The following are questions I have about the Bible and Christianity. I’ve asked most of them of folks who have written to complain about my site. I have not yet received adequate answers.
I realize that not all Christians are Bible-thumpers, and not all Bible-thumpers believe exactly the same thing. When answering these questions, feel free to skip those which do not apply to you. It might be helpful to explain why a certain question does not apply, but it’s not required.
The KJV Bible as the literal word of God:
There are no questions in this section, because I don’t consider it worthwhile discussing things with people who actually believe that God spoke to Moses in Elizabethan English. For The KJV Bible to be the literal word of God, that’s exactly what would have had to have happened, that’s what literal means: exactly, word for word, what someone said.
The Bible as the word of God:
Where in the bible, if anywhere, Does the Bible say it is the Word of God?
How do you know this applies to the Bible as we know it today, and not some other collection of books? For example, how do you know it refers to the gospels of John, Mark, Luke and Matthew, and not the gospel of Simon, Thomas, and Peter?
What’s to keep someone from writing whatever they want, or altering existing stories to fit their need, then using this passage to prove God wrote it? Today, of course, we could compare with other versions of the Bible, but what about hundreds or thousands of years ago? Did God correct the mistakes and strike down the blasphemers?
Depending on your answer to the last question, tell me how you feel about the fact that this page was typed by God himself. James’s name is just on it for legal reasons. By the way: I, your Creator, say you’re a poop head, the Bible is bogus, and you should send Reverend James 10% of your gross income.
The Bible, The Koran, The Book of Mormon, and other books are supposedly the word of God. Many other works are supposedly inspired by God, gods, god-like aliens from the Pleiades, etc. Why should I accept your favorite, and not one of the others?
If God has personally told you that the Bible is His word, why should this out-weigh his personal communication to me saying that it isn’t?
I claim that the Bible contains contradictions, errors of fact, and suspicious omissions…especially regarding matters of physical science. A number of people have tried to explain away these errors. I am not impressed. If you intend to defend Biblical inerrancy with one or more of the following arguments, please be prepared to answer the associated objections. You do not need to reply to answers to objections that you don’t plan to use. If you see the Bible as containing mostly metaphor, as opposed to literal truth, you can skip down to the section on Biblical Metaphor.
If you claim that there are no apparent flaws in Bible, and thus there is nothing to explain, Why do I see flaws?
If your answer involves a defect in my mental ability, Why is it more likely that I suffer from this disorder than you?
If your answer involves a lack of faith on my part, how does this apply to Islamic fundamentalists, who are quite willing to die for their faith?
If your answer involves rude comments about my parentage, please keep it to yourself.
If you claim that the apparent flaws in the Bible are the result of misrepresentations and passages taken out of context:
Why is it so easy for me to distort the word of God? Shouldn’t an all-powerfull, all-knowing being be able to write more clearly?
Why should I believe that your religion’s leaders are not similarly distorting the word of God for their own selfish gain?
If you claim the King James Version is linguistically flawed due to archaic language and / or poor translation:
Why did God allow this to happen?
If God allows flaws in some versions of the Bible, Why should we presume that he corrected any version?
Why should I accept your favorite version as being the one version God decided to correct?
If you rely on “original” versions in a variety of archaic languages, please pay special attention to the next questions.
If you claim it requires extensive interpretation, study and research to properly understand the Bible:
Why did God make his word so hard to understand?
Why should I accept your favorite interpretation as being correct?
Why not just study nature instead, as science does? There is, after all, no chance that nature is a fraud.
If you claim it requires divine revelation to properly understand the Bible:
Why is your personal revelation endorsing the Bible superior to my personal revelation condemning the Bible?
Why should we accept divine revelations that point to the Bible while rejecting revelations that point to the Koran, The Vedas, The Kalevala, or any of countless other texts?
If revelation is a reliable source of information, why not just rely on it, instead of a book?
If you claim apparent contradictions are the result of metaphoric use of language:
Why did God make his word so hard to understand?
Why should I accept your guess as to which parts are metaphoric, and which are literal?
When I use metaphor, I use it to get around the limitations of language and the human mind. If you assume God uses metaphor for the same reason, why would he have created those limitations in the first place? If you assume God uses metaphor for a different reason, please explain that reason.
Occasionally people write to tell me they see the Bible as just another inspirational work:
What do you find inspiring about the atrocities that constitute much of the old testament?
What do you find inspiring about the new testament’s message of eternal damnation for those who fail to embrace exactly the right set of beliefs?
Why should I slog through the racism, sexism, absurdities and atrocities to find the occasional bit of inspiration when there are thousands of other inspirational works available?
Why should I rely on any book for inspiration when sunsets, flowers, and big piles of sauerkraut with wieners chopped up in them are all readily available?
Gays:
Most Christians are pretty nice folk, but one loathsome sort of Christian uses the Bible to justify homophobia, gay bashing, and a lack of compassion towards those suffering from AIDS. I have little tolerance for this, as the tone of these questions might suggest:
If AIDS is God’s punishment to Gays for anal intercourse, does that mean lung cancer is God’s punishment for smoking? If so, do you plan to picket Aunt Mildred’s funeral carrying signs saying “God hates Smokers?”
