Biblical Tradition

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The Western Approaches Division of Ethics Ten Commendments

The Bible

The Biblical tradition approaches morality from an opposite point of view: the Israelites believed that the "source of morality lay outside themselves, in a righteous God" and that his teachings alone "formed that law" (p. 34, 2). They needed not to enquire on why, or where this imperatives originated, since the "father" and "shepherd" had brought them down to them.

This approach requires two fundamental moral commitments: the first to social justice, the second to love of God and neighbor. The latter is very different from the materialistic and rational views of the Greeks, whom conceived love as sexual attraction and/or the natural affection of friends (p. 34, 4).

Newton expands on the "intellectual fragility" of this system, created by the three paradoxes:

1. "Fatherhood". This portrays the father as an authoritarian parent who expects perfection, but is always ready to forgive.

2. "Omnipotence". This portrays God as good and yet allowing evil, creating a doubt in people's mind, attempting to reconcile his benevolence "with the agonizing death by starvation of innocent children" (p. 35-36).

3. "Idealism". This creates confusion by expecting forgiveness and no resistance to evil ("Turn the other cheek"), while doing justice by punishing evildoers.

In the attempt to rationalize and make sense of this ethical system, it appears that the Bible teaching is mainly directed at preparing the soul for the " Kingdom of Christ", not as a guide for actual practice (p. 36, 2).