The Bible Skeptics Quiz

This is the answer key to the quiz, if you want a link to the quiz pm me b/c I dont think I am allowed to post links...not sure
I must say I took the quiz to test my bible skills and was horribly surprised...what do you think about all this?


This is REALLY REALLY long so I dont know how many of you will have the patience to read it...


1. According to the Bible which of the following are characteristics or signs of true Christians?

According to Mark 16:16-18 a true Christian should be baptized, have faith, cast out demons, speak in tongues, take up serpents, be able to heal the sick, and be completely immune to any poison. If you don’t wish to test your poison immunity, you could ignore that part of the holy scriptures and just go by John 3:16 which states that a Christian must believe in Christ as their savior, but then again John 14:12 states that real Christians will be able to perform greater miracles than Christ himself (see also Mat 17:20, 21:21, Mark 11:23, and Luke 17:6). I have received comment that these scriptures only refer to "possible" signs of Christians, but in reading the passages you'll find these are statements by Jesus about what a Christian "shall" do, and taken together it's clear the Bible teaches that Christians should have some sort of abnormal power. For example, if I were to say that if you become a kangaroo that you shall have pouches and hop around, would you really think I meant that these characteristics are only possible symptoms of becoming a kangaroo convert? Probably not. For A-H give yourself one point each. If you answered I subtract ten points from your score for evolutionary tendencies and cynicism in superpowers.

A-H.) +1

I.) -10



2. Who has seen God?

John 1:18 states that no one has seen God. But this is contradicted by Genesis 32:30 which states that Jacob saw his face, Exodus 33:23 which states that Moses saw his backside, and Genesis 18 in which God sits down to have dinner with Abraham (God eats?). The God of the Old Testament gradually retreats into the realm of the abstract as civilization matures. Thus if you chose A B or C give yourself three points each. Although D might be acceptable for Buddhists or Hindus, this test is for Christians--subtract 10 points for selecting D.

A-C.) +3

D.) –10



3. How powerful is God?

According to Matthew 19:26, all things are possible with God. Thus if you chose A give yourself 5 points. But this does bring up a logical contradiction making at least one of the following statements false:

1. God can do anything he wants.

2. God does not want evil to exist.

3. Evil exists.

An omnipotent omniscient and good god is in itself a logical contradiction. But in Isaiah 45:7 God admits He purposefully created evil so perhaps 2 is false. And in Judges 1:19 we read that God has trouble overcoming iron chariots, and in Numbers 23:22 we read God is only as strong as a Unicorn (or wild ox depending on the embarrassment of your translator)--thus perhaps #1 is false. Jesus seems to have his limitations as well (Mark 6:4-5, Mark 7:33-35, Mark 8:23-25). If you chose B give yourself 5 points. If you chose C, subtract 10 points for your skepticism in Gods and their mysterious magic powers.

A-B.) +5

C.) –10



4. Jesus was:

According to Matthew 1:18-21 Jesus was conceived by the holy spirit and was thus the product of a virgin birth. But this is contradicted by Romans 1:3, which states that Jesus was conceived by the seed of David according to the flesh (see also Question 11)--as you will see the New Testament authors are a disagreeable lot. If you chose A or B give yourself 5 points each. If you chose C, then you have mistaken Jesus for Moses. Although D has a plausible yet modern-day Jerry Springer feel to it, at least the DNA testing part is not true (Would Jesus only have one set of chromosomes, or one set of Mary DNA and another of Holy Spirit DNA? Magic is hard to figure out.)--Subtract ten points from your score if you chose D.

A-B.) +5

C.) +0

D.) -10



5. According to the Bible who must be put to death?

You can't go wrong with this question—sadly all answers are correct. For each one give yourself one point.

A.) An unruly or rebellious child. Forget the Ritalin, the Bible has a much more simple solution. Deuteronomy 21:20-21.

B.) Those who worship other gods. What better reason to start a war than to fight for one of the many One True Gods? Deuteronomy 13:6-11.

C.) Those who curse or hit their parents. Leviticus 20:9, Exodus 21:15. :

D.) Those who operate or consult psychic hotlines. Ever read your horoscope? Seems risky. Micah 5:12, Leviticus 20:27, Deuteronomy 13:6-11.

