For NON-CHRISTIANS...?

Question

How do you explain the bible's existence? It is a collection of 66 books written by 40 different authors over 1500 years with complete unity & harmony. It's translated into 1800 languages and #1 bestseller every year.
Note: rude answers demonstrate a spirit searching for Jesus :-)

Answer 1

Amen!
Actually, it was written by 40 authors.

and dont Forget that it was written in 3 different languages, (Greek, aramiac and hebrew) in over three continents, (Africa, Europe and Asia) it is the main source for archaelogical digs in the that area of the world, hundreds of fulfilled proficies, and it has stood the test of time.

Answer 2

There are a number of books that have been carried forth, and quite frankly the Jews did a good job of preserving the old testament. When the various books were written, they became a kind of historical library, not dissimilar to your public or school library.

However, if you somehow think that there is complete unity and harmony, you have not read it with an open mind. There are number of discrepancies between the various books. The books of Kings and the books of Chronicles, basically tell the same tale, but with variations between the two. There is a broad variety of opinion expressed in the old testament about what happens to a person after death. The concept of Hell is not really introduced in a developed fashion until the New Testament, and many portions of the old testament refer to death as the end of life, with no expectation of any after life at all.

If you are going to argue from popularity, I remind you that the best selling novel so far this century has been the Davinci Code, which is patently not true, but a really good story. In many ways, this same fact can explain why people initially retold the stories of the bible. However, if you watch Y!A closely, you'll find someone that believes the Davinci Code was true. And that, dear reader, is probably what happened with many of the books in the Old Testament.

Answer 3

What proof do you have that it was written by 40 different authors over 1500 years? Thats the first question you should ask yourself.

The reason it has "complete harmony" (which it totally arguable) is because only the books that agreed with each other were chosen to be put into the bible. There were lots of books that were found with the other manuscripts that are in the bible, but not all made it in. A group of men got together and decided which books should and should not actually be included in what we now know as the bible. thats why the catholic bible has more books than the other bible, because they chose to keep more in. REally doesnt sound "inspired by god" to me.

WE translated it into 1800 languages, just like we traslated the Book of Mormon, the Koran, and any other book on religion in the world. That doesnt prove its true. Neither does it being a bestseller. How does any of this mean its true? I think its true historically, but thats about it. Its no more true than the stories of Zeus and Hera and the Titans in greek mythology.

Every single religion has some kind of text that its followers claim to be the truth and the gospel and written by god and blah blah blah. Tell me, what makes the bible any different than the rest?

Answer 4

1) How do you know the 66 books were written over 1500 years?

2) How do you know they were written by so many different authors?

3) How do you know they weren't edited for harmony?

4) What's there to 'explain'? I mean, yes. The bible's there. So what? It's just a book, with no scientific value, no value as evidence of anything, and the fact that this book is a bestseller talks more about the readers than about the book itself.

BTW, by your criterion, I take it that you liked the Da Vinci Code, right? I mean it was a bestseller, too...

Oh, and finally, how do rude answer demonstrate anything else than a rude answerer?

Answer 5

"Complete unity & harmony". Obviously, we see something different. You see a #1 bestseller; obviously, it must be truth (not like there are best sellers in fiction, of course). What I see is a collection of books written by a fearful and ignorant group. They didn't understand much, and they attributed it all to God. Once time had passed enough since Jesus' day, they were able to exaggerate events, given the forming of the Church and the many rewritings that occurred.

I see a book with a dangerous paradigm. Women are subservient to men in all parts of the Bible; it is their place. This is not acceptable. Non-believers will be punished for their ideas eternally in a lake of fire; this is not acceptable. The world will be ending soon and the Rapture occurring with Jesus returning; this is not an acceptable attitude in the 21st century.

The Bible has many good messages and morals in it; there is a lot of wisdom sprinkled in. There is a lot of hate and violence and ignorance there, too.

We know the world is older than 6000 years, and it hasn't formed like Creation describes it at all. We know the Earth is not the center of the Universe, and that the sky is not a physical firmament above us. We know so much more these days; and what I see is that a bunch of people keep reading an old story claiming it for truth. I see a very sad picture indeed.

