How Good a Moral Guide Is The Christian Bible?
The writers of the Bible argue from authority, not from reason. God has authority because he is omnipotent. Arguing from authority implies that "might makes right." Nowhere does the Bible state that any human being possesses an inherent right to be treated with respect and fairness. As discussed below, the biblical role models, including Jesus and Jehovah, are poor examples to follow, sometimes ignoring their own good teachings and ruthlessly pursuing other of their whims and authoritarian teachings. It is the nature of belief not to examine critically the object of that belief. Christians are taught that thinking for oneself is woefully inadequate. But why not question the Bible? The only answer offered is because the Bible says not to do so. A fine bit of circular reasoning.
The biblical view of human nature is negative. Humans don't deserve respect; they deserve damnation. We are all supposedly tainted with Adam's Original Sin. The negative self-image that is promoted is hardly psychologically healthy. Sincerely good Christians don't get their motivation from the Bible. They do good things because they are good people.
In the Bible, the so-called "God of love" killed a lot of people, including drowning the entire population of the planet, saving only one family. He sent a plague to kill all the first-born children in Egypt. He rained fire and brimstone on Sodom, killing everyone, and sent Israelite warriors to destroy the neighboring pagan tribes, man, woman, and child. God punished children for things they did not do (Exodus 34:6-7). God even accepted human sacrifice (Judges 11:30-40; Leviticus 27:28-9; II Samuel 21:1-14). Are these proper examples of morality to teach one's children?
A story of murder is found in Josh. 7:26, which tells us that God allowed the people of the city of Ai to slaughter the Israelites in a battle, because, during the battle of Jerico, an Israelite, Achan, had secretly taken a mantle and some silver and gold that God desired. The other Israelites were guiltless of the sin. God never warned the Israelites of their danger; he simply let them be killed to prove to them he was angry. God's anger ended only after Achan and his family and livestock were butchered and burned. Where is the sentiment expressed in I Chron. 16:34 ("Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! For his mercy endures forever.")
There is a strange story in I Kings 20:35 about a prophet who told another man, "by the word of the Lord," to strike him (the prophet). Ancient legal texts show that assault and battery were illegal and were punished by the courts, so naturally the man refused to strike the prophet. At God's command, the prophet then put a curse of death on the man who had refused to hit him. Sure enough, as soon as the man left the prophet's presence, God sent a lion to kill him.
In Revelation 14:1-5, we are told that of all the billions of people who have inhabited the earth, each of whom allegedly was created by God, only 144,000 males "who have not defiled themselves with women" are to be saved from the innumerable horrors of Judgment Day. Revelation 17:8 tells us their names were written in the book of life from the beginning of the world and no one else can be saved. Revelation 20:15 tells us that anyone whose name is not in the book will be thrown into a lake of fire. Why won't God be equitable and give the rest of us a chance?
We could even ask why God, in Matthew 2, made such a fuss over the birth of Jesus, with a spectacular star of Bethlehem and other signs guaranteed to tip off the paranoid King Herod, who then massacred the children of Bethlehem in a vain attempt to stop the coming of the Messiah. If God is all-knowing, surely he was aware of Herod's homicidal predilections and could have made Jesus' appearance less threatening to the King, thereby saving all of those babies.
Some Christians respond by arguing that Jesus has superseded the Old Testament deity. But if one studies the Bible, Jesus is not presented therein as a superior moral example, but merely as one who is exercising assumed authority:
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How Good a Moral Guide Is The Christian Bible?: PAGES 1, (2), 3
