Resolved: The Bible does NOT present an acceptable moral standard

I notice that the thread "Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality?" is nearing the curse of 300. It will likely be shut down soon, which is fine by me since I was becoming anxious to steer the argument into a different direction. I take the opportunity to do so now with a fresh, new thread.The final pages of the earlier thread have dealt with the story of Lot, his daughters and the city of Sodom. In several of my messages I cite the story itself as just one example of why the bible is not an acceptable moral guidebook.So far no one has wanted to take up the issue of the bible's dubious moral authority, so I've chosen this rather more provacative means (with thanks to WFB, Jr.) of raising the issue and begging responses.Note: I realize that there is a thread entitled 'do you think morals and god go hand in hand?' over in the Faith and Belief forum, but that discussion is not about the bible specifically. This one is.

I tried to put the question as provacatively as I could. I felt that that way I'd be more likely to get reponses than if I'd simply asked "Is the bible a good moral guide?". I might have made a mistake, but that was my thinking.

Apparently, this thread has been obviated since the thread "Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality?" has been allowed to continue past post 300. The discussion I intended to have here has now become one strand of the older thread. My apologies for the wasted space.

mike the wiz prattles:

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Infact if you actually read the bible you can see how it comes together morally. Maybe in independent books it would not make sense to you - but together it does.

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But I thought the bible was supposed to be a perfect book. Why would God conceal his moral message from anyone who doesn't read the entirety of what amounts to a small library?Tell me, how do the stories of Lot, the Midianites, the Amalekites, Hagar, the wives and children of the apostles whose husbands/dads had abandoned them, et. al. ad nauseum all "come together" in the end to present a wonderful set of moral values?

Yeah, LOTR is a great story. I read the book decades ago but still haven't got round to watching the film. I never thought it could be filmed, and I'm not sure I want to replace the images in my mind with those of the film producers.

Where did you get that impression, Zealot? Do I write like a pre-teen?I'm 43. You?

For my part, I think this commandment is a sound moral teaching, so long as it's not taken as a moral absolute. Clearly there are times when killing would be appropriate, such as in self defense or defense of an innocent. Consider the situation faced by Lot, who acted the supreme coward. I'd kill, or die trying to kill, in order to prevent a rape. How could doing so be immoral?Mike, you seem to be saying that if one views this commandment in light of all other scripture one would come away with a correct view of the moral behind it. I'm not so sure of that, since the examples the bible gives of killing are almost always either cowardly or senseless. The story of Phinehas is but one example. God's order to slaughter the Amalekites, including women and children, even suckling infants, is another. Such genocide, ordered by God himself, seems to me to obviate the commandment.One might say that God brought a new covenant in the person of Jesus and that thus the examples of senseless killing in the OT should be ignored. I'd gladly ignore them, but the NT - and even Jesus himself - tell us that we are to revere the OT and follow its laws. Besides, it seems crazy to believe that, if God is perfect, his old covenant could have been flawed. Why was a new covenant necessary if the old one was perfect? So I'm still wondering how it is that all of the books of the OT and NT "come together" and present a perfect morality.

Good point, NotAHero. However, your definition of murder would still indict much of the killing that takes place in the bible. That would include God's command to slaughter the Amalekites, and Moses command to kill all male children and women who had known men.