The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1912-01-23
To the Editor:

i
| serted that the Bible is infallible; tina
| it is the word of God as distinguish
| from containing Gods word. On thi
assumption he bases his belief in Hell
and perpetual damnation, and will
these things he attempts to brighten hi
hearers into accepting his ideas
rather than to allow them to use theil
own reason.
To prove the infallibility of the Bible
he quoted from the Bible itself. Now
this is the same as saying: what
l say is True, if you do not believe it.
ask me-" He also denounced OAR
wins theory of evolution, and to prove
his point, he quoted from some pro-
lessor who was of the same mind as
himself. | might add here that the
theory of evolution is accepted by all
scientists and is taught in all uni
versities, which is, itself, almost a
proof Science is impartial. 1t stands
truth, and will not accept anything,
unless adequate proof is given. No
one has right to denounce scien-
tific law until he has studied it, which
l venture to say Mr. Lowry has not.
Now as to the infallibility of the
Bible The Bible contains many things
intrinsically absurd, for example, the
statement that woman was made
from the rib of the first man Gen.
| II:22), that Jonah lived three days
| inside of a whale (Mat. XII:40) and
of Nebuchadnezzar, eating grass like
an OK for seven years dan. IV:33).
If these stories were found in any 9TH
er religious book we could not think
for a moment of believing them, but
according to Mr.. Lowry, since they are
in our Book, they are true, and we
must accept them.
Historical errors are found in the
Bible In Mat. XXIII:35 it is stated
that the Jews slew Zacharias, son of
Barachias, between the temple and the
altar This is an error History shows
it was Zechariah, son of Jehaoriada,
quite different person. Zacharias,
son of Barachias, lived some 230 years
later
In the book of Leviticus, we find the
Isrealites, forbidden to eat the rab-
Bit" because it cheweth the cud, but
divideth not the hoof" (Lev. II:6. 1t
is a scientific fact that rabbits do not
chew their cud.
We find other statements that seem /
hard to believe, for instance, in Elk |
XII:37 we are told that among those
who left Egypt there were 100000 |
men, to say nothing of the thousands
of women and children. This multi
tude crossed the Red Sea in a single
night and spent only one night to
prepare for flight, dwelt in tents, and
wondered in the destert together for
40 years. This is in the range of pos
sibility, even with our modern
In 1912, when Napoleon
crossed the river Nieman, it took
his army of 100000 men three days and
three nights to cross on three bridges,
yet this army was small compared to
the Hebrew host, to say nothing of
their herds and belongings.
In Eek. XXX:34-3S) we find God
perfumery to be used when the
Creator should come to visit Moses.
This is according to our present idea
of propriety, rather undignified bust
ness for a Creator, especially when we
find he attaches death penalty to any
one but Moses for making the per-
fume.
Our conception of God pictures Him
as morally perfect, yet in the second
we find Him spoken of ,
as a jealous God. Also we read that :
God ordered Moses to say unto the ]
king of Egypt Eek. III:13-22) "Let us
20, we beseech thee, for three days /
Journey into the wilderness, that we /
nay sacrifice unto the Lord, our God" t
When the real object was to escape al /
ogether from the land, and never to |
'eturn. Furthermore, we are told that |
Tod ordered the people to borrow eve /
y valuable thing they could from their t
egyptian neighbors, and carry it off :
Elk. II:22). Does this, the command
ng of Moses to lie and steal, conform /
o our ideal of the Divinity?
Again, while the Israelites were in
he wilderness a revolt broke out
eaded by three men, Korah, Dathan
nd Abiram. God commanded Moses
nd Aaron, at once to separate them
elves from the rest of the people that
lie might consume the others by fire.
tut Moses and Aaron solicit Gods
lercy, begging Him not to punish all
or one mans sins. In spite, how
yer, of the plea, 14,700 died of the
lague, and $50 revolutionists were .