The Good Book
I reject the claim that the Bible is the inspired word of a holy god. As a result, according to several people with whom I’ve had ever-so-enjoyable dialogues, I have no basis for morality. One even went to far as to say that without belief in a god, “sexually violating a three-month-old girl is as morally value-free as brushing your teeth”.
What would it be like if I did base my morality on the Bible? From a recent post at God Is For Suckers!, we can get a general idea:
- The punishment of all women because Eve dared to eat from the Tree of Knowledge
- The destruction of nearly every living thing, because God got it in his head that “the wickedness of man was great”
- Completely uncriticized slave-banging and otherwise legitimizing slavery as a legal activity
- A Bible hero offering up his virginal daughters to an angry mob (and them subsequently raping him)
- God insisting that Abraham be willing to stab his son to death on a sacrificial altar, and surely traumatizing the kid in the process
- Members of the YHWH’s favorite family avenging a single act of rape by tricking an entire city of men into getting circumcised and then killing them all
- After killing a young man the Lord deems wicked, killing his brother for not wanting to impregnate his sister-in-law
- God randomly trying to kill his right-hand man, Moses
- The plague after plague unleashed on the Egyptians - including the slaves and animals - because God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he wouldn’t let the Israelites go and have a picnic in His honor. And making an annual celebration of the killing of every firstborn Egyptian.
- Yahweh claiming ownership of every firstborn male, including of the human variety, with the seeming implication that he wants them sacrificed in his honor
- Meting out punishment not only on infidels, but on three or four generations of their offspring
- Repeated calls to execute people who work on the Sabbath
- A 9/11-sized massacre of fellow Israelites because they dance around a golden idol
- Endless descriptions of reasons and methods for absolving human sins by ritually sacrificing animals, including rituals where one animal is soaked in the blood of its butchered brethren
- The Good Lord burning two children alive for lighting some incense, and then forbidding their father - His #1 priest - from grieving the loss
Kevin, I’ve always known you to be intelligent, thoughtful, and articulate, so I’m a little surprised that you would stoop to this “proof-text” baiting. The kind of statement you seem to endorse in this post is no more sensible than the out-of-context biblical assertions made by some fundamentalist Christians. I respect you as a person, and I appreciate reading your opinion on religion, God, etc., but surely you can do better than this.
Karl
28 Nov 07 at 12:51 pm
It should be noted that I didn’t write the text. It was blockquoted from the linked site. That being said, I staunchly agree with its point (the barbarity of the God of the Old Testament), which is why I posted it on my own blog.
If you’d care to address any of the specific points, or perhaps have a discussion of how the OT God could possibly be considered morally good in light of these verses, or elaborate on how I’m taking this Scripture out of context, be my guest.
Kevin
28 Nov 07 at 1:03 pm
Understood. That’s why I wrote, “The kind of statement you seem to endorse.” The implication there, in case you missed it, is that these weren’t your statements, but rather statements that you seem to endorse.
See, now my tone is getting snotty. Sorry.
No thanks. These “debates” never convince anyone. At least none that I’ve ever participated in or witnessed. Besides, the claims here are so tired. Really. Theologians and atheologians have tread over these ideas ad nauseum for hundreds of years. And I, for one, am too weary of it to contribute to the noise.
I know this will sound like a cop-out to you, but so be it. Maybe sometime we can get together over a beer and chat. If our conversation leads to God and atheism and all the rest, that will be just fine. But I still think this post is more about baiting than anything else.
Karl
29 Nov 07 at 8:35 pm
Kevin,
Thanks for the link!
Karl,
I wrote the text of that post. What do you mean “‘proof-text’ baiting”?
As for context, if you click the links to the specific chapters, the entire context is there — the original KJV scripture and in most cases, detailed comments about the literal and metaphorical implications of the text as written.
We live in a world where people make extraordinary claims for the Bible as a guide to a moral life — either as an infallible instruction manual that determines such things as gay rights and acceptable science or as a book of parables and myths that’s so damned good you’d have to be an evil person not to give yourself over to its lessons.
Over 100 chapters in, I’ve seen little evidence of its value in that regard. That said, there are over 1,000 chapters to go, so I daren’t pass judgment on the whole thing just yet.
If I were to rate the content up through Leviticus 22, where I am currently, I’d say roughly there are:
7% Positive messages (don’t kill or steal; Golden Rule; deal fairly)
28% Neutral messages (some random person did something; arguably useful tips on diet, farming, and health)
65% Negative messages (live in fear and awe of a jealous, violent, arbitrary God; innocents are punished; bad guys are rewarded or unpunished)
Vast Left
29 Nov 07 at 8:37 pm