I am looking at the Holy Bible's chapter on Genesis, and I am quite bewildered by this opening paragraph:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The question I ask about this passage: How does this ancient writer know this? He most definitely does not know this by by field research and observations. Supposedly, only God was there before the heavens and the earth, and the Holy Bible's authors were not there with God, for they are human just like you and me. Genesis's authors were also supposedly born after Adam and Eve, and did not even meet them. It appears as though the Holy Bible's ancient writers were simply making all of this up.

This is one of the main reasons why I do not believe in God. As a rationalist/atheist/humanist, I do not accept what there is no evidence for. If god exists, then why has he/she/it left such scarce, unreliable evidence of his/her/its existence. You have probably heard a lot of atheists say this: Either God doesn't exist, or he doesn't care. I hear a lot of religious people criticize and reject evolution. Well, Darwin's works (Origin of Species, Voyage of the Beagle, etc.) are all based on eclectic, field research that he did. He did not hear voices one day while hanging around in the desert. The same goes with all science.

As many of you know, Christians claim the Holy Bible is God's word, when in point of fact it isn't. The Christian bible, just like the Koran and other religions' holy books, were written by mortal men who claimed to have been spoken to by (a) god. Maybe if I write a book, bury it, and go off and disappear, people will start calling me God, as well.

Any way, that is something to think about.

From what I understand, the writers of the book claim divine inspiration directly from god.

If they had been divinely inspired by god, the scripture which correlates to science would have been more accurate. Surely, after all, an omniscient being would have given accurate scientific information. Since that is not the case, however, it is apparent that man was not divinely inspired and he simply wrote the book based on his fallible knowledge of the world at the time.

I'm always amused when idiot xtians claim that man cannot "know" about the big bang because no one was there.... and then in the next breath trot out this silly genesis shit.

Then again, when you are dealing with xtian assholes you should never be surprised when they give you a load of shit.

Pretty sure that in the Bible it's claimed that God told this to Mose, who is traditionally held to be the author of the Pentacheuch, though modern scholars/historians find that very much in error.

The bible claims a lot of stupid shit, doesn't it?

(July 9, 2013 at 10:19 pm)Minimalist Wrote: The bible claims a lot of stupid shit, doesn't it?

As a brusque way of putting it, yes.

I'm nothing if not 'brusque.'

(July 9, 2013 at 9:38 pm)Maelstrom Wrote: From what I understand, the writers of the book claim divine inspiration directly from god.

If they had been divinely inspired by god, the scripture which correlates to science would have been more accurate. Surely, after all, an omniscient being would have given accurate scientific information. Since that is not the case, however, it is apparent that man was not divinely inspired and he simply wrote the book based on his fallible knowledge of the world at the time.

Exactly what science was God to give Moses about Genesis, what science did anyone of that time have and or truly understand.

None. Which ends up meaning that your silly 'god' has the same understanding of the cosmos as the average goatherder.

I regard this as YOUR PROBLEM.

(July 10, 2013 at 1:24 am)Godschild Wrote:

(July 9, 2013 at 9:38 pm)Maelstrom Wrote: From what I understand, the writers of the book claim divine inspiration directly from god.

If they had been divinely inspired by god, the scripture which correlates to science would have been more accurate. Surely, after all, an omniscient being would have given accurate scientific information. Since that is not the case, however, it is apparent that man was not divinely inspired and he simply wrote the book based on his fallible knowledge of the world at the time.

Exactly what science was God to give Moses about Genesis, what science did anyone of that time have and or truly understand.

Lol, what science does god have knowledge of?