Answer 6

The bible was written by man, and put together by the Council of Nicea in 325CE to promote the Vatican's views. Many, many, many books were left out because they clashed with views of the Vatican. Also many translation errors were made when it was translated from language to another. A classic example of this it the exodus. The mistranslation the Hebrew Yam Suf, which means the "Sea of Reeds" as Red Sea. I could pretty much exclaim that the Poetic and Prose Eddas from my religion to be true, it doesn't make it so. As many who answered this question stated ANY book could put in the bible's postion, but it still would be just a book. There is just no way anybody will ever prove the Bible is the literal word of the Abrahamic god( YHWH, Jehovah, Allah). You need to do some reading, I suggest starting with these links.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Council_of_Nicaea

Answer 7

Oh good grief! I haven't read all the answers, but you're all terribly keen with your "facts".

I feel that the Bible is ununified and disharmonious to a certain extent precisely because it was written by so many people, but that's not automatically a criticism, nor would it in itself discredit the Bible.

In fact, the fact that it contradicts itself and has some (although surprisingly few) outright errors, despite being edited (and the contents selected) by a comparitively small group of people might add something to its value.

It's not meant to be God's direct revalation. It would be easier if it was. If you read the Koran and feel crertain that it is not God directly speaking, then you've just rejected Islam, because the Koran itself is the miracle. However, Christianity (a generalisation of course) holds the person of Jesus to be the miracle and the revelation of God, not the Bible, which makes it harder to reject. Islam is very easy to completely refute (once you access to a few bits of information) but Christianity really is unprovable, and also impossible to totally disprove, unless we're able to invent a time machine that can translate into aramaic . Of course, because I haven't heaped abuse on Chritianity, everybody will now assume that I'm a born again Christian, because that's how high the level of debate is in this area.

Answer 8

Simply the fact that it is a compilation of so many different stories, written by so many different authors over such a long period of time holds your answer right there; that ancient tradition of storytelling is practiced even today! There are hundreds of thousands of forums on the internet based on writing a portion of a story and then someone else picks up and continues where the last person left off.

Besides, there are dozens of other stories from other cultures that predate even the Jewish religion that tell of the same tragedies, dramas, miracles, etc. that are found in the Bible. The Bible does not tell the first accounts of anything - it was obviously copied.

For instance, have you ever heard of Horus? His story predates Jesus by thousands of years, yet the two stories are undeniably related. Here's a comparison between the two of them: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5.htm

And I hope you don't think me rude; I never used any insults or profanity throughout this entire posting. I knew Jesus once, and he couldn't help me. I have no reason to search for him again. :-)

Answer 9

For Christians...?

How do you explain these coincidences?
- Jesus supposedly died on Dec. 25 (which is the day that the Egyptians knew the sun stayed out one minute longer so it is not the birth of the SON but the birth of the SUN); Dec. 25 is one of the oldest celebrated days if not the oldest
- Most of the ten commandments come from the Egyptian book of the dead
- Everytime you say "amen" at the end of a prayer you are referring to an ancient Egyptian god
- The scenario of someone dying for his people, rising on the 3rd day, and being born to a virgin was used long before the Bible was written; there are at least 16 other instances
- The flood in the Bible, the Hebrews got from Sumerian texts (although there was a flood)

Answer 10

so what about all the hebrew books that go along with it that completely change the meaning? shouldn't you collect the whole set? it's mythology, like many great mythologies in this world, but the christian mythology is hateful, cruel and ugly--no other religion on the planet idolizes their god's corpse on a stick. No other religion states that if a baby dies before getting baptised it gets barbecued in the afterlife--the bible was written by men who have used it to cause a lot of pain and suffering to people throughout history--the witches who were burned, the holocaust--ever seen the scarlet letter?--why do christians try to justify their already ugly religion with the ugliest part of all--that book

Answer 11

Unity and harmony? If it's so unified and harmonious, explain the many contradictions. That said, all it is to me is a book, written by men, and holds no importance to me whatsoever.