question about the bible

[searchingforanswers]

Greetings all, Im new to the forums(1st post) and fairly new to atheism and Im glad to find a place to discuss my beliefs. Having been raised a christian my whole life I have a few questions. Since announcing my beliefs to my family and friends I have gotten into a lot of debates recently. One thing one of my friends said recently intrigued me. It went along the lines of "the bible was written by many men over the course of years in different areas of the globe. How could they all be wrong about the same god if their scriptures agree with one another and they never met?" Granted, I probably phrased that different than what he did but you should get the genral gist of his question. Basically, how could all the different biblicial authors be decieved in separate areas by the same "god"? To be honest, this question had me at a loss and I have been pondering it for quite some time. Now my question is do you as an atheist believe that the authors of the bible honestly believed they were divinely inspired by god? or were they liars? It has to been one or the other doesnt it? Forgive me, if im missing something but I hope you guys cant point it out. Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing your thoughts (=

[Minimalist]

Basically, how could all the different biblicial authors be decieved in separate areas by the same "god"?

If I'm reading you correctly the answer is: "One lies and the other swears to it." We have one gospel "Mark" which precedes all the others and which was copied, to a large degree, by the writers who were later dubbed "Matthew" and "Luke." They added lots of bits that "Mark" did not bother with...such as the virgin birth and the resurrection shit. "John" is the sore thumb because that one differs so radically from the other 3.

The problem with that line of "thinking" ( in quotes because they are not thinking at all ) is that its a load of shit. There are scads of references to all sorts of biblical contradictions all over the web which you can find with an easy search.

One might be inclined to answer by saying 'why are your books so fucked up that they have resulted in literally thousands of xtian sects each swearing that they are right?' Recall that one of the earliest tasks for early xtians was exterminating all the heretics who grew up about the so-called godboy. Clearly, even in antiquity there were problems with the way this pile of shit smelled.

[twocompulsive]

Hello search and welcome. The first question I would ask your friend is has he actually read The Bible ? And by read I mean the entire volume from Genesis to Revelation. If he has, fair enough. But if he hasn't then how does he know ? I never read it till I became an atheist. But nevertheless. It doesn't advance your argument if a work you are referencing, you haven't even bothered to read. I intend to re-read it again. It isn't the sort of book you can do justice to just once, given it;s actual length and cultural and historical significance. Also you need to know that The Bible is incomplete. There are missing books known as the Gnostic Gospels which feature accounts by Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot.

It is so full of contradictions. Whether you believe in God or not you can't accept it verbatim due to the inconsistencies :

Adam lived to 930.
Methuselah to live to 969.
Enoch was perfect and never died.
Jesus was born of a virgin - no father.
He performed miracles and raised the dead.
He rose from the dead himself three days after dying.
God punishes the Jews for worshipping false ones - so why give them free will ?
He is angry with them for doing so - but isn't anger one of the Seven Deadly Sins ?
He contemplates not punishing them, but their children all the way to the fourth generation.
Eight people on the Ark - after the first generation conception possible only through adultery or incest.

These are just a few of the many. The entire book is full of ambiguity and paradox and inconsistency.

Now let me return to the Gnostic Gospels. Consider this : why would God have books of The Bible dictated to Man only for those books not to appear, or only for particular periods. Why not all the books in a completer version ?

One of the missing books is the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. She was Jesus's cousin. And may also have been his wife as well. They were very close - married or not - and in later years, the Church disapproved of this and had her Gospel removed. This was to curtail her influence on subsequent generations and the reason for this was good old fashioned misogyny. Which is why she is commonly portrayed as a prostitute.

One of the other missing books is the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. According to this, he was the favourite disciple and not Peter. Once again thie reason for this book being omitted may have had to do with jealousy and the need to find a scapegoat for the betrayal of Jesus. But if you actually read the four Gospel accounts in The Bible of this, they all give four different accounts. And this makes zero sense if the author is God. Because surely only one definitive account of the life of Jesus is needed. Everything else is superfluous to requirement.

So I would state in conclusion based upon this that there is no way God coul;d have dictated The Bible, It is just too illogical for it to be so. Interestingly while there are different versions of The Bible, there is only one of The Koran. Nevertheless, Go back to your friend and emphasise all these inconsistencies. It would be very interesting to reference his opinion. Hope this has been of some help.

[Faith No More]

One way to counter this argument is to ask your friend to read through the four gospels and create a chronological timeline of Jesus' life that is truthful to and leaves nothing out of all four gospels. After he does that(hint: it's impossible) then ask your friend if the books truly agree with each other.

