An apple is not a cake. It's simple, obvious, testable and consistent. The problem comes when someone is adamant that cake is an apple, because no matter what you believe, if you believe it strongly enough, you can find evidence for it. You could say, cake is sweet, and an apple is sweet. If you look at both through a strong enough microscope, you'll probably find that both look a bit organic. If you look even deeper, you'll find that they're both made of molecules, and both contain a certain quantity of H20. Yet, if you take a step back, you see the truth, quite obviously... an apple is not cake.
If you apply this logic to God, you should be able to know quite easily whether he exists, simply by imagining what life would be like with him, and without him, and then take a step back, look at the big picture, and see which one life is more like. A problem is that God is not defined very consistently in the Bible. So for the sake of keeping this brief, lets just pretend that the Bible only described God as loving and all powerful. Imagining what life would be like with such a god would leave us thinking about an amazing existence, free of pain or stress. Everyone would be happy all the time. Life without such a god would appear quite random.
It's quite obvious which is more likely to be true... the happy or random life. I also think that if God wrote a book that was incredibly important because everyone's eternal life depended on whether or not one believed it, that book would:
- Be indestructible (made of a super strong material, like a diamond)
- Be completely written and distributed to everyone right from the beginning of humanity
- Be written by God himself (not random humans)
- Be translated by God himself into every language
- Be personally given by God to everyone as soon as they were old enough to read (or sooner)
- Be read to anyone who couldn't read
- Be 100% unambiguous
- Be easy to read
...and of course if anyone had a mental disorder preventing them from understanding such a book, God would heal them.
Now lets take a look at the Bible... not in detail as in a bible study, but as a whole, and see how it compares to history, logic, and what we'd expect of such a book:
God always existed... that's what the Bible says. He didn't evolve. It's just a fundamental fact of physics that a single, intelligent, all powerful, conscious being must exist.
13.8 billion years ago the universe started. This is not a thumb suck, nor a conspiracy theory. It's a figure that very smart astronomers and scientists, who have spent their careers trying to learn about the universe, have figured out. It's mathematical, objective and consistent. 4.5 billion years ago the Earth was formed.
Take a look at Wikipedia's list of Neolithical Cultures of China. It lists eighteen cultures, dating from 18,000 BC to 4,000 BC. The Mesopotamian history starts in 5,000 BC, and the Sumer history starts in 5,400 BC.
Looking at the bible, and going by its genealogies, which are slightly inconsistent with each other, the Earth, and Adam were formed around 4,000 BC... yes, that's while the other cultures were already living here.
God gave Adam a female, because, having looked through, and named all of the animals, Adam couldn't find a suitable companion. Yes, that is what the Bible says (Gen 2:19-22).
It's a bit difficult to try and imagine what Adam and Eve were like, because they, unlike everyone else, were born with the ability to speak... or at least that's the impression I get. They had no memories and no experiences. Like innocent children, I suppose. The Bible also implies that they did not know the difference between good and evil. It's worth pausing and taking a moment to think about what that might be like. The knowledge of good and evil that we learn naturally comes from empathy; the ability to share and understand the feelings of one another. We know that good is making other people feel better, and evil is making them feel worse. Someone who doesn't have this empathy is not a good person. If you do whatever you want to without regarding whether it is good or evil, you will do good and evil. If hurting a person or animal would have gotten Adam what he wanted, then, since he didn't understand good and evil, surely he would have just gone ahead and hurt them. The knowledge of good and evil is a GOOD thing! A person without the knowledge of good and evil may be considered to be a psychopath.
I need to just write about punishment quickly, because it is important to understand what punishment is, before you continue. Punishment is a way to make life better for the majority of people. If someone steals something, we might put them in jail, to prevent them from stealing anything else, and as a warning to other people that stealing will result in their being put into jail. The result, we hope, is that less people will steal, and there will be more order and happiness in general. If we could prevent crime without hurting anyone, this would be preferable.
Revenge is something else entirely. It is a selfish, emotional response. Its purpose is to make the person who feels hurt, feel better by hurting someone back. It is often a bad thing, but may result in some good, only if it overlaps with the above definition of punishment. Therefore only punishment is necessary.
