Author Topic: Moral and the Bible  (Read 245 times)

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Offline seamas

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Moral and the Bible
« on: Jun 11, 2012, 11:03:02 AM »
Quite often we encounter people who will say things along the lines of "in Western society, morals are derived from the Bible", and most secularists and other will note that societies not based on the Bible developed largely similar moral systems without any biblical reference.

Now while it is pretty obvious that society develops morals, and morals evolve, etc. I have come to the realization that the Bible doesn't even "create" morals as we know them.

I'd say that its influence undoubtedly shaped our morals, but just about every "law" or command relates to how people treat their God and how they worship this god.
There is almost NOTHING about learning from ones mistakes, is there?

I mean the lessons from scripture aren't at all like Aesop, where there is a universal lesson.

With the OT especially, there is only actions and either pleasure or displeasure from god. People aren't expected to learn anything and their ONLY reasons for behaving one way or another to their fellow man is related to how it pleases or displeases God. The other person really doesn't factor as an individual at all.

Am I wrong on this observation?

Is it only through interpretation that we derive morals from the Bible? Do the lessons only really pertain to god's well-being?

Offline IrishJazz

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Re: Moral and the Bible
« Reply #1 on: Jun 11, 2012, 11:42:27 AM »
Yes, you are wrong but not irredeemably so.

The centrality of Christianity in Western Culture, and its moral content- which was missing from most "pagan" religions (i.e. the amoral Roman and Greek gods) makes it a wellspring for ethical reasoning.   The idea of the relation of a deity and its followers being codified in a set of behavioral rules is a foundation concept for the rule of abstracted law (rather than by a ruler's whim.) 

This does not mean the entire Bible- which was assembled over a number of centuries- is consistent with morality.  That was an emergent idea, almost totally absent from the dictated set of rules in Leviticus and Deuteronomy that we have so much fun with when attacking the believers. (To be fair, they go back to these rules as well when they need to gay bash or take some other benighted action.)  By the time you get to the New Testament- specifically in the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount- there is a strong thread of social morality.  Feed the poor, visit the prisoner, care for the sick- these are the things that earn favor, not strictly following dogma.  Of course this gets a bit buried when the Jesus movement becomes Christianity- and for all of its charms it was written in a time when women were largely disenfranchised, and slavery was assumed.

There is no one morality in the collection of books in the Bible, but there is an evolving moral direction. 

But to echo a statement often made by TheWorld'sLaziestBusker, the fact that the Bible mirrors a sort of social moral development does not mean it is essential or necessary to that morality.  It is just as true to say the Bible is derived from morals as the reverse. 
"When a dirty fighter realizes he has no legs left, he aims low." - Jennifer McDonald, NYTimes book review

Offline Shibboleth

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Re: Moral and the Bible
« Reply #2 on: Jun 11, 2012, 03:25:04 PM »
I would say that much of our moral system comes from Babylon which had a strong effect on Biblical writings.
common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

 

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