Yet another Christian friend has found the original World Bible School "Chinese Characters and the Bible" video and has again forwarded it to me. The following is a follow up reply to this second friend, in which I explain why I do not find the Bible to be that "great" a book:
Any big book, such as the Bible, can be made to advocate anything that you desire. For example:
- Want a harsh, strict, wrathful and vengeful god, killing everything and everyone through genocide and infanticide, or endorsing the practice of slavery? Read Exodus and Leviticus in the Old Testament.
- Want a quiet, subtle, kind, gentle, loving and forgiving god? Read Paul's epistles in the New Testament (eg. Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philippians etc)
As I love to read history and philosophy, studying the world's many religions (their origins and their doctrines) holds a constant fascination for me. And when I read about the history of the Bible, it is very clear that most of the Bible's stories must be read metaphorically and symbolically, and not literally.
Many fundamentalist Christians believe the Bible is a divine book of God. As God's book, they believe it is inerrant - and that everything written in it is literally true! But if the Bible is a divine work of god, why are there so many errors and contradictions in it?
http://skeptically.org/newtestament/id19.html
If the Bible contain errors, then it is not perfect. If it is not perfect, is it still a divine piece of work from a perfect God?
The rationalist in me says that the Bible is simply a piece of work by humans, and is not divine. As the list of the errors and contradictions show, it is far from perfect.
And the Old Testament certainly does not describe a "nice" God that fits with contemporary societies. Many of my Christian friends only know of the "good" bits of the Bible, but never actually read its "bad" parts. They find reading the actual Bible to be very tedious because of its old language and style, so they merely read the "nice" parts selected by their priests or pastors. These "nice" stories are very tame and would not be out of place even in a collection of stories for children.
However, a more complete reading of books such as Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and you will see a much different picture of the "nice and loving" god.
In an effort to encourage people to read the WHOLE bible and not just the "nice" bits, the site "The Brick Testament" at:
http://www.thebricktestament.com
has illustrated many portions of the Bible as comics styled narratives using Lego bricks. Most people find reading the comic style illustrations much easier than reading the actual Bible itself. When people can see the writings in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Joshua presented graphically, they see a whole new dimension in the "Good Book".
I recommend the following links for a picture of the more "vindictive" and "cruel" aspect of the religion:
The Law : http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/index.html
Joshua : http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/index.html
Judges : http://www.thebricktestament.com/judges/index.html
As one commentator has said,
The Old Testament God is a "psychotic monster". Not only is the character of God diabolical in those books, but there are explicit prescriptions for how to live that are not metaphors; they are not open to theological judo. God just comes right out and says "stone people" for a list of offenses so preposterous and all-encompassing that the killing never stops. You have to kill people for working on the Sabbath. You kill people for fornication.
- Sam Harris
As you read the Old Testament and compare it against the New Testament, it would seem like they are describing 2 completely different entities! But then, that would contradict the mantra that there is only "One God".
This brings me back to what I stated at the beginning: that the Bible is such a big book that it can be used to advocate anything you desire. Need "Proof" of vindictive God? See Old Testament. Need "Proof" of loving God? See New Testament.
Using the Bible as "proof" that God is real is hardly persuasive.
Regards,
NJ
P.S. By the way, I just finished reading the book "Misquoting Jesus" by Bart Ehrman:
http://www.amazon.com/Misquoting-Jesus-Story-Behind-Changed/dp/0060859512
which describes how errors crept into the New Testament.
Bart D Ehrman, its author, is a famous Biblical scholar and author ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_D._Ehrman ).
He actually presented a lecture on his book at Stanford University, which is available from this link. It was after listening to this lecture that I went on to read his book:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=397006836098752165&hl=en
If you are keen to learn about some of the errors that have crept into the New Testament that you are reading today, you need to listen to Professor Ehrman's lecture.
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