Part IV
VALUES

How well does the Bible serve as an ethical standard for civilization or as a basis for American society?

Why are the Bible’s moral and ethical standards more than just a curiosity to us? Many public figures claim that religion is a necessary part of our national discourse, because religion provides the moral foundation for our kind of society, and that without religion, society as we know it would degenerate. This philosophy poses a simplistic choice between a good, religious society and a corrupt, atheistic one. Even the allegedly atheist Marxist philosophies depend on wholesale indoctrination into a pseudo-religious belief system in order to enforce their own absurd versions of ethics.
There are four main flaws in the either-religion-or-corruption idea. First, some atheists can be as moral and ethical as any of the faithful; while some believers have been as vicious, tyrannical, sinful, and cruel any non-believer, maybe even more so. The moral lapses of Popes, priests, ministers, and pious laymen which are routine items in today’s news as well as in the historical record demonstrate clearly that religion is no guarantee of moral or ethical behavior.
The second problem is the pious doctrine of Antinomianism, that faith alone is necessary to salvation. If you are among God’s elect or one of the faithful, you won’t be punished. Because of grace, moral law would be of no use or obligation, faith alone is necessary to salvation. All manner of vices, crimes, and atrocities may be pursued without consequence of damnation. This is almost exactly the same moral situation that is often attributed to atheism.
The third problem with using the Bible as a moral standard (especially in freedom-loving societies like the United States) is the fact that the Bible embodies authoritarian, not libertarian, values. It promotes subservience, slavery, acceptance of monarchy, socialism, cruelty, excessive punishment, and so forth. The Bible actually promotes values which are anathema to our basic moral and political values.
Fourth, selecting the comfort and refuge of faith-based standards over objective standards involves no inherent moral superiority.

"It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care how you got your money as long as you have got it." (Teale, 28)

Either a person behaves morally because of personal ethical standards (no matter how learned) or fear (hell, prison, social disapproval, etc.). This leaves us with a question: Who is the more moral person, one who avoids stealing because they believe stealing is wrong (the ethical), they believe they’ll go to Hell if they steal (the God-fearing), or they fear earthly punishment (the animal)? Morally, the God-fearing and the animal are equivalent. If the animal loses his fear of punishment, he will steal. Likewise, if the God-fearing loses his religion, believes he’s going to hell anyway, or believes he’ll gain absolution, he must then become either the ethical or the animal; but he can only become the ethical if he already had also acquired some personal ethics outside of his religion. Therefore, personal ethics are much more dependable and must be ingrained independently of any spiritual belief system. Proper behavior can be driven by fear, of course; but morality cannot. Fear of hell-fire, prison, or shame may influence behavior; but they don’t instill ethics.
Let’s look at the ethical and moral implications of the Biblical acts of God, Jesus, and the other principals. Were these people the type you’d like in your own congregation? As the following outline shows, some might seem more monster or pervert than paragon. If the Bible’s heroes didn’t meet even the basic moral and ethical standards of our own sinful, corrupt, and violent age; how can we use the Bible as a source of moral teaching or judgment?

Chapter 14
Injustices

14.1 The Bible’s greatest injustice was that Adam’s sin fell to all mankind and that a human sacrifice saved all mankind. How is justice served when an innocent person is damned for the sin of another or executed for the crime of another? God wanted vengeance for the imperfection of mankind (which God, himself, created), so someone had to pay, but not necessarily the guilty party. How can you inherit and bequeath guilt? Contemporary judges have a higher sense of morality than God did, according to the Bible.

"…by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom 5:12

"For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." Rom 5:19

"…wicked are estranged from the womb; an go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." Ps 58:3

14.2 God’s punishment was not very focused. If you lived in a small town, God may have spare it, wicked or not. And what did being in a town have to with being saved from a rain of burning sulfur? If God could spare a town, he should have been able to spare a group of three individuals without a town around them. Why was the first hovel just outside the town destroyed, but the one just inside was saved? What was just about that?

"But I can’t flee to the mountains: this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it-it’s very small, isn’t it?"…"Very well…I will not overthrow the town…" Gen 19:19-21

14.3 God gave Abimelech grief, even though Abraham and Sarah were the scoundrels. Prophets received special treatment.

"‘You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is married.’ Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, ‘Lord will you destroy an innocent nation? Did [Abraham] not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.’"…"Yes, I know…so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return his wife, for he is a prophet, an he will pray for you and you will live…" Gen 20:3-7

14.4 God punished the innocent. He visited the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

"The Lord is…of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." Num 14:18

Noah cursed Canaan, Ham’s innocent son, for Noah’s own drunken clumsiness.

"And [Noah] drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without…And [Noah] said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." Gen 9:21,22,25

God punished the innocent because of Sarah.

"…the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife." Gen 20:18

God punished Pharaoh through the slaughter of thousands of innocent children.

"…say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." Ex 4:22,23

"And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill…" Ex 11:4,5

"And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead." Ex 12:29,30

God smote the people of Israel, because David screwed up in doing a census.

