One Hundred Years Ago, Science Debunked the Bible


Over 100 years ago, a smart science guy asked many respondents if they had heard a certain native story about ghosts. He selected those who had never heard the complicated story and told it to them. Then he asked them to rewrite it in their own words.

Predictably, they produced many different versions of the story. Some rephrased parts to fit contemporary language use. Others left out details most people at that time would consider unimportant. For example, "ghosts" is in the title but some respondents never referred to ghosts in retelling the tale. They did not believe in ghosts and assumed even ancient people would not have believed ghosts existed.

This makes it difficult to believe the Bible is a good representation of what was written 2,000 to 5,000 years ago. Thousands of handwritten copies were recopied over and over. It was originally written in different languages so even early on there were questions about its accuracy. Any of us who have lived a few decades know of how the American version of English continues to change. Compare a few decades with a few centuries. 

One can see the broad change in the Jeudeo/Christian narratives. In the Old Testament there is a mean nasty God who kills millions. In the Noah story he drowns sinners, including babies. As time goes on, the wealthy one percent who was recopying this stuff is saying, "Who is going to like a god like that? There are better ones around."

Later New Testament one percenters decided to invent a new version, one who was at times a nice fellow. This Jesus character in the narrative needed to be a "common guy" so he was a carpenter. The writers could not have God killing sinners so they had the Jesus character die and so on. 

These narratives, the OT and the NT, were inevitably versions of tales from earlier times. But they got changed from the originals because something different was needed. 

Many new Bibles are written each year. The word "homosexual" is in Bibles today even though the word was invented since World War II. Like earlier scribes, new rewrites want the Bible to say certain things (homosexuality is a sin) so the original text is altered to accommodate this. I expect the word "transgender" to appear as though it was used in the original text. 

It will be a terrible sin. 

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