The Argument from Biblical Defects is Sound

It is a great honour to be debating you on this subject. Please note that I had to make some changes to the post because of character limits. If the God of Christianity were to exist, then the Bible would be God's only written revelation; Thus, if that deity were to exist, then He would see fit that the Bible is perfectly clear and authoritative, and thus lacking the appearance of human authorship. Indeed, if I wanted all men to be saved and to believe in a book, then I would want them to understand it and have the appearance of supernatural authorship. Here are some facts about the Bible: It contradicts itself or is very unclear in many places; The Date of Jesus' Birth 6 BCE (Matthew 1 & 2) 6 CE (Matthew 2) The Genealogies of Jesus Joseph's father was Heli (Luke 2) Joseph's father was Levi (Matthew 1) Jesus was a direct descendant of Solomon (Matthew 1); Jesus was a direct descendant of Nathan (Luke 2); It contains factual errors, including failed prophecies; By "failed" we mean prophecies that have not come to pass since they were first written and cannot be fulfilled today. For example, Isaiah 19:5-7 states that the Nile river will be dried up. This has not happened. This cannot be fulfilled today because the context shows that this was ment for the Egypt at Isaiah's time. Ezekiel also repeats this prophecy (ch. 30) and makes it even clearer that this could only have happened at that particular time. Ezekiel 29:8-12 states, "[T]hus says the Lord God. .and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. .. no foot of man shall pass through it and no foot of beast shall past through it; it shall be uninhabited for forty years. And I will make the city of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries; and her cities shall be desolated forty years. .. I will scatter Egyptian among the nations, and disperse them through the countries. " At no point in Egypt's history was it desolate and waste Men and beast have always walked through it; Egypt has always been habitable; Verse 3 sets the context of the prophecy being for that time; Ezekiel 29:20 states, "I have given him [Nebuchadnezzar] the land of Egypt as his recompense for which he has laboured, because they worked for me, says the Lord God. " Nebuchadnezzar never conquered Egypt. It contains interpolations; I John 5:7-8 (KJV)For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that witness on earth, the Spirit, the Water and the Blood and these three agree in one. This passage only appears in Latin Vulgate and in the King James Bible. The Church was trying to defend the doctrine of the trinity by fraudulent means. [2] John 8:1-11 (the story of Jesus saving the adulterer) is absent from the earliest manuscripts. Nowhere does it appear in the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus and most of the later Greek manuscripts also omit it. In some manuscripts it appears not in the gospel of John but in Luke (after Luke 21:38)! [3] Different copies of the same Biblical manuscript say conflicting things; As noted above, John 8:1-11 is often placed in Luke after 21:38 The following table lists the variations within the New Testament [5]: Group of Writings Total Number of Verses Number of Verses with Variants Percentage of Verses with Variants The Gospels 3769 1713 45.4% The Acts 1006 329 32.7% Pauline Epistles 2032 495 24.4% The Catholic Epistles 735 220 29.9% Revelation 405 191 47.1% Total 7947 2948 37.1% The following table lists some other variations within the New Testament (note, I could not use the full chart because of character count) [6]: Verse KJV NRSV Matthew 1:25 And knew her not till she had brough forth herfirstborn son: but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; Matthew 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God. Suddenly they shouted, "What have you to do with us, son of God? " Matthew 16:20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. Matthew 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of yourunbelief: He said to them, "Because of your little faith. " Matthew 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 21:12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple Matthew 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Matthew 27:35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; Mark 1:2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, See I am sending my messenger ahead of you Mark 6:11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust from under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them. Some of these changes are serious as they infringe upon Christian doctrine (i. e. , Mark 16:17-18). Many have died because of this verse. The Biblical canon is not clear; and At no point in Christian history has Christians ever agreed upon a complete Biblical canon. One attempt at an early canon of the New Testament was from Irenaeus. He argued that "As there should be four winds, there should be four gospels. " His list consists of 22 books of which 21 are present in today's Testament. His list included The Shephered of Hermas but left out Philemon, II Peter, and II & III John. [7] Origen defined what he believed to be the canon of scripture. He included the four gospels, Acts, Paul's Espistles, The Shephered of Hermas, The Didache, and the Gospel According to the Hebrews. He mentioned that Hebrews, II Peter, II and III John, James, Jude, and the Epistle of Barnabas were in dispute. [8] Ethiopian Christians have today Sirate Tsion (the book of order); Tizaz (the book of Herald) Gitsew Abtilis; The I book of Dominos33. The II book of Dominos34. The book of Clement35. Didascalia [8] The Old Testament canon is also in dispute: Catholics have 47 Old Testament Books; Ethiopian Orthodox Christians also include additional books not even included in the Catholic canon, including but not limited to: Enoch; Jubilee; and Tegsats [9] There is no objective procedures for setting any of the various disputes, especially since the original manuscripts of the Bible has been lost and there has been no declaration from God that will help solve these disputes; Therefore, the Bible is not perfectly clear and authoritative and has the appearance of merely human authorship; Therefore, the God of Christianity does not exist and thus the Bible is not God's Word. References 1. Drange, T. (2006). The Argument from Confusion and Biblical Defects. 2. Bentley, Secrets of Mount Sinai: p33 4. Tobin, P. (2000). The Rejection of Pascal's Wager. 5. Tobin, P. (2000). Manuscript Fallacies. 6. Ibid. 7. Davis, G. The Development of the New Testament Canon - Irenaeus. 8. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments: p112 9. . http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org...;