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The Holy Bible God Is Not The Author
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The Holy Bible:
God Is Not The Author
-Mark
Smith-
Imagine the ruler of the universe noticing his favorite creatures needed guidance. He decides to write a book for them. Because he’s too busy with his hobby (counting hairs2), he’ll never make time to come down to explain or update his book. Therefore this one book, as-is, first and only edition, will have to stand on its own for all humanity for all time- even surviving translations by these error-prone men.
And knowing beforehand this book would require translations into all the languages of the world, he would not write the original in an obscure language using an even more obscure dialect, but rather in the leading language of the world at the time. He would not use cultural idioms or sayings that would require a native born speaker or a PhD in Cultural Anthropology to interpret. And he would not pick a language for which no dictionaries existed.
Realizing the importance of such a task, this god would go out of his way to make sure his book was idiot proof: i.e. crystal clear, the points painfully obvious, and with no ambiguity. Whatever he was trying to say, he’d do the perfect job, as he is the perfect author. There would never be any question at any time over what he had written. As the creator of humans, he knows how they think, and how to communicate to them. He’d be the best writer that could ever exist. What would flow forth from his divine pen would be pure perfection- far better and clearer than anything mere mortals could author.
And if the Bible were indeed written by this Lord God Almighty, this is exactly what we would see. But rather we see a book that has confused mankind ever since it evolved, even sparking wars over it’s interpretation. We see a book full of ambiguities to the point where thousands of sects have written thousands of books expounding thousands of contradictory interpretations. Even within the Bible itself we find confusion concerning the quality of the writing- one author (Peter) slams another (Paul) for authoring text that was confusing5 while Paul himself (apparently confused) held the opposite view of his own writing.6 It should be a sure sign to the Christians that they're in trouble when the books to explain the Bible are sometimes larger than the Bible itself, such as the "Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties" at 476 pages and "Hard Sayings of The Bible" at 808 pages. Books and commentaries like these exist solely to make clear what the Bible so clearly failed to make clear in the first place.
Even in fundamentals and essentials the Bible fails to clearly communicate. Imagine bailing out of an airplane about to crash, having never parachuted before, only to discover on your way down that the instructions on the side of your parachute are as muddled as the Bible’s "Plan of Salvation"! Yet this is the situation Christians find themselves in. Christians believe themselves free-falling towards hell, and need an answer to the question "What must I do to be saved?"3 . Certainly the answer to at least this question would have been written in language so plain and beyond dispute as to be easily understood. Yet even on this most vital of questions, the data has been garbled. Christianity is in free-fall, and cannot agree on the parachute’s instructions. Even in matters as important as salvation, honest Christians can’t agree upon what the Bible is trying to say, as you can see in the following chart.
What Must I DoTo Be Saved??? |
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Catholic |
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Baptist |
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Presbyterian / Reformed |
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Church of Christ |
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United Pentecostal |
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*It’s out of your control. God picks you or doesn’t. |
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This confusion over salvation would not exist IF the Christian’s Bible had actually been authored by whom the Christians claim it was. For if really authored by an intelligent god it would have been clear, concise, obvious and idiot proof. Not a single commentary would have ever been written trying to make sense out of it. Not a single "Yet More Problems Of The Bible Excused" book would have been conceived, and not a single Christian with a normal IQ would have ever disagreed with another over what the book said. After all, how in hell can average Christians be held accountable to obey a book when even the experts can’t agree on what the book is trying to say. As the Apostle Paul himself wrote, "if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle."4 The simple fact is if this book were really authored by a god, this confusion would not exist. Period. But it does exist. This fact, when combined with another fact right from the Christian’s own Bible, "God is not the AUTHOR of confusion..."1 can only lead to one conclusion: no "god" authored that confusing mess known as The Bible.
