Jesus said the end of the world would be in his generation
Jesus said that believers could handle snakes and drink poison
Problems with the Exodus story
Garden of Eden was not a fair test
Joshua makes the Sun stand still in the sky
Nebuchadnezzar has a flat earth dream
Ahaziah was 2 years older than his father
The Bible claims there are 4-legged insects
The Bible claims rabbits (hares) chew their cud
God draws a flat circle on the water to make the earth
Problems with the Tower of Babel story
Jesus incorrectly states that Moses wrote of him in his law
Jesus incorrectly states that no one has ascended to heaven
Author of Matthew miscounts his generations
Jesus quotes a scripture that does not exist in canonized bible
Problems with Paul’s signs of the last days
Problems with Jesus’ signs of the last days
Problems with Satan tempting Jesus
Sorcery forbidden and yet practiced in the Bible
Jesus incorrectly states no man can serve two masters
Peter misquotes an Old Testament verse
Jesus is talking of signs that will happen before the end of the world to his disciples)
(Notice: Jesus probably thought the stars were little lights attached to a solid rotating sky dome like everyone else at that time)
(Mat 24:29 NRSV) "Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; *the stars will fall from heaven*, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
(Mat 24:30 NRSV) Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory.
(Jesus now says to his disciples that their generation will not pass away before the end of the world)
(Mat 24:34 NRSV) Truly I tell you, *this generation will not pass away* until all these things have taken place.
(Their generation did pass away, but the world didn’t end)
Jesus tells his disciples that those "who believe" can heal, handle snakes, cast demons out, speak in tongues, and drink poison.
(Mark 16:17-18 NRSV) And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."
The Exodus story is almost certainly a fabrication or at least extremely exaggerated.
The bible says 600,000 men (hopefully accompanied by an equal number of women), children, and a "mixed" crowd supposedly left Egypt.
(Exo 12:37-38 NRSV) The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about *six hundred thousand men*
on foot, besides children. A mixed crowd also went…
This is somewhere around 1.5 million people (more than live in the city of Dallas).
It is very unlikely that the Egyptians kept 1.5 million people enslaved, controlled, and fed.
It is also very unlikely that hundreds of thousands of Israelites wandered around on foot in a desert region with little food or water for 40 years after they left.
There is no record anywhere of Egypt ever enslaving the Israelites. There is no archaeological evidence to support the Israelites being in Egypt.
It is well established that the Egyptians themselves built all their cities and monuments during the off season (farming).
There is no record in Egypt of 1.5 million people suddenly getting up and leaving (The Egyptians were meticulous record keepers).
There is no archaeological evidence of anything more than a few scattered encampments in the wilderness where supposedly at least hundreds of thousands wandered and died in the bible.
Jesus was just a mortal man who had no special knowledge of modern cosmology. Here are some verses that indicate this:
(Jesus is talking about the end of the world) (Mat 24:29 NRSV) "Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; *the stars will fall* from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
Jesus is obviously talking about stars (to him little lights) falling from the sky (to him just a few miles up) down to earth.
This was entirely feasible to people of his time as they did not know that the stars are huge objects like our sun (many, many times larger than the earth) that were unimaginably distant.
We know today that stars are suns that are at such distances that light takes dozens to hundreds of thousands of years to travel to us.
Even if they could travel instantaneously to earth, they could not "fall to earth" as they are up to millions of times larger than the earth.
Here is the mythical story of how Jonah lived inside of a fish for three days:
(Jonah 1:17 NRSV) But the LORD provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Lets assume that the story was talking about a whale that was incorrectly identified as a fish by this tale and that the whale would have some interest in swallowing a person whole, let’s look at some of the other ways this is fiction:
a) No oxygen.
b) Lot of poisonous digestive juices.
c) No drinkable water.
d) A whale has an enormously fast digestive system.
The Bible goes on to tell of how God "talks" to the "fish" and the "fish" "spews" the man on to dry land.
The test in the Garden of Eden myth, was not a fair test considering it requires the knowledge of good and evil to not do something evil, yet this is what eating the fruit was supposed to give to the couple.
