Facts that dislodged my faith in the Bible

I once believed that the Bible was historically accurate.

I now believe that it contains a lot of myths / folk stories and is therefore not a reliable history record. Most of these stories, such as the exodus, were probably not invented by a single person, but were passed down for generations with small embellishments made along the way. Other stories, like the story of Jonah, probably were invented by a single person who was trying to make a political or theological point. I'd like to list some facts that in my opinion make a solid case for the unreliability of the Bible.

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Carbon dating of ancient settlements
The Biblical timeline can be pretty well established using all of the genealogies. According to this timeline, the world was created by God around 4000 BC. This timeline places the Biblical flood at around 2300 BC at which time the entire world was destroyed with a global flood that killed everyone except Noah and his family and the animals on the ark. This means that all of the nations that we have archaeological artifacts from must have existed after 2300 BC. The Akkadians, Sumerians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Chinese, Aztecs, Incans, Mayans, Aboriginal Australians, etc. must have all descended from  Noah's three sons. If they had existed before the flood, all of their artifacts, buildings and remains would have been destroyed by the year long global flood. This creates some real dating problems for creationists because they have to squish all of the ancient history for these nations into two millenniums. We have written records from the Sumerians that date back to 2900 BC and historians date the settlement of Sumer at around 4000 BC. The Kish tablet is said to be the oldest preserved writing we have from the Sumerians and is dated to ca. 3500 BC.

There have been human settlements discovered that date back much further than the Sumerians. For example, the buildings at Gobekli Tepe were first built around 9500 BC. One of the methods used to date these settlements is C-14 dating. Creationists believe this method is unreliable, but this has really been disproven by the numerous findings that carbon dating has been checked against. It is a lot of work, but scientists are very thorough and have calibrated this method and have been able to cross-verify its accuracy with other dating methods such as tree-ring dating.

The distribution of animal species / endemic species
According to Answers in Genesis, Noah was able to fit about 8,000 different kinds of animals on his ark. From this number of animals we are to believe that they have diverged into the millions of species we have today. Creationists routinely scoff the idea of species evolving into different species, but they surprisingly have no problem with hyper fast animal diversity occurring within a few thousand years.

The animals that left the ark would have had to survive in the barren flood lands that would have followed the great deluge. They must have all made quite a run for it after being released from their cages on the ark. They needed to escape all of the carnivores and mate quickly before one of them died. Perhaps Noah gave the herbivores a head start. With this picture of the post-flood world in your mind, let's look at what we actually see today.

Consider all of the unique species that exist on islands. Kangaroos must have left the ark and headed straight for Australia since they are found nowhere else on the planet (including fossil remains). The same goes for the Koala, the Tasmanian Devil, the Platypus and the Echidna (to name a few) that all high-tailed it for Australia. Lemurs decided to go directly to Madagascar and are found nowhere else. Armadillos on the other hand headed directly to South / Central America and are found nowhere else. There are lots of these endemic species so I won't list them all, and I won't even get into all of the different endemic insects and plants. The point is, this is not what we would expect to see if all of the animals has dispersed from a central location only 4,000 years ago. Evolution, on the other hand, predicts that we would find exotic, unique species on islands because they have been isolated for long periods of time.

Also, in the post-flood world there were animals that had to get back to their natural habitats without dying on the way there. Try to picture the penguin family making their way from the middle east back to Antarctica. What about rain forest animals? Did they have to stand around waiting for their particular ecosystem to grow back? If all of the fresh water fish somehow survived the toxic mixing of salt water oceans with fresh water, did they afterward get lucky and end up in the right pond, river or lake? To read more about the problems with the idea of a global flood, click here.

The universe is very old
When I was a Christian I never researched how astronomers have been able to determine cosmological distances. Now that I realize that it is based on observable science and I've taken the time to understand how it works it has become quite clear to me that the universe is in fact billions of years old. The fact that we are able to see light from galaxies that are billions of light-years away, means that the light from those galaxies has been traveling for billions of years. Right now the furthest known galaxy is MACS0647-JD and is 13.3 billion light years from Earth. If you would like to learn how cosmological distances are calculated, I recommend starting with this article: Determining Distances to Astronomical Objects. If you look on the Answers in Genesis website, you'll see that they agree with these methods and admit that stars exist that are millions and billions of light-years away. They try to twist out of this problem by saying things like "Maybe time used to be faster" or "Maybe light used to travel faster", but even if this were possible they are ignoring the vast difference between billions and thousands of years.

Also interesting: Helium-burning binary stars give us a new tape measure for the universe. The distance to the   Large Magellanic Cloud, the second closest galaxy to the Milky Way, was calculated with new precision to 49.97 kiloparsecs from the Earth (~164,901 light years away).