God planted a tree in the middle of the garden that he had given to Adam and Eve. It was a tree that would trigger eternal suffering for all non-Christians forever if Adam and Eve were to eat its fruit. I remember when I was three or so, my parents accidentally left an axe lying around and I ended up sticking it in my big toe. That was NOTHING compared to how careless you'd have to be to PURPOSEFULLY stick such a deadly tree with tasty looking fruit in the middle of a garden and tell the child-like inhabitants not to eat it. Psychologically, someone is likely going to give in and eat it, even if there is no snake to tempt you... and these people didn't even know about good and evil, and even if they did, how would they whether to believe God or the snake (who was actually being honest)?
So, the devil decides to take the form of a snake and go talk to Adam. Why a snake? Why not something a bit friendlier? Why anything? Where does the devil even come from? Why is the devil evil? So much missing background information here. Because this is a story, and in stories, the villain is always ugly and scary looking... unlike reality, where the villain looks almost normal, like Adolf Hitler, or Kim Jong Un.
So the snake walked over to Eve (yes, it had legs, as you'll see later)... and Eve said, "Oh crap! A talking snake!" Nope, more like, "Oh hello Mr. Snake..."
After Adam and Eve had eaten the tasty fruit, God didn't just take revenge upon the Devil, Adam and Eve, but EVERYONE, and every SNAKE! Note I use the word revenge. This is not punishment to correct the behaviour, create order and make people generally happier. This is something else, and doesn't serve any positive purpose that I can see.
He then placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword (futuristic technology, since swords wouldn't have been invented yet) flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. He didn't destroy the garden. He didn't place a wall around it. It just makes me wonder if the garden and the cherubim and flaming sword are still there (can we see them on Google Earth?), or at what point the cherubim and flashing sword got tired and went home.
So, eventually after nearly a couple of thousand years (2,304 BC according to Creation Ministries) God flooded the whole Earth. Noah built a boat, on which he kept at least a pair of every species that was required to evolve into the millions of species of animals we have today. He kept them all together on a boat for AN ENTIRE YEAR! Every type of insect, every type of virus, every type of bird (birds wouldn't have lasted for half a year without dry land), every type of rodent, land dwelling mammal, arachnid, bear, kangaroo, lion, elephant, etc. on one boat. They were all able to eat and poop for an entire year, and live harmoniously with each other for a year on a boat.
In the meanwhile, while the entire Earth was flooded, these civilizations didn't care, and carried on living in submarines:
Neolithic 8500-1500 BC
Egyption Dynasty 4 2613 to 2494 BC, Dynasty 5: 2494 to 2345 BC, Dynasty 6: 2345 - 2181 BC
Mesopotamia 5000 BC to 333 BC
Sumerians 5400 BC to 1120 BC
Norte Chico civilization 3000 BC to 1800 BC
Another couple of thousand years pass by before Jesus is born (approx. 0 AD).
66 to 70 years later, the first book about Jesus, Mark, is written. It is worth thinking about that for a moment... that for about 35 years after Jesus death, people were merely talking about him. There was no official book. Thirty-five years is a long time! Imagine writing a book including lots of quotes from thirty-five years ago. Your book might be based on some memories and what people are saying. There's no internet or telephone or newspaper, so your book is merely vague recollections of memories and gossip.
When Mark begins, Jesus is already an adult. There is no virgin birth, no manger nor wise men. In this book, Jesus continuously talks about the coming of the Kingdom, which he says will happen within the lifetime of those with him (one could say within the first century). This event was given many names, like the Apocalypse, Armageddon, and the second coming. An event which never happened... Jesus' failed prophecy.
The book also introduces the concept of hell. In other words, no-one knew what happened to them when they die from the beginning of time until Jesus told them... that is, if Jesus told them, because the vast majority of the planet still wouldn't hear about it for a long time.
It is interesting that there was volcanic activity in Italy 2,000 years ago, spewing fire and sulfur (brimstone), making it quite obvious where people got the idea of hell from. Hell is below us, and heaven is above us.
Note that hell is not a form of punishment. It does not serve any useful purpose. It is much more like revenge.
Strangely the book of Mark ends with three women going to Jesus' Tomb (Mark 15:1-8). An anonymous man tells them that Jesus has risen, but the women don't tell anyone. That's it! That's how the original first gospel ended... the women don't tell anyone, so nobody knows! Now you may be thinking, "Hang on, there's more to Mark," but if you read your Bible's footnotes, you'll discover that the rest of Mark was not written in the original book, but added much later to a copy, by someone else, including the part Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. Yup, unfortunately the original author of Mark did not say that baptism nor belief would save you (the fundamental principle of Christianity), nor that Christians are immune to poison, nor that Jesus appeared to anyone after his resurrection, nor that he ascended into heaven.
