The Bible: Just Science Fantasy and Tall Tales? Part One

The Bible is often a treasured book in the homes of most people, and usually found in motel and hotel rooms to boot. But, is The Bible really the word of God, or at best pure mythology; at worst, pure fiction, an early forerunner to the science fiction dystopian novel? Well, actually the Bible is really more an anthology of short stories authored by many individuals over a long period of time, and heavily edited (as to what it would and would not contain) by other people. It’s all pretty ad hoc.

The Bible is apparently one of the best, if not the best selling books of all times. Why it isn’t for sale though in the mythology or fiction section of bookstores (or available in similar locations in libraries) is beyond me. Simply put, The Bible isn’t believable as non-fiction and as a historically accurate record of those ancient times.

We all know the song from the popular American opera “Porgy and Bess” by George & Ira Gershwin & DuBose Heyward: Extracts go something like this:

“It ain’t necessarily so,

It ain’t necessarily so,

De tings dat yo’ li’ble,

To read in de Bible,

It ain’t necessarily so.”

“Oh, I takes de gospel,

Whenever it’s pos’ible,

But wid a grain of salt.”

“I’m preachin’ dis sermon to show,

It ain’t nessa, ain’t nessa,

Ain’t nessa, ain’t nessa,

Ain’t necessarily so.”

To which I add, amen to that brothers and sisters!

The Bible, if taken at face value, is full of contradictions.

How come the same book we call The Bible, that one true word of God, tells you at the same time to both turn the other cheek and love your enemy, while advocating an eye-for-an-eye and a tooth-for-a-tooth?

I mean you have ‘do unto others…’ but it’s okay to execute witches (and lots of other undesirable types as well, with no mercy shown because of sex or age). And there’s certainly no such thing as equal rights for women in and according to The Bible. Slavery is A-OK with God and son (JC), as is beating/whipping slaves if they do a naughty.

.

There are some pretty big unanswered questions that arise from various chapters in the Old Testament. There’s a lot that’s pretty unbelievable in The Bible, especially the Old Testament. The point is, the minute you question the validity or accuracy of any one thing in The Bible (New or Old Testament), then that’s the minute you need to acknowledge the logical requirement to question everything.

So, where did Cain’s wife come from? I mean if Adam and Eve begat Cain and Abel doesn’t that immediately suggest that the future of the human race is in a bit of a reproductive fix for lack of additional feminine company? There’s no Biblical mention apparently of additional females contemporary with the second generation (and first born) of humans. That’s a bit of an oversight wouldn’t you say? And if Cain and Abel had unnamed and unmentioned sisters, well what of those taboos that prevent or limit inbreeding, and of course incest. Surely an all-knowing God would have foreseen this.

If you start off the human race with just Adam and Eve, then where did all the various diversity of human ethnic or racial types come from in such a relatively short time frame?

Then there’s this Tower of Babel story. What was (an apparently all powerful) God so afraid of?

How did all those individuals, all those souls, pre-Christ, get ‘saved’? I mean, how did a Neanderthal caveperson, living 100,000 years ago, get to Heaven? Or for that matter someone who even was living in Old Testament (pre-JC) times?

Then we have Jonah and the whale (or big fish). Well, if you swallow that as being the gospel truth then there’s this bridge in Sydney Harbour that I’d like you to buy from me – going real cheap too. 

Then there’s the parting of the Red Sea (or Reed Sea) scenario. Moses may have been the one to wave his hands and arms and in so doing parting the waters, but God was directing the show and the action and so ultimately has to take the blame for the slaughter (by drowning) of the Egyptian army. I’m reminded of the phrase that ‘God so loved the world…’ – well God certainly didn’t love the Egyptian army! Speaking of God’s love, you wouldn’t have wanted to been one of those upstanding citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah back in those days, or for that matter been hanging around at the time Noah was building his Ark!

What about Methuselah living to 969 years? Sure he did! But if he did, then it’s ‘anything you can do I can do better’ time. So, my personal objective is that I’m heading for the 970 longevity prize in the Guinness Book of Records!

To be continued…