The Bible...?

Question

Why do some people say that the stories in the Bible are fabrications etc? Im sure i read it somewhere on here and i was just curious as to what proof etc there was of this? I hope i have not caused any offence, im merely interested.

Thank You for reading my question :)

Answer 1

Many of the stories come from previous myths. A good resource on this subject is the book, "101 Myths of the Bible: How Ancient Scribes Invented Biblical History" by Gary Greenberg. There are also resources that demonstrate how the New Testament was fabricated. An easy introduction into this is the DVD, "The God Who Wasn't There". This outlines some of the history of how the New Testament came about and the long gaps between the stuff that Jesus supposedly did, and when it was written.

Answer 2

There are several Misquotes on this page. They seem to think that the medieval conference where the Bible was organized is the conference that wrote the Bible......NO. In this conference, the scholars merely chose which writings of which saints/biblical figures to include in the Bible. For example, some of the gospels like the gospels of mary and thomas are extremely radical and don't fit with the others, hence the scholars had a very good indication that they may not have been true to the core Gospels, such as the fact that they admit to believers being commonly led by the Holy Spirit and by that admission their radical words hindered their inclusion in the Gospels. The scholars of the conference merely put all the letters and writings that fit together...an anthology if you will. And yes, we don't know what day on OUR calendar Christ was born, however what better way to root out paganism than to give them another, better reason to celebrate than winter solstice. It's kind of like children abandoned at birth can't really know their exact birth date; however, their friends and adopted family can still celebrate adoption day or just pick a day to celebrate the child's birthday. Or, even the fact that no one can always say that they had a party or celebrated their birthday on the exact birthday - it may have been a day or two after. It's about the joy of a person's existence - not about the place and time.
In fact, there is no concrete proof that the Bible is a fabrication. While on the other hand, outside writings that mention the lives and actions of Herod, Pilot, John the Baptist, Christ, etc. and others that reference several old testament occurrences only help the validity of the Bible. As well as the small evidence that geologist have looked at patterns in the earth's soil that they THINK shows proof that there may have been a world-wide flood at some point aka they think Noah's Ark may be a true story!


As far as I can tell, people say the Bible is a fabrication because, 1. Its stories are pretty amazing; 2. they don't want to believe it, or 3. they are afraid of what it would mean if they accepted the Bible is true!

Answer 3

Let me provide the simplest example of a story which must be a fabrication, Noah.

For two reasons we know the Noah story is fabricated, first we have the older drafts beginning with Gilgamesh. The rabbis just adapted the story and changed the characters. Noah is a literal fabrication.

Second, and this is quite simple, for the world to literally flood would require far more water than exists on the entire planet and we know how much there is. If five miles worth of water covered the Earth and then evaporated, atmospheric pressure would crush as stronger than the flood did. Right now we live in a world with 46 pounds of atmospheric pressure per square inch. It would be thousands or maybe millions of pounds per square inch, if that much water could evaporate and the atmosphere would go much higher in elevation from the surface. Likewise, if the water went underground, that much water would liquefy and dissolve the continents. Further, if it went below the continents into the hot lava of the Earth, it would combine and either evaporate as above and also blow the planet apart in cataclysmic geysers and/or it would solidify much of the core.

So, from archeology we happen to have the back drafts to the Noah story as it went from culture to culture. From science, we know the story is strictly impossible.

It isn't the only such story.

Finally, if you happen to be a Christian I would like you to think about something.

How many people, legally dead for three days have ever gotten up and walked around, the story of Lazarus and Jesus excluded?

Is it not easier to believe that Jesus, like the other twenty preacher messiahs reported by Josephus as living as contemporaries of Jesus, was executed by the Roman authorities as a political threat. According to the historian Josephus, Jesus was not a unique person, messiah appears to have been a career path like televangelist today is.

Is it not more plausible that teenage soldiers or Jewish teens, upon hearing of the "rising" prediction hid Jesus' body as a cruel and sick joke. That the women upon going to the tomb were crushed to find his body taken. That the community which was already in deep stress and mourning simply imploded psychologically.

The road to Emmaus story is a good example of this. Imagine that some people expect a resurrection, the body is missing, and two fleeing members of the community meet someone that no one else could every meet and so could not corroborate and return to report that they saw the living Jesus.

