Religious doctrines often teach people that there's something wrong with them if they don't accept religion; that they're outcasts or "tools of satan" or "god hasn't accepted them".
I am faced with this battle nearly every single day - my girlfriend is a Jehovah's Witness and the very idea to her that even her religion could be wrong, let alone the bible, is unthinkable. Keeping the relationship steady while at the same time trying to express myself in a way that doesn't hurt her feelings or make me look like a "tool of satan" in her eyes is proving to be the hardest task I've ever tried to undertake. She is worth everything I do for her in my eyes, but a lot of the time it is an uphill battle.
If Jehovah's Witnesses are correct then I, along with approximately 5,700,000,000 other people, will soon be dead. I don't believe they are correct.
I have read at least 200-300 full A4 pages and hundreds of websites dealing with this topic and it is an incredibly complex issue. There are many issues that the Bible points to that 'could' prove the Bible to be written by god, and correct in what it teaches, but those very same issues can be proven more compellingly against it. For example, the very same scripture in the Bible that religious "organisations" use to "prove" that the writers of the Bible knew the world was spherical before anyone else can be used against it to prove that they thought the world was simply circular.
For example, this scripture at Matthew 4:1, 8-10.
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The Devil took him along to an unusually high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him: 'All these things I will give you if you fall down and do an act of worship to me.' Then Jesus said to him: 'Go away, Satan!'
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For this to be true the world would have to be flat, because no matter how high the mountain, you would only be able to see a very small sectional area of the earth - you can't see the other side of the earth from a high mountain, can you? Jehovah's Witnesses' typical rebuttal of this is that "the Bible is simply speaking figuratively". If this is so, how can we be expected to follow this example? Why are they using a figurative scripture as "proof"? How many more of the doctrines that Christians follow so closely are simply figurative?
The same is true of the large tree described in the book of Daniel. From this tree you could supposedly see the whole earth, but the same argument as before applies. Also the "world tree" idea was definitely not limited to Daniel. Many pre-Christian cultures believed that a "world tree" sat in the middle of the world and gave life to the whole earth. Obviously for this to be true, again, the world would have to be flat.
There are many other arguments against the Bible, as well as many arguments for it. The dinosaurs, which incidentally are never mentioned in the Bible, are a bit of a problem for Christians. Categorising them with "the wild beasts", which the JW's try to do, simply doesn't cut it. The Bible also putsmankind at about 6000 years old, where there is evidence of at least 100,000 years of human existance. And if the Bible is so righteous, why does it seem to support slavery?
There's enough information to battle it out forever, and indeed, it has been battled out almost since time began. It's just a d*mn shame that so many people have suffered because of it.
Topic: Do atheists need to know the bible? (Read 31919 times)