Is the bible really the good book ( broad scope analysis of Its content ) (page 2)

AuldSoul

I have to toss in here that not every act described in the Bible is approved by God. Certainly not every custom is required by or even sanctioned by God.

Many of the orders cited are the arbitrary decisions of men, and God had nothing to do with it except they did things supposedly for God without his asking it done. Others purport to be the words of Moses who was supposedly speaking the words of Jehovah to the people, yet in places "Moses" spoke things that would have only applied after the complete conquest of the Promised Land, long after Moses' death.

My conclusion is (1) finding examples of recorded atrocities does not make them less of an atrocity, (2) human attribution of atrocities to the will of God does not make the act an act of God's in ancient times any more so than attributing the atrocities of our modern day to God makes such actually God's atrocities, (3) the site doesn't really broadly analyze the scope of the content of the Bible so the premise of the thread presents a falsehood but it examines the Bible only from an extremely narrow scope, and (4) the Bible is not a code book full of laws for Christians, nor is this why I call the Bible a good book.

I call the Bible a good book because it provides ample demonstration of the need for the law of Christ. None of the atrocities cited could be committed by anyone who was genuinely striving to apply the law of the Christ.

As to Jesus lying, the examples cited by the site's author make him or her seem pretty pathetic to me. I find that the opposite is true in my case. I find that Jesus didn't lie. The author invites a test: "This is clearly a lie, and can be proven to be a lie by any believer. Simply pray for me to be converted to Christianity right away."

God will not violate his own will in response to prayer. A Christian would never pray for such a thing and expect to be answered, because of love for neighbor and love for God (the law of Christ). Such a contravention of the exercise of free will would be counter to Christianity.

With regard to his "God is impossible" hypothesis, he commits a glaringly fatal logical fallacy when he assumes a paradigm for perfection which may or may not be reality: "If God is perfect, there can be no disequilibrium. There is nothing he needs, nothing he desires, and nothing he must or will do."

Nothing He needs, if perfect? Agreed. Nothing He must do, if perfect? Agreed. However, our Web site author ventures too far when asserting that there is nothing a perfect God could desire and nothing a perfect God will do. He assumes perfection is a state of utterly disaffected Nirvana and in so doing deflates his entire argument on a premise that cannot be established in fact.

"Humans were the crown of his creation, since they were created in God's image and have the ability to make decisions." Once again, the author assumes facts not in evidence. According to the Bible humans were not the crown of his creation. Therefore, the author has made another fatal error in argumentation.

From here on out you should be able to spot the rather pedestrian fallacies that pepper the remainder of the section.

In all, I think it was a rather exhaustive and entertaining attempt to discredit the Bible as evil based largely on religious dogma (even that recorded within the Bible) rather than on the Bible itself. Broad in analytical scope? To me, the idea is laughable.

Respectfully,
AuldSoul

mavie

http://www.godhatessweden.com/

get a load of this shit. i got to it from the 'retard of the month' subtopic

Handsome Dan

Auldsoul............Yes you quite right about the web site being so strongly written with a atheistic bias, too strong perhaps come to think of it, I realy should've titiled the

the subject an atheist view of the bible which would have been more of an accruate description. He does make it sound like every thing terible that happened was under the direction of

god , but did not state that the things that men did was under the supposed direction of god a very important fact that you also noted.

In any case good to read your comments , thanks !

PrimateDave

"I read the Bible in the original lanugages." - Wafe

I have a JPS Tanakh (Jewish Bible). It is written in Modern English and Modern Hebrew. In no way is the Hebrew portion the same as the original language. The original texts don't exist anymore. The oldest texts available are copies that can date hundreds of years from the time that the originals may have been written. There is evidence of widespread redaction in the texts that we have received through the filter of history.

What we have are copies of copies. Translations of translations. With all due respect, there is no way anyone can "read the Bible in the original language."

This is not to say that a website like evilbible.com is useless. We certainly have enough of the stories contained within the Bible's pages to base a modern cultural judgment on the contents of this "holy" book. To that end I recommend _Is_It_God's_Word?_ by Joseph Wheless. http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_wheless/is_it_gods_word/

A sampling of its topics:

IS IT GOD'S WORD?

