From: James Meritt <m23364@mwunix>
Newsgroups: alt.atheism.moderated
Subject: Re: Higher ideas in the Bible ?
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 18:13:15 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: MITRE Corporation, McLean VA

In article <emc.714232039@keiko> Eli Chiprout <emc@doe.carleton.ca> writes:
}Stephen Buckley <sbuckley@sfu.ca> writes:
}
}* all gods are not created equal.  none of the greek or roman gods asserted
}*their status as the one god of all creation, higher than all the others.
}
}I have seen this kind of argument before but in many different forms.  It goes
}something like this.  The Theology and/or morality of the Bible is always a
}step "higher" (leaving the debate of that metaphorical term for now) than the
}ideas prevalent in the culture of the time.

To add something from my Review of McDowell's farce:

Exodus 22:18
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live

Exodus 31:14
Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you. every one
that defileth it shall surely be put to death...

Deuteronomy 22:20-21
...and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: then they shall
bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of the
city shall stone her with stones that she die...

Proverbs:
26:10 The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool,
and rewardeth transgressors.

Jeremiah:
25:27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and
fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among
you.
25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to
drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye
shall certainly drink.

Deuteronomy:
20:12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war
against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: 20:13 And when the LORD thy
God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male 
thereof with the edge of the sword: 20:14 But the women, and the
little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the
spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the
spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

    Eric Rescoria writes:
    "Not really. A lot of the early Christian documents say similar things.
    The OT looks much like a lot of other Ancient Near Eastern literature of
    the time. E.g. Baal, Kirta.
    Also, the NT is quite similar in teachings to, say the Tao Te Ching."
    Loren I. Petrich writes:
    "    The Bible contains a mishmash of different teachings, some of
    them with little precedent in other sources, and others very
    commonplace. Exclusive monotheism (as opposed to syncretist
    monotheism) has been independently invented only a couple times -- by
    Akhnaton and by Zoroaster, for example (if these examples are valid).
    On the other hand, there are curious similarities between parts of the
    Sermon on the Mount and the _Tao Te Ching_ (to take one example).

        One supposed support for the Bible is its criticism of
    misbehaving Israelite kings. But the critics were apparently priests
    at odds with these kings, so the criticisms are not surprising.
    Furthermore, Greek and Roman historians include lots of critical
    comment."
    Michael I Bushnell writes:
    "Some of the teachings of the Bible are unique to
    Christianity, some are unique to both Christianity and Judaism, and
    some are quite common world-wide.  Any text probably expresses some
    things that are unique and some that are not, so the some of the
    Bible's teachings are unique, but that is not (depending on your
    definitions) a characterstic the Bible possesses uniquely."
    Michael L. Siemon writes:
    "As to "teachings" it is preposterous to attempt a measurement here; but
    something like the Lotus Sutra or Confucian Analects are quoted mindlessly
    by as many people as Biblical verses, while the tragic outlook and human
    individualism of the _Iliad_ are arguably more important teachings in the
    West than *anything* in the Bible (I don't necessarily believe that, but
    the argument is not trivially dismissible.)"
Loren I. Petrich writes:
"	The Bible has a very mixed record; some teachings are rare outside
the Bible, while others are very common.

	Exclusive monotheism is perhaps shared with two sources independent
of the Bible: Akhnaton and Zoroaster.

	Forbidding murder, theft, and other such mischief is practically
universal among legislators; the Ten Commandments are hardly distinctive
there."