The following was a “letter to the editor” I wrote and submitted to one of our local newspapers, in response to an article in their Religion Section, written by a certain “Reverend”.
RE – Article “Is the Good Book Good?” by the Reverend (Name omitted).
I have no desire to debate the Reverend, and would not comment, except that I am concerned for some of his readers who may be seeking truth, and would trust that he being a retired minister of the Gospel, would know what he is talking about.
Once again the Reverend proves that “great learning” does not guarantee knowledge. In his own words he admits he “cherry picked” to provide 21 examples out of the Bible to show how controversially barbaric it is, and suggests that it should not be called the Good Book. Of course, his statements do not reflect exactly what the Bible says.
For example, he says “Among the penalties for disobeying God is to eat your babies” (Leviticus 26:29). He makes it sound that due to their disobedience, it was a command from God to eat their children. But a careful reading of that portion of scripture describes an obstinate people who resist God. They were so depraved that they would resort to eating their sons and daughters due to their hunger. In fact, the Hebrews were surrounded by nations that would sacrifice their children in fire to appease their false gods.
We have the luxury today to view the barbarism of past millenniums through the prism of our modern declarations of human rights. But people are just as depraved today. As I write this, the news is covering the Boston Marathon bombings. People can look to recent news casts for examples of rape, murder, child killings, dismembering of bodies. Evil hasn’t changed much, even though we are so much more civilized. We can travel to other countries where some of the locals would kill us for our running shoes. Laws are only as good as the society that embrace them.
There are other statistics that are worth noting. The Reverend mocks those who would believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. It is telling that those who share his opinion have churches that are experiencing declining memberships, while those who take the Word of God seriously are growing.