Co.Inkadink, you said in post #58 that torturing babies is an example of something that is "actually wrong no matter what". In post #79, I asked if this extended to killing babies as well.
I'm still waiting for an answer on that.
I'm still waiting for the slavery thing. Funny how he just went ahead on a new track rather than dealing with the implications of what he had previously said.
Slavery remains a major sticking point for me as well. I don't care whether it was for life, for 7 years or 7 months or 7 days. For a time period, not determined by the slave, one human being, again, not determined by the slave, owns another human being. During this time, the slave must do whatever the master demands, cannot leave or quit, and is not paid. That is what it means to be a slave.
As velkyn said, does any modern Christian want to be a slave, under any circumstances? Does any modern Christian want their children to be enslaved? It's only for 7 years, and we promise to follow all biblical laws regarding their care and treatment. How much money would you take for your pre-teen daughter or son, bible believer?

If the master treats the slaves badly or well, it is up to the master. And the slaves can't change the way the master treats them. It is still slavery, ie ownership of one human by another. And if it is not life-threatening, anything goes.
[1]Christians, Muslims, Jews and all other ancient religions were fine with slavery. None of these religions banned it outright or said it was evil or wrong. Various cultures tinkered around with the rules, said it would be nice to treat slaves well or that masters should set certain slaves free (like your own kids by your slave mistress).
But none got rid of enslavement altogether during the 10,000 years of human existence that we can document. Until the development of our terrible, sinful, atheistic, humanistic, modern, secular democracies during the past 200 years, the concept of universal human rights did not even exist. So much for an all-knowing, benevolent transcendent god.
