Do we get our morality from the Bible?
Of course, irritated theologians will protest that we don’t take the book of Genesis literally any more. But that is my whole point! We pick and choose which bits of scripture to believe, which bits to write off as symbols or allegories. Such picking and choosing is a matter of personal decision, just as much, or as little, as the atheist’s decision to follow this moral precept or that was a personal decision, without an absolute foundation. If one of these is ‘morality flying by the seat of its pants’, so is the other. — The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
I know we get legalism from the Bible. And I would concur that there is significant overlap between that, moralism and performancism.
There’s so much overlap and interconnection between them [legalism, moralism, and performancism] that we’ll basically look at them here as one thing. –Jesus + Nothing = Everything by Tullian Tchividjian
So do we really look to the Bible for our morals? Abraham was a heathen. Moses was a murderer. David was an adulterer and murderer. I’m surprised Dawkins hasn’t pulled out the “man after God’s own heart” quote with regards to King David but it may be coming soon. I would say that prior to being saved I did perceive that I looked to the Bible for my morals. Not only that, I believe I selected what I was shown in the Bible to be my morals. This is a very interesting thought pattern given the Bible itself.
I cannot determine if I have looked to the Bible for my morality since being saved by the grace of God. If it doesn’t come from the Bible, then where does my morality as a construct come from? I think I would have to say after a bit of thought that morality comes from the common grace that God puts in all our hearts. Our conscience bears witness to this. Of course this is no answer for an atheist.
This sounds like a good question to ask the kids.