I do so love the internets. I think I'm addicted to the ready access of information. Seriously. Which I guess is understandable enough; as any psychology major will tell you, the strongest way to reinforce a behavior is to reward it, not consistently, but at random. This is why gambling is so addictive.
But I digress. So, we've all been following the WingnutTM Revue and its myriad deranged rantings about those godless pinko commie activist judges who stubbornly refuse to subordinate the Constitution to theocratic doctrine. We all know that the Fristians are foaming at the mouth and chomping at the bit, pushing for the nuclear option yesterday.
And, of course, * we * all know these people are not really Christians and are Americans only in the most superficial sense, i.e. yes, they were born here. We understand that what they want is wrong and are well versed in the civic traditions and legal rationales as to WHY they are wrong.
But imagine my royal flush adrenaline rush at finding Biblical justifications for the errors of their ways...
Which brings us back to the internets...the wonderful, unabashedly secular, all-informing internets. The place where we can discover such gems of wisdom as
The Top 10 Biblical Smitings.
Checking the list, we make the delicious discovery that item number four is quaintly entitled "Death to All Those who Complain." We need to get these scriptures to WingnutTM headquarters post haste!
Numbers 16:16-49
The escaped Israelites had been complaining to Moses about the lack of water, sustenence and food in the desert that they have been led to by Moses.
16 Moses commands that 250 of them must come to the tent and present incense at the altar. They do so.
21God says, "Stand back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately."
And when the people questioned this killing?
then the Lord appears with his customary cloud over the tent.
45 God speaks to Moses, "Stand back from these people, and I will destroy them on the spot!"
No sir, it just doesn't get any richer than this. Further proof, along with the Platypus, that God forgot the sense of humor part when creating us in his image.