Soul Invictus

To add to that, doesn't Elohim mean "gods" also?

Soul Invictus

Also, are you aware of any other deliberate mistranslations? I've read a few in Anacalypsis by Godfrey Higgins. Would you know of any reliable sources?

David Bowden

I hope you'll share your top 10 list with us when you've finished making your selections, Adrian!

Here's my nomination for the #1 underappreciated Bible absurdity:

According to 1 Kings 6:2, and 2 Chronicles 3:3, Solomon's temple was only about ninety feet long by thirty feet wide. So, by the Bible's own testimony, this temple had area of about 2700 sq feet, or covered about the same acreage as a modern middle-class home. Keeping that comparison in mind:

-153,300 persons were employed to build the temple (1 Kings 5:15-16),
-it took seven years to build it (1 Kings 6:38),
-13,100,000 lbs. of gold* and 116,400,000 lbs. of silver were consumed in its construction (1 Chronicles 22:14), and
-24,000 supervisors and 6,000 officials and judges were employed to manage it (1 Chronicles 23:4).

The problem: How many builders, supervisors, officials, and judges (and how much raw material and time) does it take, in real life, to construct and manage a building that isn't even as big as your average Super 8 Motel? If any of these figures is admitted to be wrong, it establishes an interesting precedent: what else does the inspired word of God claim, that's actually not true?

-David

(*) - Or, about 2/3 of the entire world's gold mined prior to the 1848 gold rush. According to the World Gold Council's <a href="http://www.gold.org/discover/knowledge/aboutgold/gold_prod/" target="_blank">article</a> on gold production throughout history:
"Some calculations suggest that up until then [1848] scarcely 10,000 tonnes of gold had been excavated since the beginning of time." The Bible claims that 6,500 tons of it was already mined and concentrated in the hands of the Israelites, about three thousand years ago. This 6,500 tons can't possibly include any of the gold mined in pre-Columbian South America, nor the thousands of tons mined by the Egyptians, Romans and others in the centuries after the time of Solomon. So it would seem that all (or, perhaps, more than all) of the world's mined gold was in Israel at that time, if the Bible is not in error.

(PS - If you're looking for lots more Bible difficulties pointed out by unbelievers and haven't come across the following resources before, the II Library's <a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/christianity/errancy.shtml" target="_blank">page on Biblical Errancy</a> could be helpful, along with the <a href="http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/index.html" target="_blank">Skeptic's Annotated Bible</a>.)

[ December 15, 2002: Message edited by: David Bowden ]</p>

Gregg

Well, I wouldn't say that any Biblical difficulty gives me reason to "dismiss" the Bible. Dismiss it as the "infallible Word of God," sure. Dismiss it as an important work of literature, no.

But I do have a couple of "smaller" contradictions that I've always liked. Sorry, I don't feel like looking up book, chapter, and verse right now, it's almost midnight here:

In a couple of places in the OT, God says that he will visit the sins of the parents on the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. Later, though, he flatly denies having made any such threat: "Where did you get this saying, 'The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? Don't say that anymore...all lives are mine...the soul that sins shall die."

How did Judas manage to die twice, once by hanging himself, once by falling headlong into a field and splitting open? And how did he manage to both throw away the 30 pieces of silver he got for betraying Jesus, AND use it to buy a field?

Gregg

Stephen T-B

As a ten-year old I put the whole Genesis thing in the same bag as the Greek myths specifically because of a serpent having a conversation with Eve: Genesis Chap 3, Vs 1 “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Vs 2 “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Vs 3 “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Vs 4 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die” etc etc.
Then after the expulsion, I couldn’t make out how the world got populated when Adam and Eve only had two sons. Yet after killing Abel, when Cain is turned out of his house and home by god he complains that:
Chap 4, vs 14 “I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.”
vs 15 “And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.”
What was all that about? The only people who might find him were his mum and dad. Wouldn’t they have known he was Cain? And then there’s this:
Vs. 16 “And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
Vs 17 “And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.”
What? Where did his wife come from, and who lived in this city? There were only five people alive, supposing Adam and Eve hadn’t by now popped their clogs.
It so clearly didn’t add up that in my mind the whole pack of cards came a tumblin’ down.

Secular Pinoy

I like Dan Barker's <a href="http://www.ffrf.org/lfif/stone.html" target="_blank">Easter Challenge</a>.

frostymama

genocide in the old testament. That is the one that I love to pull out when I am in a debate. That usually separates the liberals from the fundamentalists. It is quite troubling to hear someone condemn genocide in one breath and then state that God was justified for commanding that entire populations be slaughtered. Add in the parts where they are allowed to take virgins captive and they really start tap dancing.

frostymama

I forgot....

Another favorite is Lot. The man offered his daughters to a mob of rapists and later sired sons with those daughters... but is still counted amoung the righteous in the New Testament.

You can also use the human sacrifice card. There is a man in the Old Testament (whose name I can't remember at the moment for some strange reason) who sacrificed his daughter to God. He is also included among the righteous.

[ December 16, 2002: Message edited by: frostymama ]</p>

Hawkingfan

This is my favorite. It's hilarious.
EX 9:3-6 God destroys all the cattle and horses belonging to the Egyptians.
EX 9:9-11 The people and the cattle (including horses) are afflicted with boils.
EX 12:12, 29 All the first-born of the cattle of the Egyptians are destroyed.
EX 14:9 After having all their cattle destroyed, then afflicted with boils, and then their first-born cattle destroyed, the Egyptians pursue Moses on horseback.

frostymama

LOL. Would you believe in all of the times that I have read that passage I never noticed that? I used to spend time every day with a Bible, Strong's, and a lexicon... sometimes for hours. I know for a fact that I have read that scores of times and it never even dawned on me that there was a contradiction.

Geeze I really must be dense.