) kept slaves. My simple point is that this passage from Exodus 21 permits a man to sell his daughter to another man as a slave, and that purchaser is permitted to have sex with her. My argument has nothing to do with sex outside marriage. As you likely know, primitive cultures such as those portrayed in the Bible permitted polygamy. So the girl's purchaser may very well have married her; or as verse 9 points out, he could give her to his son as a wife. Nonetheless, she is a slave with whom the purchaser (or his son) may have sex. Thus, a sex slave.
I feel like I've explained this clearly enough, and I understand your desire to rationalize the nasty portions of the Old Testament. Once upon a time, I would have done the same. It seems that you realize the unpleasantness of the whole slavery arrangement and the treatment of women in the Mosaic law. That's good. And that's why I raised this scripture in response to your statement that "the Bible far surpasses the knowledge of men." I'm afraid I must disagree with this statement. The scriptures I identified (as well as others) show that the Bible is quite consistent with the knowledge of men in the ancient near east.
And, regarding Revelation, I understand that you believe that large portions were fulfilled in the early 20th century. For example, you believe that the 7 trumpet blasts occurred in the 1920s at 7 district conventions and that Satan was cast out of heaven in 1914. But if you simply read chapter 22, it's painfully clear that Jesus was telling John that he was coming quickly. Read verses 8-13 in particular. Jesus is speaking to John IN THE PRESENT. Here it is:
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"
10 Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. 11 Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy."
12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Now, you can twist things around all you like (I've found that religious people love to do that), but if you simply read the verses, it is clear that Jesus was not talking about "coming soon" in 2000 years! Read verses 8-9 to set the background, then read verses 10-12 to see what he said. Seems pretty simple to me.
This post is already too long, so I won't spend much time on the flood myth. Of course there were localized floods in ancient times, just like today. In fact, floods affected ancient people more than modern people because they had to live close to bodies of water and they lived in primitive homes. Thus, it's not surprising at all that lots of cultures have flood stories. But what Genesis describes is a global flood covering all the world's tallest mountains (e.g., Mt. Everest!).
To me, the Genesis flood myth is another example of how the Bible is simply another collection of ancient literature. It's not without merit, and there is some true history in it--just like other ancient works. But is it the infallible word of an almighty God (2 Tim 3:16)? Of course not.
