The Bible

It is surprising how few Christians – most of whom are very nice people – have actually read the Bible. Of course they will be familiar with some of the more sanitised stories presented in a biased fashion. But if they were to actually read the Bible for themselves, would Christians still feel the same way about God?

The following headings offer verses which Christians should be made aware of, as the Bible is not taught this way in Sunday School.

Even though any sane and socially responsible person would agree with at least six of the Ten Commandments, the rest of the Bible raises serious causes for concern. But first, let’s look at some questions over the reliability of the Bible as evidence:

  1. It was put together, arguably arbitrarily, over hundreds of years by the Catholic Church who were naturally biased and wanted to create and maintain a power base.
  2. There are many translations, many of which are unrecognisable from each other. Check out the link here. Type in any Bible passage and read from the given versions. Are they all God’s word? Are they all infallible? This opens up limitless possibilities for misinterpretation and makes it impossible for the public to understand.
  3. There are at least 12 Gospels so why are only four included? They are the ones which portray Jesus as the most supernatural. All the Gospels were written at least 40 years after the event, mainly by people who only interviewed witnesses and not by the witnesses themselves.
  4. Some Bibles include the 14 Books of the Apocrypha. Apocryphal means unproven.

Now we come to the atrocities committed by Christians, led and guided by the Bible. To name just a few:

  1. The Spanish Inquisition.
  2. Indulgences. Although not an atrocity, but is certainly immoral, all the more so as it came from the top.
  3. The Defenestration of Prague.
  4. Refusal of contraception to communities suffering from AIDS.
  5. Ongoing betrayal of responsibility by priests, including proven cases of molestation.
  6. The execution of William Tyndale in 1536 for the  heretical act of translating the Bible to English and making it accessible.