I need some help from Christians that believe in science and the bible. I have been debating my college science professor. He feels that the bible contradicts itself and also feels that science proves the bible to be full of errors. One argument that he brought up was the fact that Christians believe that God created the heavens and earth in 6 days and then rested. He said ask any scientist it would have been impossible for God to create the universe in a matter of 6 days. My professor feels that the universe took billions of years to create. Also he brought up that according to the bible the earth is a few thousand years old possibly 6-10 thousand years old. He again brings up that most scientist believe the earth to be 4.5 billion years old. I was totally confused by now because I always thought that the earth was only 6 thousands year old. I know alot of my thinking is still Watchtower thinking but I have never heard what Christians feel about science and the bible. Do they contradict? Is my science professor correct when he feels that the bible is full of errors? Another example of a supposed error in the bible that he brought up was when Jesus says that the mustard seed is the smallest seed. My professor says this is clearly an error because there are seeds smaller then the mustard seed and Jesus made an error when he said this. He attacked the Hellfire doctrine as well. He made the point of since things melt when they are in sunlight what is going to be burned in hellfire that can last eternally? Also he argued that Born-Again Christians and JW's believe that you must accept Jesus Christ in order to be saved from Hell or Armaggeddon destruction. His question was what will Jehovah God and Jesus do with the millions of Jewish babies that have not accepted Christ as their Savior? Since they have not accepted Jesus will Jehovah send them to Hell or kill them at Armaggeddon when he specifically states that a person won't suffer for the sins of the parents. Babies are innocent and should not be destroyed because their parents were Jewish and did not believe in Jesus. I think trying to convince my professor that the Bible is correct is like trying to convince a dog not to chase a cat.
Does "science" really contradict the Bible?
by booker-t 20 Replies latest jw friends
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Sam the Man
Yes. http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/science/long.html: Genesis 1. The Genesis 1 creation account conflicts with the order of events that are known to science. In Genesis, the earth is created before light and stars, birds and whales before reptiles and insects, and flowering plants before any animals. The true order of events was just the opposite. 1:1-2:3 2. God creates light and separates light from darkness, and day from night, on the first day. Yet he didn't make the light producing objects (the sun and the stars) until the fourth day (1:14-19). And how could there be "the evening and the morning" on the first day if there was no sun to mark them? 1:3-5 3. God spends one-sixth of his entire creative effort (the second day) working on a solid firmament. This strange structure, which God calls heaven, is intended to separate the higher waters from the lower waters. 1:6-8 4. Plants are made on the third day before there was a sun to drive their photosynthetic processes (1:14-19). 1:11 5. God lets "the earth bring forth" the plants, rather than creating them directly. Maybe Genesis is not so anti-evolution after all. 1:11 6. In an apparent endorsement of astrology, God places the sun, moon, and stars in the firmament so that they can be used "for signs". This, of course, is exactly what astrologers do: read "the signs" in the Zodiac in an effort to predict what will happen on Earth. 1:14 7. God makes two lights: "the greater light [the sun] to rule the day, and the lesser light [the moon] to rule the night." But the moon is not a light, but only reflects light from the sun. And why, if God made the moon to "rule the night", does it spend half of its time moving through the daytime sky? 1:16 8. "He made the stars also." God spends a day making light (before making the stars) and separating light from darkness; then, at the end of a hard day's work, and almost as an afterthought, he makes the trillions of stars. 1:16 9. "And God set them [the stars] in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth." 1:17 10. In verse 11, God "let the earth bring forth" the plants. Now he has the earth "bring forth" the animals as well. So maybe the creationists have it all wrong. Maybe God created livings things through the process of evolution. 1:24 11. God gave humans dominion over every other living thing on earth. 1:26 12. God commands us to "be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over ... every living thing that moveth upon the earth." 1:28 13. All animals were originally herbivores. Tapeworms, vampire bats, mosquitoes, and barracudas -- all were strict vegetarians, as they were created by God. 1:30 14. "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." He purposefully designed a system that ensures the suffering and death of all his creatures, parasite and host, predator and prey. 1:31 15. In Genesis 1 the entire creation takes 6 days, but the universe is at least 12 billion years old, with new stars constantly being formed. 1:31 16. Humans were not created instantaneously from dust and breath, but evolved over millions of years from simpler life forms. 2:7 17. After making the animals, God has Adam name them all. The naming of several million species must have kept Adam busy for a while. But animals were not created instantaneously from the ground, but evolved over millions of years. And we still don't have names for all of them. Ten thousand new species of insects are discovered and named each year. 2:18-22 18. God curses the serpent. From now on the serpent will crawl on his belly and eat dust. One wonders how he got around before -- by hopping on his tail, perhaps? But snakes don't eat dust, do they? 3:14 19. Because Adam listened to Eve, God cursed the ground and causes thorns and thistles to grow. Before this, according to the (false) Genesis story, plants had no natural defenses. The rose had no thorn, cacti were spineless, holly leaves were smooth, and the nettle had no sting. Foxgloves, oleander, and milkweeds were all perfectly safe to eat. 3:17-18 20. "There were giants in the earth in those days." Well, I suppose it's good to know that. But why is there no archaeological evidence for the existence of these giants? 6:4 21. Noah is told to make an ark that is 450 feet long. 6:14-15 22. Whether by twos or by sevens, Noah takes male and female representatives from each species of "every thing that creepeth upon the earth." 7:8 23. God opens the "windows of heaven." He does this every time it rains. 7:11 24. All of the animals boarded the ark "in the selfsame day." 7:13-14 25. The flood covered the highest mountain tops (Mount Everest?) with fifteen cubits to spare. 7:20 26. "The windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained." This happens whenever it stops raining. 8:2 27. Noah sends a dove out to see if there was any dry land. But the dove returns without finding any. Then, just seven days later, the dove goes out again and returns with an olive leaf. But how could an olive tree survive the flood? And if any seeds happened to survive, they certainly wouldn't germinate and grow leaves within a seven day period. 8:8-11 28. When the animals left the ark, what would they have eaten? There would have been no plants after the ground had been submerged for nearly a year. What would the carnivores have eaten? Whatever prey they ate would have gone extinct. And how did the New World primates or the Australian marsupials find their way back after the flood subsided? 