Going beyond this mediocre acceptance the first portion of this book, The Old Testament, in one part or another embraces two other major world religions, Judaism and Islam.  Its influence is extensive and pervasive.  In some manner its ancient standards have become the backbone of most of the worlds moral fiber.  Mosaic Law is the standard; everyone in our culture knows about the Ten Commandments whether they know them or not.  Even our computers automatically capitalize them.  The Old Testaments geographical influence covers most of the world as the dominant religious teaching embodied in its major religions.

Within the many interpretations of this book of books some justification has been found for virtually every conflict fought in the western world over the course of the last two thousand years.  Today’s and yesterdays conflicts in the Middle East, obviously but more subtly the conflicts in Africa today and much of the Capitalist vs. Communist conflict have deep Old Testament undertones.  Literally millions and possibly tens of millions of people have died due to one form or another of Judeo-Christian values.  People have been persecuted, enslaved and demoralized for centuries 

One might think from this opening that I am against the Bible.  In fact I am very much a student of the Bible and regularly teach classes on  the Bible.  This same source has also been inspiration for many of the most life promoting and selfless actions, philosophies and individuals. How is it possible to quote the same book to justify persecution and freedom.

The greatest challenge with this book lies in its complexity; the various levels of communication it operates on.  For starters it recounts a history of some degree of accuracy.  Many profess it to be the only measure of historical accuracy while others refute its historical significance completely.  We must constantly be aware that when a form of literature becomes deeply complex there will be many interpretations and degrees of acceptance, this holds true for the Bible. Whether it is seen as literal or not it was given value simply with the many fascinating stories that have their own reward to us just in the reading.

The Bible was also written on a social/legal level, providing laws and directives for harmonious living of its original followers.  This included everything from eating and dress codes to personal relationships and hairstyles.