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Actually there’s not much to post about the final chapters of Genesis; it comes in strong but it really goes out with a whimper.  There’s a great story in chapter 34 about Dinah, daughter of Jacob, being “violated” and her brothers end up revenge killing every male in the city, but only after they trick them into being circumcised and are all then in too much pain to defend themselves.  Seriously, that’s the story.  Anyway, they take all the women and children and plunder the city.  Awesome.

In chapter 37 Joseph, son of Jacob, is sold by his brothers into slavery.  Then in chapter 38 a guy named Judah …read more »

So, for ye of little faith, I’m back with another installment of my Bible Study Project.  I’d wanted to get all the way through Genesis and then post but I’ve been running low on spare time so I figured I’d post what I’ve read and then get back to the rest later.  It might be a while before I get back into it; this book is just so damn boring.

That said, here we go back into the bad old days.

First, in 10:8, we read about Nimrod.  I found it ironic that the name of a “mighty hunter” such as Nimrod would eventually become associated with idiocy.  I also like the Forrest Gumpish sound of this line in 10:9:

He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”

Genius.

In 11:1-8 we learn of the tower of Babel.  In this story man all speaks the same language and decides to build a tower to God.  God doesn’t want this because working together man can do anything.  So he makes them all speak different languages and transplants them all over the world.  I guess I’m supposed to believe this actually happened.  Why would God be afraid of man?  Aren’t we his creations?  Can’t he just snap is fingers and just make us stop?

In 12:10-20 we have more pimping.  Abram pimps his wife Sarai …read more »

As I start out at the beginning of the Old Testament I feel it’s worth noting that I’m approaching this book as the irrefutable and infallible Word of God, and nothing short of that. The claim has been made by many fundamentalists, including the IBS, Falwell, and more that this book is the real deal. There is no in between. For example, Falwell said:

The Bible is the inerrant…word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible, without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc.

This theme is repeated again and again among the Christian faithful. So from this point on know that I am not reporting on this so much with the mindset of a person learning how a people completely alien to our culture used to believe, I’m reporting on this more as a true reference of history and of God’s Word to us. I’m told this book is dependable and I can trust it completely so that’s how I’m going to play it.

That said, let’s jump into it.

We start out with the creation of the sun, the earth, the stars, and the entire universe. If I were looking at this from the perspective of a person who lived three or four thousand years ago it might be believable. But I’m alive now in 2008 with far more knowledge than these people had and this story is total bullshit. This should in no way ever be used by anyone, anytime to represent the actual process in which the Earth, the solar system, or the universe itself actually formed. This text was obviously …read more »

Here are, I believe, the salient points from the preceeding pages and from the preface of the NIV Bible.  The first thing I noticed was this:

You will be pleased to know that a portion  of the purchase price of your new NIV Bible has been provided to International Bible Society to help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.

I’ll be honest here; I really wasn’t pleased to know this.  I knew I’d be contributing to the cause by buying the book but it was only $5.95 and a necessity I really couldn’t avoid, if I wanted to use the NIV Bible.  I’d dabbled in the King James version but I found it difficult to trudge through and probably a little less complete than the NIV Bible.  A friend just recommended the NET Bible which is a great free resource.  I’m sure I’ll be referencing and quoting both of these versions periodically throughout this project but most likely I’ll primarily be using the NIV Bible.

(Note: When I mention “IBS” here I mean the “International Bible Society”, not “Irritable Bowel Syndrome”, as one might think.  The irony is not lost on me.)

On Page V I’m told that the Bible was written by many …read more »

So today begins “The Bible Study Project”, a project I’ve been planning for some time but just now finally got around to.  Lately I’ve spent a lot of time reading both atheist and Christian books and articles.  Each of these make interesting points while quoting verses from the Bible.  I’m openly skeptical of the Bible, the message it sends, the actual morality it teaches, its followers’ actual piety, and of Christianity’s audacious claims of divinity.  I’m a science-minded individual, preferring proof to faith, and the Bible, quite frankly, just doesn’t provide me with adequate proof to support the incredible and miraculous claims it makes.  At least not what I’ve read so far which is limited.

David Mills says that one of the contributing reasons people believe science and religion can harmoniously coincide with each other is because neither side really understands the other.  Religious people generally don’t know a lot about science and scientists often don’t know much about religion.  There’s a hopeful ideology that the two can find a common ground that really doesn’t exist, at least in David’s opinion.

I think he’s right but I want to find out for myself.  I don’t believe I can accurately and effectively continue to …read more »