(Gen 2:25 NRSV) And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
(After eating the forbidden fruit)
(Gen 3:10-11 NRSV) (Adam) He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."
(God) "Who told you that you were naked?
Not knowing good from evil (Gen 3:5), they did something evil so God punished them…
The bible’s primitive astronomy provides a longer day to complete the killing of all the Amorite men, women, and children.
Joshua realized that he wasn’t going to have enough time to completely slaughter all of the Amorites (even with God helping by throwing boulders from the sky to crush the people that were fleeing) so he commanded the Sun to stand still in the sky over Gibeon and the Moon to stand still over the valley of Aijalon.
The author of Joshua like everyone else in his day was unaware of the earth’s rotation and thought the Sun went around the earth and that the Sun and Moon were only a few miles up in the sky, hence the command to make them stand still over certain topographic features of the earth.
These same verses were used by the Church against Galileo when he suggested that the earth turned instead:
(Josh 10:12-13 NRSV) On the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD; and he said in the sight of Israel, "Sun, stand still *at Gibeon*, and Moon, *in the valley of Aijalon*."
And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in midheaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.
Here is a dream of Nebuchadnezzar as the author of the book of Daniel imagined it. The author imagined a tree growing from the center of a flat earth and it reaching the sky that in his day was thought to be just a few miles high. The tree was visible to the "ends" of the flat earth.
(Dan 4:10 NRSV) Upon my bed this is what I saw; there was a tree at the center of the earth, and its height was great.
The word Hebrew word for earth here is ara:
772. ‘ara’, (Chald.),
ar-ah’; corresp. to H776; the earth; by impl. (fig.) low:–earth, inferior
(Dan 4:11 NRSV) The tree grew great and strong, its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the ends of the whole earth.
According to the bible, Ahaziah was 2 years older than his father Jehoram.
(Jehoram was inflicted with a disease from God that killed him after an eight-year reign)
(2 Chr 21:20 NRSV) (Jehoram) He was *thirty-two* years old when he began to reign; he reigned
*eight years* in Jerusalem. … They buried him in the city of David…
So Jehoram died at the age of forty.
(2 Chr 22:1 NRSV) The inhabitants of Jerusalem made his *youngest* son Ahaziah king as his successor; for the troops who came with the Arabs to the camp had killed all the *older*
sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram reigned as king of Judah.
(2 Chr 22:2 NRSV) Ahaziah was *forty-two* years old when he began to reign; he reigned one year in Jerusalem. …
The bible incorrectly says there are 4-legged insects. There are no insects anywhere that have 4 legs.
(Lev 11:20-21 NRSV) All winged insects that walk upon all fours are detestable to you.
But among the winged insects that walk on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to leap on the ground.
The bible incorrectly states that rabbits (hares) chew their cud.
(Deu 14:7 NRSV) Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cleft you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you.
Here again the bible seems to be saying that the earth is flat.
Here are more verses describing it as God "drawing" a flat 2 dimensional circle on the *face* of the waters to make the earth.
(Prov 8:26-27 NRSV) when he had not yet made earth and fields, or the world’s first bits of soil. When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
(Job 26:10 NRSV) He has described a circle on the face of the waters, at the boundary between light and darkness.
(Isa 40:22 NRSV) It is he who sits above the *circle of the earth*, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in;
The Hebrew word for circle here is chuwg
2329. chuwg, khoog; from H2328; a circle:–circle, circuit, compass
Problems with the story of the tower of Babel (A myth to explain why there are different languages).
(Gen 11:4-7 NRSV) Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens,
(Like most people in their time, the authors of Genesis thought that the sky was a dome that was just a few miles up)
and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."
(If they don’t make a name for themselves they will be scattered, this sounds fairly contrived so far)
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.
(The Lord had to "come down" cause he was "up" in heaven not omni- present, but imagined as anthropomorphic to this author. Also he had to come down because he *couldn’t see the city and the tower* from where he was?)
And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
(God is afraid of these people when all they are doing is building. Look at the pyramids in Egypt and Central America, and the structures *high* in the Andies mountains by the Incas, and the skyscrapers we build today. There hasn’t been any apparent divine intervention to spoil these projects yet)
Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech."