If shown another book that was contradictory or confusing, Christians would be skeptical if told a Tom Clancy or C.S. Lewis was it’s author. Yet these same people, seeing these same problems within their own Bible, never doubt for a minute that "the Lord God Almighty" authored it. Boeing can author a repair manual for a 757, distribute it to aircraft technicians worldwide, and every single technician agrees with the next over what the manual says. On the other hand, the Bible can produce a hundred contradictory interpretations in a hundred churches in a hundred little piss-ant towns. Why? Because the Technical Writers at Boeing are better authors than the real clowns who authored the Bible.
Christianity has had thousands of scholars over thousands of years obsessing over this one small book, yet they still can’t agree on what the hell it says. The Bible is confusing, Christianity over the past two thousand years has never agreed on what it says, and this is a FACT. This fact alone is proof enough it wasn’t authored by an intelligent god. How do I know this? "The Bible Tells Me So" right in 1st Corinthians 14:33
God is not
the author of confusion
1)1Cor 14:33, KJV 2)Mt 10:30 3)Acts 16:30 4)1Cor 14:8 5)2Pet 3:16 6)2Cor 1:13
...Additional Information...
Robert Ingersoll
Robert Ingersoll wrote, regarding THE BIBLE and the always expanding number of various sects...
"If a being of infinite wisdom wrote the Bible, or caused it
to be written, he must have known exactly how his words
would be interpreted by all the world, and he must have
intended to convey the very meaning that was conveyed....If
an infinite being cannot, in making a REVELATION to man, use
such words that every person to whom a revelation is
essential will understand distinctly what that revelation
IS, then a revelation from God through the instrumentality
of language is impossible, or it is not essential that all
should understand it correctly. It may be argued that
millions have not the capacity to understand a revelation,
although expressed in the plainest words. To this it seems a
sufficient reply to ask, why a being of infinite power
should create men so devoid of intelligence, that he cannot
by any means make known to them his will? WE ARE TOLD THAT
IT IS EXCEEDINGLY PLAIN, AND THAT A WAYFARING MAN, THOUGH A
FOOL, NEED NOT ERR THEREIN. THIS STATEMENT IS REFUTED BY
THE RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD. EVERY SECT IS
A CERTIFICATE THAT GOD HAS NOT PLAINLY REVEALED HIS WILL TO
MAN. To EACH READER the Bible conveys a different
meaning. About the meaning of this book, called a
revelation, there have been ages of war, and centuries of
sword and flame. ...Is it not infinitely more reasonable to
say that this book is the work of man, that it is filled
with mingled truth and error, with mistakes and facts, and
reflects, too faithfully perhaps, the 'very form and
pressure of its time'?"
(Some Mistakes of Moses, Robert Ingersoll,
Prometheus Books 1986, pp. 89,90,91)
Listing of Religions Worldwide
This is an exhaustive AND exhausting listing of various religions that are found in the world. If anything, this evidences the mass confusion of mankind when it comes to religion. The obvious question we Atheists should put to these religionists is: IF there really ARE gods out there, why have they done such a piss-poor job of clearing up the confusion over their identity??? How is mankind expected to worship a rock or a tree or an imaginary object (such as Jehovah, Allah, etc) when said gods won't come down and clear up WHICH rock or tree etc. to worship???
The Story Bible www.storybible.cc
This new Bible manages to cut the current Bible of 850,000 words down to a more manageable 186,000 by getting rid of all the boring and stupid stuff- you know, the wasted real estate between the covers. It also makes the Bible easier to understand. According to the newspaper article about this new Bible and John Berthe its author,
"He tried to make the stories so simple a child could understand. He said he stayed true to the Bible narrative even though 'there's a lot of stuff I would have left out if I was God.' Like the affair between David and Bathsheba, the divorce of Moses, and the story of the concubine being raped and cut in 12 pieces." (Orange County Register, Christmas Day 2002, p. News 4)
At last, a Christian who has admitted what we Atheists have been arguing for centuries: the Bible is confusing, the Bible has too much wasted space, the Bible is embarrassing, and the Bible is too damn long. Amen!!!