I have thought at length about whether I should respond to this question, and, after much rereading of the original post, I surprise myself in having to say that I believe I understand the premise of the question. As in most debates, the question is thrown out as a place to begin the debate. The statement or question is not necessarily what the debater or writer believes. If you will read the subject, he is not saying that he believes in incest. He is asking the question to start the debate. The subject is followed by a question mark rather than a period. If I am wrong in this presumption, then I will have to admit that I totally don't understand anything at all of Myothicate's ramblings.
It just happens I am right now taking a course on the Old Testament with Christian Leadership Institute. (By the way, I recommend them highly. And their courses are free!!) In this semester, this week actually, part of the study was about this section of Genesis. Below is a small section of one of the readings:
"It may surprise you that God would include a story like this in the Bible. It sounds
more disgusting and far-fetched than what we see on trash TV and tabloids. Some
people think it's too crude to be mentioned from a pulpit. They prefer to stick with nice,
clean, wholesome stories. Maybe that's why a lot of churches and sermons connect
only with nice, clean, wholesome people--or at least people who think they are.
But God tells some pretty dirty stories. The story of Tamar and Judah isn't the
Bible's only example of a family mess. ... I could go on to tell how a
man named Lot got drunk and was seduced by his two daughters, who each had a baby
by him. I could tell how a prostitute named Rahab played a major role in the history of
God's people. I could tell of King David's adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the
murder of her husband. I could tell of how God commanded the prophet Hosea to marry
a prostitute named Gomer, and how she had children by unknown fathers. After telling you all that, I could take you to Matthew 1 and show you where most of these names
appear in the ancestry of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus came and lived among us, he wasn't born from a perfect family line,
and he didn't associate only with decent families. Jesus showed concern for prostitutes,
and many of them became his followers. He shared God's love and grace with a halfbreed
woman who had been through five divorces and was living with a sixth man
whom she hadn't bothered to marry. Jesus befriended various outlaws, lowlifes, and
people who had broken every rule in the book for good family life. ... The Bible shows again and again that even in sinful lives and failing families God
can direct things toward his gracious ends. If you've already got a family life that's holy
and healthy, I'm happy for you. A stable, loving family is a great gift from God, and you
can be very thankful. But if you're in a family that seems like a hopeless failure, God
announces good news that you need to hear and believe.
Jesus doesn't avoid sinners. He saves them. Jesus was willing to join a family
tree that included incest, prostitution, adultery, and murder. Jesus was willing to eat with
embezzlers and prostitutes. Jesus died on a cross between two criminals. Jesus didn't
leave the glory of heaven and give his life on the cross just so that nice people could
become a little nicer. He came to bring you forgiveness from sin and power to start
anew.
There's nothing to keep you from a new life except unbelief. There's nothing to
keep you from Jesus except stubbornness. Listen to Jesus speaking love and hope.
Trust him. Come to him. Jesus promises, "Whoever comes to me I will never drive
away" (John 6:37)."
Dr. David Feddes, Christian Leadership Institute
Of course, this type of behavior is forbidden later in scripture, but I agree with Dr. Feddes that so many of us begin to become "exalted unto ourselves" with all our education. We start to believe we are above all those "sinners" but forget that we are all sinners.