Jesus incorrectly said that he was mention by Moses in his law.
(Luke 24:44 NRSV) Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you–that everything written about me in the law of Moses,…
Jesus incorrectly states that no one has ascended into heaven except the "Son of Man".
(John 3:13 NRSV) No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
(John 3:15 NRSV) that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
(here is Elijah
*ascending* to heaven)
(2 Ki 2:11 NRSV) As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah *ascended in a whirlwind into heaven*.
The author of Matthew says there are 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus.
(Mat 1:17 NRSV) So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah fourteen generations. (3 x 14 = 42)
The number of generations he actually lists is instead 41.
Matthew 1rst chapter:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah Perez Hezron Aram 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Aminadab Nahshon Salmon Boaz Obed Jesse King David.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Solomon Rehoboam Abijah Asaph Jehoshaphat Joram Uzziah 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amos Josiah Jechoniah
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Salathiel Zerubbabel Abiud Eliakim Azor Zadok Achim 8 9 10 11 12 13 Eliud Eleazar Matthan Jacob Joseph Jesus
14+14+13 = 41
Jesus quotes another scripture that doesn’t exist in the canonized bible.
(John 7:38 NRSV) and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’"
Paul gives a list of things that supposedly indicate the "last days", but the things he listed are things that are continually going on all the time.
(2 Tim 3:1-5 NRSV) You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come.
For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them!
Jesus lists things that supposedly indicate the "last days", but his list is of things that are continually going on throughout history..
(Matthew 24:3-14)
When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
Jesus answered them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places:
all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs. "Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come. …
(Here is the only specific thing Jesus says and it is right before the specific "coming on the clouds of heaven")
(Matthew 24:29) "Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
(Again vague nonspecific things that have been going on throughout all history (except for the Messiah statement which has only been going on since the Babylonian Exile ~2500 years ago)
Preachers have been using vague "signs" ever since Jesus to claim that their generation will be the last one. This has been going on for centuries and is being claimed today.
Here is Satan telling Jesus (who was supposed to be God and owner of the world according to christian religions) to worship him and he will "give" him the world?
(Mat 4:8 NRSV) Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor;
(Only possible on a flat earth, which the authors of the synoptic Gospels must have imagined)
(Mat 4:9 NRSV) and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
The Deuteronomist outlaws foreign sorcery, but the bible authors use a multitude of their own sorcerers (called prophets) to contact a supernatural power (their god) and to attempt to determine the future.
(Deu 18:10 NRSV) No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who
*practices divination*, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a *sorcerer*,
"Sorcerer practices" or "Divination and Magic" From Holman’s Bible Dictionary:
An attempt to contact supernatural powers to determine answers to questions hidden to humans and usually involving the future.
Jesus here is simply wrong, a man can serve several masters and hate all of them or love all of them.
Even though this is just an analogy, an analogy is suppose to draw a parallel from something that makes sense.
(Mat 6:24 NRSV) "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. …
(Mat 6:24 NRSV) … You cannot serve God and wealth.
The Apostle Peter (like the author of Matthew does many times) takes an Old Testament verse out of it’s context to try to make it seem as though it was forecasting a future event.
Some observers see people acting funny, speaking in tongues that they are not capable of (this feat is never duplicated in modern day Assembly of God churches) during their "filling of the Holy Spirit" at the "Pentecost".
They then conclude they are all drunk.
Peter tells them that they aren’t drunk, but they are filled with the Holy Spirit, that is why they are acting strange.
(Acts 2:15-16 NRSV) Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
(Peter then goes on to quote the prophet Joel, claiming that this filling of the spirit means they are in the "last days" before the coming of the "great day of the Lord".
A) The prophet Joel was making another vague prediction about how Judah and Israel are going to get back together and of a great war that the Jews would have with many nations of which only they will survive (this is Joel’s "Lord’s great and glorious day"). Of course this prophecy failed because it never happened. (Joel 2:28 - 3:21)
B) Peter was wrong as this has nothing to do with the Pentecost or Jesus.
C) Peter takes this prediction and turns it into a validation that they were in the last days before Jesus was to come back which was his "Lord’s great and glorious day" (because it mentions a "filling of a spirit" and "prophesying".