Ancient human fossils
Click here for a list of fossils on Wikipedia. Biblical creationists have had to do a lot of work trying to figure out how all these fossils fit into the Biblical timeline. They usually try to classify the fossils as either being an ape or a human and they don't always agree on these. Neanderthals, I believe, are agreed on as being humans. There have been roughly 400 different Neanderthal specimens discovered, mainly in Europe. Many young-earth creationists say that the Neanderthals were part of the dispersal from Babel. I find this strange, because most Neanderthals lived in caves (some made dwellings out of animal bones) and they had primitive tools. In contrast, the people mentioned in the Bible who lived at Babel were city dwellers and were capable of building a tall tower. I don't see how a group of people from Babel would be able to go from city building to such primitive circumstances. Also, how did the Neanderthals develop such unique skull differences in such a short time? Click here for a picture of a Homo Sapiens skull next to a Neanderthal skull.

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While the facts I have mentioned created some serious problems for my trust in the Bible, they are not what ultimately caused me to distrust it. It was the moral problems that really opened my eyes and helped me realize that the Bible could not be inspired or infallible. I read this lecture by Emmett Fields and by the time I reached the end of it my faith in the Bible had crumbled. I realized that it made much more sense to read the Bible strictly as the written works of men.

Shouldn't Christians hope they are wrong?

There are a bunch of things that Christians believe that I find hard to swallow. Yes, I was once a Christian so I can understand how they HAVE to believe these things in order to maintain their doctrines, but I wish they would consider, as I have, that they may be wrong. Some of these things they believe are so terrible that it should compel them to hope that they may be wrong. For example, if I believed that an ancient people prophesied that in three years the world would be impacted by an alien missile that would send the earth on a collision course with the sun and that subsequently every living thing on the planet would become fried - Shouldn't I spend all my time trying to prove myself wrong? Christians also believe that one day billions of people will fry in the flames of hell, but they take it another step further and make it last forever. What an awful thought. Shouldn't this compel them to hope that they are wrong? Shouldn't they be reading all of the critical books that have been written against their religion? Shouldn't they be researching all of the scientific discoveries that may contradict what is written in their holy book? It may dash their hopes of one day reaching their eternal paradise, but in my opinion that is a small price to pay.

A man may spend his life inventing medical cures that save the lives of millions and prevents much suffering, but in the Christian worldview, if he did not believe and dedicate his life to the god/man Jesus then he will spend an infinite number of years wailing and gnashing his teeth in unquenchable flames. 

According to Christian beliefs, I would have been infinitely better off if I had died in a car accident while I was still a Christian than later abandoning my faith in the religion and one day reaping the consequences. 

I'm sure if you asked most Christians they would say that aborted babies all end up in heaven along with miscarriages and other infants who die young. If this is true then, according to Christian beliefs, all of these babies are better off dead and in heaven then having to live here on earth and possibly not becoming a "real" Christian.

Christians look forward to the day that they can leave this earth for a better home where they can eternally be at the feet of Yahweh, worshiping him forever. Unfortunately they have to do this in spite of being aware of his deeds in the Old Testament. Yahweh was at one time fed up with people so much that he drowned a world full of them including plants, animals, children, elderly and everything that breathed. Yahweh also commanded his chosen people to annihilate the people who lived in Canaan and would not allow them to spare anything that breathed (except a group of virgins once). I'm not sure which was worse: being killed with a blunt sword or having to be the one doing the killing. Why do they want to believe this with all their heart? Because Jesus fixed all of this? 

Jesus had some good ideas, but he was not perfect. He supposedly said things like: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword", "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother", and "All these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them." If you think that's not so bad, read about what happens in the book of Revelation and I doubt you'll think the New Testament is a nice book anymore.

In a last attempt modern Christians will re-interpret every passage in the Bible that they have a problem with, they will focus on the social aspects of Jesus' words and Paul's writings, and they will try as much as possible to become relevant for the culture of today. Even this modern version of Christianity should raise some eyebrows. Most modern Christians still believe that the majority of the world is going to hell. Most of them still believe that human sacrifice is a medium for appeasing their god (thankfully it was a one time deal). Most of them still focus on the brutal act of a Roman crucifixion and focus on a broken body and spilled blood. Most of them still believe that any day now the world and everything left in it is going to be destroyed and remade. And most of them still become self-righteous and tend to look down on anyone who does not believe what they believe. All I ask is that they open up about their doubts and become honest with one another. They should be open to other points of view. 

If humanity is going to thrive in the future, things like bigotry and intolerance need to be set aside. Superstitions should be cast off. Apocalyptic and doomsday thinking should be kept in check with reality. Attempts at finding the truth of a matter should begin with evidence and probability and should not be based on dogma and presuppositions. The value of life must be upheld. Suffering should always be avoided. People should be kind and thoughtful to others because they want to, not because they want to gain an eternal reward. I'm not saying anything new. This has all been hashed out many times before. The question is, do Christians deep down really hope they are right about these things? Shouldn't they hope to be wrong?

