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Is the Bible a good book

• Skeptics & Atheists

Analysing the stories contained in the Old Testament, Professor [John] Weightman has no trouble finding examples of inconsistency, improbability, and internal contradiction. His tone is polite and amused, but there is no hiding how offensive and cruel he finds the Old Testament God, whom he regards as no improvement on the multiple gods of the pagan world; "how unfortunate", he writes, "to have only one God, and he a bully, not to say a tyrant!"

Moving on to the New Testament, Weightman reconsiders whether Jesus, whom he had assumed at the age of seven to be a fictional, fairy-tale character, could possibly have been a real person. If so, he concludes that he was probably a demented obsessive with a death wish; as for the crucifixion, and the way it has remained an image central to Christian iconography, Weightman finds such "wallowing in cruelty and suffering . . . repugnant to the secular mind".

Anne Chisholm reviews Reading the Bible in the Run-up to Death by John Weightman: Is the Bible a good book?

Richard Evans Lee
December 25, 2003 •
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I have no clue what dude was talking about...but yes, it is a good book.If people lived by the principles taught in it(love your neighbor as yourself)the world would have far less crime. In the early 1900's when the bible was considered a good book...crime was far lower compared to today when the bible is considered no good. Think about it.

Posted by: telion | January 17, 2004 11:02 AM

In the early 1900's, when people considered that negroes were a lower lifeform, crime was far lower. Think about it.

Posted by: eeen | January 20, 2004 7:39 AM

If one looks at the Bible in context, he sees that the God of the Bible retaliates in anger. He tells people to turn to him, to stop what they are doing, but instead they ignore him, treat him like crap, and forsake him. If he were to completely ignore this, then he wouldn't be a God of justice and righteousness, but a weak and unjust God. Another factor is that when he went out and killed men, women and children, he was doing it for the further good--people were sacrificing children to their gods, something God abhored--so he eliminated all of that certain people to stop the spread of those terrible things, as we quarantine livestock to halt the spread of disease. In this case it isn't so much a physical disease, but a spiritual disease. One man, having studied the Old Testament accounts, said, "Don't mess with God." He then added, "Thank God for his mercy." For every time God committed these 'horrible acts', there were dozens of times when he held off judgment to call them back away from their wickedness.

Posted by: AJ Barnhart | January 20, 2004 7:22 PM

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Feel free to share your feelings about Is the Bible a good book. Please stick to the theme of the entry. Disagreement is fine. Homophobia, racism, and kindred expressions of hatred will be deleted. This site is one of my hobbies. I genuinely enjoy hearing from people and hate moderating or killing comments. Forthright disagreement is fine as long as it is civil.
My thanks,
Richard

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