Why I'm Not Religious

Bring Back the A-Word

Basic moral principles apply not only to Jews, in other words, but to all people, even those that don't follow Jewish dietary laws. If any country defies them, it will suffer a fate akin to the Canaanites'. The men and women of Canaan were not held responsible for not observing the Jewish Sabbath--to pick another example of a practice asked only of Jews; but they were held responsible for rejecting the fundamental moral tenet that marriage is between a man and a woman.

[...]

Any Bible-believer must agree that it’s God’s will, not man’s intellect, which decides profound moral questions.

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After all, we are talking about laws of nature as God made it. An ancient rabbinic teaching says that in creating the world, He first looked in the Torah, Scripture’s first five books and their explanatory traditions. In other words, the Bible is not a set of arbitrarily imposed rules. It’s a blueprint of how the world works.

My emphasis, which is why I'm not a theist.

That's David Klinghoffer on Beliefnet.

The very first questions anyone should ask someone who says this are

1. If Gawd willed child rapists to do what they do, does that make it moral?
   
2. If God revealed a Bible II with a whole new set of teachings and instructions and many of them directly contradict statements in prior biblical Books, would you follow them? "Sorry folks, that was just a test. This here is the Real Deal. Just checking to see if you'd play along!"
   
3. I consider "how does the world work?" a very profound and fundamental question that touches upon all aspects of life, humanity, and morality. Why are you relying on fallible and human-derived reasoning ("An ancient rabbinic teaching says...") for a question as important as that when you just said Gawd is the source of such teaching?
   
4. If Gawd decides what actions are moral and what aren't, doesn't that dilute individual responsiblity? If you don't know the true morality of your actions (since Gawd determines this outside of human intellect) and therefore know the ethical costs associated with your actions, how can you hold someone accountable for them - especially if that means damnation? Additionally, what's to stop Gawd from changing His or Her mind? Does theft become charity, murder flip to birth, and lying reversed to honesty?

Then again, Mr. Klinghoffer goes on to say this elsewhere:

This doesn't mean we have to stone gays or carry out any of the other penalties for misbehavior outlined in the Hebrew Bible. These are meant to be applied only in a Jewish commonwealth, and then only under very special conditions. (There needs to be a Temple in Jerusalem with a high-court, or Sanhedrin, sitting in judgment there on capital trials. Look for these when the Messiah comes, ushering in a new world full of the knowledge of God where the need for harsh justice will thus be exceedingly rare.)

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We Americans don’t live in a society governed by Mosaic law. However, neither did the Canaanites. When the Bible speaks of their moral failings in very specific ethical areas, and the consequent downfall of their civilization, there is a lesson not just for a Jewish society but for everyone. The way God sets things up, a society that institutionalizes same-sex unions will ultimately suffer tragic consequences--“disgorgement” from its place in the world. What, in very concrete terms, would that mean? Let’s hope we don’t have to find out.

Wow.

Well then *cough* it may be best to skip the questions and move on to someone else. Since it looks like I am for the downfall of human civilization, there probably isn't much point to talking with him anyway.

Via Andrew Sullivan, who, if he was consistent, would be agreeing with Mr. Klinghoffer rather than not.

Posted by Drizzten at December 12, 2003 12:56 AM