E.) Adulterers. We could have less divorce, but on the down side more orphans. Leviticus 20:10.

F.) Homosexuals. Reason? A god has no need for moral justification. Leviticus 20:13.

G.) Those who do not believe in Jesus. Jesus seems to suggests through parable to kill those who do not appease him. Luke 19:27.

H.) Those who work on the Sabbath. When wandering in the woods Moses' people come across a Gentile gathering sticks on the Sabbath. They capture the man, bring him to Moses, and because of God's law (Exodus 35:2) Moses sentenced him to death. The man was stoned on the outskirts of their camp--hopefully his family never knew how meaningless his death was. This is not the type of Moses kids are taught about in Bible study. Numbers 15:32-36.

I.) Witches. Remember "witch" burning from our proud pioneering past? Or the inquisition? Exodus 22:18.

J.) Murderers. I hope you all got this one correct. Exodus 21:23-25, Leviticus 24:17.

K.) The children and babies of enemies. God shows off his knowledge and support of Darwinian evolution (Pro Life?). Numbers 31:17, Deuteronomy 20:13, Psalm 137:9, Leviticus 26:29.

L.) Those who are accused by at least two people of wickedness. 2 Lies = 1 Death. Deuteronomy 17:6.

M.) Those who are careless with murderous livestock. Not very applicable today (perhaps with pit-bulls). Exodus 21:29.

N.) A woman who is not a virgin when married. Our female population could be decimated—thank God I’m a male. Deuteronomy 22:13-21.

The world is a much more compassionate and just place today than the Bible would have it. It’s a good thing today’s Christianity has little in common with this book.

A-N) +1.



6. How long will the earth exist?

Ecclesiastes 1:4 states that the earth will exist forever. But this is contradicted by 2Peter 3:10, which states that the Earth will burn up with Armageddon, which is really unfortunate for the meek as they were scheduled to inherit it (Mat 5:5). Give yourself five points for A or B. If you answered C, subtract ten points from your score for your frustrating trust in science.

A-B.) +5

C.) -10.



7. With respect to family Jesus said you should:

Again you can't go wrong with this question--all answers are correct. Jesus says to hate your family in Luke 14:26, and Matthew 10:35-36. He says to abandon your family (including children) to follow him in Matthew 19:29 (It is hard to keep control of followers when they have familial connections questioning their faith). He says to call no man on earth your father in Matthew 23:9, and says to honor your father and mother in Matthew 19:19. Jesus, or his writers, seemed a bit confused. FYI--Those of you who hope to remain with your family after death have another thing coming according to Jesus (Mark 12:25).

What follows is a little example of how apologists try to interpret out of Biblical problems by twisting translations. Some say that when Jesus says to hate, misew, your family he really means to have "a relative aversion" to them, a definition they get from their Strong's Concordance. After purchasing a copy, it seems to me the definitions are subjectively created to fit the author's a priory conclusions. Not only does this meaning disagree with my Oxford Greek Dictionary which defines misew as conventional hate, it disregards Jesus' call to abandon even your children which is surely not an act of love (A passage which my Strong's Concordance doesn't dare to even address). I've also found that these books are habitual in ignoring passages which are beyond their power to convincingly translate into a palatable form (e.g. Jesus' threat to kill children in Rev 2:23). I expect any of you that were going to try to translate your way out of this one to donate forty bucks to your local homeless in compensation for the sum I wasted on my Strong's Concordance (It's a really nice copy ).

A-C.) +3



8. Around when did Jesus say the world would end?

Although Jesus claims he has no knowledge on which particular day or hour God will cause the end of the world (Mark 13:32) (even though Jesus himself claims to be God), Jesus gives a very clear couple of decades in which we could expect his return. Thus, the only correct answer to this one is A. Jesus was very specific in saying that the world would end before the disciple’s generation was over. Some try to “interpret” out of this one by saying Jesus meant the church’s generation or the Jewish race , but later he distinctly says to a group of people that some of them will still be alive when his kingdom comes again to earth. Some others try to “interpret” out of this one by saying Jesus really meant the miracle of speaking to all nations (Pentecost), but if you take the time to read just before these passages it is painfully clear he meant the whole 2nd coming thing with the fire and the brimstone and the judgment, etc. (Mark 9:1, Matthew 16:27-28, Luke 9:26-27, Luke 21:32, Matthew 24:34, John 5:25-29, James 5:8, 1John 2:18, 1Peter 4:7). It has been 1900 years and still nothing has happened but tithing collection and religious wars--Jesus was simply wrong, much like the doomsday cult leaders which are all too common today. But still, if you chose A give yourself 10 points. B is obviously incorrect as we are still here, and if C is correct it is not according to scripture.

