I was raised Catholic in England. I decided at around age 15 that there was not actually any good reason for believing in God, so I stopped.
But I've always been interested in the influence the Bible has on the lives of people. It's really a mish-mash of mixed messages, often quite horrific messages in the Old Testament. But many people claim to use it as the foundation of their philosophical and moral world view. Yet I feel that the most effective argument against Christianity for many people comes from a full reading of the Bible from beginning to end, so you can really get a sense for what's going on in there. The stories on exchristian.com have several examples of this.
What I was wondering, is what the Bible's advice or opinions on Skepticism and Debunking might be. So I had a trawl. I'd noticed in 2 Peter 3:3 that the word "scoffer" or "mocker" (Greek ἐμπαῖκται, empaiktai = mocker or deceiver), was used for one who demands evidence of the second coming. The bible writer here seems to be warning against those who would doubt what it says. Jude also repeats this.
It's interesting then to see all the instances of this word, and what the Bible is saying. In many instances it reminds me of debates between believers and skeptics - and more often of discussions that believers have amongst themselves.
The most famous skeptic in the bible is Doubting Thomas, who gets very little support for his skepticism.
This is the key to the approach of the Bible. Doubt is seen as sinful. Asking for evidence is being weak minded. You are most blessed if you believe without evidence. The bible writers know that there is no real evidence to support their claims, so they try to turn this into a benefit, saying it's better to have no evidence. This quite cleverly dissuades people from seeking evidence, as clearly they will become less blessed if they find evidence. The less evidence they have, the more blessed they will be. The less grounded their belief is in reality, the better. It's anti-skeptical.
The resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, and an obvious target for skeptics, who would naturally, even at that time, demand a little more evidence than the say-so of his disciples. Matthew makes quite an effort to get the story straight. First of all the local priests anticipate the disciples would attempt to steal the body, so they ask for the tomb to be sealed and guarded.
Then there's an earthquake, and angel arrives and removes the stone, the guards are made unconscious, and the angel tells the two Marys to get get the disciples, which they do. The disciples arrive and find the empty tomb, then meet Jesus. The guards then go back to the priests and tell them what happened:
That right there is the root of all conspiracy theories. Don't believe the official story, says the Bible, it's all a plot. Those guys who say that Jesus' body was stolen by his disciples, well they were bribed to say that. How do we know they were bribed? It's in the Bible! When I first read this account in Matthew I almost laughed, as it seemed so transparent that the author was trying to spin a tale. The theft of the body by the disciples seems by far the most obvious and simplest explanation for what happened, and that indeed must have been the prevailing story at the time. Yet Matthew goes to great lengths to discredit the official story, and to create his own highly implausible narrative with implausible earthquakes, mysterious angels, and lying officials. He's like the equivalent of a 9/11 truther.
The Bible does not always look kindly upon seeking wisdom
But when the wisdom fits the Bible narrative, then the the Bible start to sound a little bit like a conspiracy theorist saying "open your eye, don't be a sheeple", with a touch of "wait until 2012/the great cull/the rapture, you'll see!"
So I feel it can quite safely be argued that the Bible is very anti-skeptic. "Knowledge" and "Wisdom" consist largely of knowledge of God's will, and not knowledge of the world. The foundational story of the bible is that of Adam and Eve, who are cast out of paradise for the very skeptical act of seeking knowledge - a type of knowledge that the bible warns against.
But it's not all bad:
Proverbs 9:8 is interesting:
With similar, also in Proverbs:
Now here "mocker" is translated (in NIV) from the Hebrew "lêṣ" (לֵ֗ץ), which in many versions is translated "scorner". Again there is similar circular logic - a "mocker" is anyone who questions the existence of God, while the "wise", or "discerning" are interpreted as "the man who realizes that the fear of God is a necessary condition to the acquiring of wisdom, and who seeks it as a boon at his hands."
It's interesting to compare the 2000-yeat-old language in the Bible with the modern usages of the words "shill" and "troll" (and perhaps to a lesser extent "hater").
But I've always been interested in the influence the Bible has on the lives of people. It's really a mish-mash of mixed messages, often quite horrific messages in the Old Testament. But many people claim to use it as the foundation of their philosophical and moral world view. Yet I feel that the most effective argument against Christianity for many people comes from a full reading of the Bible from beginning to end, so you can really get a sense for what's going on in there. The stories on exchristian.com have several examples of this.
What I was wondering, is what the Bible's advice or opinions on Skepticism and Debunking might be. So I had a trawl. I'd noticed in 2 Peter 3:3 that the word "scoffer" or "mocker" (Greek ἐμπαῖκται, empaiktai = mocker or deceiver), was used for one who demands evidence of the second coming. The bible writer here seems to be warning against those who would doubt what it says. Jude also repeats this.
It's interesting then to see all the instances of this word, and what the Bible is saying. In many instances it reminds me of debates between believers and skeptics - and more often of discussions that believers have amongst themselves.
The resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, and an obvious target for skeptics, who would naturally, even at that time, demand a little more evidence than the say-so of his disciples. Matthew makes quite an effort to get the story straight. First of all the local priests anticipate the disciples would attempt to steal the body, so they ask for the tomb to be sealed and guarded.
The Bible does not always look kindly upon seeking wisdom
It's interesting to compare the 2000-yeat-old language in the Bible with the modern usages of the words "shill" and "troll" (and perhaps to a lesser extent "hater").
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