Firstly, nobody makes you to interpret the bible literally. In fact, literal interpretation is a bit improbable (that being a huge understatement). This mixes with the second thing: the bible is *extremely* old. There were different norms then. Slavery was accepted as a norm, as were some other practices mentioned on that web page. Those were totally different times, and even the accounts of numbers may well be overstated due to (for example) changes in spoken language (while the Torah nearly hasn't changed).
That said, I do not say that all things in bible are right. And this is were man's intellect should act. Otherwise fundamentalism begins, and I never should state that it is good. Besides with his New Commandment (love of other people) Jesus basically overridden the Old Testament, so why should a Christian even go into the details of bad deeds in Old Testament?
Torah is basically that -- the Old Testament of Christians, though it was changed and, well, rephrased so that it suited Christianity better (AFAIK). Torah isn't harmful mostly because of the small number of Jews (;)), otherwise it could have been more harmful then Q'uoran or bible, because of the points mentioned by you.
Summarizing once more, I think, that a good Christian, understanding the teachings of Jesus, would not be killing or raping or whatever else is described in the book. As for the website, most of the comments to quotations is plainly untrue, bending the quotations to suit the author, and totally omitting fragments saying different things. I think that the most important thing is to remain calm and thinking. Does anyone blame Hinduists for the caste system or burning of the widows today? I didn't hear about it. So why should we blame Christians for deeds that nearly none of them do. IMHO blaiming bible for violence is at best far-fetched.
Sorry for the length and possible mistakes, it's nearly 4 am here :) |
