I
really enjoy when friends cite the Bible or come up with a biblical quote to
support some argument. The Bible is
great for that. With 66 books in two separate sections, you can find support
for almost any idea or claim.
After
all, the Bible is a collection of books, written over hundreds of years by
multiple, mostly anonymous, authors, edited and revised by countless more. Sources ranged from other, now-lost texts to
simple imagination. The authors were trying to present information that
supports their beliefs. If that meant
creating and/or ignoring facts, so be it.
They didn’t hesitate. The end
result is a wonderful compilation of human thoughts, stories and ideas, with
ethics and moral ideals woven into the text.
The Bible has served as a guide and inspiration to countless humans.
It
also inspired a lot of commentary by scholars less interested in quoting and
more interested in content. I’ve
collected a lot of their thoughts about the Bible and want to share them.
· “Let
us examine the Scriptures.” Those words
have undone the world. John
Selden
(English jurist) 1689
 |
| Paine |
· When
we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and
tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half
the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a
demon than the word of God. It is a
history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind. Thomas
Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
·
The
Bible contains some of the most sublime passages in English literature, but is
full of contradictions, inconsistencies and absurdities. Elizabeth
Cady Stanton (American suffragette), 1896
·
Subtract
from the New Testament the miraculous and the highly impossible, what would be
the remainder? George Eliot (author) 1860
·
All
the biblical miracles will at least disappear with the progress of
science. Matthew Arnold (poet), 1863
·
The
biblical account of the creation of Eve is a preposterous fable. Thomas
Huxley (biologist), 1874
·
It
ain't the parts of the Bible that I don't understand that bother me, it's the
parts I do understand. Mark Twain
(author), 1902
 |
| Twain |
·
The
Bible is so human a book that I cannot see how belief in its divine author can
survive reading it. William James (psychologist/philosopher), 1904
·
I
know of no book that has been a source of brutality and sadistic behavior, both
public and private, that can compare to the Bible. James
Paget (surgeon), 1899
·
The
Bible is literature, not dogma. George Santayana (author), 1920
·
The
Good Book -- one of the most remarkable euphemisms ever coined. Ashley
Montague (writer), 1930
·
The
Old Testament is responsible for more atheism, agnosticism, disbelief -- call
it what you will -- than any book ever written; it has emptied more churches
than all the counter-attractions of cinema, motorcycle and golf course. A.A.
Milne (author), 1920
·
There
is no doubt that the Bible became a stumbling-block in the path of progress,
scientific, social and even moral. It
was quoted against Copernicus as it was against Darwin. The common assumption … that the moral
influence of the Bible has been wholly good, and that all is needed to improve
our society is to "spread the Gospel," is not born out by a candid
study of history. Preserved Smith
(historian), 1925.
 |
| Allen |
·
There
is scarcely a page of the Bible on which an open mind does not perceive a
contradiction, an unlikely story, an obvious error, an historical impossibility
of one sort or another. Steve Allen
(actor/author), 1960
The
comments were based on what the Bible really says, not the honeyed words of
believers. Let’s not forget the
heartwarming biblical advice to annihilate opposition, including their animals,
or that sorcerers should be murdered, the gay people should be severely
punished. How about these gems:
·
Deuteronomy
7:1-2: God orders the Israelites to exterminate the men, women, and children of
seven nations and steal their land.
1 Timothy 2:12: I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
1 Peter 2:18: Slaves, submit
yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to the good.
Revelation 21:8: Non-Christians are condemned to eternal torture.
Then there are all the contradictions. I’ve runs lists before. Here are some new ones:
 |
| Jesus with cross |
·
Jeremiah
7:22: God denies he ever gave the Israelites commandments about animal
sacrifices. Exodus 29:38-42 and many other verses: God requires the Israelites to offer animal
sacrifices.
·
John
19:17: Jesus carries his own cross. Mark 15:21-23: A man called Simon carries the cross.
And,
of course, nonexistent events touted in the Bible. As author and humanist Robert Ingersoll
noted, the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, “the best historian the
Hebrews produced, said nothing about the life or death of Christ; nothing about
the massacre of the infants by Herod; not one word about the wonderful star
that visited the sky at the birth of Christ; nothing about the darkness that
fell upon the world for several hours in the midst of day; and failed entirely
to mention that hundreds of graves were opened, and that multitudes of Jews
rose from the dead, and visited the Holy City?”
 |
| Ingersoll |
He
added, “Is it not wonderful that no historian ever mentioned any of these
prodigies?”
The
wonder really is that, in today’s world, filled with the knowledge readily
available to anyone with the slightest interest, that people still quote the
biblical text as fact.
As
the American Humanist Association posted on its website: “By treating this
mistake-ridden book as the word of God, humanity has been led down many paths
of error and misery throughout history. In too many ways, the Bible continues
to produce such results.”
Quoting from it, as if it represents accuracy, only continues to add to its centuries-long toll.
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