D) It was natural for Peter and the Apostle Paul in his letters to assume this because Jesus himself said he would come back before all of the disciples had died. (Mat 16:28)
E) Jesus never came back, not then, and not in the almost 2000 years since, so Peter was wrong about them being in the "last days".
(Acts 2:17 NRSV) ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall …
…
(Acts 2:19-20 NRSV) And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Ok, let me try these in order:
1. Difficult to deal with, and I also have been curious about stars falling out of the sky….imagine a star falling to earth! Just one would rip it up. I have no satisfactory answer for this one.
2. And who’s to say this has not happenned? As early as Acts we have records of this occuring…
3. I don’t know that anyone accepts these numbers. I’ve found some interesting arguments that our interpretation of the numbers here is simply wrong…a simple matter of not understanding the number system…unfortuantely I have forgotten my reference but I should find it…it’s a great theory.
4. As above (1)
5. Your argument here is speculatory. A human here may well be able to survive inside a whale. “There is a book out by J. Vernon McGee that alleges to tell of other accounts of modern day people being swallowed by whales. The problem is that none of them can be verified, and some of them have been refuted.”
6. One might choose to differentiate intimate knowledge versus intuitive knowledge. perhaps they were still expected to know intuitively, or by conscience, but lacked intimate or experiential knowledge.
7. A wrong thinking of the sun does not change this miracle. It is easy for us to understand they were describing the miracle from their persepctive, and it is logical to consider the sun stopping over a geographic location as stopping when it was closest possible to that location. This is a coherent explanation.
Taht will do for now…i need to go…i live in Australia and its really late!
2. Unfortunately here in America there are people dying yearly from dancing with snakes.
5. That’s interesting. I’d have to see someone live underwater inside of a whale’s stomach with no scuba gear or breathing apparatus for three days to “swallow” that one. ;^)
6. I guess one could read that into the story. To be honest, I don’t see much essential difference between the Adam and Eve myth and the myth of Pandora’s box.
In both cases a god orders the man and woman not to do something. They do it anyway and all the bad things of the world result.
7. You can look at it that way. There are some fundamentalists that assert that the people in the Bible and it’s authors were somehow aware of modern cosmology. This would fly in the face of that sort of thinking.
Actually, this mentioning of the Sun and Moon being stopped may have been inserted into this story to indicate to the reader/listener that Joshua and his particular god were subjugating key gods of the Amorites (Sun and Moon) while slaughtering them and taking their land.
I’ve read some of your errors, and contradictions. I believe there is a God but i admit that there are some errors in the bible. I just have one question if the bible is as wrong as you say it is (and yes I do admit you have some good points) why do people still believe it?
I’ve always looked at it this way.The Bible is a book wrote by man, full of metaphors, and translated several times. So I do admit that there has to be some errors. But what you’re saying is its full of errors both scientific and historical. If this is true why is it such a important book?
You’re web site is not the only one that has some interesting point. I’ve read several.
Get back to me. Im interested to hear your reply
Joe, It’s an important book because millions of people believe it. There are many “Christians” who never even read the entire bible but because they have been indoctrinated into Christianity since birth they simply accept it as God’s word and as such it is important to them.
Many people believe in God for whatever reason but who is God? Let’s say there is a God. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the God conceptualized by Judeo-Christianity. There are many different ideas and concepts of God in different cultures. But someone living in Western culture that realizes that he or she believes in God will most likely associate the idea of God with Christianity and the bible and they will naturally seek a relationship with God in that context. And so the bible becomes an important book to them because it is presented as God’s word and as such is a means to know God and his will.
Many Christians will condemn the Koran, the Vedas and the Buddhist scriptures, etc. as “false” doctrines. But you can just as easily ask, “If there is so much wrong with the Koran, the Vedas and Buddhist scriptures, why are they so important?” And they are important for sure to the people that believe in them. Millions of people the world over do. So just because the bible is important to many people doesn’t mean that it isn’t seriously flawed . Even one without a belief in God can approach the bible, knowing that it is flawed and still find a few gems of wisdom in it to live by. So it can still be an important book even to a non-Christian.