[searchingforanswers]

Ok thanks all for the responses. I am typing from my iPhone so forgive any grammatical mistakes. Now I am very thankful for the info you all have given me and will take it to my friend tommorrow. However I am still left with the question. Do you beileve the authors of the biblical books truly believed they were inspired by god? Why did they write the bible at all is my question. Did they truly believe this or were they writing down something they new to be false? That's the best way I can attempt to phrase my question I think.

[Minimalist]

What people believe is irrelevant. People have believed lots of stupid shit ever since the beginning of time.

Do you suppose the priests who wrote the Egyptian Book of the Dead believed that? Did Mayan priests believe the Popol Vuh while they were writing that? Your xtian pals would be the first ones to tell you that the Egyptians and Mayans were full of shit.

Likewise, I think xtians were full of shit.....but I have no doubt that they thought what they were writing was true.

So what?

[liferocks]

How could they all be wrong about the same god if their scriptures agree with one another and they never met?" Granted, I probably phrased that different than what he did but you should get the genral gist of his question. Basically, how could all the different biblicial authors be decieved in separate areas by the same "god"? To be honest, this question had me at a loss and I have been pondering it for quite some time. Now my question is do you as an atheist believe that the authors of the bible honestly believed they were divinely inspired by god? or were they liars? It has to been one or the other doesnt it?

Do you beileve the authors of the biblical books truly believed they were inspired by god? Why did they write the bible at all is my question. Did they truly believe this or were they writing down something they new to be false? That's the best way I can attempt to phrase my question I think.

Welcome searchingforanswers. I am a Christian, not an atheist, but I hope you don’t mind me providing my comment.
I also have heard that the bible was written over hundreds of years by, of course, many different authors. An important point is that basically all of these writers center around one common thread and that being the creation of the heavens and earth, man falling away from his creator and finally human redemption and our returning to our creator. The Bible was authored by God to bring mankind back to Him.

You ask if the bible is divinely inspired by God and I think it’s obvious how I, being a Christian, will answer your question but problem being if you ask 100 different people you are going to get 100 different answers to that. Seems like you are asking for opinions and that may be subject to many, many different answers, so instead I would rather like to leave you with something that I feel is more important and that is……

You ask, “It has to been one or the other doesn’t it? (divinely inspired or liars)”. You ask a very broad question that could lead into hours of discussion and debate so this is what is helping me to find answers. Questioning all things and then receiving answers is a good thing. So whether you question atheists, Christians, clergymen (word of warning, be cautious with that one), Buddhists, Muslim, ask and keep this in your heart that you want, above all things “The Truth”.

To this Here’s one final thought, do you know why Moses could never have been a good Christian?
Because he broke all 10 commandments.

[Cinjin]

To this Here’s one final thought, do you know why Moses could never have been a good Christian?
Because he broke all 10 commandments.

your god broke the majority of them too.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

To this Here’s one final thought, do you know why Moses could never have been a good Christian?

Because he broke all 10 commandments.Smile


For your information: Mosaic law consists of 613 commandments,not ten.

Matthew records Jesus as admonishing his disciples to keep ALL of The Law.

Matthew 5:18 : "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled

It was mainly Saul who abolished most of commandments, especially those relating to ritual.Most critically,,he abolished Jewish dietary law and the need for all males to be circumcised. Those changes allowed gentiles to become Christians. WHAT WAS AN INSIGNIFICANT JEWISH SECT COULD NEVER OTHERWISE HAVE BECOME A MAJOR WORLD RELIGION.

The 613 Mitzvot (Hebrew: תרי"ג מצוות‎: Taryag Mitzvot, "613 commandments"; Biblical Hebrew: Miṣwoth) are statements and principles of law, ethics, and spiritual practice contained in the Torah or Five Books of Moses. These principles of Biblical law are sometimes called connections or commandments (mitzvot) and referred to collectively as the "Law of Moses" (Torat Moshe, תורת משה), "Mosaic Law", or simply "the Law". The word mitzvot is plural; singular is mitzvah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_Mitzvot

[fr0d0]

All of humanity, not just a bunch of people coming up with the Xtian biblical texts, have related their understanding of a spiritual reality saying basically the same things. I think we can safely conclude that It's an integral part of the human psyche to formulate ideas about it. That cannot, however, prove God, because God in this complex construct needs to be believed in and not 'known' apart from intellectually.