The mystery of creation: solved.

[Kyuuketsuki]

Well DUR.. it's not fact huh? Shock horror, blow me down with a feather. I never realised. Thanks so much for pointing that out. I'll go write it down in my unmissable info book. Genius that Gervais huh?

Actually having given it some further thought as I was rushing at the time I would have to agree that the bible itself is not stupid (a book can't be in and of itself stupid).

The bible is a mixture of fierce, bloody battles, scores of twenty-generation-long, mind-numbing genealogies, some poetry and an indecipherable mixture of confused & poorly understood material. In the first half, the Old Testament, we are told how the world was and its denizens were created and ruled over by a jealous god who has more in common with what a given society (some 2000 years ago) might believe a god should be like, more of a supremely powerful tribal chieftain. In the New Testament that god's son (and, to confuse things, a third part of itself), Jesus, carries out a number of claimed "miracles" but it is my understanding that all such reports are second hand, that none of the authors actually saw any of the astonishing things personally. The bible contains many actions that one would not expect of a God who, it is claimed, loves us ... a God whose divine and absolute powers (even when working through others) would might reasonably expect to have resulted in a perfect book with no mistakes. If the bible was genuinely divinely inspired it should contain the perfect philosophy, it should perfectly accord with every fact in nature, there should be no mistakes in astronomy, geology or any subject in science. Its morality should be above reproach, its laws and regulations should be just, wise & perfect, it should be opposed to strife, war, slavery, lust, ignorance, credulity, superstition and, above all, it should be true. Simple examination of the bible reveals many flaws, absurdities, inconsistencies, unlikelihoods & vulgarities and, viewed as a whole, the Christian bible bears none of those characteristics.

Above that the bible is considered to be a moral guide for Christians around the world when those guidelines are questionable at best, atrocious at worst ... how many today would be willing to sacrifice their oldest sons to their god? Whilst the bible is an interesting and historically relevant book there is no valid evidence indicating divine inspiration or perfect or even that it's core message contains any real truth and as such it is a mystery why anyone would consider it to be evidence of any god let alone the key piece of evidence cited by most Christians.

On the plus side it does have animals that talk and in this respect is much reminiscent of the somewhat better written "Dr. Doolittle" adventures by Hugh Lofting.

So, back to my revised statement on the bible ... it's not specifically stupid but its contents are dubious depending on how they are read. If read literally they are obviously wrong as the bible is only an historical source and not a specific historical record. If read as entirely allegorical it makes some sense as an attempt to explain the beliefs and the universe of the time but if, as I suspect most modern Christians do, it is read part allegorical but with some specific truths or facts within it raises questions as to how one distinguishes which bits are true and which bits are not especially in light of the fact that many Christians have very different interpretations about what the bible is and what it means.

Kyu