CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
Original Biblical Nonsense Texts Appear In Black
Reader Comment Summations Appear In Red
My Comments Appear In Blue
Another problem arises from the sun not appearing until the fourth day when you consider that plants suddenly appeared on the third day (11-13). While it’s definitely possible, even very likely, for plants to survive without the sun for a single day, many apologists have attempted to rectify the obvious timeline problems in Genesis by altering the meaning of a day.
Without
the sun, wouldn’t the temperature be near absolute zero, making it impossible
for the plants to survive?
That’s a
valid observation. I suppose that my focus was too intense on how plants would
need sunlight for photosynthesis. I neglected the fact that the sun is also the
only appreciable source of heat for
our planet as well. Considering this notion, it would not be possible for
plants to survive a figurative day or
a literal one. I suppose the mysterious Genesis light will now have to serve
this purpose as well, further handicapping apologetic proposals.
An extremely common logical fallacy often serving as the sole foundation of a Christian argument is petitio principii, more widely known as begging the question. This mistake occurs when the premise used to support a conclusion is as equally questionable as the conclusion itself. For example, “The Bible is the word of God. Because it tells us that accepting Jesus is the only way to enter Heaven, there’s no other way to avoid Hell other than accepting Jesus.”
Part of the last sentence has a
typo. It should read, “…there’s no way to avoid Hell other than accepting
Jesus.”
Correct. The word “other” should
not have been included twice.
Around 3000 BCE, the ancient Egyptians had the Sun God Trinity of Atum (father), Horus (son), and Ra (holy spirit). When we take the Egyptian Book of Vivifying the Soul Forever into consideration, Jesus appears to be a mere carbon copy of Horus. Supporters of both beings claim that their respective subjects are the light of the world, the way, the truth, and the life; refer to them as good shepherds, lambs, and morning stars; claim that they are children of virgins; associate them with a cross and refer to them as Christ/Krst; claim that they have a revelation and bear witness to the world; claim that they initiate their educations at the age of twelve and have twelve followers; claim that they venture out on a boat with seven other passengers; and claim that they become baptized with water upon which they’re miraculously able to levitate. There are few more parallels than what I’ve listed here, but they’re rather loose.
These claims about Horus are not
true and have no primary references to support them.
This gets complicated, but the
reader’s suggestion is, for the most part, correct. There does not appear to be
a reliable primary source for supporters of Horus to draw all of these
parallels. Many of the parallels are only inferred
from hieroglyphics and other Egyptian inscriptions rather than from primary
sources of Egyptian mythology. A few examples follow.
Twelve zodiac symbols often
surround Horus, but they are not necessarily his followers. “Krst” is more
likely to be a burial inscription rather than a designation. Horus’ birth is
extremely odd and could be considered virginal, but it’s
not strikingly similar to the Gospel myth. Horus is sometimes
depicted above water, but there is no story of actual levitation.
The main point of this paragraph
and the section as a whole was to illustrate the unoriginal nature of the
Gospel Jesus – not to insinuate that Jesus was a carbon copy of Horus. I should
have been more careful with what I said. Given what we know about Judaism and
Christianity borrowing many religious aspects from the Egyptians, it is still a
distinct possibility that the story of Jesus was developed (directly or
indirectly) using aspects of Horus. It is certainly plausible that the story
could be constructed using elements of the Horus myth, but there is no
conclusive proof of this link and no valid reason for worshippers of Horus to
offer many of the questionable parallels as evidence.
How did Judas die after betraying Jesus? The popular account of Matthew is that he hung himself (27:5).
The past tense of “hang” in this
instance should be “hanged.”
This is my own correction. It’s not
necessarily a grammatical error, but “hanged” is the most accepted form when
speaking of suicide. Some dictionaries support “hung” as an alternative form of
the verb, but this fact isn’t widely known.
The earth’s gravitationally induced inertia around the sun is the sole force preventing the two massive bodies from merging. Without this momentum, the earth would move gradually yet dangerously closer to the sun. After a short while, it’s quite possible that the earth would become too hot to remain inhabitable if it was able to survive the countless local effects of its halt. At the very least, the polar ice caps would melt and flood the coastlines. Once again, these modern understandings go far beyond the limitations of Ancient Hebrew knowledge. Even so, I suppose that if a power existed to stop the planet from moving, the same power could withhold such consequences from taking place.
In Joshua, the earth’s rotation –
not revolution – stopped.
I honestly don’t
know what I was thinking at that point in time.
I described consequences of the earth’s revolution ceasing instead. The problems with stopping the earth’s spin,
as depicted in Joshua, are actually worse.
However, since this is a supernatural claim, one is
allowed to use a supernatural explanation. Ordinarily, everything in the atmosphere
would go flying at over 1000mph, but this is obviously something God could take
care of. We would also experience an
enormous series of earthquakes and volcanoes due to the repositioning of
earth’s tectonic plates. This is due to
the shape of the earth necessarily converting from an ellipsoid, its present
state due to its spin, to a sphere.
Again, this is something no biblical writer would know.
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:7).
Did you mean Matthew 5:17?
Yes, Matthew
The story of Moses relaying God’s commands to the people also drops the ball when you consider which animals the almighty deemed unclean. He says hares are not clean enough to eat because they chew their cud (Leviticus 11:6 and Deuteronomy 14:7).
The reason they are unclean is that
they chew their cud but do not have a divided hoof.
Correct. I should have carried the explanation out
further. Even if an animal chews its
cud, it can gain an exception from being an unclean food if it has a divided
hoof. Thus, it meets the first criterion
of but not the second.