8:19 29. Noah kills the "clean beasts" and burns their dead bodies for God. According to 7:8 this would have caused the extinction of all "clean" animals since only two of each were taken onto the ark. 8:20-21 30. "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." Although this would have been good advice for the mythical Noah, it is deadly advice for humankind as a whole. Overpopulation is one of our greatest problems, yet there is nothing in the bible to address it. 9:1 31. According to this verse, all animals fear humans. Although it is true that many do, it is also true that some do not. Sharks and grizzly bears, for example, are generally much less afraid of us than we are of them. 9:2 32. "Into your hand are they (the animals) delivered." God gave the animals to humans, and they can do whatever they please with them. This verse has been used by bible believers to justify all kinds of cruelty to animals and environmental destruction. 9:2 33. God is rightly filled with remorse for having killed his creatures. He even puts the rainbow in the sky to remind himself of his promise to the animals not to do it again. But rainbows are caused by the nature of light, the refractive index of water, and the shape of raindrops. There were rainbows billions of years before humans existed. 9:13 34. Some creationists believe that this verse refers to continental drift, which, they say, began to occur during the days of Pelag (which means "division"), about 100 or so years after the flood. But many other creationists disagree. 10:25 35. "The whole earth was of one language." But this could not be true, since by this time (around 2400 BCE) there were already many languages, each unintelligible to the others. 11:1, 6 36. God worries that people could build a tower high enough to reach him (them?) in heaven, and that by so doing they will become omnipotent. 11:4-6 37. According to the Tower of Babel story, the many human languages were created instantaneously by God. But actually the various languages evolved gradually over long periods of time. 11:9 38. The ridiculously long lives of the patriarchs. 11:10-32 39. "And they returned to the land of the Philistines." But the Philistines didn't arrive in the region of Canaan until around 1200 BCE -- 800 years after Abraham's supposed migration from Ur. 21:32, 26:1, 8, 15, 18 40. Laban learns "by experience" that God has blessed him for Jacob's sake. "By experience" means "by divination", at least that is how most other versions translate this verse. 30:27 41. Jacob displays his (and God's) knowledge of biology by having goats copulate while looking at streaked rods. The result is streaked baby goats. 30:37-39 42. Joseph and his magic divining cup. 44:5, 44:15 Exodus 43. It took the Israelites 40 years to travel from Egypt to Canaan, yet such a journey, even at that time, would have taken no more than ten days. 16:35 44. The Israelite population went from 70 (or 75) to several million in a few hundred years. 1:5,7, 12:37, 38:26 45. Why are some people born with disabilities? Because God deliberately makes them that way. 4:11 46. God led the Israelites through the land of the Philistines, hundreds of years before the Philistines were established in Canaan. 13:17 Leviticus 47. The bible says that hares and coneys are unclean because they "chew the cud" but do not part the hoof. But hares and coneys are not ruminants and they do not "chew the cud." 11:5-6 48. Bats are birds to the biblical God. 11:13, 19 49. Be sure to watch out for those "other flying creeping things which have four feet." (I wish God wouldn't get so technical!) I guess he must mean four-legged insects. You'd think that since God made the insects, and so many of them (at least several million species), that he would know how many legs they have! 11:23 50. God's treatment for leprosy: Get two birds. Kill one. Dip the live bird in the blood of the dead one. Sprinkle the blood on the leper seven times, and then let the blood-soaked bird fly off. Next find a lamb and kill it. Wipe some of its blood on the patient's right ear, thumb, and big toe. Sprinkle seven times with oil and wipe some of the oil on his right ear, thumb and big toe. Repeat. Finally kill a couple doves and offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. 14:2-52 Numbers 51. The Israelite population went from seventy (Ex.1:5) to several million (over 600,000 adult males) in just a few generations! 1:45-46 52. God sends quails to feed his people until they were "two cubits [about a meter] high upon the face of the earth." Taking the "face of the earth" to be a circle with a radius of say 30 kilometers (an approximate day's journey), this would amount to 3 trillion (3x1012) liters of quails. At 2 quails per liter, this would provide a couple million quails for each of several million people. 11:31 53. God strikes Miriam with leprosy. (In the Bible, leprosy is caused by the wrath of God or the malice of Satan.) 12:10 54. "And there we saw the giants ... And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." This statement may have been figurative, hyperbole, typical biblical exaggeration, or an actual description of the sons of Anak, in which case they must have been about 100 meters tall. These are the same giants (the Nephilium) that resulted when the "sons of God" mated with "the daughters of men in Gen.6:4. Of course these superhuman god-men should have been destroyed in the flood. So what are they doing still alive? 13:33 55. It took the Israelites 40 years to travel from Egypt to Canaan, yet such a journey, even at that time, would have taken no more than ten days. 14:33, 32:13 56. God's cure for snakebite: a brass serpent on a pole. 21:8 57. God has "the strength of a unicorn." Oh heck, I bet he's even stronger than a unicorn. 23:22, 24:8 Deuteronomy 58. It took the Israelites 40 years to travel from Egypt to Canaan, yet such a journey, even at that time, would have taken no more than ten days. 2:7, 8:2, 29:5 59. "A land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time." (They must have been much more common back then.) 2:10-11, 20-21 60. Og, the king of the giants, was a tall man, even by NBA standards. His bed measured 9 by 4 cubits (13.5 feet long and 6 feet wide). 3:11 61. God promises to cast out seven nations including the Amorites, Canaanites, and the Jebusites. But he was unable to fulfill his promise. These nations were "greater and mightier" than the Israelites, who according to Ex.12:37 and Num.1:45-46 already had numbered several million. So the region, according to the bible, must have had a population of more than twenty million! 7:1 62. This verse mistakenly says that the hare chews its cud. 14:7-8 63. To the biblical God, a bat is just an another unclean bird. 14:11, 18 64. "Their wine is the poison of dragons." I wonder what genus and species the bible is referring to when it mentions dragons. 32:33 65. Joseph's "horns are like the horns of a unicorn." 33:17 Joshua 66. It took the Israelites 40 years to travel from Egypt to Canaan, yet such a journey, even at that time, would have taken no more than ten days. 5:6 67. In Joshua 8 the Israelites destroy Ai and make it a desolate heap. But archaeology has revealed that Ai was an abandoned city by the time of the Israelites and that this story is nothing more than a myth invented to explain the ruins of an ancient city that the Israelites encountered. 8:1-29 68. This verse says that Ai was never again occupied after it was destroyed by Joshua. But Nehemiah (7:32) lists it among the cities of Israel at the time of the Babylonian captivity. 8:28 69. In a divine type of daylight savings time, God makes the sun stand still so that Joshua can get all his killing done before dark. 10:12-13 70. "And the coast of Og king of Bashan, which as of the remnant of the giants...." 12:4, 18:16 Judges 71. "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera." Unless astrology is true, how can the stars affect the outcome of a battle? 5:20 72. "As the sun ... goeth forth in his might." The sun, according to the bible, goes around the earth. 5:31 1 Samuel 73. "The pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he hath set the world upon them. 2:8 74. Goliath was ten feet tall ("six cubits and a span"). 17:4 2 Samuel 75. In what is surely a biblical exaggeration, we are told that "the servants of David" killed 20,000 soldiers in one day. And that "the wood [forest] devoured more people that day than the sword devoured." It must have been spooky forest to have devoured more than 20,000 soliers. There were probably lots of lions and tigers and bears. (Oh my!)18:7-8 76. The earth shakes, the foundations of heaven move, smoke comes out of God's nostrils, and fire out of his mouth. 