Not all in Bible sets good example for kids

By The Rev. Hank Shiver

    One letter writer may have had a positive life because of her faith. Many more have not.

    Just look at 1 Samuel 15:2-3: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camels and donkey, and stomp on the ants!"

    Today we call such acts war crimes. Should teachers ignore such evil when a Bible lesson is taught?

Exodus 11:2: "Let every man borrow of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver and jewels of gold." A reasonable read would let one know that Moses directed the Jews to steal anything of value that could be easily transported. Should we teach that theft is moral if it is done for God?

    King David married several women and was a peeping Tom. He climbed to the top of his castle and watches his best friend’s wife bathe. David commanded her to his bedroom, where he raped her. Bathsheba conceived and David had her husband killed to cover up the rape. After Bathsheba’s firstborn dies, and she mourns his death, David forces her to be his wife. For all the evil done by David, God rewards him by making him the greatest king of all Israel. Is this a good message for our youth?

    No parent would allow their child to read the Song of Solomon, if it were not in the Bible. It is pure pornographic poetry. Should pornographic poetry be taught to young people, just as their ungodly hormones are kicking in?

    As America’s godfather, Thomas Paine said, "Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and for my own part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel.

    "Few founding fathers considered the Bible a moral guide. That is why the Christian religion was left out of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. There is a textbook on the Bible. It is "The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine. This could be taught in school as classical literature.

The Rev. Hank Shiver
Munford, Ala.