What about the Parable of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25)? He is used by Jesus as an example a person acting morally (be kind to thy neighbor). Yet the Samaritan is not a Christian or a Jew. So where did the GS get his moral basis from since he clearly didn't get it from the Bible?
Badger
Favorite Answer
Samaritans used the same Scriptures as the Jews, minus a few books which they rejected.
Jon
The Good Samaritan was a Parable which means "The Good Samaritan" did not exist, it was a story to help people understand.
However, having said that, I get where your coming from.
It would suggest that morality didn't exist before the Bible was written.
This I do not agree with.
The Bible is definitely not the foundation.
God is the foundation.
The Bible is a stepping stone though.
Anonymous
Good point! Never thought of that! The doctrine of Common Grace would say that all people have been instilled with the knowledge of right and wrong (effect of the paradise lost story in genesis). So, from that, the bible does not have to be the root of all morality. In fact, that is not even a proper christian belief. God should be the overall source of morality, not the bible.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.
God Bless,
-Nova
Toaster Jenkins
Jesus is using the parable to show who is your neighbor. The neighbor is someone nice to you. Samaritan are Israelites from Samaria. Israel was separated into two kingdoms including Israel and Judah during the reign of Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon. The capital of Israel is Samaria while the capital of Judah is Jerusalem.
Olive Garden
Background of samaritans: they were jews who got infiltrated by foreigners and adopted some of the foreigns ways, thus the jew do not accept them in their fold and looked down on the samaritans.