Do you think the Bible has been discredited?

Question

After reading and understanding both the Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution, can you really take the Bible seriously?

Thanks for all the answers! I was curious to know how many people still regarded the Bible as something more than a largely fictional and existentially irrelevent story. To those who think I am ignorant - yes I am, its because once something or someone has been caught not telling the truth, I no longer trust them and regard anything they say as false. Hence my lack of belief or faith in the Bible.

I see the point you are making Bluto and I agree with it completely. I should have rephrased my question. I was wondering if anyone thought of certain ideas in the Bible as physical fact, particularly those pertaining to creation. Obviously there are a few who do.

Answer 1

Many people do.
I think that a lot of the Bibles "facts" have been discredited.

Answer 2

discredited how?

see this is the problem that many theists and atheists make.

they think if you remove one brick, then the whole structure falls. (to use a metaphor that is common).

even if 90% of a structure falls, then still 10% is standing, that may be the case too with the bible.

I agree, the bible simply cannot be taken literally, it boggles the mind that someone would be stupid enough to believe that the world is only thousands of years old given what we know now. and turning people into salt?

burning bushes?

major floods while humans were alive?

no, and simply ludicrus.

however, the bible is not "totally discreditied" any more than the story of spiderman would be looked at by a society 5000 years from now that is totally different from ours because the world was destroyed by rosie o'donnel in a feeding frenzy that forced us to live the next 5 millennia underground in caves.

hmm, lets see, a nerdy boy lives in queens, NY (ding, we have a location) who goes to high school (ding, we have a cultural reference about american education in the 1900-2000s) who is bullied (ding we have a common occurance in high schools that nerds suffer from), who works part time as a photographer (ding we have a job) at the daily bugle (ding, we have a way to convey news in society- however the existance of the bugle might be blurred and debated by future generations), who is bitten by a radioactive spider (spiders existed) and gains superpowers and fights evil (ding we have a social structure and values as to what is good and evil and an idea about the laws in our society).

you can't disregard the bible as totally pointless any more than you can disregard a comic book to possibly point to concepts of society it was written in.

even in a comic like superman where all the places are fictitious, we still see the cultural norms and beliefs of the people at the time.

EDIT: I've made this plea once and I'll do it again if I have to.

I don't believe a person can truly call themselves an atheist or LOGICAL if they think that the bible has absolutely zero merit.
There is truth to be found in it, but not the truth of its words.

it has the same truth as any writing of ANY culture- it is a window into the time it was written, and a window into the writer. even an unverified writer or multiple writers contributing to a single work has merit because it is a reflection on the life experiences of the times.

in order for one to write convincingly, one must draw on some life experiences and this means they draw on the world around them, society's views, beliefs and ideas. And those ideas which the writer's parents taught them.

No matter how alien the world is bieng written about, even in a different time, in any movies, writing etc. you will see ideas of the time fused into it so that people of the target audience's time will be able to relate to it.

don't believe me?

take a look at james bond in the 60's vs. today,

take a look at any 50's movie the way they talk, socialize and act is a reflection of society then just as you find any movie today a reflection of our ideas and beliefs now.

EDIT2: no one who would seriously claim that they study and respect science (anthropology is a science) would completely discredit ANY source unless each element of that source has shown to be false. Even you suffer from a biblical upbringing- the world is not "black" and "white" as the bible likes to put it, there are degrees, most of the world is actually "grey".

Answer 3

To say something like "the Bible has been discredited" is just as ignorant as the people who say "the Bible is without error."

Both ideas demonstrate levels of ignorance that are both sad and embarrassingly simplistic.

The Bible is a collection of 66 different books, some history, some poetry, some songs, some letters, as well as the rules of an ancient religion . . . written over the span of thousands of years. Problems arise when people can't tell one from another, and confuse them into each other.

Problems arise when you try to take a rule written for and by a certain group of people, and apply it to your life today (taking your disobedient child to the gates of the city to stone him, for example).

People tend to focus on the words in the Bible, and miss the message behind the story. The creation story of Genesis 1 and 2, for example, are poetry, the message is that God is powerful, neither of which is a history lesson or a science lesson. As poetry, Genesis mirrors the Big Bang Theory, as well as the basics of cellular development.

Adam and Eve is a metaphor -- not literal history. It's poetic parable -- not the literal story of two people, for example.

The Bible is a fantastic collection of stories written by, about, and for the followers of the God of Abraham, and the followers of Christ.

Of course the Bible isn’t THE WORD OF GOD . . . it’s translated into a language we can understand – Jesus didn’t speak English, for example.

But the Bible is God’s Word . . . meaning the message, not the medium or the method, is what God tries to tell us.

Being a follower of Christ is about having a personal relationship with a risen Savior, not about a book. The Bible is important, but God speak to us in many different ways, not just through the Bible.

It's easy to "believe" and understand what the Bible is -- an anthology -- and at the same time "believe" and understand the Big Bang Theory.

Godspeed.

Answer 4

The BIBLE is truth for GOD is love and Holy, the devil has discredited the BIBLE in this world using decisiveness such as these theories,money,material things and even man kind. which the BIBLE says that the devil would do.and GOD tells us as time goes on the devil decisiveness get even stronger listen to how many people in the world say that they don't believe the Truth-BIBLE -GODS Word THE HOLY BIBLE cant we see the truth happening the devil has all ready deceived the world into believing all these hoax and not on your only hope JESUS. now to answer your question I believe the BIBLE should be taken seriously.

Answer 5

If the Bible has been so discredited then please explain why schools are using it in history classes and literature classes!! In all actuality every time scientific minds have tried to disprove something in the Bible they have ended up proving it's validity. I know in the judgment day then some will be terribly disappointed they did not believe the Bible.

Answer 6

It was discredited for me independent of evolution or the Big Bang theory. Even if either or both those theories were disproven there would still need to be some positive evidence that a supernatural being spoke and breathed onto dirt to create life in order for it to be a reasonable conclusion for me.

Historical inaccuracy in the Bible:

http://www.infidels.org/library/magazines/tsr/1998/2/982front.html

http://www.religioustolerance.org/daniel.htm

http://www.religioustolerance.org/xmas_date.htm

Answer 7

No I do not,
I have studied both theories and to me they are too full of holes to be taken seriously.
In a nutshell..
Big Bang - way too much evidence that our universe cannot be that old, amount of dust on the moon, expansion etc...

Evolution - macro or micro????? There has never been found in the fossil record proof of evolution from one species to another, there has to be transitional fossils.

The Bible is the only thing that can be taken seriously. From the differences in the planet from Adam until now, the flood, all of it.

Answer 8

Yes, the Bible has been thouroughly discredited, not only by science, but also by the many contradictions in it. Jesus' birth date is given as 11 or more years apart in different passages. Joseph is 28 or 41 in descent from David in different parts. Jesus is both Messiah and Son of god Christians say, but Jews know he cannot be both.

Answer 9

No, science has reaffirmed many of the events related in the Bible. I think the problem lies with people who try to take a book that combines history, object lessons, and entertainment as a book of 100% irrefutable facts.

Answer 10

Actually it's more a case of reading the Bible causes you to not take it seriously...

Any scripture that uses Emperor's New Clothes arguments to protect itself from scrutiny should not be taken seriously.

Answer 11

It may have been discredited but only by those people who believe and understand theories, not by those who have truly read the bible. Might I suggest you read it in its' entirety and gather all the facts, then we might discuss the differences.