22:8-16 77. How many soldiers did Israel have? This verse says that Judah and Israel had a total of 1,300,000 fighting men (1 Chr.21:5 says 1,570,000) in this battle. Of course, this is a ridiculously high number for a battle between two tribal armies in 1000 BCE. (The United States had about 1.37 million active duty soldiers in 2001.) 24:9 1 Kings 78. This verse implies that the value of p is 3. (The actual value is approximately 3.14159.) 7:23 79. God creates droughts by causing "heaven to shut up" as a punishment for sin. 8:35 80. Ever the playful spirit, God withers, and then restores, the hand of king Jeroboam. 13:4 2 Kings 81. Elisha cures a leper, but only after the leper dips himself seven times in the Jordan. 5:14 82. Elisha not only can cure leprosy, he can also dish it out. Here he makes his servant (Gehazi) and all his descendants lepers forever. 5:27 83. A dead body is brought to life when it accidentally touches the bones of Elisha. 13:21 84. Isaiah, with a little help from God, makes the sun move backwards ten degrees. Now that's quite a trick. All at once, the earth stopped spinning and then reversed its direction of rotation. Or maybe the sun traveled around the earth in those days! 20:11 1 Chronicles 85. Some creationists believe that this verse (and Gen.10:25) refers to continental drift, which, they say, began to occur during the days of Pelag (which means "division"), about 100 or so years after the flood. 1:19 86. "The earth ... shall be stable, that it be not moved." It doesn't spin on its axis or travel about the sun. 16:30 87. According to this verse David's army had 1,100,000 men from Israel and 470,000 men from Judah, Of course, this numbers is ridiculously high for a battle between two tribal armies in 1000 BCE. (The United States had about 1.37 million active duty soldiers in 2001.) 21:5 David provides Solomon with a fantastically large amount of gold and silver with which to build the temple: 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver. Since a talent was about 60 pounds, this would be about 3,000 tons of gold and 30,000 tons of silver. 22:14 88. King David collects ten thousand drams (or darics) for the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. This is especially interesting since darics were coins named after King Darius I who lived some five hundred years after David. 29:7 89. As usual, the reported amounts of gold, silver, and iron are grossly exaggerated. (100,000 talents of iron, for example, would be aobut 34 million killograms.) 29:7 2 Chronicles 90. Since the molten sea was round with a diameter of ten cubits and a circumference of thirty cubits, we know that the biblical value of p is 3. (The actual value is approximately 3.14159.) 4:2 91. Abijah spoke to 1,200,000 soldiers at one time. (He had a really loud voice.) 13:3-4 92. 500,000 soldiers die in a single God-assisted slaughter. 13:16-17 93. In the largest single God-assisted massacre in the bible, Asa, with God's help, kills one million Ethiopians. 14:8-14 94. Asa, when he had a foot disease, went to physicians instead of seeking the Lord. (God disapproves of those who seek medical help rather than "seeking the Lord.") 16:12 95. God makes Uzziah a leper for burning incense without a license. 26:19-21 Esther 96. "Haman thought in his heart." Most people think with their heads, but biblical folks think with their hearts. 6:6 Job 97. The earth rests upon pillars and doesn't move (unless God gets angry or something). 9:6 98. Heaven is set upon pillars that tremble when God gets mad. 26:11 99. The earth is set on foundations and it does not move. 38:4-6 100. God has snow and hail all stored up to use later "in time of trouble." 38:22 101. God spread out the sky, which is a solid structure, hard and strong like a mirror. 37:18 102. Ostriches are not cruel and stupid birds who abandon their eggs to die after laying them, as these verses imply. They are, in fact, careful and attentive parents. The male scoops out a hollow for the eggs, which are incubated by the female during the day and the male at night. After the eggs are hatched, they are cared for by the mother for over a month, at which time the chicks can keep up with running adults. 39:13-16 103. The bible is wrong about ostriches being cruel and inattentive parents (39:13-16). But if they were, whose fault would it be? Why would God deprive them of the tools that are needed to do the job right? 39:17 104. Bible believers have identified the behemoth as a hippopotamus, dinosaur, wildebeest, or crocodile. But my favorite is the way these verses are translated by Stephen Mitchell: "Look now: the Beast that I made: he eats grass like a bull. Look: the power in his thighs, the pulsing sinews of his belly. His penis stiffens like a pine; his testicles bulge with vigor." 40:15-16 105. "Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord?" 41:1-34 Psalms 106. The earth shakes whenever God really gets mad. 18:7 107. "The foundations of the world were discovered ... at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils." (The earth is set on firm foundations and does not move -- unless God blows his nose.) 18:15 108. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." 19:1 109. The sun moves around the earth. 19:4-6 110. From his seat in heaven, God can see the whole earth and all its inhabitants. (He sits directly above the earth, which is a flat disc below him.) 33:14-15 111. Diseases are sent by God to punish sin. 38:3 112. According to the psalmist, snails melt. But they don't, of course, they simply leave a slimy trail as they move along. 58:8 113. God is so strong that he can break the head of dragons and of leviathan. 74:13-14 114. God holds the earth up with pillars. 75:3 115. Another reference to "the foundations of the earth", implying that the earth is fixed and does not move. 82:5 116. "Thou hast broken Rahab [the sea monster] in pieces." 89:10 117. "The world also is established, that it cannot be moved." 93:1 118. "The world also shall be established that it shall not be moved." 96:10 119. "The Lord ... who healeth all thy diseases." God heals all diseases. Medical science is unnecessary. 103:2-3 120. God set the earth on firm foundations "that it should not be moved for ever." (The earth is stationary and does not orbit the sun.) 104:5 121. "In wisdom hast thou made them all." 104:24 122. God is offended by those who make things with their hands or invent things with their minds. 106:39 123. "The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works." Then why do nearly all animals die painful deaths from starvation, predation, or disease long before they reach adulthood? 145:9 124. God "satisfiest the desire of every living thing." But in nature few needs are met and few desires are satisfied. Life is short, hard, cruel, and painful for nearly every living thing. 145:17 125. "Praise him in the firmament of his power." 150:1 Ecclesiastes 126. "The sun also ariseth" Although this verse is interpreted figuratively today, it was taken literally by virtually all Christians until the Copernican revolution, and was used by the Church to condemn Galileo for teaching the heliocentric heresy. 1:5 Isaiah 127. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb...." I wonder what will become of the spiders. Will they be more friendly toward flies? And will the parasitic wasps find another way to feed their larvae? Or will they continue to feed off the living bodies of caterpillars? 11:6, 65:25 128. "And the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den." A cockatrice is a serpent, hatched from a cock's egg, that can kill with a glance. They are rare nowadays. 11:8 129. God will gather up the people of Judea "from the four corners of the earth." In the Bible's view, the earth is flat with four corners. 11:12 130. According to the Bible, the moon produces its own light and the earth does not move. 13:10 131. When God gets really angry, he causes earthquakes. 13:13 132. Dragons will live in Babylonian palaces and satyrs will dance there. 13:21-22 133. Out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent." What ever happened to these fascinating biblical creatures? 14:29 134. God will turn the earth upside down, knock it off of its foundations, and then shake and bake it until it "reels to and fro like a drunkard." 