If AIDS is God’s punishment for sex, why is a little piece of rubber so effective at preventing it? Are all sins absolved when committed in conjunction with rubber, or just those related to sex? Can I, for example, worship graven images so long as they’re made out of rubber?
In forty years do you expect your discrimination against gays be more or less embarrassing to your grandchildren than your grandparents’ discrimination against blacks is to you? You may, of course, skip this question as irrelevant if you’re a racist too.
Christian Metaphysics:
Can anyone explain:
Why did God sacrifice Himself to Himself so that He could correct a mistake He made Himself?
How does the crucifixion count as an appropriate sacrifice? Jesus spent a few hours, maybe a day, in agonizing pain; but it was no greater pain than millions of others have suffered. If Jesus really is God, then He knew exactly what was happening, and exactly how long it would last. When it was done, He supposedly ascended to heaven and became the all-powerful ruler of the universe. This is infinitely greater compensation than even the faithful will receive, and infinitely less torture that the damned will receive.
Please reconcile these two statements: “Without evil, there can be no good”, “God is all-good.”
Please reconcile these two statements: “With God, nothing is impossible”, “You can’t be saved unless you accept Jesus as your savior.”
Extra-Credit Questions:
If you answered any question beginning “Why did God…” by saying it is not our place to question God, explain why you feel free to question his decision to make me an Atheist.
List at least three ways God is better than Santa Claus. Here’s my list of ways Santa is better:
If there is an afterlife, why haven’t Isaac Asimov, or Carl Sagan written books about it yet? “Paper burns” is not an acceptable answer. Funny, in a twisted sort of way, but not acceptable. (Lest anyone mistake my feeling, these men were among the greatest intellects to ever walk the face of the Earth, and I miss them both terribly.)
Why do Christians assume that the parable “Kissing Hank’s Ass” is about them?
If you only have time to answer one Question:
There are many books that are so good that once I start reading them, I can’t put them down. The Bible is not one of them. How is it that God, or an author directly inspired by God, does not write as well as (for example) Michael Crichton?
-Thanks to Rev. James Huber
Sure. Let’s just start with the beginning.
Start with http://thejesusmyth.com/?p=12, and http://thejesusmyth.com/?p=14.
Ok, that’s a good place :)
I’m assuming that you’re not debating God’s existence, but rather accepting the account as written, and pointing out problems on that end.
(and after I wrote this, I realized I discussed Part 2 first.)
So - I’m sure you know this, but the chapters and verses in the English Bible are not in the original texts. However, many chapters, especially in the Old Testament, serve to divide up logical sections of the Bible. In this case, they actually divide up different accounts by two different authors. We know that they are different accounts because in the Aramaic, different words are used for God (Elohim vs. Yahweh Elohim), and chapter concerns itself with man, rather than the big picture.
I’ll agree with the “And God said, Let there be light” part - I for one don’t know what that means. I think I remember hearing it discussed before, but I don’t remember what the theory behind the meaning was.
As for the firmament, I’ve heard it explained that there was a layer of water, or perhaps ice, around the atmosphere. This partially added to the waters of the Biblical flood, and blocked UV rays and other radiation, which contributed to the longer life spans (hundreds of years).
I think that’s the things you addressed, and hopefully made some sense.
P.S. One easy one: re Gays/Homosexuality - The Bible doesn’t justify gay-bashing, nor does it obviously address AIDS. This is one (of many, I suppose) area where the vocal minority has made Christianity appear horribly mean spirited in many people’s eyes. On the contrary, Jesus himself hung out with the social outcasts, prostitutes, and known “sinners”. Christians should follow this example in all areas, even if they believe homosexuality is wrong. Ignore those who hate in the name of Jesus. It’s not what he did at all.
oops: “and chapter concerns itself with man….” should say “chapter *two*…”. Sorry!
In this case, they actually divide up different accounts by two different authors. We know that they are different accounts because in the Aramaic, different words are used for God (Elohim vs. Yahweh Elohim), and chapter concerns itself with man, rather than the big picture.
I am actually quite glad that you brought that up, as about 90% of Christians still maintain that the Pentauch (comprised of the five books known as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) were written solely by Moses. Theologians and secular scholars agree that they were written by as few as 3 and as many as 5 seperate individuals based on linguistics and writing style. To compound matters, one has to take in to account mistranslation.
