Far-fetched claims

Christians need to ask themselves why they accept some far-fetched claims and not others. What yard-stick do they use when arriving at conclusions and how do they know that it's reliable? I think we like to assume that our beliefs are based on sound evidence and reasons, but is that really the case? Do we consider what other influences may be steering our beliefs? For example, what have we been taught by our parents? How has our culture influenced our beliefs? What do the people that are closest to us believe in? What about our personal desires? When you start to realize how much all of these factors influence your decisions and beliefs it can be a real eye-opener. I've even wondered if it's actually possible to make a truly objective decision without all of these factors weighing in.

Since we are usually very biased when considering whether we should believe something or not how do we overcome this? I think we should constantly ask ourselves what is motivating us to believe. Is it one of the factors I mentioned above or is it because there is sufficient evidence to believe? Do you believe the earth is a sphere? Yes, because there is sufficient evidence. It was hard for men to believe at first when it seemed the earth was flat, but eventually the evidence piled high. I think it was good for men to be skeptical at first, but once the evidence is sufficient then it is time to have a change of mind. I think being skeptical of any outrageous claim comes quite naturally to us, but the hard part is being consistent. If someone told you that a UFO landed in their backyard you would be very skeptical. If your neighbor told you that they had a vision from an angel you would also be skeptical. How come Christians are not skeptical when this same claim of an angel visitation is made in the Bible? I think it's because Christians put the Bible in a special category within their minds and they will believe what it says no matter what. However, if you are going to be consistent you should be just as skeptical of claims in the Bible as you are of claims from any other source. But what are Christians repeatedly told? Keep reading the Bible, don't question it's authority and any doubts you may have are directly from Satan.

Now, if you're ready to take an objective look at some far-fetched claims from the Bible continue reading. Christians, please be honest with yourselves and ask yourself if you really think these claims are true. I am going to word them a little differently then you would hear them in church because I think this helps us look at them differently.

According to the Bible...

• A man named Ezekial was sitting by the river one day and had a vision of God / Yahweh. God had the appearance of a man sitting on a throne wrapped in fiery clothes and surrounded by a rainbow glow. His throne sits on an expanse that is moved around with four wheels and four creatures that each have four wings and four faces (Ezekiel 1).
• There was once a time when the sons of God / Elohim would come down and impregnate humans which caused a race of people called the Nephilim who were giants (Genesis 6). The book of Enoch actually names some of these angels who came down and married the daughters of men, but Enoch is not in the canon (even though the book of Jude quotes from it).
• A man named Moses spoke with God and sent ten awful plagues on the Egyptians because the Egyptian pharaoh refused to release them from slavery. Somehow the Egyptians forgot to record any of these events in their records, probably from embarrassment. Somehow all of these plagues only affected the Egyptians, but not the Israelite people, even the plague of darkness which made it pitch black everywhere except in the Israelite homes. Maybe they had lamps, but no one else did? The darkness was so thick that none of the Egyptians moved for three days (Exodus 10).
• A talking snake tricked the first woman and in turn her husband into eating a magical fruit that would give them knowledge of good and evil. For this sin they were exiled from the garden of Eden whose entrance is guarded by a flaming sword to prevent anyone from eating from the tree of life (Genesis 3).
• A man named John was on an island and received a vision of events that will happen in the future. Great wars will be fought on horseback. Angels will use a sickle to "reap" mankind like grapes and fill up a huge wine-press with blood. Other angels will turn all of the rivers and oceans to blood and great hailstones one hundred pounds each will fall from the sky (Revelation 16).
• A woman named Mary was artificially inseminated from God to give birth to a son named Jesus who later traveled around Galilee doing miracles. Once he sent a legion of demons out from a man and into a herd of 2,000 swine who all dove off a cliff and drowned in the sea (Mark 5). When Jesus was later crucified the earth became dark and there was a huge earthquake and many tombs around Jerusalem were opened and the dead were raised and walked into the city (Matthew 27).
• A man named Noah built a huge boat at Yahweh's request and used it to escape a flood that somehow covered the entire earth up past the mountain peaks. The boat held Noah's family and every species of land animal and also enough food to keep everyone fed for a year, even the carnivores (Genesis 7).
• Prior to creating everything God's Spirit / Elohim used to hover around over the water (Genesis 1).
• One day some children were teasing the prophet Elisha calling him "bald-head". Elisha cursed them in the name of Yahweh and two she-bears came along and tore up forty-two kids (2 Kings 2).
• A man named Korah felt that he should be allowed to be a priest like Aaron and his sons were. This was a bad idea and he ended up being sucked into the earth along with the rest of his family. Another 250 men that had agreed with Korah were burned alive with fire from the sky (Numbers 16).
• Noticing that men were building a huge tower up to heaven, God was concerned that mankind would work together and become unstoppable. So he went down to them and programmed their brains to speak in different languages which caused them to disband (Genesis 11). 

Now if someone told you a story like these in modern times you would probably think they were crazy. What would you say to me if I told you that a glowing blueberry bush in my backyard talked to me last night? I stopped believing stuff like this because it is just plain dishonest. If you won't stop and question your beliefs will you at least stop forcing them on other people? And if you do believe these stories then to be consistent you should also believe in many other ancient folk stories as well.