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF SUBHEADINGS

FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CONTENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIANITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
THE NEW AND THE OLDER RELIGIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
PAGAN TOLERANCE AND CHRISTIAN INTOLERANCE. . . . . . . . . . 13
THE DEADLY SANCTIONS OF RELIGION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
"LIKE KING LIKE PEOPLE". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
"NOT DEAD BUT SLEEPETH". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
FAITH FLOURISHED ON IGNORANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
"CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
THE "CHRISTIAN" PEOPLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

A SKETCH OF HEBREW SCRIPTURES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
THE BIBLE A COLLECTION OF "LITTLE BOOKS" . . . . . . . . . . 24
THE LANGUAGE OF THE BOOKS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
THE BIBLE LANGUAGE -- HEBREW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
THE NAME OF THE HEBREW TRIBAL GOD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
THE BIBLE ALL COPIES OF COPIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
AND TRANSLATIONS OF TRANSLATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
WHEN THE BOOKS WERE WRITTEN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
SOME LIGHTS ON BIBLE CHRONOLOGY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
SOME SIDELIGHTS ON MOSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
THE "FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
THE BIBLE "PREFACE". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
SOME "POST-MOSAICA". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
OTHER LATE-WRITTEN BOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
"YAHVEH" AND "ELOHIM". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
A RARENTHESIS OF EXPLANATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
OTHER "SOURCES" OF SCRIPTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
DUPLICATIONS OF INSPIRATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
INSPIRATION AND CONTRADICTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
THE LAWS AND TEST OF TRUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
FATAL CONTRADICTIONS OF REVELATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
The Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
THE "DAYS" AND MATTER OF CREATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
SOME SIGNIFICANT MISTRANSLATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
"ADAM" MEANS ONLY "MAN". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
"LIVING CREATURES" AND "LIVING SOUL" . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
THE "FLOOD" CONTRADICTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
THE TOWER OF BAB-EL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
JACOB'S LADDER, AND BETH-EL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
JACOB'S BARGAINING VOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
SUNDRY OTHER CONTRADICTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

THE PATRIARCHS AND THE COVENANTS OF YAHVEH . . . . . . . . . 60
THE SPLENDID CIVILIZATION OF ABRAM'S TIME. . . . . . . . . . 60
THE "PROMISE" TO ABRAHAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
THE EGYPTIAN SLAVERY PROVISO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
THE PROMISE OF ISAAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
ISAAC'S DUBIOUS PATERNITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
THE PROMISE RENEWED To ISAAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
THE PROMISE RENEWED TO JACOB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
THE MIGRATION TO EGYPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
AMAZING MULTIPLYING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

THE "SOJOURN" IN EGYPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
THE "FOUR GENERATIONS" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
THE "INEFFABLE NAME" REVEALED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
A "PIOUS FRAUD" OF TRANSLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
A CURIOUS MUDDLING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
WHY THIS "PIOUS" FRAUD?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
A PECULIAR TEST OF PROPHECY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
SOME ASSURANCES OF SUCCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
CONJURING CONTESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
THE FEARFUL AND WONDERFUL "PLAGUES OF EGYPT" . . . . . . . . 76

THE WONDERS OF THE EXODUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
"IN THE FOURTH GENERATION" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
THE HOSTS OF THE LORD OF HOSTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
SOME PREGNANT FIGURES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
THE AMAZING PASSOVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
THE MARCHING ORDERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
THE HOSTS ON THE MARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
THE HOSTS AFRAID OF WAR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
THE RED SEA MASSACRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
THE CHILDREN WAIL FOR WATER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
SMITING THE ROCK FOR WATER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
FOOD RIOTS -- HEAVENLY MANNA AND QUAILS. . . . . . . . . . . 87
MIRACLE AND MATHEMATICS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
THE MOSES FAMILY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
WHO PROPOSED THE JUDGES OF ISRAEL? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
THE TENTS OF ISRAEL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
THE GREAT ENCAMPMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
SOME FEATURES OF CAMP-LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
THE "BURNING QUESTION" OF FUEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