"And God was displeased with this thing therefore he smote Israel." 1Cr 21:7

God banned bastards for being illegitimate. This ban lasted ten generations. At two people per generation, that’s over 1,000 people; at three per generation, that’s almost 60,000 people; and at four per generation, that’s over 1,000,000 people! Who of us can expect to escape this curse?

"A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord." Deut 23:2

14.5 The Bible said that only accepting Jesus as Christ could lead to salvation, so all who were ignorant of him were damned. Therefore, the millions who predated Jesus, died young, were mentally incapable, didn’t hear of Jesus until the missionaries arrived, were brought up in other faiths, or lived beyond Christian influence all went to hell regardless of their personal character. If those who didn’t hear the gospels were exempted, then incompetent missionaries were a global menace-if you were told of Christ, but hadn’t been convinced, you were damned. If a child younger than some imagined age of accountability was likewise exempted, then children should have been killed young or aborted to insure their salvation. To us, this doctrine is morally repugnant and unjust.

"Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies." Ps 58:3

"No one comes to the Father except through me." Jn 14:6

"…but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son." Jn 3:18

"…he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." 1Jn 5:12

14.6 God punished virgins for being raped. They were forced to marry their rapist without any possibility of divorce. The rapist got off with a fifty-shekel fine and a marriage. The victim’s father, not the victim, received the fine. This was clearly unfair and treated the daughter as her father’s property. And why did it apply only to raped, unbetrothed, virgins? Oh yeah, betrothed virgins were stoned to death for being raped.

"If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days." Deut 22:28,29

"If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband…ye shall stone them with stones that they die;" Deut 22:23,24

14.7 God excused the murderer, Cain, who violated what was to become the sixth commandment by issuing a relatively innocuous punishment.

"…Cain rose up against Abel…and slew him." Gen 4:8

"When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." Gen 4:12
God then protected this murderer from his enemies. Notice that God didn’t offer Cain any physical protection, only the promise of vengeance against his killers. What vengeance could be seven times as bad as murder, unless God intended to punish some innocents as well?

"And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." Gen 4:15

14.8 God had Onan executed for refusing to get his late brother’s widow pregnant according to local tradition.

"And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him also." Gen 38:8-10

14.9 Parents had to submit their stubborn, rebellious, gluttonous, or drunken sons to be stoned to death (and teenagers think puberty is tough in modern times). Do they teach this in your Sunday School?

"Then shall his father and mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders…And they shall say…This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die…" Deut 21:19-21

14.10 God ordered Moses and his gang to plunder. God took his cut (by way of a priest of course).

"And the booty…And the Lord’s tribute of the sheep…and the beeves…and the asses…and the persons were sixteen thousand [the surviving virgins]; of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty and two persons. And Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord’s heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses." Num 31:32,37-41

14.11 God gave Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar for his army to plunder. God levied a 100% tax on foreigners (as slaves) and their property to support his aggression against Tyre.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord God. Ezek 29:19,20

14.12 The law allowed a king to burn alive a single mother-to-be along with her unborn child.

"…Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt." Gen 38:24

14.13 God knew that great suffering and injustice would happen to innocent people, but he did nothing about it. God would then punish a whole nation rather than the responsible individuals.

"…Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve…" Gen 15:13

14.14 God commanded punishment 400 years after the offense on innocent people who had nothing to do with an offense. Revenge was, indeed, a dish best served cold.

"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." 1Sam 15:2,3

14.15 Christians can’t arm-wave the Old Testament law’s injustices as merely a Jewish problem since Jesus, himself, supported the law’s authority.

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Mt 5:17,18

"And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Lk 16:17

"And [Jesus] said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Lk 16:31

"Then [the resurrected Jesus] said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken…And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Lk 24:25,27

"For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" Jn 5:46,47

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God…" 2Tim 3:16

"By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son." Heb 11:17

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" Jas 2:21

14.16 Although this item falls outside the normal scope of this tome, Shakespeare's greatest play, Hamlet, presents a sterling example of the injustice of the Bible's salvation/damnation premise. Hamlet postponed his just revenge on his father's murderer, because that murderer was then at prayer and would be swiftly dispatched into Heaven while the victim of that murder, his father, was damned to torment, because he died while the weight of his unforgiven sins were still upon him. The victim suffers, but the murderer goes to Heaven. Where's the justice in that?

"Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;
and now I'll do't:— and so he hoes to heaven;
And so am I revenged:— that would be scann'd:
A villain kills my father; and, for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven.
O, this is hire and salary, not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread;
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;
And how his audit stands who knows save heaven?
But, in our circumstance and course of thought,
'Tis heavy with him: and am I, then, revenged,
To take him in the purging of his soul,
When he is fit and season'd for his passage?
No.
Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent:
When he is drunk, asleep, or in his rage;
Or in th'incestuous pleasure of his bed;
At gaming, swearing; or about some act
That has no relish of salvation in't:—
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven;
And that his soul may be as damn'd and black
As hell, whereto it goes..." Hamlet, Act III, Scene III.