A.) +10

B.) +0

C.) -10



9. According to the Bible what is an abomination.

All these are correct except for I. Leviticus 11:10, Leviticus 18:22, Deuteronomy 7:25, Deuteronomy 17:1, Deuteronomy 24:4, Proverbs 16:5, Luke 16:15, Deuteronomy 22:5. Kinda diminishes the power of the word "abomination". For A-H give yourself 1 points each. Webster's states that an abomination is that which is worthy of causing disgust or hatred. Is everything on that list (minus the snowmen) worthy of your hatred or disgust?

A-H.) +1

I.) –10



10. On the topic of government the Bible says:

The Bible clearly states that people are to do what the government tells them to do, as the governmental leaders are placed there by God (Romans 13:1-7, 2Peter 2:10, Matthew 22:17-21, Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25). The Bible also tells slaves to obey their masters (Eph 6:5, Col 3:22). Give yourself 10 points for answering B. If you answered A then subtract 10 points for thinking God incapable of rigging elections.

A.) -10

B.) +10



11. Who was Jesus’ grandfather on his father side?

According to Luke 3:23, Heli was the paternal grandfather of Jesus, but according to Matthew 1:16 and John 4:5 it was Jacob. Mark disagreed (Mark 12:35-37), but Luke and Matthew were determined to make Jesus a descendant of David even at the cost of contradicting their own virgin birth stories and each other. Thus if you chose A or B give yourself three points. If you are Mormon and chose C then give yourself three points, as you believe God was once mortal as we are and actually had sex with Mary, else subtract three points. If you chose D then give yourself three points, because if Jesus had a virgin birth, he would have no paternal grandfather. On a side note I've actually heard preachers claim that one lineage is for Mary and the other for Joseph, when both verses clearly state they apply to Joseph. It's this type of sleazy truth bending that make these "leaders" so difficult to pin down; they'll replace with fantasy anything they don't want to see.

A.) +3

B.) +3

C.) +3 if Mormon, -3 if not.

D.) +3



12. How did Jesus say to treat your enemies?

All answers are correct except E. Matthew 5:44 states that you should love your enemies. Jesus then in Luke 19:27 seems to suggest through parable that he will have those who won't serve him killed. Matthew 5:39-45 states that you should accommodate the wicked and not resist evil, because that's what God does. But Jesus makes it clear that this is a case of do as I say and not as I do when he threatens the wicked with the eternal torture of Hell (Mark 9:43-48). He was easily upset—check out his peculiar hatred of fruitless fig trees (Mark 11:13-14, 20). Thus if you chose A-D give yourself two points each. If you chose E then subtract ten points for hoping humans can create justice without a God.

A-D.) +2

E.) -10



13. Did Jesus come to earth to bring peace?

Jesus makes it perfectly clear that he came to cause strife and not peace (Luke 12:51-53, Matthew 10:34), and the historical evidence is there to back him up (the deaths of the Inquisition, the Crusades, witch burning, Northern Ireland, etc.). If you chose B then give yourself ten points.

A.) +0

B.) +10



14. What occurred on the day of Christ's Resurrection?

Surprisingly the first four distinct accounts are portrayed as truth in the Bible. The following is a table which shows the variation in each story.

Book
Who goes to the tomb
Guards Boulder
Who tells what happened

Mathew
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James
yes
One flying angel on the boulder.

Mark
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome
no
One young man in the tomb. But the women told no one.

Luke
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and some other women
no
Two men in the tomb.

