So, Jesus. I don’t believe you about earthly things, so how am I to believe you about heavenly things?
The God of Abraham is, allegedly, very well informed. Some argue that he has omniscience, or close to it. Such a being, unbound by constraints of time and space, that created the world and all things in it, must surely have a good grasp on the nature of that world and the events that transpired within it. Surely, if such a being were to create (or instruct others to create) a single book in which his guidance is contained, he would want that book to be accurate. Surely such a being would want to have accurate portrayals of human life, of mathematics, of engineering, and history. Why then, if such an omniscient being created (or inspired, sanctioned, and/or approved) it, does the Bible contain such flagrant inaccuracies and false prophecies? The answer is quite simple, and the sooner we accept that answer, the sooner humanity can move forward, as a whole, into the future.
That answer is, of course, that the book was not written, inspired, sanctioned, or otherwise created by a powerful divine being – it was created by relatively uneducated, simple people living in a remote part of the world thousands of years ago. Those people were terribly afraid of death, of the unknown, and of their fellow man. They were superstitious, xenophobic, and violent. They beat their women and children, tortured and killed people for imaginary crimes, and made blood sacrifices.
Do doctors consult ancient Babylonian birthing techniques when delivering children? Do politicians follow the principles of state laid out by the ancient Egyptians? Does the C.D.C. follow the guidelines used by clergy and doctors to handle the Bubonic Plague in medieval Europe? Certainly not. Why, then, do we continue to make any reference (moral or otherwise) to a document equally, if not more, ancient and full of error? What wisdoms are found within it that are not found in hosts of other books or easily derived through the modern applications of ethics and reason?
RESPONSE: We have learned a lot from studying what people in the past have written. Philosophy is founded on that principle – look at Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, to name a few. Da Vinci may have lived several hundred years ago, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t great insight found in his writing! So it is with the Bible.
History has a lot to teach us. We would be foolish not to closely examine what has happened previously in human history when making decisions about what happens today and tomorrow. There is great insight in wisdom in many ancient texts, this is true. However, there is an important detail I really cannot stress enough:
Many people (the vast majority in the United States, for example), believe that the Bible is more than just an ancient text written by an ancient people. They believe it is different than, say, the Iliad or the Symposium. The difference between the Iliad and the Bible, in the eyes of these people, is that the Bible is true. That detail, that great leap, represents an entirely different approach to a text. The belief that a text is an accurate reflection of reality, that the contents were created (or inspired) by an all-powerful and all-knowing being carries with it a host of assumptions and biases – objectivity is entirely lost.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the Bible has a few bits of good advice within its six to seven hundred pages. The passages that state that lying, stealing, and killing should not be done are good examples of good advice. The places where Jesus calls for an unconditional love for mankind – also good. However, these recommendations are in no manner unique, nor were they unique at the time of their writing. Philosophies about forgiveness, honesty, and charity have been circling the globe since long before Jesus was crucified. For example, Jainism dates back as far as the 6th century BCE, and contains a lot of very good advice on how to treat other humans (without the clear calls to violence contained within the Bible or the Koran).
Here, here.
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