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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am the OP, and there are a few posts ascribing things to me I did not make, so let me clear up a few items:

- The title of the thread is "The Bible is an immoral book", and that is the main point I was making, separate from my Atheism.

- I understand that there are many Christians who are not biblical literalists -- that is a GOOD thing, and it enables both Christians and Atheists to agree on that main premise of the thread, that "The Bible is an immoral book".

- It also allow Atheists and Christians to together denounce things like the execrable Franklin Graham who said "As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized. The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman—not two men, not two women." just this week.

- Even non-literalist Christians would admit that fundamentalist Christians are still a significant force in society and speaking out against prejudice and erosion of personal liberties is important.

Happy to clarify or answer any questions beyond the above.[/quote]

I take it this is another thread about the Hebrew bible, the core of Jewish civilization, with its poetry, its epic narrative, and its intricate legal code (which continued to evolve after the closing of the cannon - as G-d expected and wanted, according to the Jewish tradition) from which Jews are implicitly excluded.[/quote]

Please don’t indulge this troll! She has no interest in anything you or anybody else says. She’ll twist it, pretend to misunderstand it, and then claim you don’t have a point. This has been going on long enough. [/quote]

First, you should google "The Streisand Effect".

Second, I appreciate the PP's response, which sounds like another stating the bible should not be taken literally.  I am betting the PP agrees the slavery points (and many others) are highly contradictory to his morals, as they are mine. [/quote]

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/does-the-bible-condone-slavery/[/quote]

Thanks, very good read.  And it is comforting to know that religious people have struggled with these passages also.

I'd be interested to know if there are similar articles about the other passages in post #1.[/quote]

Judaism at its best is all about struggling.[b] I think we get more wisdom when we struggle with the bible than when we dismiss it.[/b]

I also think asking one question at a time is best.  Listing 10 quotes may be good for polemic, but I think for learning, not so much. [/quote]

Many people don't dismiss the Bible until they done a great deal of struggling with it -- and found it unworthy as a holy book or as a guide for a good, moral life.[/quote]

We all make our choices.  As a Jew I don't read the bible alone as a guide, but look to the entire corpus of Jewish interpretive tradition, informed as far as possible by ethical reasoning (though [b]I consider it wise to have some skepticism about the state of secular ethical reasoning in any generation [/b]- do not forget that for millenia the highest and best such reasoning in the West was that of Aristotle, who also justified slavery).

Its holiness for me is inseperable from its role in the historical life of the Jewish people, in which course I see the hand of the eternal. The presence of a spark of the eternal in human history is "holy" even if that spark is hidden under human culture. [/quote]

Do you also consider it wise to have some skepticism about the state of Jewish ethical thinking?[/quote]

Not sure what you mean?   Problems with Levinas?  Don't like Pirkei Avot?

I thought it was clear when I said "informed as far as possible by ethnical reasoning" that I meant bringing in ethical reasoning (implicitly including skepticism, questioning)  in looking at traditional sources and approaches.

You do not have to join me in MY way of struggling with text, but you seem particularly hostile.[/quote]

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