John (2 visits)
Mary
no
no one

Mary and the disciples
no
Two angels and Jesus


Accounts of alien abduction have more consistency, but it is in the Bible so if you chose A B C or D give yourself 3 points each (Even though, at the very least, three accounts are lies bringing the whole Resurrection and Bible into question). It should be noted that older versions of Mark end at Mark 16:8 and the rest was most likely added on later. Take a look at the variation in the birth and baptism stories as well. It sounds like some sort of urban legend when they are all compared--A friend of a friend said….. If you chose E then subtract ten points for sacrilegious use of Occam's razor.

A-D.) +3

E.) -10



15. Does God favor the righteous or innocent?

The Bible seems to state that God both does and does not favor the righteous. Consider Job, who was a righteous and prosperous man. But to test Job's faith, God sent Satan to ruin his life (Job 2:1-7). How about Exodus 9:12, 10:1,20,27, 11:10, 14:8 and so on where God continually "hardened Pharaohs heart” so He could show off in a twisted game of miracles, climaxing in the death of innocent first born gentiles. God himself admits to purposefully creating evil (Isaiah 45:7) and has endorsed many causes even religious conservatives would find offensive (e.g. slavery in Leviticus 25:44-46, Exodu 21:2-8, Eph. 6:5, and Col. 3:22). On the other hand Proverbs 12:2 says that a good man has God's favor. As for Jesus, in Matthew 7:7 he states that whatever a man asks of God he will receive (Has no one yet thought to ask for a cure for cancer?). But earlier in Matthew 5:45 Jesus seems to say that God favors neither the good nor the evil. Thus for either answer add 5 points.

A.) +5

B.) +5



16. Will God punish a son for his father's crimes?

In Exodus 20:5 He says He will, and in Ezekiel 18:20 He says He won't. It is difficult to say in which instance God was telling the truth as both He and His son admittedly dabble in deceit (1Kings 22:23, 2Thessalonians 2:11, Mark 4:10-12). God does kill a baby for its father's sin in 2Samuel 12:13-18, so perhaps A is more "true".

A.) +5

B.) +5



17. What supposedly mythical creatures exist in the Bible?

A.) Giants. +1. Yes, according to the Bible, giants used to roam the earth (Genesis 6:4, 1Sam. 17:4).

B.) Space aliens and UFOs. +0. There is a lot imagination needed for this one but many UFO enthusiasts claim that Genesis 6:4, 2Kings 2:11, and Ezekiel 10 are all evidence of alien involvement in the Bible.

C.) Demons. +1. Although quite rare today, demon possessions seemed to be a common occurrence 2000 years ago (Luke 11:14). Perhaps they all took jobs as space aliens.

D.) Leviathans (Sea Serpents). +1. These too exist in the Bible (Isaiah 27:1, Job 41:1).

E.) Dragons. +1. Dragons are mentioned often in the Bible (Revelations) (Most likely metaphor).

F.) Angels. +1. Angels are very real in the Bible (Matthew 28:2). One particular story comes to mind. One day two Angels were sent to the evil city of Sodom and decided to spend the night at the home of the only “righteous” man there, Lot. After dinner a mob of lecherous men demanded Lot surrender the Angels. Instead he offers them his two virgin daughters, but the mob is uninterested. Eventually the whole city is destroyed, and, as punishment for turning back to see the destruction of her home, God turns Lot's wife into a pillar of salt (creative, I'll give Him that). This supposedly righteous man, who was favored by God, then gets drunk and impregnates both his virgin daughters, and still he remains revered by the New Testament (Genesis 19, 2Peter 2:6-7).

G.) Unicorns. +1. Unicorns appear nine times in the Bible (Isaiah 34:7), depending upon the translation you have. I was told in Sunday school they all died in the flood. Can you even begin to fathom the immense volume two of every species (seven of each "clean" animal) along with 40 days of feed would occupy? Don’t forget the salinity sensitive fish, and extra animals for homes of the deadlier parasites. That's even an underestimation as after the flood no plant would have been able to grow for months so feed for years would be needed. Also the herbivores couldn't conceivably copulate fast enough to feed the carnivores. No wonder the Unicorns were left to drown.