24:1, 18-20 135. God will punish the leviathan ("that crooked serpent") with his own sword and will kill the sea dragon. 27:1 136. Natural disasters (earthquakes, storms, fires, tsunamis) are caused by, and are a sign of, God's wrath. 29:7 137. Among the many strange creatures mentioned in the Bible that no longer seem to exist is the "fiery flying serpent." 30:6 138. "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold." Well, this is one prophecy that will never come true. Since the moon has no light of its own, but only reflects that of the sun, it could never shine like the sun. And the sun will not, at least not while there are humans to see it, shine 7 times as bright as it does now. 30:26 139. "And the unicorns shall come down with them." 34:7 140. Dragons and satyrs may not seem real to you, but they did to the author of these verses. 34:13-14 141. God makes the sun move backwards 10 degrees. Now that's a neat trick! 38:8 142. The earth is a flat disc that God looks down upon from his throne in heaven. 40:22 143. Even the dragons honor God. 43:20 144. God cut Rahab (the sea monster) to pieces, wounded the dragon, and dried up the sea. 51:9-10 145. Bad people hatch poisonous cockatrice eggs. Whoever eats the eggs will die, and when the eggs are crushed a viper hatches out of them. 59:5 146. "Neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee." Of course the moon doesn't give off light, but only reflects the light from the sun. 60:19 Jeremiah 147. Droughts are punishments from God. 3:3 148. "I will send serpents, cockatrices among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you." A cockatrice is a serpent, hatched from a cock's egg, that can kill with a glance. They are rare nowadays. 8:17 149. When God gets angry, the earth trembles. (That's what causes earthquakes.) 10:10 150. The wild asses "snuffed up the wind like dragons." 14:6 151. The earth is set on foundations and does not move. 31:37 Lamentations 152. Ostriches are not cruel and inattentive parents, as this verse implies. They are, in fact, careful and attentive parents. The male scoops out a hollow for the eggs, which are incubated by the female during the day and the male at night. After the eggs are hatched, they are cared for by the mother for over a month, at which time the chicks can keep up with running adults. 4:3 Ezekiel 153. "The firmament ... the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above." 1:22 154. The world is flat and has four corners. 7:2 155. The firmament is over the heads of the cherubim. 10:1 156. God "will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light." To Ezekiel, the sun is just a little light that can be covered with a cloud, and the moon produces its own light. 32:7 Daniel 157. The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim would be 606 BCE, at which time Nebuchadnezzar was not yet king of Babylon. It was 597 BCE that Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem for the first time (without actually destroying it). By that time Jehohiakim was dead and his son, Jehoiachin, was ruling. 1:1 158. The stone became "a great mountain" that "filled the whole earth." This could only be possible on a flat, disc-shaped earth. 2:35 159. Daniel's tree is tall enough to be seen from "the end of all the earth." Only on a flat earth would this be possible. 4:10-11, 20 160. Apparently, the author of Daniel knew of only two Babylonian kings during the period of the exile: Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, who he wrongly thought was the son of Nebuchadnezzar. But Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 BCE and was succeeded by his son, Awil-Marduk (referred to in the bible as "Evilmerodach" [see 2 Kg.25:27 and Jer.52:31]). In 560 BCE, Amel-Marduk was assassinated by his brother-in-law, Nergal-shar-usur. The next and last king of Babylon was Nabonidus who reigned from 556 to 539, when Babylon was conquered by Cyrus. It was Nabonidus, and not Belshazzar, who was the last of the Babylonian kings. Belshazzar was a the son and viceroy of Nabonidus. But he was not a king, and was not the son (or any other relation) of Nebochadnezzar. 5:2,11,18,22 161. Darius the Median is a fictitious character whom the author perhaps confused with Darius I of Persia, who came to the throne in 521 BCE, 17 years after the fall of Babylon. The author of Daniel incorrectly makes him the successor of Belshazzar instead of Cyrus. 5:31 162. To Daniel, the stars are small objects that can fall from the sky and then be "stamped upon." 8:10 163. "They ... shall shine as the brightness of the firmament." 12:3 Joel 164. "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood." These "signs" were a lot more impressive before the causes of solar and lunar eclipses were understood. 2:31 Amos 165. God destroyed the Amorites who were a race of gaints as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. 2:9 166. It took the Israelites 40 years to travel from Egypt to Canaan, yet such a journey, even at that time, would have taken no more than ten days. 2:10 Jonah 167. God makes "a great fish" to swallow Jonah. And Jonah stayed in the fish's belly for three days and three nights. 1:17 168. "Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey." That would make it about 60 miles in diameter -- larger than Los Angeles! 3:3 Micah 169. The earth is set upon strong foundations and therefore does not move. 6:2 Nahum 170. Tornadoes, earthquakes, and fires are caused by God and are signs of his anger. 1:5 Habakkuk 171. "The sun and moon stood still in their habitation." This verse apparently refers to Joshua 10:12-13, where God makes the sun stand still. 3:11 Matthew 172. When was Jesus born? 2:1 173. "The star ... went before them." If the star "went before them," leading them to Bethlehem, then it couldn't have been a star or any other astronomical object or event. But Matthew couldn't have known that. Everyone at the time thought that stars were just little points of light a short distance above the earth. It'd be no problem to have one hover above a particular place for a while. 2:9 174. Herod kills all boys in and around Bethlehem that are two years old and under. Such a massacre would certainly have been noted by contemporary historians. Yet not even Josephus, who documented Herod's life in detail, mentioned this event. 2:16 175. The devil kidnaps Jesus and takes him up to the top of the temple, and then to the top of "an exceedingly high mountain," high enough to see "all the kingdoms of the world." I guess the earth was flat in those days. 4:8 176. "Behold the fowls of the air...." Jesus says that God feeds them. But, if so, he does one hell of a lousy job at it. Most birds die before leaving the nest, and the few who manage to fly soon die painful deaths of starvation, predation, or disease. If God is caring for them, pray that he stays away from you. 6:26 177. Speaking of the birds, Jesus asks: "Are ye not much better than they?" This is meant as a rhetorical question, but the answer is far from obvious to me. I guess to Jesus, though, birds are not worth much compared to humans. So you can do whatever the hell you want with (and to) them. 6:26 178. According to Matthew, people who cannot speak are possessed by the devil. 9:32-33 179. Jesus gives his disciples "power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness." 10:1 180. Jesus tells his disciples to perform all the usual tricks: "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils." 10:8 181. God is involved in the death of every sparrow. He sees to it that they each die painful deaths of starvation, predation, or disease. But don't worry. God will do the same for you. (He thinks that humans are worth much more than sparrows.) 10:29. 31 182. Jesus casts out a devil from a man who was blind and dumb. (Thos we are unable to see or hear are possessed by devils.) 12:22 183. Jesus is incorrect when he says that the mustard seed is the smallest seed. And since there are no trees in the mustard family, mustard seeds do not grow into "the greatest of all trees." 13:31-32 184. Jesus cures an epileptic "lunatic" by "rebuking the devil." (Epilepsy is caused by devils.) 