In my opinion the “importance” of the bible doesn’t speak so much for the “enduring truthfulness” of the bible but rather for a need that people have to believe in it (or any scripture, doctrine or belief system for that matter) and rely on it. This is basic in the study of the psychological aspects of religion. As I have already indicated, many different religions are important to many different people for many different reasons.
When you ask, why is the bible important, I don’t know what kind of answer you are expecting. There are many answers and many valid answers that can be given have nothing to do with validating the bible as being “true” or being God’s word.
That being said, though I don’t believe the bible to be “God’s word, I believe there are some (few) good things in it but the good has to be separated from the atrocities and the dogma, the contradictions, errors and nonsense. Love your neighbor, do unto others, be compassionate, etc., these are good values. And a person who goes to the bible looking for these values while ignoring or justifying or just remaining ignorant of the bad content in it (as many Christians do) will find it an important book.
Anyway, I know the question wasn’t put to me but I just thought I’d throw my opinion out there. By the way, Joe, I’m glad to see you have an open minded approach to the bible and I respect your belief in God. If there is a God then you must remember that God is one thing and various cultural conceptions and depictions of God are another. Don’t confuse the two. If there is a God I am sure you will find Him/Her/It/Whatever within yourself. You can’t always rely on other people’s description of what they believe God is.
I hope you find what you are looking for and even more important I hope you are able to utilize what you find so that you will become a better and more compassionate person. So dig deep in the mud of your religion until you find the clam. Then with patience and perseverance pry open the clam in order to get the pearl. Once you find the pearl, keep that, throw away the empty shell and wash the mud off of yourself and go about your business a spiritually richer man. Peace to you, MZX
Reading the Bible with human wisdom produces the atheist. I know where you are, I have been there too. It was only when I gave up human wisdom and ways and sought God for understanding that I could read the Bible. We open the Bible with worldliness in our hearts and the interpretation becomes all that you have described. I read it that way for years, unfortunately. If I was angry at someone who had hurt or betrayed me, I could open the Bible and read about their eventual punishment and actually feel satisfied. When their punishment never happened, I wondered why… Whatever attitude I opened the Bible with…I found what I was looking for…in the pages, whether it was contradictions or errors, or punishment for sins. One day, however, I opened the Bible and read, Matt 6:31, “Seek God’s kingdom of righteousness and all else will be added unto you.” which translated to me “Seek God’s goodness, God’s love, God’s rightness.” The Bible tells us over and over that God’s ways are foolish to man, and I have found this to be true. The only way to find the TRUTH within the Bible is to read it with a clear mind, open heart, and God’s wisdom… We can’t read the Bible with human wisdom or world wisdom, the Bible is a living thing, and the truth is found written on our hearts, not within the pages. I hope one day you find God again…
By the way, concerning Adam & Eve dying after they ate the fruit, wasn’t a broken promise, they did DIE…spiritually, the way we all do when we discover the knowledge of good and evil..(Jesus saves us from this…)
Cain was a vagabond in his heart, I have been one in my life, also… We can’t take physical meanings and apply them to a spiritual GOD.
About the sun standing still for about one day. . . I am sure there were no time pieces at that time. People were still measuring time by how far a shadow was cast by the sun. No one that day could have looked at a watch or clock and verified that 24 hours had passed before the shadow cast by the sun continued to move. All the Bible writer was saying is that it seemed to be 24 hours before the Earth continued to revolve, or in their perspective, the sun continued to move in the sky.
1.”Jesus incorrectly said that he was mention by Moses in his law…..”
Deuteronomy 18:15,Genesis 3:15
2.”not knowing good from evil (Gen 3:5), they did something evil so God punished them…”
Did Adam know what was right and wrong? NO, but he knew that God was truth and that he had a choice.
Most of the others are repeated ad infinitum on atheist websites,despite expalnations being freely available.
3.”Here is Satan telling Jesus (who was supposed to be God and owner of the world according to christian religions) to worship him and he will “give” him the world?”