Instead of telling you to believe in Jesus, the way that Mark suggests you avoid hell, is not to sin; or to cut off your hand, or foot, or gouge out your eye, if they cause you to sin.
For more on Mark, read my open minded bible study.
20 or so years after the book of Mark, Matthew is written. This is 90 years after the birth of Christ! Can you imagine trying to write about something that happened 90 years ago without any resources except the book of Mark? It's like writing about something that you heard about in 1928, in 2018. In the book a Jewish lady gets pregnant without having sex with her fiancé. To be honest, I'm not surprised she didn't argue with her fiancé when he told her he had a dream that the child's father was the Holy Spirit. In this book, Herod kills all boys in Bethlehem under two years of age. According to historians, this massacre never took place.
Of the books that were written about Jesus, there are four in the Bible. The reason that there are four is because there are one for each of the four corners of the universe.
In conclusion, if you study every atom of a cake, you may not realize that it has a lot in common with an apple. You may need to take a step back, and see that it looks absolutely nothing like an apple. If you study every verse of the Bible you may find meaning, and see ways to be inspired, and find evidence that it's true, but if you take a step back and look at the big picture, you begin to see the myths and inconsistencies.
Another couple of thousand years pass by before Jesus is born (approx. 0 AD).
66 to 70 years later, the first book about Jesus, Mark, is written. It is worth thinking about that for a moment... that for about 35 years after Jesus death, people were merely talking about him. There was no official book. Thirty-five years is a long time! Imagine writing a book including lots of quotes from thirty-five years ago. Your book might be based on some memories and what people are saying. There's no internet or telephone or newspaper, so your book is merely vague recollections of memories and gossip.
When Mark begins, Jesus is already an adult. There is no virgin birth, no manger nor wise men. In this book, Jesus continuously talks about the coming of the Kingdom, which he says will happen within the lifetime of those with him (one could say within the first century). This event was given many names, like the Apocalypse, Armageddon, and the second coming. An event which never happened... Jesus' failed prophecy.
The book also introduces the concept of hell. In other words, no-one knew what happened to them when they die from the beginning of time until Jesus told them... that is, if Jesus told them, because the vast majority of the planet still wouldn't hear about it for a long time.
It is interesting that there was volcanic activity in Italy 2,000 years ago, spewing fire and sulfur (brimstone), making it quite obvious where people got the idea of hell from. Hell is below us, and heaven is above us.
Note that hell is not a form of punishment. It does not serve any useful purpose. It is much more like revenge.
Strangely the book of Mark ends with three women going to Jesus' Tomb (Mark 15:1-8). An anonymous man tells them that Jesus has risen, but the women don't tell anyone. That's it! That's how the original first gospel ended... the women don't tell anyone, so nobody knows! Now you may be thinking, "Hang on, there's more to Mark," but if you read your Bible's footnotes, you'll discover that the rest of Mark was not written in the original book, but added much later to a copy, by someone else, including the part Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. Yup, unfortunately the original author of Mark did not say that baptism nor belief would save you (the fundamental principle of Christianity), nor that Christians are immune to poison, nor that Jesus appeared to anyone after his resurrection, nor that he ascended into heaven.
Instead of telling you to believe in Jesus, the way that Mark suggests you avoid hell, is not to sin; or to cut off your hand, or foot, or gouge out your eye, if they cause you to sin.
For more on Mark, read my open minded bible study.
20 or so years after the book of Mark, Matthew is written. This is 90 years after the birth of Christ! Can you imagine trying to write about something that happened 90 years ago without any resources except the book of Mark? It's like writing about something that you heard about in 1928, in 2018. In the book a Jewish lady gets pregnant without having sex with her fiancé. To be honest, I'm not surprised she didn't argue with her fiancé when he told her he had a dream that the child's father was the Holy Spirit. In this book, Herod kills all boys in Bethlehem under two years of age. According to historians, this massacre never took place.
Of the books that were written about Jesus, there are four in the Bible. The reason that there are four is because there are one for each of the four corners of the universe.
In conclusion, if you study every atom of a cake, you may not realize that it has a lot in common with an apple. You may need to take a step back, and see that it looks absolutely nothing like an apple. If you study every verse of the Bible you may find meaning, and see ways to be inspired, and find evidence that it's true, but if you take a step back and look at the big picture, you begin to see the myths and inconsistencies.
