Let's have a Bible study for atheists. After reading a particular passage from the Bible, I will be sharing my thoughts on it in threads like this. Feel free to share your thoughts on any verse or passage in the book that this thread corresponds to. Theists, of course, can chime in as well.
FTR, I will be personally using the NIV for these threads, as I feel they do a fair job with the translation, and it's in modern English (as opposed to the archaic language of the KJV).
First Bible study thread is on Genesis, first book in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Probably my most favorite book in the whole Bible. Why? Because it does have some really entertaining stories to read, and unlike others, I love reading lists of names with brief stories about some of them. While the ancient Greek and Norse myths had much more fascinating stories, none of the stories in this particular book of the Bible actually bore me. I think going though Genesis (again) is going to be an enjoyable experience for me.
My first post here will be on Genesis 1 and the first three verses of Genesis 2, which is all about the seven days of Creation. I just had a read of this passage a short while ago, and the first thing that comes to mind here is how easily digestible the passage is. In fact, virtually every passage in Genesis is fairly easy to read (for me, at least).
Of course, from a modern scientific perspective, there are clearly quite some falsehoods in this passage. But as an atheist, I have no burden to try to explain away these falsehoods. That's all on literalist Christians. As far as I'm concerned, it's a very nice cosmogony myth story. Not the best, but still beautiful and interesting, providing us with a window into the scientifically naive but creative thoughts of the ancient.
The passage starts with God creating the heavens and the earth. There is no mention of what happened before that, if there was any "before" to that. Interestingly enough, there is nothing here that explicitly says God has always been, despite what some commentaries and children's Bible books tend to say. Another thing I find interesting is that God had already created the heavens and the earth from day one, and yet there is an apparent contradiction to this a bit later in the passage. Some people argue that the first couple verses in Genesis 1 are an overview summary, with the rest of the chapter expanding on it. I have to strongly disagree with this, as the flow (at least in the English translations) doesn't seem to suggest this at all. Also to consider is mention of the waters in the first couple verses. Did God create these waters, or have they always been? And did they occupy every part of space (covering the whole of the heavens and the earth)? Even in modern language, it's hard to tell what exactly is going on here.
Then God creates light, separating it from darkness. Seems like light is treated here as some distinct entity that can somehow be "peeled" away from darkness. Is darkness really being treated here as the absence of light? Whatever the case may be, light was created, and thus night and day came to be, and the first day passes. But when exactly did the first day in this context start? From the very beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth? Or when he created light? Maybe when he first created light, he kept it inseparable from darkness for the duration of the first evening, and then separated it from darkness to indicate morning? And, yes, I know, light without suns and stars, right? Seems like the ancients had a very different conception of light than we moderns do.
I'm going to cut it here for now, and continue my commentary on this passage later today (since I have work soon). Just thought I'd get this going now nevertheless.
FTR, I will be personally using the NIV for these threads, as I feel they do a fair job with the translation, and it's in modern English (as opposed to the archaic language of the KJV).
First Bible study thread is on Genesis, first book in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Probably my most favorite book in the whole Bible. Why? Because it does have some really entertaining stories to read, and unlike others, I love reading lists of names with brief stories about some of them. While the ancient Greek and Norse myths had much more fascinating stories, none of the stories in this particular book of the Bible actually bore me. I think going though Genesis (again) is going to be an enjoyable experience for me.
My first post here will be on Genesis 1 and the first three verses of Genesis 2, which is all about the seven days of Creation. I just had a read of this passage a short while ago, and the first thing that comes to mind here is how easily digestible the passage is. In fact, virtually every passage in Genesis is fairly easy to read (for me, at least).
Of course, from a modern scientific perspective, there are clearly quite some falsehoods in this passage. But as an atheist, I have no burden to try to explain away these falsehoods. That's all on literalist Christians. As far as I'm concerned, it's a very nice cosmogony myth story. Not the best, but still beautiful and interesting, providing us with a window into the scientifically naive but creative thoughts of the ancient.
The passage starts with God creating the heavens and the earth. There is no mention of what happened before that, if there was any "before" to that. Interestingly enough, there is nothing here that explicitly says God has always been, despite what some commentaries and children's Bible books tend to say. Another thing I find interesting is that God had already created the heavens and the earth from day one, and yet there is an apparent contradiction to this a bit later in the passage. Some people argue that the first couple verses in Genesis 1 are an overview summary, with the rest of the chapter expanding on it. I have to strongly disagree with this, as the flow (at least in the English translations) doesn't seem to suggest this at all. Also to consider is mention of the waters in the first couple verses. Did God create these waters, or have they always been? And did they occupy every part of space (covering the whole of the heavens and the earth)? Even in modern language, it's hard to tell what exactly is going on here.
Then God creates light, separating it from darkness. Seems like light is treated here as some distinct entity that can somehow be "peeled" away from darkness. Is darkness really being treated here as the absence of light? Whatever the case may be, light was created, and thus night and day came to be, and the first day passes. But when exactly did the first day in this context start? From the very beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth? Or when he created light? Maybe when he first created light, he kept it inseparable from darkness for the duration of the first evening, and then separated it from darkness to indicate morning? And, yes, I know, light without suns and stars, right? Seems like the ancients had a very different conception of light than we moderns do.
I'm going to cut it here for now, and continue my commentary on this passage later today (since I have work soon). Just thought I'd get this going now nevertheless.