THE FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
THE MISTAKE ABOUT THE PRIESTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
THE TWO CENSUSES IN THE WILDERNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
SOME CENSUS ODDITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
THE LEVITES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
THE PUZZLE OF "SAME" OR "NOT SAME" . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
THE TABERNACLE AND ITS ACTIVITIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
SACRIFICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
MORE OF THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
SOME JAHVISTIC MURDERINGS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
THE RAPE OF MIDIAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
THE WONDERFUL LAST DAYS OF MOSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
MOURNING FOR AARON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
WAR WITH CANAAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
TEN ENCAMPMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
WAR WITH AMORITES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
WAR WITH JAAZER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
WAR WITH BASHAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
THE EPISODE OF BALAAM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
SPORTING WITH MOAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
CENSUS TAKING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
EXPEDITION TO MIDIAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
"MOPPING UP" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

THE "TEN COMMANDMENTS" AND THE "LAW" . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
DIVERGENT DECALOGUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

THE TABLES OF STONE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
THE FIFTH MOUNTAIN TRIP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
THE FIRST TABLES OF STONE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
THE INCIDENT OF THE GOLDEN CALF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
THE SECOND TABLES OF STONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
THE ACTUAL "TEN WORDS" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
THE LAW OF THE DECALOGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
LAWS OF SLAVERY AND MURDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
CANNIBALISM AND HUMAN SACRIFICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
OTHER DIVINE MOSAIC LAWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
MOSES NOT THE "LAW-GIVER". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
THE "LAW" OF LATE PRIESTLY ORIGIN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
THE "FINDING" OF THE LAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
THE LAW AND THE REFORMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
POSITIVE PROOFS AGAINST MOSES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
BIBLE HISTORY DISPROVES THE "LAW OF MOSES" . . . . . . . . . 132

THE "CONQUEST" OF THE PROMISED LAND. . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
BUT NOT CONQUERED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
THE ABJECT SUBJECTION OF ISRAEL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

THE HEBREW HEATHEN RELIGION. SEX WORSHIP AND
IDOLS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
PHALLISM, OR SEX-WORSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
THE PRIMITIVE TRINITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
PHALLIC EMBLEMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
THE PATRIARCHAL PHALLIC IDOLATRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
THE PHALLIC SYMBOLS OF SCRIPTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
THE "PILLARS" OR MAZZEBAHS OF YAHVEH . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
THIS "GROVES" OR ASHERAHS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
YAHVEH'S PHALLIC EPHODS AND TERAPHIM . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
THE SACRED DICE OF YAHVEH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
OTHER HEATHEN RITES OF YAHVEH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
THE TEMPLE AN IDOL HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
THE TEMPLE HARLOTS OF YAHVEH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
PHALLUS HOMAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
SANCTITY OF THE PHALLUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
THE SUPERSTITION OF WITCHCRAFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
THE BIBLE A GREAT "DREAM BOOK" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

THE PAGAN GOD -- AND GODS -- OF ISRAEL . . . . . . . . . . . 162
PAGAN ORIGINS OF THE HEBREWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
THE HEBREWS WERE HEATHENS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
"EL" -- "BEL" AND "BAAL" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
"BAAL" IS "LORD" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
YAHVEH IS BAAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
HA-ELOHIM YISHRAEL -- THE GODS OF ISRAEL . . . . . . . . . . 167
THE ORIGINAL HEBREW WORDS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
"THE GODS CREATED" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
PLURALITY OF GODS BETRAYED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Plural Nouns and Plural Verbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
The "Plural of Dignity". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
YAHVEH -- "E PLURIBUS UNUM". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Many "Other Gods" are Acknowledged . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
The God of Israel and the Gods of the Nations. . . . . . . . 175
PAGAN BIBLE NAMES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

YAHVEH -- THE "TERRIBLE GOD" OF ISRAEL . . . . . . . . . . . 179
YAHVEH AS A SUPERMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
EX NIHIL NIHIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
YAHVEH A LOCAL DEITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
YAHVEH A KING ELOHIM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
YAHVEH AS A WAR-GOD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
YAHVEH, WAR-GOD OF ISRAEL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
PERSONAL TRAITS OF YAHVEH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
YAHVEH A DEITY OF TERROR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
A GOD OF BLOODY MURDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
YAHVEH THE VENGEFUL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
THE CHANGEFUL YAHVEH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
YAHVEH REPENTANT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
THE FATHER OF LIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
THE LUSTS OF YAHVEH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
YAHVEH THE WHITE-SLAVER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
L'ENVOI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

