Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Poor Storytelling

I may have not read the Bible from cover to cover, I tried but it soon became boring and not interesting, but I find the Bible to be very poorly written.

It is well known that the Gospels do not speak of Jesus when he is in his twenties. Also, there is no reference to what the many characters in the first part of Genesis did. There are no stories about Seth, Enosh, Methuselah, Shem, etc. There is the Tower of Babel story which seems out of place since it does not deal with any of the characters in Genesis. Also, there are two versions of the Creation and of Noah's ark. There is at least two versions of the Ten Commandments.

The end of 2 Chronicles stops in mid-sentence and the last two verses are the same two verses at the beginning of Ezra. The rooster crows at a different number of times in the gospels.

4 comments:

Brooke said...

"I may have not read the Bible from cover to cover, I tried but it soon became boring and not interesting, but I find the Bible to be very poorly written."

I feel the same way about Shakespeare but MANY will disagree with me about that.

Brooke said...

"It is well known that the Gospels do not speak of Jesus when he is in his twenties."

Does this disprove creationism? Or make the bible false?

"Also, there is no reference to what the many characters in the first part of Genesis did."

If you are talking about the Geneology list in the begining of Geneisis, that is exactly what it is.

But...

Here are some examples of the Bible mentioning the OT characters including some of the ones in Genesis:

* Matthew 19:4,5- Jesus quoting Genesis (Genesis 1:27, 2:24)

* Luke 11:51—Abel was a real individual
* Matthew 24:37–39—Noah and the flood (Luke 17:26, 27)
* John 8:56–58—Abraham
* Matthew 10:15; 11:23, 24 (Luke 10:12)—Sodom and Gomorrah
* Luke 17:28–32—Lot (and wife!)
* Matthew 8:11—Isaac and Jacob (Luke 13:28)
* John 3:14—Serpent
* Matthew 12:39–41—Jonah (vs. 42—Sheba)
* Matthew 24:15—Daniel and Isaiah
* Luke 3:36-38-Seth, Enosh, Methuselah, Shem (They are mentioned in the NT, there may not be "stories" about them...although there is with Shem...but how would that disprove Creationism?)

"There is the Tower of Babel story which seems out of place since it does not deal with any of the characters in Genesis. "

Why does it seem out of place? This is what happened after the flood...

How does this disporve Creationism?

Where are the two versions of the Creation and Noah's Ark that you are speaking of? Gen 1 talks of the entire creation, while Gen 2 goes into detail about Adam and Eves creation. I can't find any other versions of Noah's ark than the one in Gen.

As far as the two versions of the ten commandments: Exodus 20:8-17 & Deut 5:11-21...they are the same commands!


"The end of 2 Chronicles stops in mid-sentence and the last two verses are the same two verses at the beginning of Ezra."

Yes that is true! This could have been a way to tie the two books together...they are right next to each other. Not to mention, that the authors of Chronicles and Ezra are probably the same person.

Corey said...

My reference to why is there no reference to Jesus, in his teens and 20, is to show the lack of continuing storyline. This is similar with 2 Chronicles and Ezra, why the overlap?

Sure, the Bible refers to some characters in Genesis in other parts of the Bible, but what about the characters from Greek and Roman mythology, are these real too?

Is there any scientific evidence of the Tower of Babel. The reason I say it is out of place is that it does not refer to any characters in Genesis. It is a brief narrative that has no moral point to it.

Jesus referring to these events and characters, remember the Gospels were not written by Jesus, does not prove the stories were true. Jesus frequently taught in parables, with the obvious intention that the lesson from the story, not the details of the story, was what was important.

Genesis 1 and 2 give two different order of events. This would suggest that Adam was not the first man as many literalists believe as God creates the garden and animals after Adam.

The second version or more detailed account is Genesis 7 where Noah is told take only certain animals, not all animals as literalists believe.

The second set of the ten commandments is found in Exodus 34, after Moses destroyed the originals. These include the first offspring belongs to God, do not offer the blood of a sacrifice, and do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

Overall, this suggests that the Bible should not be taken literally.

Joshua A. Hitchcock said...

You obviously have not studied proper biblical hermeneutics and are not an authority on the Bible....so until you have taken a class on Biblical hermenuetics, then do not speak on this subject.