Thoughts on values, morality

In this post I'd like to comment on the controversial topic of absolute morality vs. moral relativism. From my point of view it seems that all we have available to us is moral relativism. In other words, all we have is everyone's different opinions on what's good for us and what's bad. Christians claim that God sets the standard for us to live by, but if that's the case then he has not made that clear to us. How can we be expected to trust in something written down by ancient people (the Bible)? Especially when it has many things that seem morally wrong, such as stoning disobedient children, killing witches, eternal torment, genocide, human sacrifice, etc. Also, this collection of ancient writings (the Bible) has been interpreted in many, many different ways.

Does everyone have the same set of values implanted within them by God? If that were true then we would all agree on what's right and wrong. In some cultures women are not given the same rights as men (even driving a car), they think that's right, but I think it's wrong. A few centuries ago there were people in America  who thought slavery was not wrong, but I think it is. Lying, in my opinion, is not always wrong. If you had lived in Nazi Germany and you were hiding Jews in your basement, it would have been good to lie when asked if you knew where any Jews were. If you are a spy that works for the CIA, you may have to lie all the time, and I think that is okay because it is a necessity for that type of job. The most clear example of different  moral standards is the stark contrast between modern people and ancient.

So, where do we get our values from? I think we get them from our parents and our culture. I think down through the years different cultures have been improving values little by little. Judaism and Christianity have given us the value of helping the poor and needy. The enlightenment period gave us the value of science and reason which helped dispose of superstitions. Modern thinking has given us the values of freedom and equality. Modern medicine has instructed us in good values for eating and exercising. And modern science has established the values of recycling and sustainability (to name a few). Having values gives us the ability to make this world a better place to live. Some day we may be able to do away with war and famine and we can try to minimize suffering as much as possible.

What about guilt, where does that come from? I think this uncomfortable feeling comes whenever we do something that other people do not agree with or perhaps we ourselves do not approve of. Since we worry about what other people think about us, we are constantly aware of their possible judgments. Also, if you've been raised in a Christian environment as I have, you will think that God is keeping tabs on you and expects you to do things a certain way. I think all of these things have been the ideas and creations of men, however.

Values help us everyday to make good decisions. Good decisions will result in a happier life and will make those around us happy as well. There may not be a clear standard for everyone to follow, but we try our best and learn from the past.

My challenge to someone who claims absolute morals exist is simple. If they exist, then tell us what they are. Once you've been able to decide on what those are tell us on what authority they are based. No matter what, you will have to rely on your own opinions and biases to make this list. Since they are based on your own opinions and biases they are, by definition, relative to you and not absolute.

The gap of the gods

I've recently been reading some materials by Christian apologists and I'd like to comment on what I see as a gap in their arguments. The standard Christian arguments for the God of the Bible usually begin with the natural world. They usually involve cause and effect, fine tuning and complex design. In my opinion, these are all reasonable arguments that have been put forward. Most Christian apologists realize that these are not absolute proofs, but they can be called "clues" that there may be an intelligent designer. At this point they reach a major gap. First, they avoid giving any explanation for how this designer exists, then, they jump directly from an intelligent designer to the Christian God of the Bible.

Some apologists will seemingly cover all their bases by arguing against the God's of some other religions, but overall they give no good reasons for leaping past the gap. I think they fail to see that there are so many possibilities surrounding the concept of an intelligent designer. I would like to grant for a moment that the intelligent design concept is true (although I do think naturalism has a strong case, but that's for a different post). Here are some possible "what if" scenarios I thought of in just a few minutes. There are probably many other "what ifs" that could be dreamed up as well.

• Naturally, we think that God is much like us in ways of consciousness and the ability to effect changes on things, but what if this is not the case. What if the intelligent designer is something like a network of different minds and is not really a single conscious being? That might sound strange, but it's actually similar to the idea of a three in one God.
• What if the creator of our universe is a grand scientist of sorts and he has created many millions of different universes trying out different settings and parameters with each one?
• What if every galaxy has a different deity in charge of it and each galaxy has several inhabited planets for each deity to watch over?
• What if the intelligent designer died at the moment it created life on planet earth, giving it's last breath to create new life for us?
• What if there is an infinity of deities in existence and they have all lived for eternity past in infinite space creating infinite numbers of universes? 
• What if there is a grand hierarchy of deities, with a father and mother type at the top of the chain? The deity that created our world could be several notches down in this hierarchy.
• The intelligent designer could be more or less like a male or could be more or less like a female or could even be similar to a robot or something.
• Perhaps the big bang was caused by two deities smashing into each other in some other dimension in a  sort of galactic jousting match.
• Or perhaps the world was created by small fairies who watch us all the time, but are invisible to us.
• If I take any of these scenarios and add more and more specifics to them, they will gradually sound more and more bogus.

