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.
Continued from yesterday’s blog…
Then there’s the concept or character of Jesus Christ (JC), the alleged son of God. Kids have Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny; tweens and teens have whatever pop idol is flavour of the month (or week – what’s in and what’s out change fast), but adults have JC.
While there is little doubt in my mind that there really was an historical figure who went by the name of Jesus Christ (but there are those who would, and do, argue that JC was as totally a mythological figure as Zeus and Apollo, or for that matter Santa), and who was executed, I suggest that JC was still a person who was very human, died, and has remained dead ever since.
I suggest that there existed a very charismatic character, which, alas, could have been mentally ill. Our mental institutions or asylums are full of people who sincerely believe that they are this person, or that person, or a reincarnation of this or that historical figure, but in reality, are totally delusional. I’m sure this syndrome is not unique to this era. There have been lots of charismatic religious figures over the centuries, which, in another time and place, if claiming to be the Son of God, would have attracted a massive following, and a near mythological aura. Perhaps JC just happened to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right personality to pull the charade off – in fact JC probably sincerely believed his own story. I’m no expert on what exactly JC said about himself, or has been alleged he said. Perhaps he made no claims at all and it was only others who embellished him as something he never claimed to be. If that’s the case, then of course he wasn’t mentally ill. I just mean that I’m sure mental illness existed some 2000 years ago – then as now – and it’s possible that JC could have suffered to some greater or lesser degree assuming he made some extraordinary claims about himself. Regardless, the bottom line is that JC was the son of a man and a woman, not the Son of God.
Therefore, there wasn’t a virgin birth was there? Come on, pull the other one. Where’s the real objective and conclusive evidence? Was there a qualified medical doctor on the spot to witness and testify to that alleged miracle? Now if the virgin birth account is accurate, which I doubt, then JC had no biological father. Therefore, all of his genetic material came from his biological (virgin) mother. That being the case, JC should have not only been a woman, but probably a clone of his mother! Since the authors of the relevant Biblical books could hardly have been aware of modern genetics, their ‘oops’ is understandable – but it’s an ‘oops’ nevertheless.
Now someone is bound to mention that there is such a concept in biology known as parthenogenesis. That is, a normally sexually reproducing female gives birth without benefit of any sperm fertilizing her egg(s). Unfortunately, this doesn’t occur naturally in mammals, although it has been induced artificially in laboratory mice and rabbits. If the Biblical virgin birth was the result of natural parthenogenesis, something medical science denies is possible, then it was such a rare event that it has never happened before or since, or else laboratory techniques where far more highly advanced back then, even relative to today’s medical technology. However, because there’s always a slight, however incredibly slight, change of a natural parthenogenesis event, then the alleged virgin birth can not be claimed to be a bona fide miracle, and as such, offers no proof for God’s existence.
If God or His scribes wished to make crystal clear the ideas and events and chronology central to ‘the end of the world’, Revelations, Armageddon, the Rapture, the Second Coming, etc., He or they failed – miserably. Any dozen Biblical scholars will give a dozen different interpretations of the ‘end of days’, from the literal to the metamorphic. Revelations, apparently that is, was intended for those of that era; that it was intended for generations far removed from those times is apparently not the case according to Biblical scholars. If you’re not going to make your point clear, well, what’s the point? How many hundreds upon hundreds of times have Biblical scholars prophesied the end of the world, or the end of days, or Armageddon, or the Second Coming, or Final Judgment (take your pick of relevant phrases) based on the Biblical verse? Well, we’re still here! We are indeed still here, so, so much for the reliability of The Bible, or God’s word, and/or the competence of so called Biblical experts. So, the next time some Bible-thumping Fundamentalist tells you that the ‘end is nigh’, take said message with a proverbial grain of salt and don’t lose any sleep over it!
Then there are the time discrepancies to explain. According to Biblical scholars, by studying all the various begat events and generations in the Bible, the world must have been created in 4004 BC – or maybe 5005 BC – or maybe 10,010 BC – or whatever. The point is that whatever the Biblical scholarly calculation, it falls way, way short of that figure obtained through geological and astronomical means. In fact there’s not even the most remote reconciliation between the origins of the world as given in the Bible and as given in science, far less that of the entire Universe. I gather various Biblical scholars are more interested in the Rock of Ages than the ages of rocks.
Learn from the lessons of history: Here are a couple more flies in the Biblical ointment.
Can The Bible really be a true historical account? Not likely. It’s written by a multitude of authors, over eons of time, and has suffered through dozens of translations. I like an analogy of a row of twenty people – whisper a sentence into the ear of person number one and have that person whisper that sentence to person number two, hence person number three, and so on down the line. Have person number twenty then relate the sentence back to you. Odds are that there will be little similarity between what you originally whispered and what you ultimately heard after the twenty translations.
God maybe and JC probably, are historical figures, as are all the other characters in the Old and New Testaments. Apparently many of the texts within The Bible weren’t written down until many decades after the fact. What does that tell you about the reliability of the texts being literally accurate? History is a very inexact science, patchy at best, and the farther one goes back in time, the patchier it gets. Historians often have a hard time documenting and agreeing on who, what, where, when and why of happenings 200 to 500 years ago. So how can we put faith in events 2000 to 5000 years ago?
Anyone can make up or embellish stories and write them down – and frequently do. Our bookshops and libraries are full of books labelled ‘fiction’. Can anyone absolutely state that those who authored the various testaments, chapters and verses of The Bible weren’t sort of making it up as they went along, or at least padding things a mite? Humans at best like to embellish stories and tell little white lies (even whoppers) and at worst invent pure fiction (in the guise of truth) for their own purpose(s).
Lastly, as has been often pointed out, history is written by the winners. Perhaps it would be interesting to have had Adam and Eve’s side of the story, or Satan’s side instead of just God’s version of events!
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