[The link to Part 1 is here.]
3. The Bible is a mess: flaws, contradictions, and too much bad theology.
How can I say such a thing? From the time they were toddlers, the devout have been taught that the Bible is the revealed word of their god. A gleaming version of it is commonly on church altars. Witnesses in court—and presidents at their inaugurations—place their hands on the Bible to verify that they are taking a sacred oath. But does this reputation prevail when the devout actually read and study the Bible? Determination to read it cover-to-cover often fades once that journey has begun; the first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, provide plenty of tedious texts to discourage modern, educated readers.
One story especially should horrify people, namely, Noah and the great flood. We find these verses in Genesis 6, which destroys any confidence that the god who launched the world was all knowing and all loving. His design of humans was deeply flawed, and he was sorry:
“Yahweh saw that the wickedness of humans was great in the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And Yahweh was sorry that he had made humans on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” (v. 5-6)
How could this have happened if Yahweh was an intelligent designer?
“So Yahweh said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the humans I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air—for I am sorry that I have made them.’” (v. 7)
Why kill animals, creeping things, and birds of the air, if Yahweh was trying to end human wickedness? Surely this is an example of bad theology. And bad theology can be exploited for profit, which is illustrated abundantly by Ken Ham’s theme park in Kentucky, The Ark Encounter. What bad taste to celebrate—with a Let’s Have Fun Venue! —the massive world-wide genocide depicted in the story of Noah’s ark. Ken Ham’s net worth is estimated at more than fifty million dollars. It would appear that his thirst for wealth overrides any guilt he may have for promoting bad theology.
But of course, the inferior quality of the Bible is not noticed by religious people who can’t be bothered to read it. There are some helpful guides to bring the Bible’s faults to the attention of readers, for example: Hector Avalos’ essay, Yahweh Is a Moral Monster, in John Loftus’ 2010 anthology, The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails; Dan Barker’s book, God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction, and Steve Wells’ two books, Drunk with Blood: God’s Killings in the Bible, and The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible.
Unfortunately, there is massive ignorance about the Bible among church goers especially. Surveys have shown how much they don’t read the Bible.
A long time ago I met a devout Catholic woman who bragged about having seen the Broadway musical, The Phantom of the Opera, more than 200 times. I couldn’t imagine what had fueled such an obsession, but I made no comment. Many times since then, I have imagined saying to her, “The last time I checked, the Catholic church does not consider The Phantom of the Opera sacred scripture.” I doubt that she has ever devoted so much time and energy to study of the four gospels, let alone the writings of Paul—and especially not the ponderous books of the Old Testament.
For so much of what we find in the Bible, critical thinking skills have to be turned off for the scriptures to survive. I’ll mention just one example, from Numbers 21. The Israelites have been wandering in the desert after fleeing Egypt, and have been suffering from snakebites—a punishment from their god for complaining so much. Yahweh created a solution:
“And Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous snake, and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it upon a pole, and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.”
This reflects ancient magical thinking, indicating there was no grasp of reality. How does this differ from items we find in Disney movies and many other modern fantasies?
4. The wonderful, caring god concept is destroyed by horrendous human suffering.
Theologians and clergy go to great lengths to divert attention from this reality, but all their excuses for god fall flat: “Our god has a bigger plan that we’re not aware of—and he can move in mysterious ways that are beyond our understanding—just trust in the lord.” Devout Christians came up with a hymn in 1927 designed to provide assurance a good deity is in charge: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands. This song includes the words, “He’s got the little tiny baby in his hands.” For thousands of years, there were high infant mortality rates—the cause of so much grief for parents—yet if the devout listen to the lyrics carefully, and ignore the ugly, horrifying news of the world that we hear and see every day, they may be tempted to say, “Ah yes, this hymn is a great comfort to us.”
But the lyrics are goofy gibberish, pathetic theobabble.
Think of the Holocaust—more than six million people brutally murdered—and the Black Plague of the 14th century that wiped out up to a third of the human population between India and England. It was, in fact, a horrible way to die. How many children die every day of cancer? How many children died in the 2004 tsunami that killed about 230,000 people? On 10 June 1944, Nazi soldiers surrounded a small village in rural France, Oradour-sur-Glane, determined to kill everyone. More than 450 women and children were forced into the church and murdered by machine guns and firebombs. The list of minor and major examples of such horrendous suffering—throughout the many thousands of years of human history—is endless. Anyone who claims that god has the whole world in his hands must, to some degree, be brain dead. When we’re discussing egregious suffering, theological defenses of god(s) turn out to be anemic and unconvincing.
For more on this see a major article posted here by John Loftus a couple of months ago—and the 2nd edition of his anthology, God and Horrendous Suffering.
Christian apologists face a few brick walls: The arrogance of theology, the failure of Christians to agree on the basics of their faith (described in Part 1), the failure of the Bible to make sense, and horrendous suffering that a supposedly good deity can’t eliminate. How does this major world religion survive? Because most of faithful refuse to think seriously about these issues.
[This is the 505th article that I’ve posted on the Debunking Christianity Blog since John Loftus invited me to write for this platform in 2016. I am so grateful for the praise for my work that John posted here on 25 April 2016. I’m taking a bit of a break for a while. I’m planning to return to my Friday postings on 10 July 2026. I’ll be back!]
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
· Guessing About God (2023)
· Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available.
· Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.
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