"Why this is madness!" says the apologist, "You are just speculating all of this." Indeed. But think about how much time you have spent speculating about your deity. Don't think you're special because you have piggy-backed on other's theories passed down for a few millennium. The Israelite's concept of Yahweh is not much different than the concept of Ahura Mazda as conceived by the ancient Iranians. Is Christianity special because it has lasted so long and has so many followers? No, for this can also be claimed by other religions.

So we are left with this gap in their argument. Yes, we could be designed. But I think you should stop there. Everything else you can imagine about this designer or designers is speculation. It may be fun to speculate, but things can get ugly if you start assuming too much. If you're not careful, you may end up using your concepts to control other people and even worse begin speaking on the designer's behalf or writing in his name.

Mind shift

This post is about the fantastic shift I have experienced in my thinking as a result of changing my worldview. Things that used to be meaningless now have meaning and vice verse. For example, I used to think that space exploration was a huge waste of time and taxpayer money and now I think it is very important. As a Christian there is no point in exploring other planets because Jesus is going to return to this one, so we should just stay put. Even recycling was somewhat pointless. Why should Christians take care of the planet when God has plans to destroy it and make a "New Heaven and New Earth"? This all changed with my new worldview and I have had to re-think everything.

I was pretty much raised in a Christian incubator. I was home-schooled from Kindergarten through 12th grade and went to church every Sunday. I was never taught evolution. All of my text books were A Beka books from Pensacola Christian College. I was a descendant of Adam, the first man, who lived around 6,000 years ago. I was indoctrinated with Christian Facts that cannot be questioned: The Bible is God's Word, I was born a sinner and Jesus died on the cross to save me from sin and hell. I say all this so you can see how steeped I was in my first worldview.

Now imagine how radically that has all changed. I've already discussed some of the realizations that led me here along with some reasons for my deconversion. This ultimately leads to my mind shift and having to come to grips with this new reality. The reality is that not a single person on this planet knows with certainty why we're here and how we got here. We may all have our own opinions, but that's all they are, opinions. All we can do is examine the evidence available to us and make an educated guess. This is why I've embraced science rather than religion to understand our universe. Science says, "I don't know, but let's work towards figuring it out using what's available to us." Religion says, "I've got it all figured out, just put your trust in me." When a new discovery comes along that challenges our accepted viewpoints science and religion show their true colors. Science says, "I have to change my views because of this new evidence." Religion says, "The evidence is wrong, keep trusting in me." Now which of these seems like a more honest approach?

Since we don't know how we got here (evolved, created or something in-between) what should we do now? If we are created then whoever created us might expect something of us or might not. Since we don't know I think it's best to listen to our own reasoning. My reason tells me that smoking tobacco or doing drugs will destroy my organs so I don't do those things. I love my wife and my family so I am fully dedicated to them and their welfare. I will never kill another person because I have a high regard for life and liberty. If we have evolved through natural processes that doesn't change anything I just wrote. Either way we are very fortunate to experience life and should do our best to ensure that future generations can experience it as well. Things like world peace, equality, sustainability, and fighting hunger and disease are all fantastic goals and should be sought after. This sums up my agnostic viewpoint and I am glad that my mind has shifted to this new way of thinking.

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.

One year later

Today marks one year since I left Christianity. It's always amazing how quickly a year goes by isn't it? I was hoping that by this time I would have done enough research such that I would be able to make a firm decision to either be an Atheist, a Liberal Christian or a Deist. This is not the case. I still have a lot of research to do. I've decided to call myself Agnostic for the time being. I consider Agnostic the default position for someone not making a positive or negative claim for the existence of a god. I may very well remain Agnostic for a long period of time because it really strikes me as the most honest position anyone can take. Do I know how we all got here? Nope. So the honest thing to say is "I don't know". I don't know if there is a God. The existence of a super, all-knowing intelligence seems unlikely, but then, the existence of space, matter and life arriving by pure chance also seems unlikely. It is quite a puzzle we all are left with.

I am currently reading "Why I became an Atheist" by J. Loftus and "Reasonable Faith" by W. Craig. Also, while commuting to and from work, I am listening to an audio reading of "The Grand Design" by Hawking and Mlodinow. All of these give me plenty of things to think about. Sometimes it feels like a curse to have to worry about things that most people hardly give much thought to. For those of you who are like me and wrestle with the big questions a lot, I have a challenge for you and for myself. Let's not forget to make the most of the time we have with the ones we love most. And don't forget to enjoy life as puzzling as it may be.