Quote:
Originally posted by punkworld
I agree with you on most of the things you wrote, but I wouldn't call the moral aspects of the bible "moral truths". Moral commonplaces would probably be more suitable.
If you look at morality rationally it's pretty much a cultural aspect not unlike most others. The reason we see the morality largely the same as what's written in the bible is twofold.
First of all, we were born and raised in a culture largely based on christianity, so obviously we will tend to agree with most of it.
Secondly, many morals are almost universal among cultures - not because they are "true", but because they are practical for a culture. For instance "thou shalt not kill" (which is mostly about people within the same community, as can be seen by other quotes in the bible) is simply essential to the survival of a culture. A culture which does not condemn and punish it's members if they kill eachother will disappear quite rapidly.
The reason that that's in the bible is not that it's a moral truth, but that it's a moral commonplace. Any not entirely unsuccesful culture which would have written down it's rules would have come up with largely the same ideas.
What makes the bible so powerful is that it takes these rules from the realm of the subjective (that is, created or agreed upon by humans) to the realm of the absolute and objective (that is, laid down by a supreme being). This makes it easier to enforce them by giving them a much stronger justification, and hahahahahas them way deeper into the cultural consciousness than any law ever could.
Still, it does not make them real, objective, absolute truths 
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I was refering more to things that are absolute logic in any society, such as you mentioned the "Thou shalt not kill" etc
Any moralistic person unafflicted by things like sociopathic personalities would likely agree in the logic of this kind of thing.
Religion is a very good way of teaching the "uneducated masses" and always has been, as you say, it ensures that the morals and values that are essential in societal living are deeply ingrained into their minds.