For example, the first sentence of the Torah, BRAShYTh BRA ALHYM ET HShAMYM VET HAyRTz has been long translated in the King James Bible as “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The word BRAShYTh is, indeed, held to have some relationship to the idea of a beginning, although proposed translations have changed since the days of King James. Modern alternatives include “When the beginning” or “With beginning”. The second word, BRA, does mean created. And of course, ALHYM means “the Gods.” What about BRA ALHYM? In some languages, the subject normally precedes the verb, while others are more flexible. Traditional translations simply assume flexible verb/subject sequence and assume the BRA ALHYM really means “God (or, the Gods) created” But in a portion of the Zohar, the sequence is read more strictly: BRA ALHYM means “created the Gods.” So BRAShYTh BRA ALHYM now means, “With beginning created the Gods.” Just a bit more linguistic smoothing give us the following translation of Genesis 1:1: “With beginning, __ created the Gods, the heavens and the earth.” Who created the Gods? It’s never stated. It’s not knowable.
The Bible says that God is a God who hides himself. It also says that you will seek after him and find him when you seek after him with all your heart.
As far as the “errors” you find. Why not see what some of the scholors from “the other side” say about those “errors.” You will never see anything different if you keep seeking out information from sources that only give you what you already want to hear and believe.
There is also something called “the whole council of God.” That means you have to get an understanding of the whole of scripture. Not just picking apart text out of context.
Even if you believe the Bible has errors, there is enough there that you know for a fact isn’t error, but you have decided you would rather stay in sin than listen and follow. What sin do you have in your life that turned your heart against God and destroyed your faith? If you will commit your life to Christ, He will show you how He sets people free and use you to reach out to others.
Comment to Champ: The problem with this argument is that you know nothing of my background. I was raised in a Pentecostal household, believed fully in the “born-again” experience, became an Ordained minister and continued study.
As far as the errors you find. Why not see what some of the scholars from the other side say about those errors. You will never see anything different if you keep seeking out information from sources that only give you what you already want to hear and believe.
I could say the same to you, my friend. I assume that you would be speaking of people like Josh McDowell. Most of the arguments put forth by authors like himself are “circular logic” arguments.
There is also something called the whole council of God. That means you have to get an understanding of the whole of scripture. Not just picking apart text out of context.
Not to be argumentative, but the Bible as a whole is out of context. When it comes to the translation of the Bible, it has been admited by the church and by the Catholic Encyclopedia, “In all departments forgery and interpolation as well as ignorance had wrought mischief on a grand scale.” Despite Church prohibitions against any further research into the origins of the Gospels, scholars have shown that all four canonized Gospels have been doctored and revised. While the Church claimed that truth was static in nature and had been revealed only once, it continually found cause for changing that “truth.” Roman philosopher Celsus said the same of the revisionits, “Some of them, as it were in a drunken state producing self-induced visions, remodel their Gospel from its first written form, and reform it so that they may be able to refute the objections brought against it.”
I’m not a Christian nor am I religious… however I will agree with Christians on at least one thing we all have free will to believe what we will… Religion is faith… Faith is a belief in something that can’t be proven…
I argue with the thumpers this way… God wants people to believe in him, he could prove his existence by coming down from heaven no? But he doesn’t… he chooses not to prove himself, he wants people to be faithful… Hence you can’t prove he exists, he doesn’t want you to- that would destroy his intentions in you having faith in him… While I appreciate your concern for my immortal soul I simply do not belief in him… We all have free will I choose to take my chances and merely hope that my actions will bare me out as worthy of redemption… if that really isn’t good enough I’ll burn in Hell with Gandhi rather than hang out with forgiven mass murders…
“I argue with the thumpers this way… God wants people to believe in him, he could prove his existence by coming down from heaven no?”
This is an old tired argument and any Christ follower will tell you, as I will, that they believe that God already did come down as Jesus Christ. So with that in mind I don’t think you’re going to get a whole lot of traction with that position.
I consider myself a Christian, but in saying that, I probably have as many questions about Christianity as you. I follow my own interpretation of my religion, which has more to do with being an all-around good person rather than “bible-thumper”. I have homo-sexual friends who are good people, do good deeds, and seek forgiveness for their downfalls. I don’t believe you have to ask God himself for forgiveness for a sin. I think it serves a greater purpose to ask forgiveness from those that you wronged. I also do not believe you will be condemned to hell because you chose to follow your heart. I suppose many would question my faith, but that’s just what I believe.
“they believe that God already did come down as Jesus Christ”
It is convenient that god quit visiting us and performing miracles before reliable forms of recording were invented. In the bible he doesn’t try to hide himself at all. Why does he hide himself now?
@edwin
wouldn’t you hide too, if you would see what christians did in your name in the last centuries?
You know, Jens, that is a good point. The sad thing, though, is that in this society today there is so much cynicism that if he really did show up nobody would believe him again. But, that wouldn’t be any different than the first time, now would it. Maybe he really is here somewhere, just milling around. Maybe we should all start treating each other fairly, with love and respect, JUST IN CASE it might be him. If not, then hey, at least we have a great start to a society that is finally getting its act together, right? I am now going back to my dream filled world.
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Nick said,
March 1, 2007 @ 9:45 pm“I claim that the Bible contains contradictions, errors of fact, and suspicious omissions, especially regarding matters of physical science.”
Care to share a few?
I’m thinking about responding to a few/all of these, but I want to make sure I’m understanding your POV first.