Do morals and good behaviour in modern days make the Bible obsolete, since we already are respecting each other, living (rather) peaceful lives and have enough time for spiritual/philosophical growth. Wouldn't God be happy with that, even if we don't pray to him or sacrifice a goat in his name?
-Andi
Interesting question, Andi.
There are a lot of reasons why one might look at the Bible and decide that it is obsolete. It's age, for one, with even the newest parts going on two thousand years old. It's cosmology, for another. As I discussed in an earlier vlog, the universe painted by the Bible looks nothing like the Universe that science has shown us. Now that cosmology was more concerned with smacking down the Egyptian Pantheon than serving as an Astrophysics lesson, but that it was meant to be an effective metaphor shows just how old the message is.
Discussions of Slavery that took the institution for granted. Marriage codes that were revolutionary for their time but now are fairly backwards. The complete omission of lesbianism. (Seriously, anyone who gives a lesbian couple grief on a Biblical basis should have it pointed out for them that literally every passage that could be construed to condemn gay relationships is speaking EXPLICITLY about guy on guy. The lesson here: God loves lesbians.) The list goes on, full of reasons why someone could reasonably ask why they should hold that book as authoritative.
Your reason, however, is definitely NOT on that list.
Look at the world around us. How much more moral are we, really? Sure, we have finally admitted that sexism and racism are bad, but they are very certainly not gone. Seems like every time you turn around there is another shooting, another hate crime, another politician earning the praise of the rich off the backs of the poor.
Besides, it's not like the Bible set a morality bar as a goal and, once that goal was achieved, was like "ok, good enough for me!" Say what you will about the Biblical authors, they had a pretty decent grasp on human nature. They recognized that humans were always going to have problems, were always going to trip up, be greedy, be angry. The goal has never been for humanity to reach some arbitrarily defined good, but rather to help humanity get better. And I think there will always be room for improvement.
How effective it is to that task is another item on the list of reasons why the Bible could be said to be obsolete. I would argue that the believers who get spotlighted in those conversations aren't following the scriptures at all, but they CLAIM to be, and so the legitimate argument CAN be made.
But if your question is whether or not humanity has surpassed the morality that the Bible says that God wants of them, then my answer to you is no, no we have not. Speaking morally and ethically, we as a race have a long way to go, yet. I personally think the Bible can help us get there.
But, hey, Pastor here. So I MAY be a bit biased. :)
Interesting question, Andi.
There are a lot of reasons why one might look at the Bible and decide that it is obsolete. It's age, for one, with even the newest parts going on two thousand years old. It's cosmology, for another. As I discussed in an earlier vlog, the universe painted by the Bible looks nothing like the Universe that science has shown us. Now that cosmology was more concerned with smacking down the Egyptian Pantheon than serving as an Astrophysics lesson, but that it was meant to be an effective metaphor shows just how old the message is.
Discussions of Slavery that took the institution for granted. Marriage codes that were revolutionary for their time but now are fairly backwards. The complete omission of lesbianism. (Seriously, anyone who gives a lesbian couple grief on a Biblical basis should have it pointed out for them that literally every passage that could be construed to condemn gay relationships is speaking EXPLICITLY about guy on guy. The lesson here: God loves lesbians.) The list goes on, full of reasons why someone could reasonably ask why they should hold that book as authoritative.
Your reason, however, is definitely NOT on that list.
Look at the world around us. How much more moral are we, really? Sure, we have finally admitted that sexism and racism are bad, but they are very certainly not gone. Seems like every time you turn around there is another shooting, another hate crime, another politician earning the praise of the rich off the backs of the poor.
Besides, it's not like the Bible set a morality bar as a goal and, once that goal was achieved, was like "ok, good enough for me!" Say what you will about the Biblical authors, they had a pretty decent grasp on human nature. They recognized that humans were always going to have problems, were always going to trip up, be greedy, be angry. The goal has never been for humanity to reach some arbitrarily defined good, but rather to help humanity get better. And I think there will always be room for improvement.
How effective it is to that task is another item on the list of reasons why the Bible could be said to be obsolete. I would argue that the believers who get spotlighted in those conversations aren't following the scriptures at all, but they CLAIM to be, and so the legitimate argument CAN be made.
But if your question is whether or not humanity has surpassed the morality that the Bible says that God wants of them, then my answer to you is no, no we have not. Speaking morally and ethically, we as a race have a long way to go, yet. I personally think the Bible can help us get there.
But, hey, Pastor here. So I MAY be a bit biased. :)
Honest question: Why do you feel that Rom 1:26-27 does not address both genders of homosexuality?
ReplyDeleteSure thing, Brian! You'll notice that in that passage only the men are mentioned as having sex with each other. The women go to "unnatural passions" but no change in their partners is mentioned. My interpretation is non-procreative sex acts is what are being considered, like oral or anal.
ReplyDeleteMy comment was mostly joking. My guess is the Biblical authors didn't really consider an act that didn't involve a penis penetrating something to be sex, rather than some tacit approval of lesbianism.