I'm sure this has been said many times, many ways, but the Bible is outdated. In the same way that we no longer bleed people to cure them of disease, the Bible is something from a different time and age; it represents the morals and values of its time, not what we as a world believe in today. I respect what it has done for us in the past and how it has shaped our history, but the bible speaks little of the issues our world faces today. For example, let's think about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It would be so easy to simply go to war with all Muslims for the incident, but the only ones that ever meant us true harm are the ones that attacked us. The rest largely just want to be left alone. The Bible would have us attack all of them on religious grounds.
Gee... far be it for me to do a sort of about-face here, but something in this post makes me want to offer a corrective defense of the Bible.
I've been arguing that the Bible doesn't count as an authority on issues we face today all along, but I do have to make a point that it certainly does speak on a lot of issues that we face today. The Bible is a pretty firm classic of literature, an accomplishment of mankind, and it has definite lasting power. The Bible discusses perennial human concerns like love, loyalty, compassion, conflict, mystery, and - gulp! - even truth and morality. These topics will always be issues humanity thinks upon, and the Bible still has some good things to say in regards to the likes of them for precisely that reason. Romeo and Juliet, The Iliad and the Odyssey, Plato's Republic.... Plenty of ancient texts cover perennial humanistic topics such that new generations can still read them and gain useful, relevant insight into those topics from a contemporary perspective.
Again, that isn't to say the Bible is
right about all or any of these issues, or that, for anything it may be right about, it's right
because it's the Bible. For instance, the Bible encourages what we call the Golden Rule - do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. It's an excellent ethical imperative that will aid humanity into its final days, and the Bible covers it, but it's not right or useful because it's in the Bible. Many religions converge on this moral rule in some form without Abrahamic religion, and it can even be argued out by secular reason.
I hope I'm expressing my point clearly, because it's a fine line I'm treading here. ^_^;
Edit: mattj, there's no rush to reply. Just so long as a reply
is actually in the works, no one here will worry.