H.) Witches. +1. I hear that, to tell if a person is a witch, you try to sink them in some water. If they float you got yourself a Bride-O-Satan, but if they drown then you have sent them to heaven in an honorable Christian death. Read the Christian publication Malleus Malficarum for more helpful witch tips; it was sold in numbers second only to the Bible in its day. Exodus 22:18, Micah 5:12.

I.) Talk'n Donkeys. +1. Balaam, in a surprisingly calm manner, has a heart to heart discussion with his donkey about their abusive relationship (Numbers 23:23-30).

J.) Sorcerers. +1. God can do some pretty neat tricks but so can the human sorcerers of the Bible. They matched miracle to miracle with God in Exodus, from turning the waters of the Nile into blood (Exodus 7:22) to causing a plague of frogs (Exodus 8:7). The limit of sorcerer power seems to be lice creation (Exodus 8:18). It seems like it should be easier to conjure lice than frogs, doesn't it? I'm afraid I know very little of the ways in which super powers work.

K.) Dinosaurs. -10. Although they ruled the earth for a much longer period of time than we have, the Bible fails to mention these impressive creatures (Not to mention Homo erectus, the Neanderthal, etc.). Perhaps all those paleontologists, biologists, and museum workers have conspired together in a dark cabal of false fossil creation and junk science to debunk the Bible.



18. Was Jesus for or against school or public prayer?

Jesus was strongly against public prayer (Matthew 6:5-6). It amazes me that on topics such as this, people would rather listen to preachers and politicians than the word of Jesus himself.

A.) -10.

B.) +10.



19. Does God think a fetus is a living human?

In Geneses 2:7 it clearly states Adam was not considered to be living until he breathed his first breath, thus a fetus probably would not be considered living by the God of the Old Testament. In light of his orders to kill the babies of enemies (See Question 5 part K), God even seems to support killing infants after birth (as long as their parents don't believe in Him). Sadly, Jesus also threatened to kill children for their parent's crimes (Rev 2:23).

A.) -10.

B.) +10.



20. How did the universe come to be?

A is from Genesis 1 and B is from Genesis 2. One cannot help but notice the discrepancies: plant order, bird mammal order, woman creation, 7 vs. 1 day etc.. Some scholars believe these two chapters may actually be two different creation stories from two competing cultures which somehow found their way into the Old Testament despite their contradictions (Cane, the settlement farmer culture, versus Able, the nomadic herder culture). Even though if one is the truth the other is not, they are both in the Bible so +5 for each one (A or B). If you chose C then -10 points for your faithless trust in observations. If you chose D, and consider yourself a Christian, you should really start thinking about attending a church (-5 for D) . D is a Hindu creation myth (one of the more aesthetic religions) in which many people still have great unquestionable faith.

Some Christians try to argue that the Genesis story actually describes evolution, just on an erroneous timescale. This is patently false. We know enough about the genes and genetic errors shared between species to know the progression of evolution does not follow either of the bible myths:





Its more like single cell organisms (which are not in the bible because the authors didn't know about them), to simple multicellular (sponges etc.), to aquatic fish and plants, to insects, to reptiles and land plants (no grasses yet), to birds, mammals (now whales) and grasses, to primates, to humans, and it is still going on today with every organism as "evolved" as any other..

Note: In the first myth plants are made before the sun--no one knew of photosynthesis 5000 years ago either.

Some desperately try to "interpret" out of this one by claiming the 2nd myth only applied to the Garden of Eden, but Gen 2:4 clearly states the heavens and earth were created the same day contrary to Gen 1, Gen 2:5 clearly states that on that singular day there were no plants on the earth, and Gen 2:7 shows man to come before plants. Another quirk of the second myth is God's first lie in the bible found in Gen 2:17 when he tells Adam he is not allowed to eats from the tree on knowledge (contradicting Gen 1 once again in Gen 1:29) and if he does he will die that very day. Adam supposedly lived an amazing 930 years, producing many children after the Fall; certainly a God would have more reliable dietary advice.

A-B.) +5.

C.) -10.

D.) -10.



