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ETHICS IN THE HEBREW BIBLE See Also: 613 Mitzvot Prescriptive utterances (commandments) are found throughout, closely related to the concept of Ritual Purity and the Covenant al relationship to JHWH , but also to matters of daily communal life Jewish tradition classically schematizes these prescriptions into 613 '' Mitzvot '' ("commandments"), beginning with "Be fruitful and multiply" (God's command to all life) and continuing on to the Seven Laws Of Noah (addressed to all humanity) and the several hundred laws which apply specifically to Jews (such as the Kashrut dietary laws). The Tanakh records the customs and traditions of an Iron Age Canaanite people, and does not give justifications or reasons for its prescriptions. Some, such as the prohibition of theft and murder, are near-universal, while others, such as Levirate marriage, record specific tribal customs. Unsurprisingly in an Iron Age legal text, several Biblical prescriptions do not correspond to modern notions of justice; this may concern concepts of divinely sanctioned War fare and Genocide , and capital punishment for sexual behaviour such as adultery or "sodomy" (see The Bible And Homosexuality ), endorsement of slavery. The often drastic and merciless punitive measures taken by God are notably problematized in the Old Testament itself, in the Book Of Job . ETHICS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT The nature and context of the books of the , whether non-Jewish converts should be considered bound to the Mitzvot, are addressed directly, e.g. regarding Dietary Laws :"Don't you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can't defile him, because it doesn't go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, thus making all foods clean?" (Mark 7:18) or regarding Divorce :"I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery." () The central teachings of ( Agape ) both towards God and one's fellow men: :"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" This reply was, in context, conservative. Jesus' first commandment is actually the second line of the Shema , a passage from the Torah that priests recited in the Temple, and that other Jews recited in their prayers, twice a day; the Pharisees , like most Jews, considered this to be the most important principle in Judaism. Jesus' second commandment echoes the principle of Hillel , one of the most important Pharisees in the decades prior to Jesus' birth. In short, Jesus answers the Pharisee by quoting the two most important Pharisaic principles. Elsewhere in the New Testament (for example, the "Farewell Discourses" of John 14 through 16) Jesus elaborates on what has become known the commandment of love, repeated and elaborated upon in the epistles of Paul ( 1 Corinthians 13 etc.) THEOLOGICAL ISSUES Divine command theory See Also: Divine command theory A central problem in religiously motivated ethics is the apparent tautology inherent in the concept that what is commanded by God is morally right. This line of reasoning is introduced most famously in Plato 's dialogue '' Euthyphro '', which asks whether something is right because the gods love it, or whether the gods love it because it is right. God's benevolence Another major problem in Monotheist ethics is the Problem Of Evil , the apparent contradiction between a benevolent, all-powerful God and the existence of Evil . Theodicy seeks to explain why we may simultaneously affirm God's goodness, and the presence of evil in the world. Some Jews, Christians, and Muslims say that God is not exclusively good, but transcends all opposites; or cannot be described. Thus, to call him "good" is as inadequate as to call him "evil" (see Mysticism ). Descartes in his ''Meditations'' considers, but rejects, the possibility that God is an evil demon (" Dystheism "). The Bible contains numerous examples of what some might call the "dark side" of God.
INFLUENCE ON MODERN BELIEVERS A recent social psychology study suggests a positive relationship between exposure to scriptural violence, said to be condoned by God, and increased aggression according to an experimental measure. 205 male and 285 female students at Brigham Young University (Provo, UT) and Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam) were shown an obscure and isolated Old Testament passage containing references to violent acts such as rape, beatings, and killing. {Link without Title} Half of the survey group was then shown an extended version of the passage from the Bible without additional context which indicated that God sanctioned violent retribution. That half responded with increased aggression in a subsequent measurement that the participants were informed was part of a different study. Overall, the study concluded that people who were informed that God sanctioned the passage's violence were more likely than others to behave aggressively themselves. {Link without Title} The lead researcher, Brad J. Bushman of Institute for Social Research in University of Michigan (Bushman researches other effects of violence, such as violence in Video Gameshttp://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/pubs.htm), views the study as reinforcing the need to read scripture with an understanding of its historical context and a desire to hear what God is trying to teach. Otherwise, reading a violent passage in isolation could elicit aggressive tendencies. NOTES REFERENCES SEE ALSO |
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