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.
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.