This question elicited a thought from me, what do you think?

Question

Over and over on this forum we hear, "The Bible can not be trusted by reason of the fact that is was written by humans".
Ok, now, if this is the benchmark of what can and can not be trusted as reliable information, then how is it that those who use this perspective to dimiss the Bible, place any confidence at all in any human publication?
Whether it is medicine (say the doctrine blood saves lives)
biology, or a respected reference work, like the encyclopedias, of any other well respected human writing, why the double standard, that the Bible can not be trusted, BECAUSE it was written by men, yet the writings of man that disagree with the Bible can be trusted, BECAUSE they were written by men?
Is not this the same as what the Bible believers are often accused of? Picking and choosing?

Not trying to start any trouble, but doesn't this seem illogical?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070824140816AAKl0zW&r=w#R8MtXmC5BzfNOdE9slLlTbip4Q6Vjc4vCYc41vNFzWpDncoPA.uR

Answer 1

This is one of the best reasoned questions I have seen on this site. Good for you.

Answer 2

As time has gone on, mankind's brains have evolved and become more logical and more knowledgeable. We are able to research things to a much higher level with the use of science and modern communication techniques to compare findings with others world-wide.

Mankind has edited the Bible over the centuries and deleted stuff they didn't like. For example, Constantine (600's AD?) wanted people to be fearful of Hell so he had most references to reincarnation in the Bible eliminated.

Answer 3

Personally, my reason for discrediting the bible is because it has no supporting evidence outside of it, while others do. Fiction may have real people and real places in them, but that does not make fiction truth. Truth is independent of belief. No amount of belief will make the sun rise in the west tomorrow morning, the evidence points to it always rising in the east as long as our earth rotates in its current direction. That's supportable with real world evidence that makes such a logical conclusion. The bible, on the other hand, makes claims that are not supportable by real world experience. Even though Jesus SAYS you can tell a mountain to go jump in a sea and it will obey if you have a little faith, do you know of ANY christians that can actually perform this? No, so they change the meaning of the quote so that it's only meant to mean "metaphorical mountains, not real ones," even though Jesus said no such thing. Also, truth usually has multiple sources corroborating it. If one book says the sky is green, but all the other books say it is blue, you can choose to believe that the sky is green all you want, that does not make it so. Here's a cartoon that pretty much sums up my argument against the bible.

http://www.sullivan-county.com/id2/2cs.htm

Answer 4

Apparently, many of these people do not comprehend what you are saying. I totally get it, and yes it is illogical.
Right on.
Even though some of these people say, well these modern books have been put up to 'peer review' do not seem to understand that these 'peers' are also humans.
Do none of these people realize that the Bible was written, and that the people alive, were the 'peer review'?
The Bible is a book of historicity, and the people living at the time, certainly did not rebel against it.
Yet, conversely, the modern 'science' books, are openly argued among scientists today.
Oh well, you did well, but you over estimated the thinking abilities of the common R+S er.

Answer 5

No, it doesn't seem illogical. If a book was written 2000 years ago by man, as some claim, then it makes it VERY different from the books of today. You see, the book it claiming that it is the word of god and it is telling you how to live your life. I think it said in there that teenagers should be stoned to death if they are rebellious. Other books written by man are based on facts and evidence, and are only published to provide information. The bible is completely different.

Answer 6

Yes ur thinking correctly. we shud not trust any book written by humans only that written bi Jehalla the mighty.

I read yesterday how to grow a tomoato plant in a book. And guess wot it waz written by a humn, how arrogant. I wud prefer to lerarn about medicine from the bibel or the quran, they are real.

All books written by humans are equally wrong. If u say the bible was written by humans then not god then of course u can not trust a humans ever again or they're evil science..

Answer 7

All the other books that people think are reliable have facts in them that can be tested and/or researched to determine if they are true or not. No one in their right mind would just believe everything they read in a book without there being some way of checking the facts.

Also, I don't know of any other books that are thousands of years old that anyone thinks are completely perfect and correct. Any books that old are probably full of errors and unfounded speculations. The people back in that time had different standards regarding the acceptance of unfounded claims.

The Bible makes claims that are not verifiable and insists you must have faith that they are true. Its completely different from accepted modern methods of scholarship. Also, the most important statements in the Bible tend to be the most unverifiable ones.

Answer 8

I think all publications are open to scrutiny. This is how we learn. We question and revise and examine and experiment and question again. Sometimes mistakes are made, but hopefully with each round we get a little closer to the truth. The problem is most supporters of the bible insist it is absolutely infallible and any questioning of it is nothing less than sin.

Answer 9

There is different quality to different sources. Things that can be checked out and come from multiple sources are much better than a single source. All the things that you used as examples contain information that can be verified.

What makes the Bible any better than the Iliad as a source? I can't find a thing. So if it isn't any better, maybe we need to follow Zeus.

Answer 10

Good question. And of course you can't believe everything someone writes in a book. Even scientists disagree among themselves about many 'theories'.
You are absolutely right.


Sending you a smile to help pick up your day.

Answer 11

1. Christians claim the Bible is the word of god.

2. medicine, biology, or any respected reference work must go through a process of peer review. That means someone (actually, a lot of someones) check the facts.

3. The Bible has not gone through a peer review process.