weaknesses

• even if moral commands in the Bible come from God + not humans, we cannot tell whether God gave them

  • no original version of any Old Testament book - the texts we use today are often attempts to reconstruct what may have been the original meaning
  • New Testament only exists in Greek + Jesus spoke Aramaic, so we don't know what might've been lost or changed in translation
• the Bible contains what most people would consider to be immoral commands

  • slavery: letter of Paul to Titus, moral advice is given to slaves to be "submissive to their masters" - appears to allow slavery by requiring slaves to put up with their situation
  • homosexual behaviour: "if a man lies with a man as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination" - suggests it to be immoral
  • if some commands are seen to be immoral, DCT offers no real solution to the question of which moral commands should be followed
• Euthyphro Dilemma highlights 4 major problems
• the problem of autonomy

  • to be morally good, a choice has to be made freely
  • DCT doesn't offer this, because the promise of heaven + threat of hell means people will choose to follow God's commands out of self-interest
  • morality should be based on reason, not religious belief