To: 
From: "Vern Humphrey" 
Reply-To: r_catholic-l{at}yahoogroups.com

To: goffscalif{at}aol.com [mailto:goffscalif{at}aol.com]
>
> Exercise for the student: When did Erastosthenes conduct his
> experiement to
> determine - not the shape of the earth, for that wasn't in
> dispute - but the
> circumference of the earth?

That would be about 200 BCE.  Ptolomy later disputed his findings, making
the world only about 18,000 miles in circumfrence.  Columbus used Ptolomy's
figures to bolster his claim that he could find the Indies by sailing west.

And educated men had known the world was round for at least 500 years when
Eratosthenes measured it.

But people living in the stone age would have had difficulty even
comprehending Eratosthenes' work -- one of the interesting things about
genius is that geniuses discover things that the rest of us look at and say
"Of course!  How could we have missed that?" :-)
>
> >
> > Look at it this way -- would you deny that a child is as true a
> brother or
> > sister in Christ as you and I?  And would you espouse a system that
> > "liberated" children from their parents?
>
> The analogy is valid only if parents own their children as
> chattel, as they
> would own a chair or a hog.  Children are not property; slaves are.

In fact, at the time, they DID own children (and wives) as chattel.  The
Roman paterfamilias had the power of life and death over his wife and
children. Again, that was considered the natural order of things.

> One
> *cannot* believe that X is his brother or sister, and at the same time
> consistently believe he can own X, or buy X, or sell X, just as
> he would own
> or buy or sell a chair or a hog.

Except that one could, if one were raised in those times.  Even Saint
Paul's concept of Christian charity extended only to treating slaves kindly
and manumitting them.  He never condemned the institution of slavery.

To ask people born and raised in those days, never knowing a different
world to IMAGINE the world of today, to conceive ideas developed a thousand
or more years after their birth is asking a lot.


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Where Catholic Singles Go Online - StRaphael.net is the world's #1 website
for single Catholics. If you are looking for friendship, marriage or even a
religious vocation, StRaphael.cnet is the place to be. Join Today Free!
www.StRaphael.net
http://us.click.yahoo.com/r_NezC/1M1FAA/EDtLAA/28VolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Visit R_Catholic-L member homepages at: http://home.cox.rr.com/rraphael
http://rcatholic-l.freeservers.com
http://hometown.aol.com/philvaz
http://www.lisaslighthouse.org
http://members.aol.com/SisterNeri/


Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

--- BBBS/NT v4.00 MP