THE HOLY PRIESTS AND PROPHETS OF YAHVEH. . . . . . . . . . . 195
PRIESTS BEFORE MOSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
A "KINGDOM OF PRIESTS" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
REVELATION OF PRIESTLY MONOPOLY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
THE PRIESTLY PERQUISITES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
THE HOLY FAKIR PROPHETS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
THE FRENZIED PROPHETS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
THE DIVINE TEST OF PROPHECY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
SAMUEL, DEAN OF THE PROFESSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
ELIJAH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
ELISHA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
ISAIAH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
JEREMIAH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
EZEKIEL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
DANIEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
YAHVEH'S HOWLING DERVISHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
PROPHETIC EROTICISM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
PROPHETIC LYING FACTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
CONFESSIONS OF THE PROPHETS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
THE PROPAGANDISTS OF CHRISTIANITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

BIBLE THEOLOGY AND MODERN TRUTH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
WITCHCRAFT AND INSPIRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
ANCIENT FAITH YET FULLY VALID. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

THE "PROPHECIES" OF JESUS CHRIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
THE GOSPEL RECORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
The Miraculous "Virgin Birth" of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . 234
"VIRGIN" OR "YOUNG WOMAN". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
THE "SIGN" OF A FALSE PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Where the King was Born. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
"Out of Egypt" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
"Out-Hereding" Herod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
The "Nazarne". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
The Great Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
He Bore Our Infirmities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
The "Bruised Reed" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
"The King Cometh". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
What is this One?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

The "Potter's Field" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
JUDAS HANGED HIMSELF?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Parting His Garments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
MARK'S APPEALS TO PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
To "Prepare the Way" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
"Numbered among Transgressors" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
LUKE CITES PROPHECY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
"GENEALOGIES" OF JESUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
JOHN APPEALS TO PROPHECY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
A Prophecy Puzzle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
"For Moses Wrote of Me" (Jesus). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Who Hath Believed? And Why Not?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
A Cooking Lesson as "Prophecy" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

THE INSPIRED "HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS". . . . . . . . . . . . 259
OF THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
THE DATELESS NAZARENE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
THE "BLESSED NAME" OF JESUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
GENEALOGIES OF JESUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
VIRGIN BIRTH OF JESUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
THE SHEPHERD CHOIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
THE NOCTURNAL FLIGHT TO EGYPT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
THE "MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
JOHN AND THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
THE TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
THE APOSTLES CHOSEN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
"THE TWELVE" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
APOSTOLIC GREED AND STRIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
OTHER APOSTOLIC TANGLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT -- OR THE PLAN . . . . . . . . . . . 284
THIS LORD'S PRAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
CHRIST ANOINTED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
JESUS -- KING OF THE JEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
POT-POURRI OF INSPIRED INHARMONIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
ECCE HOMO! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
SECRECY ENJOINED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
SUPERSTITIONS OF JESUS CHRIST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
THE "SECOND COMING" OF CHRIST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

MORE "HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
THE CLOSING SCENES OF THE DRAMA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
THE LAST SUPPER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
THE "LORD'S SUPPER" OR EUCHARIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
THE BETRAYAL AND ARREST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
PETER'S DENIAL OF JESUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
THE TRIAL OF JESUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
THE CRUCIFIXION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
BEARING THE CROSS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
WHEN WAS IT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
THE INSCRIPTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
THE WITNESSES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
THE INCIDENTS AT THE CRUCIFIXION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
THE LAST WORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
THE WONDERS AT DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
THE BURIAL SCENE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
THE RESURRECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

BREAKING THE RESURRECTION NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
POST-RESURRECTION APPEARANCES OF JESUS . . . . . . . . . . . 330
THE FIRST APPEARANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
THE SECOND APPEARANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
THIRD APPEARANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
FOURTH APPEARANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
SUNDAY OTHER APPEARANCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
THE ASCENSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
NOBODY BELIEVED THE "IDLE TALES" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
A PROPHET WITHOUT HONOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

