With reference to other aspects of human experience, explore the view that Biblical teaching has relevance for any age. Justify your answer.

A notable holder of this view is Matthew Slick, who wrote, “for the Christian the Bible is the supreme authority that judges what is moral.” He asserted that if we remove the Bible from moral decision making, then our morality becomes subjective. This means our morals will not be universal and will be influenced by our culture, our past experience and societal laws. Christians know that murder is wrong because the Bible clearly tells them, but in certain societies such as Nazi Germany murder was considered moral. What basis does the atheist have to say that this was immoral, other than their own opinion? Contrastingly, the Bible provides us with unchanging, eternal and objective morality that is relevant for all ethical dilemmas.

On the other hand, there are people that believe the Bible may not be relevant all the time, if not never. Some of these people are Christians, such as Bishop Spong. Even though he holds a very high position in the American Anglican church, Bishop Spong does not believe the Bible has much moral relevancy. He believes that many of the writers were not inspired and had a political agenda to achieve. He is especially critical of the Apostle Paul, going as far to claim that the only reason Paul opposed homosexuality was because he was a repressed homosexual! He wrote, “My basis of morality is this: does this action enhance life, or does it denigrate life?” He is very much a utilitarian.

Atheists and people of other faiths, of course, deny the Bible has any moral relevance. People such as Dawkins and Singer believe the Bible is outdated on matters of sanctity of life and marriage. Dawkins even accused the God of the Bible as being a homicidal and self-centred. How can such a God give us moral advice when he once drowned thousands of people and condemns sinners to hell?

Additionally, there are so many new moral dilemmas today that the Biblical writers never considered, such as IVF. In this situation the Christian may find more specific advice in modern church teachings such as the Humanae Vitae rather than the Bible. Another problems Christians may come across is Biblical interpretation, because every church regards the Bible differently. They should trust their conscience – Roussea claimed, “Conscience is in all circumstances an infallible guide to actions.”