Don't Blame It on the Bible

[skepticscott]

27. You didn't really answer the question

Does the interpretation of the Bible not depend at all on whether it is describing people's real interactions with an actual, physically existing deity? Does it not depend in the least on whether any of what are supposed to be the actual words of god were actually spoken by the being that created the whole universe with a wave of their hand, or whether they were just made up by some human trying to tell a good story?

Of course it does. And even more so when the Bible is being used as a guide to make judgements about morals and acceptable behavior. People would obviously regard the laws and moral dictates in the Bible quite differently than they do if they knew for certain that they only came from the human lawgivers in some Middle Eastern tribe or religious sect from a few thousand years ago, as opposed to the Lord of the Universe. Heck, quite a few people who believe that god really exists and dictated the Bible put his laws above the human-made laws enacted by their own lawmakers in their own time. If they were convinced that god didn't exist, their interpretation of the laws, prohibitions and mandates in the Bible would clearly change.