The central event in the Old Testament is the enactment of the Mosaic Covenant. God and Israel (the descendants of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham) entered into a covenant during the time of Moses where Israel promised to worship God and obey his laws and God promised to give them land and protection. The covenant […]
Entries Tagged as 'Old Testament Ethics'
Sunday Study: The Mosaic Covenant as a Vassal Treaty
August 9th, 2009 Comments Off on Sunday Study: The Mosaic Covenant as a Vassal Treaty
Tags: Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study
Sunday Study: Abraham and Isaac – Did God Command the Killing of an Innocent?
July 26th, 2009 17 Comments
Perhaps the most infamous passage in the Hebrew scriptures occurs in Genesis 22:2, Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Of course, as anyone who […]
Tags: Abraham · Abram · Ethics · Genesis · Isaac · John Hare · Kant · Kenneth Kitchen · Killing Innocents · Louise Anthony · Old Testament Ethics · Philip Quinn · Robert Adams · Selection · Stephen Evans · Sunday Study
Sunday Study: Does the Bible Teach that a Rape Victim has to Marry her Rapist?
July 5th, 2009 53 Comments
In our recent discussion on the Bible’s teachings on slavery John Loftus asked Madeleine, “if you were raped you should marry your rapist? Get real. … Would you want to be treated the way the Bible says women and slaves should be treated?” Loftus then dedicated a post on Debunking Christianity to Madeleine’s “stupidity” for […]
Tags: John Loftus · Michael Martin · Old Testament Ethics · Sexual Morality · Sunday Study · Theology
Sunday Study: Slavery, John Locke and the Bible
June 28th, 2009 100 Comments
It is often affirmed, as an incontestable and obvious truth, that the Bible supports slavery. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong cites Leviticus 25:44 as evidence of this charge in “Why Traditional Theism is not an Adequate Foundation for Morality.”[1] Although Armstrong is not the alone in making this claim, I think the charge is mistaken; the Bible does […]
Tags: John Locke · John Loftus · Old Testament Ethics · Selection · Slavery · Sunday Study · Theology · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
Sunday Study: Did Christ Abolish the Old Testament Law? Part 2
June 7th, 2009 8 Comments
As I concluded in Sunday Study: Did Christ Abolish the Old Testament Law? Part I , the Apostles rejected the claim that, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”[1] Following Peters position, they decide that Gentiles do not have to follow the Mosaic Law; instead it is affirmed, It […]
Tags: Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study · Theology
Sunday Study: Did Christ Abolish the Old Testament Law? Part I
May 31st, 2009 8 Comments
At the start of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ states, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of […]
Tags: Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study · Theology
Sunday Study: Sodom and Gomorrah Part II
May 17th, 2009 9 Comments
In my previous Sunday Study post, Sodom and Gomorrah Part I, I argued that it is a mistake to conflate what scriptural narratives describe with what they prescribe. I suggested that often the characters in these narratives do things that The Torah later explicitly condemns and in this context it is plausible to read the […]
Tags: Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study · Theology
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
