# Would You Have Been Put To Death Under the Mosaic Code? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 18, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019 "2011-01-18T00:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/1 "2011-01-18T00:12:27Z")
If Mosaic Law was still in effect would you have been executed under it in its moral and civil aspects (not its ceremonial aspects such as working on the Sabbath)? ``` * Murder * Adultery * Bestiality[13] * Rape [14] * Homosexual sex[15] * A betrothed woman who does not cry out while being raped[17] * A woman who is found not to have been a virgin on the night of her wedding[18] * Worshiping other gods[19][20] * Witchcraft (Exodus 22:18) * Taking God's name in vain or cursing God's name[21] * Cursing a parent[22][23][24] * Kidnapping[25] ``` ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/2 "2011-01-18T00:29:12Z")
If taking god’s name in vain counts, then I thin every goddamned poster on this goddamned board has a date with a stoning. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/3 "2011-01-18T00:33:10Z")
You need an option for “killed a whole lot” or maybe “killed on a weekly basis”. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/4 "2011-01-18T00:36:21Z")
To be fair, if you weren’t put to death under this code, you’re probably not worth knowing. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/5 "2011-01-18T00:42:08Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > If taking god’s name in vain counts, then I thin every goddamned poster on this goddamned board has a date with a stoning. I considered that but I ultimately voted no. I don’t curse god that often and if I knew it was a killable offense I wouldn’t do it. It’s not that important. I’m clear on the rest of the list. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/6 "2011-01-18T00:44:13Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > If Mosaic Law was still in effect would you have been executed under it in its moral and civil aspects (not its ceremonial aspects such as working on the Sabbath)? > > ``` > * Murder > * Adultery > * Bestiality[13] > * Rape [14] > * Homosexual sex[15] > * A betrothed woman who does not cry out while being raped[17] > * A woman who is found not to have been a virgin on the night of her wedding[18] > * Worshiping other gods[19][20] > * Witchcraft (Exodus 22:18) > * Taking God's name in vain or cursing God's name[21] > * Cursing a parent[22][23][24] > * Kidnapping[25] > > ``` If I were a Bronze Age sheep herder, I’d be so different a person that it’s hard to say, so I’m going to pretend you actually asked “If you were magically taken back to the mythical time of Moses, possessing your current personality and values, would you have ended up getting executed under that barbaric code?” Answer: I should hope that I’d have the balls to protest and try to intervene when someone was about to be executed for one of the more ridiculous reasons above (that is, any of the reasons other than committing murder and committing rape). If I lost and were about to be executed in consequence, I think I’d scream out, “Fuck you guys and your imaginary, sadistic God.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/7 "2011-01-18T00:46:40Z")
I’ve been to Death. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/8 "2011-01-18T00:48:43Z")
Is one killed for being raped, or only for raping someone? How loud do you have to yell for it to be “crying out”? Well, it doesn’t really matter much, as there are half a dozen other things on there I’m guilty of. Time to get stoned! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/9 "2011-01-18T00:50:56Z")
I refuse to associate with anybody who _wouldn’t_. Heck, I’m good for multiple counts of 5 of the list alone. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/10 "2011-01-18T00:53:52Z")
Qin, you should always include “need answers fast” in your poll titles from now on. ---
**Author:** ![xoferew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e9a140/32.png) [@xoferew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xoferew)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/11 "2011-01-18T01:05:13Z")
I think I’m good unless kissing my same-sex cat without her consent counts. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/12 "2011-01-18T01:10:05Z")
Basically only muslum Americans wouldn’t and they probably broke a muslum law, so whats the point of this poll? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/13 "2011-01-18T01:13:51Z")
God’s name in vain, disrespecting parents and if I was in that situation, I’d make idols too, just to put my dick in Yahweh’s ear. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/14 "2011-01-18T01:16:48Z")
Atheism doesn’t count as worshipping other gods, but would it be interpreted that way back in the day? If so, that’d do me. If not - eh, cursing God’s name and cursing my parents would do for me. I’ll see you folks at the stoning! ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/15 "2011-01-18T01:28:56Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > - Worshiping other gods[19][20] > - Witchcraft (Exodus 22:18) I’m completely certain Bronze age monotheistic herding culture would interpret my cultural practices as the above. My only hope for survival would be to convince them that I was only traveling enroute to neighboring kingdom that they had friendly relations with, a Hittite perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/16 "2011-01-18T01:38:21Z")
Adultery under Mosaic law would include sex with someone you are not married to, wouldn’t it? In which case who here waited till they were married? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/17 "2011-01-18T01:40:44Z")
For the record banging temple prostitutes counted as “worshipping other gods,” so anyone who think they might partake of those services (and apparently, it was a chronic vice among Hebrew men, even when it was ostensibly forbidden) would have something else to add to the list. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/18 "2011-01-18T01:43:26Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Adultery under Mosaic law would include sex with someone you are not married to, wouldn’t it? In which case who here waited till they were married? Only for women, really, or for banging somebody else’s wife. Adultery for men was basically a property crime - porking somebody else’s property. They were allowed to bang their _own_ property (i.e. their servants/slaves/concubines). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/19 "2011-01-18T02:09:44Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Only for women, really, or for banging somebody else’s wife. Adultery for men was basically a property crime - porking somebody else’s property. They were allowed to bang their _own_ property (i.e. their servants/slaves/concubines). **Dio** , it’s my thought here that adultery would be a crime for a married man only if he were boinking another man’s property: that is, if he were making the two-backed-beast with some fatherless, unmarried woman, he’d be free and clear. I don’t have my Bible close at hand, but perhaps you recall better. Am I correct? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019/20 "2011-01-18T02:17:30Z")
Slightly off-topic, but there’s something I’ve always wondered. Is it called the Mosaic law because it’s made up of a smaller amount of laws placed painstakingly together that eventually form a comprehensive whole? As in, any law examined singularly is not a Mosaic law, only all of the laws together are? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-have-been-put-to-death-under-the-mosaic-code/568019.md?page=2)