My parents are religious, specifically, Christian. I am not. This has my parents confusion on how to act towards me and what it is that I believe. When talking to my parents, a lot of time I’m referred to the bible when they wish to make a point. Whether it’s about the fairy tales of creationism, Noah’s ark, Adam and Eve, or anything else, the bible keeps popping up in our conversations.
Because the bible is such a strong, central tenant that my parents cling to, I want to analyze the bible from an outsider’s point of view and show precisely why the bible is distrusted as a source by non-Christians. This outsider’s point of view is going to take the tenants that my parents follow to heart and show if there are any problems with them. These tenants are
- The bible is divinely inspired
- The information in the bible is true
- The bible is wonderfully self-consistent
- The bible contains true prophecies
Obviously, I disagree with all of these points. I believe the bible is more of a mythological document and extended analogy, but I’d like to go through and show why. I’ll be starting with Genesis. While a nice walk through the bible in the order it’s laid out would be nice, I suspect I will jump around from time to time.
I will use the King James Version (KJV) of the bible here. This is NOT because the KJV is the most accurate or easiest to read. This is because most people I know read/use the KJV almost exclusively.
Additionally, to prevent the common claim that I’m misrepresenting them (or anyone else) by using a literal interpretation of the bible, what other kind of reading meets those points? If even the first point is to be taken as true, the bible must be literally true. That would mandate a literal reading from the start. I will, however, do my best to show that the bible in nonsensical even without a literal reading.