17:15-18 185. "The moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven." Apparently, Jesus believed that the moon produces its own light, and that the stars are lights held in place by a firmament only a few miles above our heads. 24:29 186. Jesus believed that Noah's flood actually happened. 24:37 187. When Jesus was crucified, there was three hours of complete darkness "over all the land." And when he died, there was a great earthquake with many corpses walking the streets of Jerusalem. It is strange that there is no record of any of these extraordinary events outside of the gospels. 27:45, 51-53 Mark 188. Jesus is incorrect when he says that the mustard seed is the smallest seed. (The smallest seeds are found among the tropical, epiphytic orchids.) 4:31 189. "Thy faith hath made thee whole." If you have enough faith, you will never get sick. (Illness is caused by sin and lack of faith. Medical science is unnecessary.) 5:34 190. Jesus heals a boy with "a dumb spirit" by saying, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter no more into him." (Sounds like a script from Monty Python, doesn't it?) But how could a deaf spirit hear the words spoken to it? And how could a dumb spirit cry out? 9:17, 25-26 191. "In those days ... the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall." Of course this is nonsense. The billions of stars will never fall to earth and the moon does not produce its own light. 13:24-25 192. When Jesus was crucified, there was three hours of complete darkness "over the whole land." It is strange that there is no record of this extraordinary event outside of the gospels. 15:33 Luke 193. When was Jesus born? 2:1 194. The devil takes Jesus to the top of a mountain and shows him "all the kingdoms of the world." I guess the world was flat in those days. 4:5 195. Epilepsy is caused by devils. 9:39 196. People who cannot speak are possessed with devils. 11:14 197. Illnesses are caused by Satan. 13:11-16 198. Jesus believed the story of Noah's ark. 17:26-27 199. Jesus also believes the story about Sodom's destruction. He says, "even thus shall it be in the day the son of man is revealed." This tells us about Jesus' knowledge of science and history. 17:29-32 200. "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars." 21:25 201. When Jesus was crucified, there was three hours of complete darkness "over all the earth." It is strange that there is no record of this extraordinary event outside of the gospels. 23:44-45 John 202. "These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing." But no such site is known in history. Some translations (ASV, NAB, NIV, RSV, NRSV) rename Bethabara as Bethany, but Bethany is a suburb of Jerusalem and, therefore, not "beyond the Jordan." 1:28 203. Whoever enters a pool after it is stirred up by angels will be cured of "whatsoever disease he had." 5:4 204. Jesus believes people are crippled by God as a punishment for sin. He tells a crippled man, after healing him, to "sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." 5:14 205. The disciples ask Jesus about the cause of a man's blindness. Was it because he or his parents sinned? Jesus said neither had sinned. The man was born blind so that Jesus could show off his powers by curing him of his blindness. 9:1-3 206. A blind man's sight is restored by washing in the pool of Siloam. 9:7 Acts 207. "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" This verse was used by a Dominican friar to discourage the use of Galileo's telescope. (Notice the pun on Galileo's name in "men of Galilee".) 1:11 208. The prophets have spoken "since the world began," which means that humans have been around since the creation of the world. But humans are recent arrivals on an ancient earth. There were no prophets when the earth formed 4.6 billion years ago. 3:21 209. The sick were healed just by touching the shadow of Peter. 5:15-16 210. It took the Israelites 40 years to travel from Egypt to Canaan, yet such a journey, even at that time, would have taken no more than ten days. 7:36, 13:18 211. Sick people are oppressed by the devil. 10:38 212. Sick people were cured by touching the handkerchief or apron of Paul. And the evil spirits when out of them." 19:12 213. Paul is bitten by a poisonous snake and yet lives. The "barbarians" who were shipwrecked with him thought he must be a murderer since he was bitten; but then they changed their minds and thought him to be a god since he didn't die. (The snake story is especially interesting since there are no poisonous snakes on Malta, and there is no evidence of their existence in the past.) 28:3-8 Romans 214. The existence and nature of God are self-evident. 1:20 215. Paul claims that before Adam sinned death did not exist. But, of course, death didn't enter the world a few thousand years ago because of Adam's sin. Death has been a part of life since life first arose (on this planet, at least) a few billion years ago. 5:12 216. Paul says that everyone, even in his day, had the gospel preached to them. Even the Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders? 10:18 1 Corinthians 217. Paul shows his ignorance (and God's) of biology by saying that only dead seeds will germinate. Actually, a seed must be alive to germinate. 15:36 Ephesians 218. Satan is the "prince of the power of the air." Until modern times Christians believed that Satan was responsible for storms and droughts. 2:2 Colossians 219. "For by him were all things created.... All things were created by him, and for him.... And by him all things consist." Including guinea worms? 1:16-17 1 Timothy 220. Paul instructs Timothy to avoid science, especially that which disagrees with him ("science falsely so called"). Other versions translate this phrase as "false knowledge", which may be more correct. However many fundamentalist Christians still use this verse ("science falsely so called") to justify their rejection of any idea, scientific or otherwise, they believe contradicts the bible. 6:20 Hebrews 221. God set the earth on a foundation; therefore, it does not move. 1:10 James 222. James says that, even in his day, all beasts, birds, serpents, and sea creatures had been tamed by humans. 3:7 223. If you are sick, rely on the power of prayer. It works every time. 5:14-15 224. By praying, Elias was able to keep it from raining for three and a half years. 5:17 Revelation 225. "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him." This could only happen on a flat earth. 1:7 226. Jesus holds seven stars in his hand. Of course, it is possible that this is metaphorical. Perhaps. But it is clear from other verses (6:13, 8:10, 12:4) that John thought of stars as being small, perhaps even small enough for Jesus to hold in his hand. 1:16 "Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." God created predators, pathogens, and predators for his very own pleasure. One of his favorite species is guinea worms. 4:11 227. The sixth seal is opened and there is a great earthquake, the sun becomes black, and the moon red, the stars fall from heaven, and mountains and islands move around. 6:12-14 228. "And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth...." To John, the stars are just little lights a few miles away that can easily fall to the earth. 6:13 229. John "saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth." Well, I guess that settles it: the earth is flat and square-shaped, or at least quadrilateral in shape. 7:1 230. An angel threw the censer down to earth, causing thunder, lightning, and earthquakes. 8:5 231. "And there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters." In the bible, stars are just little lights that can fall to the ground from the sky. 8:10 232. The fourth trumpet smites one third of the sun, moon, and stars. 8:12 233. "I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth." 9:1 234. God's witnesses have special powers. They can shut up heaven so that it cannot rain, turn rivers into blood, and smite the earth with plagues "as often as they will." 11:6 235. The dragon's tail smacks down to earth one third of the stars. To the author of Revelation, the stars are just little lights that can fall to the ground from the sky. 12:4 [Site Meter]
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Sam the Man
Sorry, firefox problems, just check the initial link I gave you.
