Atheists On The Old Testament...

Recently, on Dinesh D'Souza's blog, some anti-Christians were throwing around verses from the Old Testament -- like dashing babies against rocks -- and insisting that we have to interpret them the way they want us to. Now, any knowledgeable Christian is going to understand the basic principle that we interpret the Old in light of the New, that is, through the lens of Jesus Christ. Further, we, at least we Catholics, don't abandon the Preambles to Faith, which are rationally based prefaces that, in logic, precede faith -- yes, they're called "preambles" for a reason! Anyway, I tried to impress upon them that, like any field of knowledge, you start with first principles, which you have to keep before your mind, which you cannot violate -- this, of course, takes intellectual discipline, which many people just don't have. Now, these particular people also happened to be subjectivists, which made their insistence that we interpret such verses the way they want us to all the more absurd. Here's the reason I gave them:

"If value and morality are purely subjective, that is, exist only in your head and not as a reflection of reality, then when you say that such and such is wrong you are really saying you feel or imagine such and such is wrong *even though it's really not*. The 'really not' logically accompanies every expression of your subjective moral view *if value and morality are purely subjective.* Now, when I say 'really' I mean 'in truth', and I accept the classic definition of truth: 'the conformity of the mind to reality.'"

"I'll tell you why understanding all of this is important to me. First, you will not understand where people, theists who are like me, are really coming from [on interpreting atrocities in the Old Testament] unless you understand this basic idea, which I grant is often just a vague intuition in some theist's minds. You see, I admit the problem of morality in certain Biblical passages is a real one, but that is because I believe morality is a real reflection of reality. That is, I believe there IS inherent worth to an individual -- not that I project it on someone if I want to. As soon as [any subjectivist] starts attacking anything the Bible says or that Christians have done, I hear the logical echo attending their words "but nothing is really right or wrong", and their criticisms find no sympathy with me for they want to share a common ground which they've already denied a basis in reality -- in truth."

"Let's put this all into perspective. Think of an atrocity; take the holocaust for example. Most likely you believe it's appalling and just plain wrong. However, if you take the line [subjectivist x] takes, you will be saying, "I feel the holocaust was wrong, but it really wasn't." Or, "I think dragging homosexuals behind my car is wrong, but it's really not." Isn't that a shock to your humanity? So, no matter how worked up a given subjectivist gets about a Biblical passage, no matter how morally outraged they appear to be, the cold, inescapable logic completes their every outburst with "but it's not really wrong" -- and I can hardly take them seriously."

There are various things to keep in mind when considering the Old Testament, like Midrash, like the difference between inspiration and revelation, like the fact that God and some of His perfections can be known through reason (thus anthropomorphisms are not to be taken literally), and, also, like Jesus was the perfect revelation of God, and his Church through the Holy Spirit (and by Christ's authority) can decipher certain dogmas from mythological imagery like Genesis; but none of these things (and others), which are necessary to keep before our minds while considering the question, will make any difference to one who doesn't really want to hear you...