21. The Earth is:

The Bible believes the Earth is flat, mentioning its ends and corners often (Isaiah 11:12, Rev. 7:1). If you are thinking that these were merely strange figures of speech, you are shown to be incorrect by Daniel 4:10-11, where, in a God interpreted dream, a tree grows so high that the whole world can see it. In Daniel 2:35 we have a rock which grows enough to cover the whole earth (only reasonable on a flat earth). Finally, in Matthew 4:5-8 and Luke 4:5 Satan whisks Christ off to a high mountain peak from which they could see "all the kingdoms of the world". I'm sure the Aztecs would have objected to being excluded simply because of the Earth's curvature.

The Bible also thinks the sun moves around a stationary Earth, the moon has its own light, and that stars can detach from the "firmament" to fall to earth (Isaiah 13:10, Psalm 19:4-5, 1Sam 2:8, 1Chr 16:30, Psalm 96:10, Psalm 104:5, Micah 6:2, Mat 214:29, Rev 8:10). The Bible shows the value of Pi to be 3 and unless mathematics has somehow changed in 3000 years we now know it to be an irrational 3.14159265358979... (2Chronicles 4:2, 1King7:23). The Bible states that light didn't refract through water drops to create rainbows until god altered the laws of physics (for just water I guess) as a promise never to flood the earth again (Gen 9:13). In the realm of genetics the Bible gives this helpful breading tip--if you let your goats copulate while looking at striped rods they will produce striped baby goats (Gen 30:37-43). One last one--The Bible also blames such ailments as blindness and the inability to speak on demon position (Mat 9:32,12:22). All simple mistakes for early religion-creating humans, but surly not for the infallible word of God. It makes you wonder why the creationists are just focusing on evolution and completely ignoring the antichristian rhetoric of the "Round Earth Theory" being taught to unsuspecting children in our elementary schools.

A) +10.

B) -10.



22. Jesus' last words were

These are all correct but D (A-C +3). A is from both Mark and Matthew, B is from Luke, and C is from John. I know we all have our own perception, but you'd think something as important as last words would be recorded accurately by Jesus' followers. Just like anything Jesus is written to have said, we can’t know which if any of it is the truth, as all the authors used significant amounts of artistic license and embellishment. D is actually Shakespeare’s interpretation of Caesar’s last words.

Many Christians think they can use the Old testament as proof of the validity of Jesus and the New Testament. If I were to write book, and in the first chapter I used the prophesy of Nostradomus to make accurate prediction about the events of the last chapter, would that then be proof that both divination and my work of fiction are true? Of course not, yet this is the same type of argument many Christians use. Here is a just a little example of NT authors going to desperate lengths to make Jesus a prophesized product of Judaism: Notice that every NT author used Psalm 22:18 as a prophesy in their crucifixion story (The bit about the guards having an odd interest in procuring Jesus' carpenter clothes--Mat 27:35, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, John 19:24), but I suppose the hopelessness of that same Psalm (22:1) only suited Matthew and Mark (A) as the last words of a God. Looking for a more upbeat ending Luke (B) copied out of Psalm 31:5 and John (C) went ahead and made up his own. These authors continually borrow from the OT, contradicting each other and plagiarizing from mainly unrelated passages. The Psalms are a sort of collection of Jewish hymns (If you care to sing Psalm 22, my Bible says it's set to the tune "The Dear of the Dawn"). To use them as prophesy was as silly then as it would be today if I claimed that Michael Jackson's Thriller was a prophetic vision of the Gulf War.

A-C.) +3.

D.) -10.



23. Who was the holy man whose godliness was confirmed when he raised the dead son of a widow he met at the gates of a city he had recently came to whereupon "he gave him to his mother"?

Both A and B are in the Bible, so +5 for both (1Kings 17, Luke 7). This is the same type of plagiarism that was discussed in Question 22. The writers of the New Testament were so determined to make Jesus a product of the Old Testament that in many cases they didn't bother to even change the words (Many such acts of plagiarism are pointed out in the book "Gospel Fictions" by Randall Helms). The oddest part is that different books of the New Testament create conflicting stories with each other through their attempts to incorporate the Old Testament (such as the story of the end of Judas, and the timing of the crucifixion). Although TBN's Benny Hin claims to be able to heal the sick through the power of Jesus (a generous "love gift" couldn't hurt), I don't think he's ever done it in this particular circumstance. So for C -10 points.