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AlmostAtheist
The Bible suggests that plant life was created first, then animals were created on a different day. But the plants and animals are dependant on each other. Some plants practice "mimicry", where their flowers or leaves conspire to look like animals or bugs, encouraging the bugs to help polinate them.
Of course, some animals look like plants, too. But it's more striking that the plants are made to look like animals that according to the Bible hadn't even been created yet.
Yes, the Bible (read literally) and science contradict each other.
Dave
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undercover
Does "science" really contradict the Harry Potter books?
Same difference.
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M.J.
There's a whole range of positions in Christian circles on the creation account.
Here are a few of the variations out there:
*Theistic evolution--Of course, atheistic evolution, which believes that the universe has evolved through chance plus time, is completely incompatible with the Bible. But a number of scholars have proposed different forms of theistic evolution. These vary in their approach, but all are combinations of divine creation and the evolutionary process. Some say that God created the original matter and then superintended the process of evolution which took over at that point. Others would say that God intervened at various points with special creation, and that evolution operated between those points. But invariably theistic evolutionists explain the early chapters of Genesis as being allegory or poetry, but not accurate historical accounts.
*The day-age theory--also called progressive creationism. This view says that God created the world directly and deliberately, but that He did it over long periods of time that correspond roughly to the geological ages. There are three variations of this view: (1) daygeological age, which assigns different geological eras to the creation days in Genesis 1; (2) modified intermittent day, in which each creative era is preceded by a 24-hour solar day; (3) overlapping dayage, with each creative era overlapping with each other (Evangelical Dictionary of Theology [Baker], p. 389).
*Six-day creationism--This theory interprets the Genesis account as six literal days. It posits a relatively young earth (about 12,000 years) and accounts for the geologic and fossil records by the worldwide flood and the cataclysmic events surrounding it. It takes the Genesis record in a literal or normal sense.
*The gap theory--This view says that Genesis 1:1 describes the original creation of the universe by God out of nothing. But between verses 1 and 2, there is a gap of an indeterminable amount of time. Verse 2 records the results of a judgment of God upon the creation, probably due to Satan’s rebellion. From the middle of verse 2 on describes God’s recreation or restitution of the earth in six literal days, culminating in putting man on the earth as the new regent under God in place of the fallen Satan. This view allows for the earth to be relatively old, but holds to a recent date (no earlier than 20,000 B.C.) for the creation of man. (A variation of this view allows for a pre-Adamic race of men, however.)
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wanda
The Bible itself in Hebrew says there were 6 creative "yohm" translated either 24-hour day or day in the sense of "in Napoleon's day" or "in the day of the dinosaurs" meaning a period of time not limited to just a literal 24 hours but a generation or even many millions to billions of years.
In the Middle East the smallest seed visible to the unaided human eye is the mustard seed. In other regions there are other plant seeds that are tinier. I think the hybiscus is one. If there are hybiscus in the Middle East (I'm not sure), still to the unaided human eye it is the smallest just as Christ said. So your profesor is both right and wrong.
The Bible itself says Christ dies so that all might have eternal life. The word is "might" meaning some reject it on their own even when given all kinds of proof, but if a person is brought up Jewish and never given a reasonable chance to learn that Christ really was the Messiah, it is illogical to think that that person or millions like him would be given eternal fire or even sent to sleep forever in death. So on this issue your professor is wrong.
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FairMind
IMO the Bible is a book of truths but everything in the Bible is not to be taken literally. Again IMO we humans would find that the "black and white" truth of how God created everything, the order in which he created everything and how long he took to be incomprehensible. What if God perfected His creation and then in a small amount of time (and remember, time itself is a creation of God) uploaded it into existence? Who knows or can know? The important thing for me is that the moral principles promoted in the Bible really do work for a person's benefit.
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M.J.
Your science professor seems pretty resentful toward Christianity. Let some of the "brothers" know about him and in 2 years he'll be a-door knockin'.
I understand skepticism perfectly and can relate...but he went beyond scientific skepticism and just started poo-pooing it all.
The mustard seed analogy is simply an example of hyperbole used in a parable...to demonstrate a point. Furthermore, the statement of size was relative to all human-planted seeds that his audience was familiar with. He should probably come up with a better example than that one.
