Proud of myself enough to share.
My reply to Greta ChristinaI firmly believe that one's morality has a direct correlation to how much of the Bible they ignore.
I cannot however agree with a few things you said. Primarily: "And I don't think there's any basis for saying that it is." -- I think there is. I think the most adherence to the Bible the more Christian (and consequentially the less moral) an individual is. The Bible is all a Christian really has to go on, I think the more they accept it lock stock and barrel the more Christian they are.
Now, your argument as to why literalists couldn't really accept all of the Bible was that there are contradictions. However, that isn't actually a great argument in this regard. One cannot accept contradictions as true, if they are sane. However, we are talking about Biblical literalists, and these individuals are not so limited as such.
Most Biblical literalists take Jesus at his word in Matthew 5:18, that the OT rules apply. And other such comments. There is a general idea of God is Love. For those people who cling to this idea, I suggest they read the Gospels. Jesus isn't much for turning the other cheek. When he saw people exchanging one type of money for another, he went home made a whip-like thing with pieces of sharp metal attached and returned, to physically attack people with it. Nothing about torn flesh exudes love.
Most of the moral bits, are the secular bits. The idea of loving society as much as self, or doing things to others as you would like them done to you. Those aren't religious reasonings, they are secular points. And they are points which predate Christianity.