A-B.) +5.

C.) -10.



24. Which account of Jesus’ life is true?

Truth is, after all, what we are after. Firstly, all these account are contradictory in significant areas—there is not enough space to delineate all the contradictions so please take the time to read the Bible if you think it may be true. Today's bible scholars think it went something like the following. Mark, a non-Jewish Roman, was the first gospel writer, writing about 40 years after the purported death of a man named Jesus who may have existed. He collected the loose stories about Jesus from rumors floating around the Christian community and created the first gospel. In looking at the other gospels it becomes clear they used Mark as their base (judging by the verbatim quotes of Mark found in the others), but they were not content with Mark’s portrayal. They wanted a Jesus to rival the Roman gods and conform more to the Old Testament predictions and so added on and edited Mark to fit each of their own particular view of what a Jesus should be like (The virgin birth, the passion play, the baptism, etc.). An easy example of the author’s use of artistic license is found in the instance of the trial of Jesus. We are given a step-by-step account of the events based on old testament prophesy, after being told all the disciples had fled leaving no one to record what actually happened. Many more gospels were written but when the church finally got organized it chose the ones which best fit the organization’s goals. They did a good job of editing as 1500 years later Christianity is one of the stronger religions in spite of its obvious selective reading of the Bible. This book is a collection of myths from a culture quite different from our own, and although the stories may be uplifting, in parts, it is not truth—truth does not contradict its self.

A--E.) +0.

F.) +10.



25. How many times does the word faith appear in the Bible?

I really don't understand how religious faith has become such a popular and acceptable notion. If I told you that I believed smoking doesn't cause cancer and my only evidence was my hope for such a thing to be true, I'd be ostracized and rightly so. But this is exactly the same pro-faith argument the Bible makes (Hebrews 11:1). By definition it's belief without proof which, in itself, is akin to possession without ownership (I think I may be paraphrasing someone here.), but I'd argue faith is more dangerous than simple theft. Once you decide to give up reason for 100% certainty, a wild and horrible world can, and has in the past, become reasonable (Genocide, terrorism, manifest destiny, witch burning, religious wars, and so on). An unquestionable and deep sense of belief is all a good person needs to commit some of the most horrible acts. But, to most ideologies, faith is necessary for their operation in the face of their inherent contradictions (By my count the Bible mentions faith 402 times). No belief should be held so strongly that it can't be let go when shown to be false, and no honest person who loves truth should call himself or herself a person of faith; to describe yourself in such a way almost seems like an insult.

The Bible warns extensively about false prophets, and philosophies which can lure a person away from "truth" (Col. 2:1-8, 2Peter 2:1-3, John 1:7, Matthew 13:22, Matthew 7:15). Along with faith these commands make Christianity an efficient philosophical perpetual motion machine. The Bible is believed to be unquestionably true through faith and anything contradictory is a falsehood, inspired by the devil, by definition. Why would anyone create such an organization? For starters, it was a great way to combat the injustices and brutalities of long-expired governments. But today it's become the perfect business--tithing and obedience are purchased through bribes and extortion (heaven and hell), and today it's all tax free. It may be frightening initially to live without the comforts of faith, but if we really want purpose, peace, justice and morality, we must first and foremost want truth, and resist the temptation to settle for certainty, no matter how soothing it may be. As Thomas Jefferson wrote: question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear. These days “witches” aren’t getting burned at the stake, and you may feel like you're hurting no one with your faith based pleasure, but everyday perfectly just and good people are being stigmatized and others taken advantage of through the workings of faith. Belief is not necessary; uncertainty and skepticism can be comfortable parts of a human life, and I think, in the end, such a life is more humane.

A-C.) +0

D.) +10

Oh my ... I dont know what to say... I posted it by I didnt read the whole thing only skimmed through a few parts...are they encouraging atheism? It did shake my faith a bit but not to the point of atheism... God exists, tht is for sure but after reading some of that...I am doubting...not in a higher power but in christianity... The sad thing is that even though this was written by people who obviously think christianity is BS and are encouraging ppl to leave the faith, they do make some pretty startling points...what really got me (remember I only read a few parts) was the stuff about how to recognize a true christian...