Atheists: If the Bible were just made up, why are there so many unreasonable claims?

Question

If I were to create a hoax, wouldn't I do my best to convince others that my hoax were reasonably true without saying things like someone turning water into wine or moving water sideways, or locusts having faces and crowns or 7 headed dragons (even though the locusts and dragons are meant to be symbolic) The Bible is the most complex piece of writing with so many ways to easily misinterpret almost every line. If I were going to create a successful hoax, I wouldn't be making these types of claims. The fact that the Bible is written this way is evidence of it's reliability.

Answer 1

The discovery of the code that lies beneath the written cover story is more evidence that the Bible is the WORD of GOD.

Answer 2

The Bible is a man made book. Many of the gospels were not included in the Bible i.e Gospel of Barnabas, can you tell me why? And i think you need to get your facts right, the BIBLE IS NOT THE MOST COMPLEX piece of writting. I think your getting that confussed with arabic writting. If the Bible is the true word of God then why are there so many condradictions in it? And why have the christians changed it so much over the years?

Just to offer a few of the many contradictions and errors of that which is being presented as the "Word of God" in the Bible I would like to quote the research of scholars of the Bible:

VERSES THAT CONTRADICT THEMSELVES


Genesis 6:3 and Genesis 11:11 - Life limited to 120 years?
Genesis 32:30 and Exodus 33:20 - Jacob's life was preserved?
Exodus 4:22 and Jeremiah 31:9 - Who was God's firstborn?
Numbers 23:19 and Genesis 6:6-7 - Does God repent or not?
2 Samuel 6:23 and 2 Samuel 21:8 - Did Michael have children?
2 Samuel 8:4 and 1 Chronicles 18:4 - 700 or 7000 horsemen?
2 Samuel 8:9-10 and 1 Chronicles 18:9-10 - Toi or Tou? Hadadezer or Hadarezer? Joram or Hadoram?
2 Samuel 10:18 and 1 Chronicles 19:18 - 700 or 7000 charioteers? 40,000 horsemen or footmen? Captain's name?
2 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1 - Who provoked David?
2 Samuel 24:9 and 1 Chronicles 21:5 - 800,000 or 100,000?
2 Samuel 24:13 and 1 Chronicles 21:11-12 - 7 or 3 years?
1 Kings 4:26 and 2 Chronicles 9:25 - 40,000 or 4,000 stalls?
1 Kings 5:15-16 and 2 Chronicles 2:2 - 3300 or 3600?
1 Kings 7:26 and 2 Chronicles 4:5 - 2000 or 3000 baths?
2 Kings 8:26 and 2 Chronicles 22:2 - 22 or 42 years old?
2 Kings 24:8 and 2 Chronicles 36:9 - 18 or 8 years old? 3 months or 3 months and 10 days?
Ezra 2:65 and Nehemiah 7:67 - 200 or 245 singers?
Matthew 1:12 and Luke 3:27 - Who was Salathiel's father?
Matthew 1:16 and Luke 3:23 - Who was Joseph's father?
Matthew 9:18 and Mark 5:22-23 - Dead or not?
Matthew 10:5-10 and Mark 6:7-8 - Bring a staff or not?
Matthew 15:21-22 and Mark 7:24-26 - The woman was of Canaan or Greece?
Matthew 20:29-30 and Mark 10:46-47 - One or two beggars?
Matthew 21:1-2 and Mark 11:1-2 - What happened to the ***?
Matthew 26:74-75 and Mark 14:72 - Before the cock crow once or twice?
Matthew 27:5 and Acts 1:18 - How did Judas die?
John 3:16 and Psalms 2:7 - Only begotten son?
John 5:31 and John 8:14 - Was Jesus' record true or not?

VERSES THAT CONTRADICT THE TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE AND/OR THE DIVINITY OF JESUS


Exodus 33:20, John 1:18, 1 Timothy 6:16 - No one saw God.
Isaiah 42:8 - Do not praise and worship images.
Isaiah 45:1 - "Anointed" does not mean "God".
Matthew 14:23, 19:13, 26:39, 27:46, 26:42-44 - Jesus prayed.
Matthew 24:36 - Jesus was not all-knowing.
Matthew 26:39 - Jesus and God had different wills.
Matthew 28:18 - All power was given to Jesus.
Mark 1:35, 6:46, 14:35-36 - Jesus prayed.
Mark 10:17-18 and Luke 18:18-19 - Jesus denied divinity.
Mark 12:28-29 - God is one.
Mark 13:32 - Jesus was not all-knowing.
Mark 16:19 and Luke 22:69 - Jesus at the right hand of God.
Luke 3:21, 5:16, 6:12, 9:18, 9:28, 11:1-4, 22:41 - Jesus prayed.
Luke 4:18, 9:48, 10:16 - Jesus was from God.
Luke 7:16, 13:33, 24:18-19 - Jesus was a prophet.
Luke 10:21 - Jesus gave thanks.
Luke 23:46 - The spirit of Jesus was commended to God.
John 4:19 - Jesus was a prophet.
John 4:23-24 - Worship in spirit and truth.
John 14:28 - One was greater than the other.
John 5:19, 5:30, 7:28, 8:28 - Jesus was helpless.
John 5:20 - The Father showed the son.
John 5:30 and 6:38 - Jesus and God had different wills.
John 5:31-32 - Jesus' witness was not true.
John 6:11 and 11:41-42 - Jesus gave thanks.
John 6:32 - The Father was the provider, not the son.
John 7:29, 16:5, 16:28 - Jesus was from God.
John 7:16, 12:49, 14:24, 17:14 - Jesus' words were not his.
John 8:42 - Jesus did not come of himself.
John 10:29 - "My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all."
John 14:1 - Jesus said, "...believe also in me."
John 14:16, 17:1, 17:9, 17:11, 17:15 - Jesus prayed.
John 14:31 and 15:10 - Jesus followed commands.
John 17:6-8 - "I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me."
John 20:17 - Jesus had a god.
Acts 2:22 - Jesus was "a man approved of God."
Romans 8:34 - Jesus was an intercessor.
1 Timothy 2:5 - Jesus was the mediator between God and humans.


