Recently in an interview with Jim Wallis, Bill Maher on his show made the statement “Explain to me how a book that is written by God, who is perfect,
there’s so much–it’s pro-slavery, pro-polygamy, it’s homophobic, God in
the Old Testament is a psychotic mass murderer–I mean, there’s so many
things in it.". The interview can be seen here. There is much more about the interview and Jim Wallis that could be said, bit I am to address that particular comment made by Mr. Maher here.
Those accusations are often parroted by atheists against God and the bible. That fact that Bill Maher needs an explanation shows his lack of understanding on the matter. Jim Wallis was correct about one thing, slavery as practiced by the Hebrews was more like servitude. People often think of slavery today in terms of the African slave trade, however that sort of slavery was explicitly denounced:
On polygamy, it is true it was a common practice in Old-Testament times and many prominent biblical men had multiple wives and concubines including Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon. However does that mean that God was pro-polygamy? No, there is also rape, incest, and murder in the bible but just because it's there does not mean God supports it. It's just telling a story of what happened. God, in facts, makes a very pro-monogamy statement when he says "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh (Gen 2:24).
While polygamy was a common practice in Old Testament, often times it created only problems. For Abraham, there was such animosity between Sarah and Hagar that Hagar was forced to leave. With Jacob there was a rivalry between his wives Leah and Rachel. If King David had been content with one wife he would never have sinned with Bathsheb. King Solomon had hundreds of wives and concubines and yet they turned his heart away from God. This was warned about in Deuteronomy: "Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away... (Deu 17:17)" By the time we get to the New Testament, polygamy becomes phased out in favor of monogamy:
Bill Maher is correct with what the bible has to say about homosexuality. It explicitly condemns the "act" of homosexuality, the only way to get around those verses is to allegorize them. Much could be said about homosexuality, but suffice to say God created the genders for a specific purpose. It does not take a degree in biology and physiology to understand that the male anatomy is perfectly made for the female anatomy, and using it in a way that it is not intended is called a perversion. More on that here.
On Bill's last point he states God is a "psychotic mass murderer". Now I am going to assume he is talking about the Israelites conquest of Cannan and destroying whole cities including men, women, and children in the process. Interestingly Bill doesn't believe in the Bible, yet he does believe in the parts that make it look bad. One could write a whole dissertation on this topic but I'll keep it short. We have to put things into proper context. For one the people living in Cannan were not nice guys, they would sacrifice there children by burning them alive. They were aggressive and in many instances attacked Israel first and not one of them made a peace treaty with Israel. One of the main reasons they were wiped out was because they were evil. If the goal was genocide then everyone living in Cannan would have been killed but this was not so. Some were just driven out, others were allowed to remain. You can read more on that here.
Those accusations are often parroted by atheists against God and the bible. That fact that Bill Maher needs an explanation shows his lack of understanding on the matter. Jim Wallis was correct about one thing, slavery as practiced by the Hebrews was more like servitude. People often think of slavery today in terms of the African slave trade, however that sort of slavery was explicitly denounced:
"You shall not steal. (Exd 20:15)"We often look at history through the lens of modern society, but it was a different time and culture than it is today. What is the social norm now was not the social norm then. There were many reasons why people became slaves, sometimes it was out of necessity. Some chose to become slaves either to pay off their debts or because they were too poor to support themselves. Sometimes it was a punishment for a crime. Being a slave wasn't always a permanent situation and there were certain laws in effect to prevent mistreatment of slaves. While we may think of that sort of servitude negatively today it wasn't the social issue that it was then. They would probably find some of the things we do today as equally reprehensible to them. In any case it's a moot point considering Christians and Jews don't own slaves today. You can read more about slavery here.
"He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death. (Exd 21:16)"
"If a man is found kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; and you shall put away the evil from among you. (Deu 24:7)"
On polygamy, it is true it was a common practice in Old-Testament times and many prominent biblical men had multiple wives and concubines including Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon. However does that mean that God was pro-polygamy? No, there is also rape, incest, and murder in the bible but just because it's there does not mean God supports it. It's just telling a story of what happened. God, in facts, makes a very pro-monogamy statement when he says "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh (Gen 2:24).
While polygamy was a common practice in Old Testament, often times it created only problems. For Abraham, there was such animosity between Sarah and Hagar that Hagar was forced to leave. With Jacob there was a rivalry between his wives Leah and Rachel. If King David had been content with one wife he would never have sinned with Bathsheb. King Solomon had hundreds of wives and concubines and yet they turned his heart away from God. This was warned about in Deuteronomy: "Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away... (Deu 17:17)" By the time we get to the New Testament, polygamy becomes phased out in favor of monogamy:
"Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. (Mat 19:4-5)"Now, calling the bible homophobic shows an automatic bias against those who do not support the gay lifestyle. The word "homophobic" is an ad-hominem label that has it's roots in the gay activist community. It's a word that is intended to demonize and marginalize anyone who disagrees.
"Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. (Mark 10:11)"
"Let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. (1Co 7:2)"
Bill Maher is correct with what the bible has to say about homosexuality. It explicitly condemns the "act" of homosexuality, the only way to get around those verses is to allegorize them. Much could be said about homosexuality, but suffice to say God created the genders for a specific purpose. It does not take a degree in biology and physiology to understand that the male anatomy is perfectly made for the female anatomy, and using it in a way that it is not intended is called a perversion. More on that here.
On Bill's last point he states God is a "psychotic mass murderer". Now I am going to assume he is talking about the Israelites conquest of Cannan and destroying whole cities including men, women, and children in the process. Interestingly Bill doesn't believe in the Bible, yet he does believe in the parts that make it look bad. One could write a whole dissertation on this topic but I'll keep it short. We have to put things into proper context. For one the people living in Cannan were not nice guys, they would sacrifice there children by burning them alive. They were aggressive and in many instances attacked Israel first and not one of them made a peace treaty with Israel. One of the main reasons they were wiped out was because they were evil. If the goal was genocide then everyone living in Cannan would have been killed but this was not so. Some were just driven out, others were allowed to remain. You can read more on that here.
