(August 31, 2009 at 11:06 am)DoubtVsFaith Wrote: I was reading in another thread, where fr0d0 said that he believed the bible is 'the manual for morality'...now I can't believe I'd never thought to ask him if he thought the bible was moral or not before, but now I've come to the topic....
Anyway, nevermind about specifically fr0d0...
How many of us here (mostly theists I'm guessing) think the bible is somehow a 'moral book'.
Now, I would say that it may have some good parables in it, but it's got a fuckload of immoral bullshit in it too. Mostly from in the Old Testament, but the New Testament isn't perfect.
So to say the bible is a 'moral book' somehow...is to cherry-pick out the good stuff and ignore the horrors...and the picking and choosing we do without the bible. How can one say the bible is a 'moral book'....as mentioned in The God Delusion, someone says to Richard Dawkins something like 'Do you honestly think that if we call looked to The God Delusion instead of the Bible, then the world would be a more humane place?" And I think he rightly responds with 'Yes I do, since you mention 'humane''.
There's a load of horrible shit in the bible, and the good stuff can be picked out. Even with books not about morality, at least there's not horror in there, and there are also other books that are for moral guidence, without all the horrible shit that, I personally would not call moral!
So, the topic is: The Bible, is it really a moral book or 'manual'?
And as I said, I'd personally say "no" and whoever says it is, is just doing some serious cherry-picking.
EvF
Some definitions first.
Sin is anything not in the expressed will of God.
Morality is the standard of man. or man's effort to meet the righteousness of God with the sin he is willing to live with, incorporated into that standard.
Righteousness is the sinless standard of God.
Righteousness says it is never OK to lie.
Morality says it is OK to lie to save the life of your friends.
We can not live a perfect life (without sin) so that means our best efforts will result in a moral life. Because the Righteous standard of God is found in the bible it is best to derive one's morality from God's perfect standard.
