gurugeorge

I rather agree with Robert Price that condemning the Bible is a bit silly. It would be like condemning the Odyssey if there were some weird people who still believed in ancient Greek religion and thought it was the bees' knees, and made pests of themselves thrusting it on the world.

Kind of an odd thing to do - I mean, it's just a piece of Bronze Age/early Iron Age literature, warts and all, with some good bits of nascent high morality, but still some other bits of barbarous tribal horribility.

Of course if one is just making a reductio argument to Christians or Jews, it's sometimes apposite to point out that their favourite text, from which they're supposed to be gleaning their morality, isn't wholly morally good.

d-ray

My favorite damning passage is Matthew 15:22-28, where the Canaanite woman came to Jesus to ask him to cure her daughter. The disciples wanted him to get rid of her, and he himself told her, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

This is a huge relief to me. It lets me off the hook completely. I'm not a Jew, so Jesus didn't come for me. I know, I know, "There is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile," but that was somebody else's hit song.

So when I stand before the throne (that doesn't exist) of God (who doesn't exist) in heaven (which doesn't exist) and he thunders at me, "Why didn't you accept my Son as your savior," I'll just say, "Well, Jeez, God, he said he didn't want me. Also, he called me a dog."

That is, he told the Canaanite woman, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." When my son was in primary school, his religious education book explained this away by saying that Jews of the day commonly called all non-Jews "dogs". Which of course makes it alright. If everybody else is doing it, why not Jesus? And anyway, I don't mind being called a dog. Lots of my friends have done it. And when I think about, I have to admit I am a bit of a dog.

Tom Sawyer

I don't know if it's particularly damning, but my favourite is the one that goes something like "The fool sayeth in his heart that there is no God".

I like to respond "Ya, and the wise man says it out loud".

Deus Ex

Not damning verses, but two of my favorites are Mark 10:18

And Mark 15:34

These verses paint a very human picture of Jesus--quite unlike the quasi-divine God-man of the Fourth Gospel who walks about a foot above the ground everywhere he goes.

Juststeve

When Satan Tempts Jesus by taking him to a high place from whence he can see all the kingdoms of the world. Even Bible fanatics seem to realize there is no such place.

Steve

Solo

Selon moi, the most outrageous two verses of the Bible are Exodus 10:1-2:

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine [the plagues] among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your son's son how I have made sport of the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them; that you may know that I am the LORD."

Who keeps this guy honest, I wonder ?

Jiri

arcadia

I disagree. I think that without the bible, Christians are lost. It is the only foundation rock of their faith and is the only "authority" they can cite for any of their relgious beliefs. It's "the good book" and the one they want everybody to swear upon in court.

As for the most damning verse, my recent favorite is the thousands of saints/zombies who crawled out of their graves and walked around the city shortly after the resurrection. This amazing event which certainly would have dwarfed the resurrection itself in noteworthiness, and certainly should have been noted by "the powers that were", is set forth very clearly in one of the Gospels; most Christians I have told about it are rendered pretty much speechless even after they have looked it up.

The best part of it is that it is the NT and can't be shrugged off as originating with those crazy old Jews.

Matthew:27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
27:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

spamandham

Do you think they feasted on brains, like modern zombies?

Saramago

Are brains kosher?

Do (did? would?) Jewish zombies keep kosher?

:constern01:

bacht

Christians believe in Christ who guarantees resurrection. There may be no God, no Christ, and no afterlife, but none of these are scientifically provable anyway.

Without an HJ believers would be left with what might have been the original story, a heavenly saviour revealed in the Jewish scriptures.

Judaism still accepts converts, and I believe they still recognize the Noahide laws for gentiles. The rabbis followed the Pharasaic belief in resurrection so this part is still available, though in practice I don't think it impinges much on day to day life.

Christianity for better or worse is part of the Western heritage, unless we decide to re-write all the histories and destroy all the images and books and music based on the NT (some cultural marxists would love this).