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wanda
For the other atheist or alter-ego: Genesis does not say the earth was made before light but mentioned first that the heavens were made and that the earth was later after which Genesis procedes to give details. As to the light thing you speak of, He made light on the one day/eon (yohm) then on the other day made it only in the sense of made it appear or become visible (apparently as previously obscured). The Hebrew verbs are different in each case though English translators erroneous usually give both as made or created. There's a difference between created and caused to come forth/appear. The Hebrew for evening and morning can as with the word for day (yohm=literal 24 hours/eon of great duration) have more than the usual literal meaning and simply denoting the phasing in and phasing out of a period of time. There were waters above and below. The firmament, expanse or atmosphere formed between the two waters, i.e. the oceans below and the vaporous clouds above. The early earth, science says, had plants that did not require much if any sunlight. True, God had the earth bring forth plants and it still does, but He Himself had created those plants. Though animals were made that can cause suffering or death the first humans had perfect bodies and minds able to avoid such suffering and death, purposefully designed perfect. The Bible says Adam and Eve were the first humans on earth and this may mean the first of all humans on all the planet earth, or it may also mean they were the first humans on earth in the sense of the earth (Hebrew erets) or land in the area under discussion, i.e. the land of the Bible, Middle East, area which had Eden. There are different possibilities regarding serpents, one being that previous to just crawling it had only semi-crawled, i.e. slithered forwards (crawling) but having with its head kept reared up out of the dust, something it does not now normally do. As to naming all the animals, again, you assume like most that Adam was to name every single creature on the entire planet when it is also possible the erets (earth/land/region) for this was in the confined area called Eden. The Bible does not say there were never thorns before Adam's misdoing but if so they were not as prolific. There are giants now even as there were in the past. Some are 7' 6" and play basketball or live in Zululand. Anthropologists speak of Peking Man as having been quite large. As to numerous animals in the ark, so what of it? Representatives of land animals went into it; water animals didn't need to. It being darker and overcast some may have gone into semi-hybernation not requiring lots of food or producing much waste. As to an olive tree surviving a flood, why not? If the flood covered all the earth of that part of the area around the Black Sea where Turkey is and in the area where Eden may have been, there would have been trees like olives in the other areas. God said be fruitful but not BE OVERLY FRUITFUL. He said multiply but not OVER-multiply. God did not say HARM animals but to be as masters to creatures for which they were tender stewardse not torturers of animal life. The first rainbow that it speaks of was at least the first rainbow ever for that area or for that area after the flood, not necessarily for from when the planet, light and water had come into being. Before talking of a division in Peleg's "day" (not 24 hr day but generation.... see...) Genesis 10:1-5 says Noah's sons' children spread out "each according to its tongue" then later in Peleg's day/generation the earth or land in that area became linguistically divided (Genesis 11). So even before the tower of Babel there were languages but those or at least a branch of one of the existing language became sub-divided. The tower did reach into the heavens, i.e. the lower heavens or sky, not outer space heavens. Don't tell us you know the exact year Philistines entered Canaan, and even if your 1200 B.C. may be right still before a massive entry into the land there could have been enough there to justify the land being called land or area of the Philistines. Archaeologists now think they may have been a branch of the sea-faring Greeks, so their having naval-commercial interests in the land before invading it is not a big deal. Your misuse of or bias in linguistics shows when you try to force a negative interpretation (divination) onto a word that can alternatively mean "by experience." You also misapply the point about Jacob and God's knowledge of genetics which in fact shows they knew that multiple-colored sheep and goats would be the more likely genetic outcome. That Joseph read omens you imply was wicked magic when in fact God Himself gave him ability to not only do that but to divine (not evilly or from spirits other than God) the meaning of dreams. Big deal, yourself. It took the tribes 40 years that would normally have taken 10 days because they did not go directly but traveled about learning cohesion and other lessons. The populations growing from 70-75 in a few hundred years is no biggie either. In those times people had more children, some as many as 10-12 per couple. Multiply 70 x 10 ten times and you'll see that that number far exceeds what you mocked. You say God makes people be deformed when instead He made the first people with perfect bodies but they chose to bring on imperfection. You like some translators mistranslate names of some cud-chewers and flying creatures. For example one of the Hebrew words sometimes translated bird can also be translated as a flying creature which indeed would entail a bat. You said Leviticus has God saying insects have only 4 legs when instead He says they crawl on 4 of their legs (6 being total: 2 like upraised like hands, 4 for leg motion. To use your own words "I wish YOU wouldn't get so technical." The cleansing procedures involving blood were purification ceremonies not curing ceremonies. The word given as leprosy had an extended meaning ranging from mild to full-blown plague and in the case of it being full-blown quarantine was implementing and as needed a house with it was to be demolished. (Leviticus 14:38, 42). Further, a person entering a house where someone was sick was to wash his clothing (verse 47). Read verses 54-57 and you'll see more than full-blown leprosy was spoken of. You "assume" the expression of about a yard (36 inches) high with quails on the "face of the earth" means the entire planet which "earth" here can mean the face of the earth in just a limited area. In fact it must have been just there or the Bible would have spoken of the time when the entire earth was flooded with quails. So the yoke's on you. Miriam did become sick with leprosy or some terrible affliction of the skin after endangering her brother Moses... so? Why do you rush to say when scouts spoke of hemselves as like grasshoppers before large men, they spoke literally rather than metaphorically? The expression saying the large men had come from sons of God mating with regular women might mean angels mating women but could also refer to men who were so strong or large they reminded of tales of gods, e.g. Hercules and the like. How they survived the flood is already explained for you assuming you can read what was written above for you. (If I wax sacastic it's to point out that you waxed even so; read read what this guy wrote that I'm responding to). You mock the word "unicorn" though better translations offer other possible meanings of the actual Hebrew word. As to a tall large man wanting a bed maybe ("maybe" as the precise measurement equivalent is not now known) 13 1/2 feet long, I can see where a 7 1/2 foot tall modern ball player for example would want a bed that large, and possibly having in it another person such as a wife and maybe even an infant. You said God did not cast out the seven nations when in fact they were cast out but able to re-position and at time become mightier until defeated by the Israelites. You give a broad guess that maybe 20 million people lived in the land and indeed, guy, that's all it is, a guess. You make fun of the word "dragon" (as you did also with unicorn) when again that's just one of different translations given the word. You mock that a verse says the city of Ai was destroyed by the tribes since archaeology shows it was abandoned before the tribes came when either there was a new Ai also that did get destroyed or the city had been abandoned but there was an armed encampment or fortified area on the ruins. You point out Joshua destroyed it but it was listed (hence existing) at the time of Babylonian captivity as if this was impossible when as said there could have been two cities (old, new Ai) or at the time of captivity Ai had some resettlement or fortification there. You mock that the Source of all Energy including the sun could keep the sun still, yet interesting it also occurs that sometimes sunlight gets refracted via clouds from over the horizon even after sunset. You mock expressions that may be metaphors as with stars fighting Sisera and the sun having might as if every reader would think they must be literal. You say Judges 5:31 says the sun goes around the earth when it says "...may they who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength." You