Richard
Dawkins, in ‘The God Delusion’, states in essence that the Bible, both Old and
New Testaments, is predominantly focused on Jews and their interests. Two
quotes:
‘Christians seldom realize that much of the moral
consideration for others that is apparently promoted by both the Old and New
Testaments was originally intended to apply only to a narrowly-defined
in-group. ‘Love thy neighbour’ didn’t mean what we now think it means. It meant
only ‘Love another Jew’… (p.287).
‘It was Paul who invented the idea
of taking the Jewish God to the Gentiles.’ (p.292) In the same place he quotes
a John Hartung who said ‘Jesus would have turned over in his grave if he had known
that Paul was taking his plan to the pigs’ – an obvious reference to non-Jews.
So how do
these claims stack up?
First, some references from the
Old Testament.
·
After the Biblical Flood God said ‘9 “I now
establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after
you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds,
the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with
you—every living creature on earth.11 I establish my covenant with
you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood;
never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” (Genesis 9) Note the
universal scope – all of humanity (the descendants of Noah), and every living
creature.
·
All nations would be blessed through Abraham and
his seed (descendants) (Genesis 18:18; 22:18; 26:4).
·
‘All the nations you have made will
come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your
name.’ (Psalm 86:9)
·
‘19 “I will set a sign among them, and
I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to
the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and
Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or
seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the
nations. 20 And they will bring all your people, from all the
nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord
…’ (Isaiah 66)
·
‘At that time they will call Jerusalem The
Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to
honor the name of the Lord.’ (Jeremiah 3:17).
Clearly the vision of the Old Testament
extends beyond the borders of Israel to all nations. What of the new?
·
In Matthew 2 ‘Magi from the east came to
Jerusalem to … worship’ the infant Jesus (v. 1, 2).
·
Matthew records in chapter 8:5-13 that a Roman centurion
came to Jesus to ask Him to heal his sick servant. When Jesus offered to go to
the centurion’s house the officer replied that that was unnecessary. As a
soldier he understood orders and all that Jesus had to do was give the command
and his servant would be healed. Jesus was amazed at the Gentile’s faith, for
He had seen nothing like this in Israel. He then said “I say to you that many
will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the
feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But
the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
·
In John 4:26 Jesus claims for the first time in
His ministry that He is the promised Messiah. He declares this to a Samaritan
woman. There was no-one the Jews hated more than Samaritans
·
The last recorded words of Jesus in Matthew’s
gospel command His disciples to ‘make disciples of all nations’ (v.19). Earlier
Jesus had said ‘… this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole
world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come’. (Matthew
24:14.
·
Revelation, the last book of the Bible, was
written by the disciple John. In Chapter 14:6 we have the image of ‘another
angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who
live on the earth – to every nation, tribe, language and people’. ‘Gospel’
means ‘good news’.
Without any
reference to Paul I have demonstrated that the New Testament clearly saw the
mission of Jesus and His disciples to take ‘the Jewish God to the Gentiles’.
One last
comment on Dawkins’ assertion that the original application of ‘Love thy
neighbor’ meant ‘Love another Jew’. This command is found in Luke 10:27 – Luke
himself being a Gentile who wrote his account for another Gentile, Theophilus
(Luke 1:3). To put this in context, a Jewish ‘expert in the law’ asked Jesus
what he must do ‘to inherit eternal life’. Jesus responded with a question,
‘What is written in the Law … How do you read it?’
The expert
replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart … soul … strength and …
mind, and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ When the man wanted to know who
his neighbor was Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Look
it up in Luke 10:25-37. In contrast to the heartless and uncaring attitude of the
priest and the Levite who hurry past a man left to die on the side of the road
a despised Samaritan stops, tends the man’s wounds, transports him to an inn
and pays for his care. It is this despised Samaritan that Jesus holds up as an
example of one who loved his neighbor. Hardly the story Jesus would tell if He
only had ‘a narrowly-defined in-group’ mentality.
So, Dawkins has either:
- relied on poor quality secondary sources other than the primary one; or
- deliberately chosen sources to support a pre-conceived idea, thus acting dishonestly.
Bible references from the New International Version.
