Old Testament Morality

[Quath]

I am curious as to how believers in the Abrahamic religions deal with the morality of the Old Testament.

Some examples of morality from it:

1. A raped virgin has to marry her rapist.
2. If a girl has pre-maritial sex and is discovered on her wedding night, she is to be stoned to death before her parents. No such law for men.
3. If you work on Saturday, you should be killed.
4. It is ok to kill the children of your enemy.
5. It is ok to kill the children of criminals for the crimes of the criminal.
6. Slavery is acceptable - Beating slaves is ok as long as they don't die. Rape of slaves is mild (kill an animal if woman was engaged or marriied, no punishment of she was not).
7. Witches should be killed.
8. Homosexuals should be killed.
9. Those who curse their parents should be killed.
And so on...

Do believers mostly just see these as cultural laws that only apply to the ancient Hebrews (including 10 commandments)? Or do many not see this as literally correct? Or do people see God changing with time from supporting this to oposing this?

I am just curious as to how people reconcile beliefs that are reported to come from the deity they worship, yet they probably personally disagree with them.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I do not Live by the Jewish law
As a Christian I have no need to.
I read the Old testament In a selective way and with interest.
I try to Live my life By the Values Given us By Jesus.
Even Bible alone Christians do not follow these laws.

 

[Quath]

When you read the Old Testament in a selective way, does that mean in a nonliteral way? For example, do you think God set up the morality laws of the Old Testament?

 

[Deut 13:1]

without wasting my time going through all of these, pick the three that you have your greatest contention with, and i'll address those.

 

[jewscout]

perhaps it should be noted that the halacha of judaism is far more complex than what is contained simply in the Torah.

 

[charles brough]

without wasting my time going through all of these, pick the three that you have your greatest contention with, and i'll address those.

How about the Old Testament condoning slavery? How about the taking of other people's lands and slaughtering them? How about the sacrificing of one's son?

Perhaps it is that the Jewish moral system is how Jews should behave to each other but the rest of the world, which is the UN-chosen by God people, are to be treated whatever way is practical without restraint.

Most believers of Judaism are secular and follow morals similar to the rest of us, the "Un-chosen," but some 15% are rabid Orthodox who are fanatical in the brutal way they view "others"---especially their enemies in the Near East.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

I am curious as to how believers in the Abrahamic religions deal with the morality of the Old Testament.

In context.

 

[Quiddity]

In context.

Sounds simple enough...

 

[Lindsey-Loo]

What Terry said.

As a Christian, I don't follow the Old Testament. If I did that would make me like...Jewish? So I don't really know how most Jewish people would justify not following those commands, but Christians and Muslims will both tell you that we are under new laws, not the Old Covenant.

 

[jewscout]

How about the Old Testament condoning slavery? How about the taking of other people's lands and slaughtering them? How about the sacrificing of one's son?

Perhaps it is that the Jewish moral system is how Jews should behave to each other but the rest of the world, which is the UN-chosen by God people, are to be treated whatever way is practical without restraint.

Most believers of Judaism are secular and follow morals similar to the rest of us, the "Un-chosen," but some 15% are rabid Orthodox who are fanatical in the brutal way they view "others"---especially their enemies in the Near East.

ok wow, that's not angry?

first of the Torah sets up laws of Slavery which are there only in the case where slavery exists in society, and Torah law allows for the freeing of said slaves every 50 years

As for the invasion of Canaan, this is part of a concept of "faith" where G-d gave the Israelites the instructions to come in and take the land from people, which tradition tells us, weren't exactly nice people. But, for an atheist, i don't expect you to necessarily understand coming from a totally different point of reference.

As for the sacraficing of one's son...trying reading the whole story and looking at JEWISH commentary on it rather than just reading the text before you blast the Jewish faith.

and as to the concept of choseness...you, as well as many others, do not understand who Judaism views the concept of choseness and it appears that in your venomous post you haven't taken the time to figure out what it's all about.

so before you start blasting a faith and it's followers i'd suggest you learn something about it first.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

ok wow, that's not angry?

first of the Torah sets up laws of Slavery which are there only in the case where slavery exists in society, and Torah law allows for the freeing of said slaves every 50 years
.

That was rather more than the average lifespan in those days.

Rather like releasing them when they were too old to be useful...so you did not have to support them in their old age... That does not read as a very charitable law.

 

[Aasimar]

I know this isn't a debate forum, so I'm not trying to debate. I've often heard it said that Old Testament law is ignored because the coming of Jesus repudiated the need to follow it. Are there any teachings or versus that someone could point me too to back this up? I just wanna know where the justification for the claim comes from.

 

[jewscout]

That was rather more than the average lifespan in those days.

Rather like releasing them when they were too old to be useful...so you did not have to support them in their old age... That does not read as a very charitable law.

the concept of the 'Jubilee Year' does not begin with when a person is born or enslaved...theoretically a person could be enslaved and then 2 years later be freed because that's the year the Jubilee falls on.

it's not related to the life of people but the cycle of the Shmeetah, or Sabatical, years.