Evolving Moral Standards Are Evidence Against the God of the Bible
I learn how to defend what I believe better because of the discussions I have with intelligent Christians. Here's an exchange I recently had with Steve Hays on David Wood's Blog:
Both David Wood and Steve Hays criticized Christopher Hitchens for lacking a moral standard to revile Christianity with. This is usual fare among Christians. In Steve's words:
What Hitchens does...is to attack Biblical theism and Biblical morality alike by his extrabiblical sense of what is right and wrong.
Since that is how Hitchens has chosen to frame the argument from evil, he needs to explain and justify his own source and standard of moral valuation.
I had said with Hitchens that Christians do not live up to their own morality. And sometimes they cause suffering when they do follow it.
Steve Hays:
What examples can Loftus cite without begging the question?
John W. Loftus said...
Steve, suffering is obvious. It's pain, pure and simple. Hitchens...has shown how professing Christians have caused suffering in the world though, and professing Christians are the ONLY kind of Christians we see. According to your own belief system a Christian isn't a perfect person (but instead one who believes), so you cannot plausibly argue that the ones causing this suffering are not true Christians without also claiming Christians are sinless, in my opinion.
As far as God commanding his followers to do what we now consider evil goes, I consider the following commands evil: your God declared that a slave is the property of another man (Exodus 21:21). A female captive in war was forced to be an Israelite man’s wife (Deuteronomy 21:10-14). If a virgin who was pledged to be married was raped, she was to be stoned along with her rapist (Deuteronomy 22:23-24), while if a virgin who was not pledged to be married was raped, she was supposed to marry her rapist (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).
I consider the evidence of evolving moral standards--standards that you yourself now accept--as evidence against the God of the Bible...or can you justify honor killings? Answer me this. In obedience to God would you have stoned a virgin pledged to be married, along with her rapist?...or not?
I'm awaiting his answer.