mock that the earth has "pillars," or mainstays or foundations, yet we now speak of continents. You mock that David's men killed 20,000 enemies in one day and the forest more yet you yourself though in mockery point out that forest here may include creatures in the forest such as lions and bears. Tigers though were not then in the area so your quip is even off the mark. You mock that Judah and Israel had over 1,300,000 fighting men in a battle as the U.S. has at zenith had but 1,370,000 soldiers, when the number may in fact refer to not only a core of men actually fielded in the battle (say 300,000) but also the many more older men and boys who were armed if but with clubs and put on the alert. You point out the Bible says Pi is about 3 when 3.14 in fact is about 3. You mock that God can show emotions such as anger but can the Source creating all life including emotional humans not have emotions? You clearly prefer a rock-like non-existant God or god. Again you can not figure it out about the sun "moving backwards" that on rare occasions there can be refraction of light. You make fun of Solomon having a lot of gold and tell us exactly how much a talent weighed when in fact its set value may have changed over time. I believe in England a ton may differ from a U.S. ton even today. You admit David collected drams then throw in that those per some translation may be given as darics which didn't exist till 500 years later, which is "reaching," stretching for something there that isn't there in order to deride that which you cannot honestly deride. Similarly you mock amounts of iron, gold and silver and yet, again, you don't seem to know or bothered to learn that ancient measurements of weight etc are not know for certain; plus which I know that in the past there were estimates of extant gold far below what mineralogists now believe exist. You mock "He had a really loud voice" that Abijah spoke to over 1,200,000 soldiers as if his message could not have been conveyed to the foot soldiers by his key officers and their subordinates on down to the foot soldiers, a chain-of-command. You call it a "massacre" that God killed 500,000 enemy soldiers but to the protected people it was a "victory." You lie outright when you say God disapproves of seeking medical treatment for Christ himself said the ailing need a physician. You deride God's punishing Uzziah without knowing all the facts that God knew about the case. You mock the expression "Haman thought in his heart" when it is simply metaphorical for he thought or acted emotionally more than with his head, mentally. The continents do move on plate techtonics but are relatively anchored. That God has snow and hail is no biggie. You mock that the sky is described as hard and strong when in fact barometric pressure bears down on us and the atmosphere can indeed act in hard, strong ways as with hurricanes. You charge forth to literalize the expression about ostriches sometimes being stupid and cruel; sometimes they are and the fact that they can be attentive parents has no bearing on their mentality beyond caring for their young. You slam God for varying the mental abilities of different creatures yet who know more, you or God? If you say God then you admit you're in the wrong; and if you say you know more than God then you show your arrogance. We (not just me) are fascinated you mock saying "the earth is set on firm foundations and does not move -- unless God blows his nose" when in fact the contents are firm to unaided human senses though they do sometimes move some by quakes and plate techtonics. You run back to your misquote or mistranslation of the sun orbiting the earth when the New International Version and most other reputable Bibles say no such thing. To show how nit-picky negative you choose to be you mock that the psalmist said "snails melt" when you say they simply leave a slimy trail. Well, I know from handing the type of snails in my own area of the earth that some when held do easily tear to bits as if melted. You mock that earth is said to be unmoveable when in fact it does not move out of its orbit (fortunate for you too, guy). You say the Bible says to not have modern science and medicine when it never says that but you prefer to read verses as if they said so. You again blame God for the deaths of creatures when in fact He does not kill them but they die on their own. If anything humans and animals should thank God that their ancestors were created. You jump onto people who have misinterpreted the Bible in the past yet you yourself have shown that you do the same. You rejoice in digs at straw figures or the wind in essence as when you take verses that are figurative and strike at them hard while claiming they are literal as when mocking about spiders becoming friends of flies. You mock the expression "four corners of the earth" as literal though it could be figurative or even literal in that there are four key corners or land masses: 1. EURO-ASIAN-AFRICAN land mass 2. NORTH-and-SOUTH AMERICA land mass 3. Australia and 4 Antartica. You mock the idea that perhaps a fiery flying serpent ever existed not able to imagine a large firefly or a fiery red creature of some other sort. And there you go again, dashing at mistranslated Hebrew words, ignoring refraction of light, mocking metaphors, repeating your same charges again and again even as if we wanted to hear them or you wondered if anyone would wade through them and actually read them. (most won't), making and wondorously sometimes admitting to gigantic assumptions on your part that are negative. You really mock metaphors about Daniel and Amorites as if they were literal; then seem unable to believe any fish or whale could swallow a human. You say the Bethlehem star couldn't have been a star if it had moved not figuring out that in ancient times those studying stars and comets often used the same word for both, differentiating though that a comet was a "moving" star. Actually stars do move some too as they orbit; but most likely it was a slowly moving star meaning comet. You say if Herod killed all the boys 2 years old or less around Bethlehem it would have been noted by Joseph who doesn't mention it; but he DID mention that Herod was deadly and for all you or I know Bethlehem had maybe only 2-3 babies at that time since it was more of a hamlet that a huge city. You mock that Christ was shown all the kingdoms of the earth from one high spot which the expression could have been figurative for being show many lands but not all around the globe. You curse at God saying He does "one hell of a lousy job" at feeding birds since they sometime starve but neglect to say most of the time they live and are wonderously provided. You repeat that Jesus said falsely "the mustard seed is the smallest seed" though in the Middle East it is the smallest visible to unaided human eyes. You say mustards cannot grow into "the greatest of all trees" when some in the Middle East attain the heights of some trees. (I have surfed the internet and seen pictures of huge mustard plants that large in Israel) Their greatest as trees may not be in the sense of height for redwood giants loom higher but they are great in many ways including being one of the greatest nuisances as they really tend to take over fields just as Johnson grass does in some parts of the U.S. You mock You call it strange sources outside the Bible don't mention a quake in Jerusalem but you know what lots of manuscripts no longer exist to tell the stories they once did. You deride faith healing when studies have shown that the degree to which a person believes in being able to be healed is a real factor in healings. You lash at metaphors about stars and the moon. You are really interesting when you get onto Jesus for believing in the Hebrew scriptures, that is the Bible! You laugh at 3 hours of darkness after Christ's death over "all the earth" as it is not recorded all over the earth when as pointed out numerous times the express can mean over "all the earth in the area under discussion." Look up the Hebrew word erets and you'll see it has extended meanings. You said the expression "since the world began" MUST be literal but can't and don't prove it. You deny the possible existence of energy beings the scriptures call spirits, demons or angels, not allowing even a .0001 possibility. You deny a person like Paul could survive a snake bite. You say no snake ever lived on Malta but can't prove it. Paul did say the good news had been preached in all the earth in his time but here again earth (erets) can mean also mean the earth/world that he knew of, i.e. the Mediterranean. Paul saying dead seeds germinate is clearly in the sense of seemingly dead. Paul does not tell Timothy to avoid "science" (which mistranslation you get that from?) as you first say but to avoid false stories or, as you next have to admit, false knowledge. You mock that prayer for someone can help the person; well, think that all you want but often people will say they feel better even to know someone may be praying for them and many an atheist has prayed while in a war-time foxhole. You finally end your immature diatribe with still more jabs at metaphors as if they were literal. You are very long-winded and puffed up like a balloon......... pop!