Satan is called the “prince of the power of the air” in Ephesians 2:2. He is called the “ruler of this world” in John 12:31.This is not to say that he rules the world completely, only God does this. But it is to say that God, in his infinite wisdom, has allowed Satan to operate in this world and has allowed Satan to operate with an agenda. When the Bible gives power to Satan over the world it must be made clear that God has given him domain over unbelievers, and unbelievers alone. Believers are no longer under the rule of Satan (Colossians 1:13). Unbelievers, on the other hand, are caught “in the snare of the devil” (2 Timothy 2:26), lie in the “power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), and are in bondage to Satan (Ephesians 2:2
4.As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water
possibly alluding to several passages from Isaiah (12:3; 44:3; 55:1)
5.”Jesus lists things that supposedly indicate the “last days”, but his list is of things that are continually going on throughout history..”
there is no dispute that these things have all happened in isoaltion throughout history
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see ALL these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors.
(all those things happening in the same general time period)
(Deu 18:15 NRSV) The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.
I don’t see anything about Jesus in this verse or anywhere in the Old Testament for that matter. There is no indication that this is talking about a future Jesus as opposed to the many so called prophets in the OT. The prediction that a prophet would arise among the Israelites was not exactly going out on a limb.
Still doesn’t make any sense. In the myth, Adam was punished for doing something wrong when he didn’t yet know what was wrong.
As far as the “isolated” events, *all* of these events have been going on since before Jesus and the other prophets who cite them as “signs.” This is a well known cheap trick used by prophets and their equivalents today(so called psychics). Forecast something *vague* and likely to happen and sure enough it will. *Everything* Jesus said was a sign has been happening all through history.
Capella
My concern has always been why is the bible considered “holy”? Is it because it is a collection of writings that talk about a god? There are many, many other books that talk about a god, yet they aren’t upheld as the only autoritative book on the subject. I firmly believe that over the millineums the true thrust of the writings has been lost in interpretation. Even if Jesus had existed, I truly believe he would be astonished at what people call “christianity”. What most atheists base their lack of belief in is the all this overwhelming torrent of confused religions. None of them make any logical sense toward morality or something called god. And I believe that if “God” wanted anything to do with how mankind goes about it’s existence, baby, you wouldn’t be a baptist or buddist.
Ok this is about Deu 18:15:
Jesus and Moses, however were much alike. Both of them escaped death in childhood. Both were leaders. Both performed miracles. Both were intermediaries between God and people.
That’s how the various authors of those stories depicted Moses and Jesus but Moses as depicted in the Old Testament was a fictional character and the life of Jesus was heavily embellished.
The author of the Gospel of Matthew created the “massacre of the innocents.” It never happened. No historical record of it anywhere even from Josephus who recorded other less cruel acts of Herod.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents
“Many scholars portray this and other nativity stories as creative hagiography rather than history.”
The author of Matthew tried to make Jesus appear like Moses by having him scadadling off to Egypt to escape this fictional purge and shoehorning OT verses into supposed prophecy fulfillments.
http://www.goatstar.org/the-author-of-matthews-problems/
Moses was almost certainly a fictional character as the Bible depicts him. There’s no archaeological evidence that over a million Israelites all left Egypt one day and no remains of any campsites of a massive number of people traveling between Egypt and Canaan. Archaeology shows that the Israelites instead likely arose out of the Canaanite culture rather than conquering it.
The Israelites *were* the Canaanites.
This is why the Old Testament was so big on Israelites not worshipping Canaanite gods, because Judaism evolved out of Canaanite worship.
http://www.goatstar.org/did-the-exodus-really-happen/
http://www.goatstar.org/was-polytheism-edited-out-of-the-old-testament/
The point of the error however is that Jesus claimed that Moses wrote about him. There is nothing at all in OT anywhere about Jesus much less in the books that Moses was supposed to have written.
How did Jacob study the Torah will “in the tent” when the Torah had not yet been written?
How did Moses sent an attack on the city of Dan 350 years before there was a city of Dan?
Many reputable scholars will now admit the books of Moses could not have been written by him and most likely were the very last books of the OT to be written. The Torah names all the rulers of Judah for hundreds of years after the death of Moses!!!! Wake up sheeple.