Further, read the Resurrection accounts side by side. Remember that Mark is the earliest account, probably followed by Luke and Matthew and John's account is the latest.

Set them side by side and figure out what happened, especially as the stories got further in time from the event. If you do it properly you will find 46 irreconcilable differences, that if one story is true others must be strictly false. As an example, look at who arrived first at the tomb.

Answer 4

The Bible contains examples relevant to Jews/Hebrews living during those time. The top Ten Commandments are 1.)partially AGAINST our Constitution (1-4 are about religion) and 2.) the rest (5-10) are rules that any society uses to govern itself by. The Bible contains some basic good vs. evil rules but it’s contradictory in many parts and is not useful as a literal guide. In response to ‘Grannie Annie’s’ answer:
1.)There is no proof of a monodeity and that idea contradicts nature itself. No where does a singular anything create life on it’s own. Well, unless you count single-cell organisms but if we’re made in God’s image, that still doesn’t fit.
2.) Single male creators of life? Where is proof or evidence of that?
3.)I’m pretty sure I have the same stuff as anyone else and it ‘loves’ many things that have nothing to do with singular, male imaginary friends.
4.)When I screw up, it’s a learning process. According to the Creation story, if Eve hadn’t eaten that apple, I wouldn’t have GAINED knowledge. What gift(s) don’t we have?
5.)This supposed relationship-Father and Son yet the same being, makes God seem bi-polar. Compare the judgmental murdering deity of the OT with Jesus, who preached/taught to love everyone. Christians accept this all the time, yet they posess no gifts and the ‘close relationship’ they have is no different than someone with an imaginary friend.
6.)If God was/is all-powerful, why does he provide himself as a torture victim to provide a weird belief for some?
7.)Heaven and God are also concepts many other religions had...but they didn’t need to tell stories about a god-man physically being tortured. ‘Heaven’ was identified, not as a location you go to after you die, but a state of being where everything is good. ‘God’ was not a character-it was a combination of everything super-natural. Kinda like the word ‘knowledge’ covers a huge amt of different concepts. According to that, there is no one particular way to access this.
8.)Believers are held to standards that are based on people of a different age. Would anyone stone their daughter to death for not being a virgin on her wedding night? Or force her to marry her rapist?
There are also a huge number of ‘believers’ in jail and humanitarians are usually atheistic or of some non-Christian belief.
9.)There is absolutely no historical documentation about any miracles being performed by an Immanuel or Jesus before the 3rd or 4th century.
10.)A lot of ‘believers’ don’t follow Christs example, as she already stated previously, and all I’ve been alerted to is fabrications and twisting of words. BTW, I was ‘alerted’ to the fact that many religions called their saviour/god-men ‘Christ’.
Oh, archeological evidence shows there were many huge floods around the same time, but not at the exact same time. Actually, this is a perfect example of why the Bible can't be interpreted literally. If the whole world would have flooded at one time, the earth would have been knocked out of orbit. Also, what did the animals eat for 1+ years? How did a polar bear and a kangaroo exist on the same boat w/o heating/air conditioning? And what about those horrid little cockroaches! Ugh. You'd think an all-powerful deity would take care of that.

Answer 5

Those are unbelievers answering and speaking of something they really don't know or understand. Christians know and believe that the Bible is the WORD of GOD. It may not have been directly written by God (this may be what they mean by fabricated) but the people or prophets and apostles that wrote the different books (they were originally letters, and then later compiled into the Bible) were "called" or inspired by Jesus and the their beliefs of God to write it down for other Christians to learn from.

Answer 6

The Christian Faith is constantly attacked by people who don't understand it. People lie, slander and make fun of what they don't understand. You can't rely on everyone because eventually you will find enough people to feel the same way you do, but does that make it fact. Here are some facts about the authors of the bible. Maybe because the bible was written for God but not by God.

The Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) was written by Moses at the end of his life in the wilderness just prior to the Israelites' entry into Canaan.
Joshua, Judges, and Ruth were all likely written during (or immediately prior to) the kingly reign of David over Israel by unnamed, pro-David/anti-Saul, priestly historians. The large portion of the Psalms were written by King David before and during his reign over Israel. Other authors of Psalms include Moses (Psalm 90), Solomon (Psalms 72 and 127), the sons of Korah (Psalms 42-49; 84-85; and 87-88), the sons of Asaph (Psalms 50 and 73-83), and Ethan the Ezrahite (Psalm 89). A number of Psalms are also written anonymously.The books of Proverbs and Song of Solomon were penned by King Solomon during his reign — though chapters 30 and 31 of Proverbs were written by Agur and Lemuel respectively. Ecclesiastes likely finds authorship in the Post-Exilic period and is written in the voice of the character of King Solomon.Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, and Zephaniah were all written during the Kingdom Era by the prophets whose names are borne by the books' titles. Habakkuk and Joel also written by their self titles. Jeremiah wrote both Lamentations and the book of Jeremiah. Obadiah probably wrote just after the Exile in Babylon began, while Ezekiel's and Daniel's respective books spanned the entirety of Israel's 67-year captivity. Kings has an unknown author. Ezra and Nehemiah and Jewish tradition names him the author of Chronicles. Esther, written after the Exile, was likely penned by a Persian Jew. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were all written after Israel's return from Babylonian and Persian captivity and their authors share names with the books' titles.The book of Job is of a quite ambiguous origin, but though the author remains anonymous.





The gospel according to Matthew was written by Matthew the tax collector.
The gospel according to Mark was written by John-Mark.
The gospel according to Luke was written by Luke the Physician.
The gospel according to John was written by John the disciple that Jesus loved.
The Acts of the Apostles was written by Luke the Physician.


Epistles (or letters):
The Pauline Epistles are those written by Paul (Saul) of Tarsus:
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon


The Peterine Epistles are those written by Peter of the Twelve:
1 Peter
2 Peter


The Johanine Epistles are those written by John, the disciple that Jesus loved:
1 John
2 John
3 John
And though sharing in three literary traditions — apocalyptic, prophetic, and epistolary — listing John's Apocalypse (also called Revelation) as an epistle will suit our purposes here. This was written by the same John as above.


The book of James was written most likely by James the brother of Jesus.


The book of Jude was written by Jude the brother of James.


The epistle of Hebrews is written anonymously. Some people ascribe it to the Apostle Paul while others prefer Apollos. Most scholars lean toward someone other than Paul (simply because the grammar and use of certain key Pauline terms is markedly different from the whole body of his identified epistolary work). In the end, God didn't see the book's authorship as important to us (if He had, He would have identified the man He used in writing Hebrews), so any guess as to the identity of the author is mere speculation and should have no bearing upon our interpretation of the passages found within.

It's better to believe, than to believe in nothing

Answer 7

Mostly because non-believers insist on seeing the Bible as a science textbook and pointing out its obvious lacks of scientific veracity.

Believers insist on seeing it as a totality of truth thus negating any hope of separating its various component parts.

All one has to do is remember that every Book was written by people of faith whose only concern was getting out the following messages:
1. There is only one true God.
2. He created everything there is, wherever it is.
3. He created man with an immortal soul for the express purpose of having at least one of His creations capable of returning His love.
4. Man screwed up and lost many of God's gifts.
5. He gave us His Son, also God, that we might re-obtain those gifts and the original close relationship He envisioned for us.
6. To obtain this boon, Jesus died, resurrected and ascended into heaven.
7. Believing in this and receiving baptism is the door which re-opens heaven and a close relationship with God for each human being.
8. Believers are held to a higher standard of morals, ethics and behavior than non-believers. Since that standard is nearly impossible to meet always and everywhere, provision was made for repentance, absolution and restoration.
9. Jesus, true man and true God, made provision for men to follow Him and gave them authority to do all that He did, ie, baptise converts, pass ordinances concerning faith and behavior, orchestrate daily living, provide for the less fortunate, follow His commandments and ultimately join Him in heaven with His Father.
10. Believers are constrained to follow Christ's example and also to alert non-believers to the truths of Scripture as explicated above.

No, no offense taken, at least by me. It is, indeed, a genuine pleasure to converse with one who is curious rather than vindictive.

And thank you for asking.
Hope this helped.

Answer 8

I figured out that stories that included talking snakes and donkeys were faerie tales when I was 5.

Answer 9

Because the Christian religion just evolved from older religion mostly found with pagan roots. Do some research on the winter solstice and you will see how Christians took it and made it into the story of Christ birth.

Answer 10

The Bible is true and accurate.Science and Archeology prove it every day.