Really glad I didn't join last night (I wouldn't function today on so little sleep
)
There was lots said in this thread and so much to respond to that I don't know where to start so I'll just go to the point I made in my first post.
The reason I chose the Possuk from Parshahs Yisro and not the many from Parshas Bereishis is precisely BECAUSE I knew you'll say those aren't literal. Yet here we have a Possuk where you apparently take part of it literally and part you don't. Saying that the part of the Possuk that says to keep Shabbos is meant to be taken literally and the part that discusses the reason for it is not seems a bit arbitrary. What would you say to those who say that our whole way of keeping Shabbos today is based on primitive principals? After all turning on the ignition in a car is no where near the hard work it took to light a fire in the desert.
What you are basically saying is that the parts of Torah that are "with it" I accept and the parts that don't fit in with the latest trends I don't. I have no problem with that but at least have the intellectual honesty to realize that the Torah was never "with it". There was never a point in history where Torah ideas were "cool". To say that the "primitive Hebrew slaves" where able to handle smashing the paganism and immorality of Egypt and Canaan and yet could not grasp simple 6th grade biology is foolish and dishonest.
The attitude of cutting out the parts of the Torah that don't "fit in" to modern life is not a new one, just some stopped at Korbanos and others went on with Shabbos and Kashrus as well...