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The Thinking Man's Bible: The New Age of Reason |
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Part II |
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Is the Bible compatible with the world we know? Should it be? Of course! The Bible said that the world was created by God and that the wonders of nature were undeniable proof of God’s creation. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Gen 1:1 One could also say that, since God created mankind, he also gave us the senses and reasoning power to discover and to understand nature first-hand. Therefore, unless God was having a joke on us, the knowledge of nature gained through scientific study must have been placed in our hands by God himself. While the Bible's portrayal of the nature of the universe may have been corrupted by the fallible hand of man, we can be sure that the Book of Nature remains an incorruptible statement by the God of nature, a statement independent of language, error and ideology. But would this God of nature also be the God of the Bible? "There may be many systems of religion, that so far from being morally bad, are in many respects morally good: but there can be but ONE that is true; and that one, necessarily must, as it ever will, be in all things consistent with the ever existing word of God that we behold in his works." (Paine, Age, 710) "It is an inconsistency, scarcely possible to be credited, that any thing should exist under the name of a religion, that held it to be irreligious to study and contemplate the structure of the universe that God has made." (Paine, Age, 700) Why would we use math and science as methods of comparison between the Bible and nature? Well, in arithmetic, 2+2=4 anywhere in the universe at any time; and, in plane geometry, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter is always and everywhere 3.14159…(pi). Any student who writes 2+2=5 or C=3.0xD gets an "F". If the student claims there’s a new kind of arithmetic and geometry(2) where his results are true, it is his burden to prove it, and there are lots of fame-hungry mathematicians who will be eager to test his claim. Meanwhile, the "F" stays. However, no Biblical verse proposed an alternative mathematics to explain the errors we’ll see below. "It is a fraud of the christian system to call the sciences human inventions; it is only the application of them that is human. Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them: [An Almanac shows that] man is acquainted with the laws by which the heavenly bodies move. But it would be something worse than ignorance, were any church on earth to say, that those laws are an human invention." (Paine, Age, 691-692) Even Nebuchadnezzar had respect for science since he made it one of the criteria for choosing among the children of Israel. "Children…[with an] understanding science…" Dan 1:4 Paul warned against the pitfalls of false science. The following passage gives us guidance when next we are insulted by the false science of charlatans claiming that creation science is a science. The use of false science to support flawed Biblical interpretation as a science is, in itself, an obvious heresy. "O Timothy…[avoid] profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:" 1Tim 6:20 How shall we compare the revealed word of God (the Bible) with the discovered facts of nature (science)? Doing this is difficult, since no view of nature written in the Bible was more advanced than the primitive state of human knowledge at the time it was written. Modern scientific theories deal with facts which were unknown to these ancients. This means that we have few things which can be directly compared, so we’ll have to limit our discussion to the relatively few cases where specific aspects of nature are described in the Bible. "Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason than of blind-folded fear. You will naturally examine first the religion of your own country. Read the Bible then, as you would read Livy or Tacitus." 1787 (Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr in Autobiography, 902) However, let’s not make the old mistake that reason alone, without evidence, is sufficient to determine truth. One can never prove a negative, e.g. that God doesn’t exist. We can’t prove that the universe wasn’t created twenty minutes ago with all existing facts and our memories arranged to fool us into thinking it’s older. No one can prove there’s no Santa Clause either. Science requires more than logic. For example, as much as I admire Tom Paine, he incompletely reasoned out the existence of God as the un-caused first cause. "…everything we behold carries in itself the internal evidence that it did not make itself. Every man is an evidence to himself, that he did not make himself; neither could his father make himself, nor his grandfather, nor any of his race; neither could any tree, plant, or animal, make itself: and it