From: smaurer@artin.helios.nd.edu (sean maurer)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Agnosticism
Date: 15 Apr 92 08:19:12 GMT
Organization: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame

cont.

Let us then consider the Christian God of the Bible by starting with
the Bible itself.  The Bible is filled with contradictions, fallacies,
and misleading ideas.  As a whole it is also of doubtful origin and
edited by early church leaders more than most can imagine.  The
blatant contradictions between John and the synoptics strike a blow to
the idea that the Bible is divinely inspired.  For instance, before
John the Baptist was cast into prison (John 3:23-24), he says that
without a doubt Jesus is the son of God (John 1:25-34).  After this
explicit recognition of the Messiah, Jesus goes on to perform works
and miracles (John 2:1-2, 2:14-16, 2:23) and then starts baptizing
(John 3:22).  But then, after John the Baptist is thrown into prison,
he send two of his disciples to Jesus to ask him is he is the son of
God (Matthew 11:2-3, Luke 7:18-22).  John 3:22 and 3:26 specifically
state that Jesus baptized people.  John 4:2 says that Jesus did not
baptize anyone, but his disciples did.  In John 3:13, Jesus says that
"no one has ascended into heaven," but 2 Kings 2:11 says that Elijah
did just that.  Either Jesus was mistaken or the Old Testament is.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke say that Jesus did not carry his own cross--it
was carried by Simon the Cyrene But John says he did carry his own
cross (Jn 19:17).  (The usual Christian explanation is that Jesus
carried it for a while and then Simon took over, but no gospel gives
such an account.)
	Concerning the death and resurrection there are so many
differences that many have questioned the very authorship of the
Gospel of John.  Matthew and Mark say that only women are present at
the crucifixion (Mt 27:55-56, Mk 15:40).  Luke adds acquaintances:
(Lk 23:49) and John adds the "beloved disciple", presumably himself
(Jn 19:25-26).  Jesus' last words are different in the four gospels.
Matthew describes Romans guarding the tomb, none of the others do.  In
Mark 16:2 the tomb is visited after the sun had risen, but in John
20:1 it is visited while it is still dark.  In Mark 16:4, Luke 24:2,
and John 20:1, the stone is already rolled away.  In Matthew 28:2, it
is rolled away by an angel while the women watch.  These are by no
means all of the contradictions.  There are many others concerning the
Last Supper, the acts of the apostles, and the Old Testament.  There
is, however, one other quote from the Bible that I find particularly
distasteful.

"You must all obey the governing authorities.  Since all government
comes from God, the civil authorities were appointed by god, and so
anyone who resists authority is rebelling against God's decision, and
such an act is bound to be punished." Romans 13

So I guess the Nuremberg trials were nothing more than a sinful
rebellion against God, as were the recent trials of the East German
border guards accused of shooting attemption defectors, and as have
been the recent uprisings by the 30 or so million blacks in South
Africa.  In short, I reject a document riddled with error and
containing statements that I blatantly disagree with as a foundation
for a religion or as a guide for living my life.

--
Sean Maurer smaurer@artin.helios.nd.edu