This interesting character also announces that every person
who came before him was a thief and a robber (John 10:8). I find it very
difficult to imagine a world without a single person who didn’t
steal something prior to Jesus’ arrival…Jesus also purports some questionable
aspects about gaining admittance into Heaven. Most of us are aware of the more
common requirements, but there are quite a few of which many Christians are
obviously unaware. Jesus says, “it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the
You take these statements too
literally.
I agree. It was my intention to
show the absurdity in a literal reading of the text, but I failed greatly and
ended up looking quite foolish in my critique.
I intended to show that one must interpret to get the intended meaning
and that such interpretation can have no standard result. Jesus’ statements are
part of a larger story, and I should have been much more careful with how I
presented them.
Later, Elisha asks the King to
take some arrows and strike the ground with them. The King does so three times,
but Elisha becomes irate and says that he would have
been victorious over his enemies if the ground had been struck a couple more
times (2 Kings 18:19). Again, more biblical daffiness.
Even after death, Elisha still isn’t
finished working his magic. When a corpse is thrown into Elisha’s
grave, the body jumps back to life after coming into contact with Elisha’s bones (2 Kings
Shouldn’t the references be 2 Kings
Correct. I suppose I mistook a 3
for an 8 somewhere in my notes.
This is an interesting and quiet creative hypothesis, but one we currently know is not true.
Quite is
misspelled as quiet.
Correct.
“The Earth shook and trembled…because [God] was wroth” (2 Samuel 22:8 and Psalm 19:7);
Psalm 19:7 should be Psalm 18:7.
Correct. Another
mistake in my notes.
God delivers twenty men to be slaughtered by Jonathan (1 Samuel
1 Samuel
Correct. Another
mistake in my notes.
These instigations force the King to kill his own son as an
offering in order for the hostilities to cease (2 Kings
2 Kings 18:27 should be 2 Kings 3:26-27.
Correct. Yet
another mistake in my notes.
Any strangers approaching a sanctuary must be put to death (Numbers 17:7).
Numbers 17:7 should be Numbers 3:38.
Correct. Yet
another mistake in my notes.
Family members who tempt you with other gods must be put to death (Deuteronomy 13:1-5).
Deuteronomy 13:1-5 should be
Deuteronomy 13:6-10.
Correct. Another
mistake in my notes.
[…] and taking part in a war concluding with women being raped (Zechariah 11:4).
Zechariah 11:4 should be Zechariah
14:2.
Correct again.
The other three Gospel writers tell us that a man named
Simon of Cyrene carried it (Matthew 27:32, Mark
Luke
Correct again.
Later, Elisha asks the King to take some arrows and strike the ground with them. The King does so three times, but Elisha becomes irate and says that he would have been victorious over his enemies if the ground had been struck a couple more times (2 Kings 18:19).
2 Kings 18:19 should be 2 Kings 13:18-19.
Correct again.
When a corpse is thrown into Elisha’s
grave, the body jumps back to life after coming into contact with Elisha’s bones (2 Kings
2 Kings 18:20-21 should be 2 Kings 13:20-21.
Correct. Another
mistake in my notes.
God becomes a burning bush while talking with Moses (Exodus 3:3-4)
and has intentions to murder Moses’ son because he wasn’t
circumcised (Exodus
God wanted to kill Moses, not his
son.
Correct. I misinterpreted the
passage and should have been much more careful.
Nature teaches us that it’s
shameful for a man to have long hair (1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians 6:11-14 should be 1 Corinthians 11:14.
Correct. Most
likely a typo in my notes.
The
The
Correct. I was aware of this fact
and meant to say longest, not largest.
In other words, these ridiculously fantastical events must remain futuristic certainties to biblical apologists… The two flood-surviving members of each species don’t provide enough genetic variation to guarantee their futuristic representation in the ecosphere… The prophets warn us of the Old Testament God’s frightful, futuristic return to the earth, at which point he’ll initiate every category of curse imaginable on the people who ignore his commandments, refuse to worship him, or commit acts that he arbitrarily deems evil… Someone making these aforementioned claims in 1500 BCE would have had no ability to appreciate this futuristic information and no reason to present the information in a fashion identifiable only to a specific group of people living in a specific region during an arbitrary future time period… If Isaiah wasn’t divinely inspired with futuristic knowledge, one might expect him to earn the same low success rate as you or me for predicting the future… I hope that these passages will be beneficial toward demonstrating the absence of a verifiable prophecy fulfillment concerning Jesus’ birth or any other futuristic happenings.
The use of the word futuristic is incorrect.
That is correct. I misused the
word.
2. The Jury Is In: The Ruling on McDowell's Evidence by Jeffrey Jay Louder, et al.
Jeffrey’s last name is spelled Lowder.
Correct. My
apologies to Mr. Lowder.
Jeremiah declares Hazor to be a region of enduring desolation while it serves as a dwelling place for dragons (49:33). As common sense told you before reading contrary information in the Bible, there’s no reliable reason to accept the existence of mythological dragons at any point in the past. Furthermore, Citadels remained in Hazor until the first century BCE. Nevertheless, as I’ve mentioned before, predicting that a city will undergo desertion is as easy as predicting that the sun will shine tomorrow. Nature will eventually satisfy these vague and unconditional predictions.
This is the wrong Hazor. The clues given by Jeremiah indicate he is speaking
of the one that is east of the
This explanation is satisfactory.