THE SACRED DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
THE FORMULA OF FAITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
LYING AND FRAUD ADMITTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
REDEMPTION FROM THE CURSE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
FREE FOR ALL OR LIMITED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
"SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
BELIEVE AND BE SAVED -- OR STAY DAMNED . . . . . . . . . . . 344
REPENTANCE AS A CONDITION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
ELECTED OR ECLECTIC? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
FAITH OR WORKS?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
LAW OR NOT LAW?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
CIRCUMCISION OR UNCIRCUMCISION?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
BAPTISM AND BACKSLIDING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
FORGIVENESS OF SIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
RESURRECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
THE FINAL JUDGMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
THE "SECOND COMING". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
DEVILOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
FIGHTING THE DEVILS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
THE PENALTIES OF UNBELIEF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
INTOLERANCE AND DESTRUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
INSPIRED PRIESTLY PRESUMPTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
AN INFAMOUS ACCUSATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
THE APOSTLES' VIEWS OF EACH OTHER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
KNOWLEDGE SCORNED -- IGNORANCE EXALTED . . . . . . . . . . . 374
CHILDISH FAITH FOR SALVATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
DAMNATION FOR UNBELIEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
FATUOUS FANATICISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
THE "PRINCE OF PEACE". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

THE CHRISTIAN "PLAN OF SALVATION". . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
ORIGINAL SIN AND ETERNAL DAMNATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
"Redemption from the Curse". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
THE REVELATION OF THE FALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
THE "CURSE" IN EDEN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
THE SNAKE CURSE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
THE CURSE ON WOMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
THE CURSE ON MAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
THE "CURSE" INNOCUOUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
THE "CURSE" LIFTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
THE RIDDLE OF THE SERPENT SEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
A BIG CHANCE MISSED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
DAMNATION A CHRISTIAN DOGMA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
PAUL THE APOSTLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
THE "PLAN OF SALVATION". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
"REDEMPTION FROM THE CURSE". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
THE CURSE NOT 100% REDEEMED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
REVELATIONS OF THE HEREAFTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
HEAVEN, HELL, AND PURGATORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
WHAT HEAVEN IS AND WHERE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
SO THIS IS HELL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
A DAMNED PLACE IS HELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
PURGATORY -- AND PAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
CESSET SUPERSTITIO! AND THEN?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

This is a biased and sometimes inaccurate book. But, so is the Bible.

Dave

Handsome Dan

Thanks for the info Dave interesting stuff, going to check it out ......

Wafe

testing testing 1233

Wafe

I feel that even though we do not have the originals, it would not matter.

Try reading shakespeare in the original english. What you will find is the spelling is no where near the same as it is in modern english.

The same is true for the Bible. As long as the thoughts are the same, the originals are not required

Handsome Dan

I'll go along with that Wafe It's not important in how it's said but rather what is being said in it's understanding and meaning, after all this is just another guys viewpoint.

You have to read it with an open mind. I certainly did !

PrimateDave

"You have to read it with an open mind" - Dan

Exactly. One first has to take off the rose colored glasses of Christian indoctrination in order to see the collection of documents for what it really is. Bibliolators (Christians who idolize the Bible) can't see the evil of the Bible and its God because they've been told what to believe all their lives. They will assume that it is good in spite of overwhelming internal evidence to the contrary. When pressed, they may assume some sort of fall back position while still claiming "victory" in the end.

Many critics of the Bible are far more familiar with its contents than the average Christian. That's where we get such scholarly pursuits such as the Documentary Hypothesis (aka Higher Criticism. See _Who_Wrote_the_Bible?_ by Richard Friedman). Fundamentalist "scholars" have made attempts to refute these criticisms, but in my opinion their efforts seem to lack intellectual honesty.

One such attempt by apologists is Josh McDowell's _Evidence_That_Demands_a_Verdict_. A rebuttal to that book can be found here: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jeff_lowder/jury/

Dave

Handsome Dan

Thanks Dave going to look thoses up........good info

Is the bible really the good book ( broad scope analysis of Its content )

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