Bible and Morality — A Survey of Morality in Religions

1899

The Bible and Morality

From our boyhood days until the time we were able to reason from cause to effect and to become in a limited degree familiar with the laws of nature and the laws which govern and regulate the universe regardless of our likes or dislikes, we had been led to believe by the defenders, the upholders and the expounders of the Bible that it was impossible for persons to form any high conceptions of morals and morality outside the morality which is contained within the lids of the Bible, and if we reject its ideal or standard of morality there is no way whereby we can become cognizant of the fact that it is absolutely wrong to lie, steal, kill, or to commit other crimes. While we have the highest respect for those who may entertain these ideas, we must not lose sight of the fact that morals or the practice of morality is universal, while on the other hand Christianity and those believing in the teachings of the Bible are local.

As we have heretofore stated, it is not our intention to cast any reflections upon those who have implicit faith in the Bible, but the greatest and the most beneficent moral maxims and percepts have been handed down to us through other channels than the Bible, and if all the bibles which have been in existence and which are in existence today were destroyed, morality would still exist in the world independent of them all.

The morality or the moral precepts which are contained in the Rig-veda (Bible) which was composed 2,400 years before Christ surpasses in beauty of expression the sentiments in the Bible. Its teachings about sin; its revelations; its belief in the ability of the gods to forgive; its belief that its Bible came from God; its rigid code of morals; its prayers; hymns, offerings and sacrifices are all rigidly believed in and lived up to by more than two hundred million people.

The Brahmin's idea of the trinity corresponds with the ideas which are taught to the people respecting the trinity at the present time. The Yend-Avesta (Bible) which is over twelve hundred years older than Christ or the Bible, contains many beautiful moral precepts. Its adherents believe in a Supreme Spirit, in gods and demons, who interfere with the affairs of this world, and who are ever at war with each other. Zoroaster, its great prophet, promulgated many commandments which are similar to those in the Jewish Bible. He also taught that he was in direct communication with the Lord. His creed and faith is of the simplest kind. It is "to fear God, to live a life of pure thoughts, pure words, pure deeds, and to die in the hope of a world to come. It is the creed of those who live nearest to the gods and served them faithfulest in every age, and wherever they dwell who accept it and practice it they bear witness to that which makes them children of the gods and brethren of the prophets among whom Zoroaster was not the least.

We must bear in mind that the Jews were carried away as captives to Babylon some six hundred years before Christ, and during the seventy years of exile there they came in contact with the Persian religion and derived their ideas from it pertaining to the immortality of the soul, which their own religion did not teach. They also borrowed from it their belief in a multitude of angels, and in Satan as the ruler of evil spirits, for prior to that time no Jewish writer nor the Jewish people had the faintest idea of heaven or h—ll or the plurality of worlds.

Buddha the awakened, whose followers number more than any other religious faith or system, is five hundred years older than Christ or the Bible. The Bible which was constructed by him contains many lofty and elevating moral precepts. It contains nothing to shock the minds of little children, nor to blunt the finer sensibilities of men and women. Buddha taught that "nothing on earth is stable, nothing is real. Life is as transitory as a spark of fire, or the sound of a lyre. There must be some supreme intelligence where we could find rest. If I attained it I could bring light to men. If I were free myself I could deliver the world." He also said: "The succoring of mother and father, the cherishing of wife and child and the following of a lawful calling, this is the greatest blessing."

"The giving alms, aid rendered to relations, blameless acts, this is the greatest blessing." "The abstaining from sins and the avoiding them, the eschewing of intoxicating drinks, diligence in good deeds, reverence and humility, contentment and gratefulness, this is the greatest blessing."

"Those who having done these things, become invincible on all sides, attain happiness on all sides. This is the greatest blessing."

"He who lives a hundred years vicious and unrestrained, a life of one day is better if a man is virtuous and reflecting. Let no man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart, it will not come near unto me. Even by the falling of water drops a water pot is filled; the fool becomes full of evil if he gathers it little by little." "Let us live happily then, not hating those who hate us!" "Let us dwell free from hatred among men who hate! and not to commit any sin, to do good and to purify one's mind." After these most wholesome maxims there follows ten commandments of which the first five apply to all people, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, not get drunk, etc.

Buddha taught that it is the duty of all men to honor their parents and care for their children, to be kind to the sick and poor and sorrowing. We must keep in mind that Buddha lived more than five hundred years before Christ, and the rites and ceremonies which his priests performed adopted with slight modifications by the Catholic church. He also held religious councils and sent out missionaries to all parts of the east.

Confucius, the great moral teacher and philosopher of China lived 551 years before Christ was born, and he gave us the golden rule. Among other wise and moral things Confucius said: "Coarse rice for food, water to drink, the bended arm for a pillow — happiness may be enjoyed even with these. But without virtue both riches and honor seem to me like a passing cloud."

Mahomet counseled his follower, to live good lives and to strive after the mercy of God by fasting, charity and prayer. He said: "A man's true wealth hereafter is the good he has done to his fellow men. When he dies people will ask, what property has he left behind him? But the angels will ask what good deeds has he sent before him. Mahomet enjoined his followers to show mercy to the weak and orphaned and kindness to brutes, to abstain from gambling, and the use of strong drink.

Out of one billion six hundred million people who are scattered over the face of the earth more than eleven hundred million believe in the teachings of the great moralists whom we have alluded to. In passing we cannot refrain from referring to Egypt and those wonderful people who inhibit the valleys of the Nile. Those strange people can trace their history back, 5,550 years before the Christian era. The morality which they practiced and the moral laws which they placed upon their statutes cannot be equalled. For instance, if the master of a slave caused the death of a slave, the owner was also put to death.

No other country in the civilized world ever enacted such a law. In America where all the slave holders were Christians the slaves were not in the possession of any rights which their masters were bound to respect.

It is admitted by all who are familiar with Egyptian history that the ten commandments which Moses claimed were written by the finger of God upon two tables of stone on Mount Sinai came from Egypt.

So it must be apparent to all that morality is not dependent upon the Bible. Our chief objection to the Bible is that it places a premium on vice and crime while at the same time it puts its everlasting seal of condemnation upon all honest and upright men and women who do not accept it as the infallible word of an all wise and merciful God.

—The Broad Ax, Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 18, 1899, p. 1.