The Bible is the Foundation for Objective Morals.

Thank you for your response, I will respond to your arguments in the order you placed. A) Before you can condemn the Bible for condoning slavery, it is important to understand the differences slavery was back then and now. The slavery we know as today is an evil, however back in the days when the Bible was written, it was not so much a bad thing. When you became a slave, you were "owned" by your master. Sounds like destroying dignity, right? Well, what did that mean to the people reading such laws in those days. When a person became a slave, he became a member of the masters house. Just as a son or daughter is "owned", in a sense, be his or her parents, the same is said for the slave of that time. We see this type of relationship here "As he entered Caper'na-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, 'Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.'" (Matt 8:5-7) So, slavery was not what you think it as, but rather very beneficial to the slave for the slave had a home, food, and he belonged to the masters house, which was held in high respect. B) "Remember to keep holy the Sabbath." The reason why Christians observe Sunday the Sabbath instead of Saturday, as Jewish law observes, is a very practical reason. At first, the Sabbath for Christians was Saturday, however, Our Lord Jesus Christ made Sunday a very holy day because he Resurrected on Sunday, and so the Holy Spirit moved Sabbath to Sunday for that reason. There is no scriptural text regarding this change, the reasoning has been passed down through Apostolic writings and Sacred Tradition. However I do no believe that this will void my side of the debate because the subject was not the subject intended and I found it necessary to explain the reasoning behind this. C) Honor your Father and Mother. I agree with you this is not objective, but is something expected of us. You gave the example of the Father raping his daughter. Unfortunately this happens, however, should the daughter hate her father or hope the father changes. I would hope that my father would change if that happened to me, and that is in a way honoring your parents. D) Again, before con can claim the Bible contradicts itself, con must first understand the context and beliefs of that time. As a matter of fact, God commands the people of Israel to kill nations. "Now go and smite Am'alek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." 1 Samuel 15: 3. Now anyone can agree this is an evil act, but read the verses before it, "This is what the Lord of hosts has to say: "I will punish what Am'alek did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt." 1 Sam 15: 2 Now as to your attack on the issue of homosexuality, again, con should understand what that meant to the people in those days. Homosexuality was a very terrible sin, it was almost as bad as murder itself. We see again that homosexuality is a terrible sin. "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor 6: 9-10. Where sexual perverts is a reference to homosexuals. God tells us that homosexuality is such a serious sin, that they should be put to death. (Lev 20:13) Yet, Christians do not do this and it definitely seems outrageous, but was God doing? He was purifying Israel. God was trying to make Israel a "priestly" nation for the rest of the nations. "You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." Another example would be would it be a serious evil if you killed someone that was trying to kill you. The Bible says "Thou shall not kill" but we understand this as killing innocents, not guilty. The same principle applies to striking your mother and father, unless, of course, the mother and/or father perform acts of evil on the child. This is known as observing the "Spirit" of the Law and not the explicit words of the law. Jesus emphasizes the Spirit of law when He says, "You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And so, the Bible needs to be interpreted carefully, with the Spirit in mind and what it meant in those days. E) Again, con has failed to refer to the passages before the verse. The prophet explains his vision God gave him 1 Kings 22: 20-22 says "The Lord asked, 'Who will deceive Ahab, so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said this, and another that, until one of the spirits came forth and presented himself to the Lord saying, "I will deceive him." The Lord asked, "How?" He answered, "I will go forth and become a lying spirit in the mouths of all the prophets.' The Lord replied, 'You shall succeed in deceiving him.'" God does not make the person lie, but allows a spirit who has betrayed God to deceive him. 2 Chronicles 18:22 is the EXACT same story. Jeremiah 4:10, again,is a misinterpretation. In the Bible the verse has a little star next to it, and in the footnote below it explains, "False prophets blame their deception on God." It was the people's fault for listening to false prophets, God did not lie. Jeremiah 20:7 is again, another half-versed attack. What is said right after that? "You were too strong for me, and you triumphed." Con did not even write down the rest of the verse! This is a classic feeling among Jews and Christians alike where we think, sometimes, God is not that powerful because He does not do such powerful things, and then He shows us His power, and we feel deceived. However, When did God lie? Ezekiel 14:9, again, con should look at the footnotes. The verse means that God allowed the prophet to be deceived, that is how the Jews of that time understood that saying. 2 Thessalonians 2: 11, again is referring to God allowing these evils to happen, to separate the "men form the boys" idea. Your either on God's side or not, if your on His side, you do not believe the lies He allows you to hear. F) Con failed to give the land Cain settled down in. The Bible says it is as the land of Nod, which is not a definite geographical region, the land refers to the "land of Nomads". What are nomads? Travelers. Also, the descendants of Cain are known as the Canaanites, who are evil peoples. Now cons reference to Jacob is, again, provided with half of the information. The Bible says "Not only will I go down to Egypt with you; I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes." And that is what happened, Jacob was buried by his son Joseph in the land God promised. G) I do not wish to repeat all I said back to argument (D) 7. Until con has read the Bible cover to cover and understand the true interpretations, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, I will not continue to argue pro's statement on "The Bible doesn't know what message it wants to extend." H) God can not be the author of evil, hate, and immorality, because what is evil? The same thing cold is. Cold is the absent of heat, evil is the absence of good, and because everything God made is good, whatever twists itself and decides not to do Gods will is doing evil things for it is not of God.