Jed said:
I am no bible thumper expert, however; To me the Bible tells an epic story in two volumes. The old and the new testament. The stories in the old testament describe the essence of the human experience. It is not meant to be a detailed code for living your life, except for maybe the 10 commandments which the Jews follow as well. (No instructions in these telling you to go to war, chop off heads, or convert or slay everyone that does not follow your beliefs.)
The new testament focuses on life after Jesus came into the world with his message of forgiveness. (Definitely no detailed instructions to go out and slay your fellow man)
The Koran is a far different book than the Bible. Both are words written by man and not by God himself.
well here are a few instructions and guidelines
A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death. (Leviticus 21:9 NAB)
But if this charge is true (that she wasn't a virgin on her wedding night), and evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her fathers house and there her townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father's house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21 NAB)
Suppose a man or woman among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, has done evil in the sight of the LORD your God and has violated the covenant by serving other gods or by worshiping the sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven, which I have strictly forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death. (Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)
So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They are fully aware of God's death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. (Romans 1:24-32 NLT)
And these are just a few things (plenty of murder, rape and genocide to go around in the bible) that have been interpretted over the centuries and followed as guidelines. So let's not portray that book as being morally superior. The Koran has many of the same message of peace and love and just as many messages about death and stonings as the Bible does. Both have been litteraly and figuratively interpretted by both religions and both have been used to commit and justify unspeakable acts. I would rather uphold our western democratic values on equality of women (something the bible and the koran do not have) and concepts of individual freedom amongst others rather than refer to any religious doctrinal document.