Incidentally, these are really only some selections of contradictions and inaccuracies found in the modern versions of the Bible. There are many more but for the sake of time and space we have limited ourselves to those listed above.


ONE" - SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN LITERALLY
Mark 10:6-9 and John 14:20, 15:1-7, 17:11, 17:18-23, 17:26
There are many verses in the Bible that speak of Jesus and God as being "one".
But does this necessarily mean that Jesus is God? If you read the six selections above then you will see that we cannot take the word "one" so literally. If we do, then we are God, as Jesus said, "...they also may be one in us" and "...they may be one, even as we are one." What the Bible means when it says that Jesus is "one" with God is that he is extremely close to god, "as if" they are one. John 17:18-23 tells how we normal human beings can attain this "oneness" (or "closeness") with God by being "sanctified through the truth." Aside from this, neither the word "trinity" appears anywhere in the Bible nor any explanation of such a thing.

"LORD" DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN "GOD"
Matthew 18:23-34, Luke 19:11-21, and John 20:26-29
Many of Jesus' disciples referred to Jesus as "Lord". Even Jesus himself said that he is their Lord. But does this mean that he is their God? If you read the three short stories above then you will realize that back in the Biblical time period most servants referred to their masters as "lord". This was a common practice because it showed honor and respect for a person of such high stature.

"LORD" - A Lofty Title
Even today in many countries around the world such as England, "lord" is used in referring to kings, princes, and others who deserve such a lofty title. The disciples and followers of Jesus viewed him as their earthy master and themselves as his servants. He was a man from God who brought them God's message of truth, justice, and peace. Who could be more deserving of the title "lord" than Jesus Christ? Besides, "lord" is defined by Webster in many curious ways.

A few of them are as follows:

A man of high rank in a feudal society.
A king.
A general masculine title of nobility or rank.
A man of renowned power.
A man who has mastery in a given activity or field.
Commenting on the word's history, Webster says that "lord" literally means 'guardian of the bread'". He continues, "Since such a position would be the dominant one in the household, lord came to denote a man of authority and rank in society at large."

The word "lord" does not render the person which it is being applied to as God. If this were the case, then many human beings in the Bible would have to be considered God.

Answer 3

Actually you're talking about the English translation of the Bible. The majority of the original Hebrew can be given a specific meaning based on how it is written. The fact that the English language version can be intepretted in many different contexts is due to the ambiguity of most English words. Even a simple sentance such as "I went" can have several different possible meanings in different contexts in English, but in other languages a similar statement would _only_ have one meaning.

And to be fair, there are more complicated books out there. The fact that the Bible is several hundred books combined does not add to it's alleged complicity.

Answer 4

That's interesting. The bible is so unbelievable, that you have to believe it.

I guess there is no reason not to believe that the Harry Potter stories are real, either.

But, in a way, you are somewhat right. Claims about supernatural magic are very impressive to an ignorant people who are without any scientific knowledge about how things really are. That is no doubt why such magical claims were included in the stories - to gain currency. Who doen't like miracles? Who doesn't like the idea of someone being raised from the dead?

But that doesn't make it true and it is no reason why people of today should believe the same tales of magic that people of long ago fell for.

What you are doing is making an appeal to ignorance. I don't blame you. It works since so many people choose to be ignorant.

Answer 5

The people who wrote the bible did not believe it was a hoax. They thought it was real. They heard the stories from their fathers who heard the stories from their fathers and so on and so on and so on.

People did not understand the world back then. They tried to make sense of it but they could not. So, they made up stories. Some may have came to them in dreams and some may have just been fabrications that their minds put together to explain the unexplainable.

The bible has a collection of these stories.


Something else that I just though of. You argue that if the story is outlandish then the story must be true because who would write an outlandish story that was made up? Do you not see the fallibility of that argument?

Answer 6

So you believe a book written when the earth was still thought to be flat over the entire scientific community?
The fact that apes and humans have a common ancestor should clue you in to the fact that the bible is false.

Answer 7

Let me put this in perspective for you.

Do you realize that the people who actually wrote the Bible believed that wiping their butts in a public toilet with a communal sponge on a stick was a pretty good idea?

Do you realize they honestly believed that they could cure disease by exorcizing demons?

Did you know that according to the Bible, as long as an attrocity was committed in Gods name, it was considered a righteous act?

You are aware. of course, that these people lived in an age where iron was enough technology to stop their god dead in his tracks...

I would consider the sources of the collected works of the Bible before deciding they are the wisdom of the ages...

-SD-

Answer 8

If you can use the complexity of the bible and the outlandish claims as proof of its veracity, I think that you would have to admit, then, that the Da Vinci Code is ALSO factual. The stuff in that book is almost as absurd as some of the stuff in the Bible.

Answer 9

wow, you couldn't say you were deluded any better than that if you had a sign pasted to your forehead.
The bible was written and composed more than 2000 years ago when people believed that schizophrenics were prophets or that seizures were spiritual experiences. What your question should really ask is why do individuals persist in thinking like their predecessors did more than 2000yrs ago, when we have all this knowledge. It is shameful waste of knowledge

Answer 10

Ok, I'll bite. Lets assume the bible is real, it is the word of god. What does it say to do with people who work on the sabbeth? It's very clear, it says to stone them to death. So are you throwing rocks at people working at walmart on sunday? Why not? The only reason people believe the bible is because they haven't actually read the bible.