is the conviction arising from this evidence, that carries us on…to the belief of a first cause externally existing, of a nature totally different to any material existence we know of, and by the power of which all things exist, and this first cause man calls God." (Paine, Age, 688) According to Paine, nothing "made itself," so everything was caused; but his leap to an "uncaused first cause" is unsupported. His error of logic was to bring in a huge assumption at the end—a universal beginning which required a first cause. Until modern theories of an expanding universe arose (example: the big bang(4)), this assumption was unwarranted. It resulted from the basic need for a creation — we know that some things had a beginning, so everything had a beginning. This is either a huge assumption or a lousy deduction. |
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The Thinking Man's Bible: The New Age of Reason |
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Chapter 6 |
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Let’s look at how arithmetic and geometry were used in the Bible.(1) 6.1 In Numbers, how many male children of the Levi clan were there who were over a month old? "And these were the sons of Levi by their names; Gershon, and Kohath, an Merari." Num 3:17 The text listed 22,300. Gershon: 7,500. Num 3:22 Kohath: 8,600. Num 3:27,28 Merair: 6,200. Num 3:33-34 But the summary said 22,000. "All that were numbered…were 22,000." Num 3:39 6.2 How many of the uttermost cities of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward were there? The text list adds up to 36. Josh 15:21-32 "…the cities are twenty and nine…" Josh 15:32 6.3 How many cities with villages were in the valley? The text list adds up to eight. Josh 15:33-36 "…fourteen cities…" Josh 15:36 6.4 Solomon’s house had a circular cast-iron pond with an outside diameter of 10 cubits (about 15 feet) and circumference of 30 cubits (45 feet). This doesn’t fit the value of pi (3.14159…). The circumference should have been over 31.4 cubits.(2) Rounding off to the nearest cubit might make some sense, but rounding off by almost 1-1/2 cubits doesn’t, even for ancient people. Any wheelwright’s apprentice would have known better. The authors either measured it wrong, or they didn’t care about accuracy, or they took someone else’s word for it and didn’t know any better, or they ignorantly made it up. No matter, it’s still wrong. "…circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim…it took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it." 1Kgs 7:23 & 2Cr 4:2 6.5 There were five sons of Shemaiah listed, not six. "…the sons of Shemaiah; Hattush, and Igeal, and Bariah, and Heariah, and Shaphat, six." 1Cr 3:22 6.6 There were five sons of Jeduthun listed, not six. "…the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mittithiah, six, under the hands of their father…" 1Cr 25:3 6.7 There are seven sons and one daughter of Zerubbabel listed, not five. "…the sons of Zerubbabel; Meshullam, and Hananiah, and Shelomith their sister: And Hashubah, and Ohel, and Berechiah, and Hasadiah, Jushabhesed, five." 1Cr 3:19,20 6.8 How many vessels of silver and gold did Cyrus bring forth? 30 chargers of gold, 1000 chargers of silver, 29 knives, 30 basons of gold, 410 basons of silver, 1000 other vessels. A total of about 2,500. Ezra 1:9-10 "…five thousand and four hundred…" Ezra 1:11 6.9 How many people, total, returned from captivity? The text numbers add up to 29,818 people. Ezra 2:3-60 The text numbers add up to 31,089 people. Neh 7:8-62 42,360 people. Ezra 2:64 & Neh 7:66 6.10 There are a number of differences between Ezra and Nehemiah in the detailed accounting of the numbers of people in each family and their offerings. Arah Pahathmoab Zattu Bani Bebai Azgad Adonikam Bigvai Adin Bezai Hashum Bethlehem and Netophah Bethel and Ai Magbish Senaah Singers Various families’ children Porters Delaiah Singing men and women
Offerings of gold (drams) Offerings of silver (lb.) Offerings of garments Offerings of basons 6.11 The Bible said Shem was 100 years old when he begat Arphaxad two years after the Genesis flood (Gen 11:10); but Noah was 500 years old when he begat Shem (Gen 5:32) and 600 years old when the flood began (Gen 7:6), and the flood lasted two years. Therefore, Shem must have been over 102 years old when he begat Arphaxad, not 100. 6.12 Abraham’s father was 70 years old when Abraham was born (Gen 11:26); and Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran after his father died (Gen 12:4; Acts 7:4); therefore, Abraham’s father was at most 145 years old when he died. However, Genesis says Abraham’s father was 205 years old when he died (Gen 11:32). 6.13 The children of Israel supposedly dwelt in Egypt for 430 years (Ex 12:40). However, Kohath went to Egypt with Jacob and lived 133 years (Ex 6:18); and his son, Amram, lived 137 years (Ex 6:20); and his son, Moses, left Egypt at age 80 (Ex 7:7). Therefore the captivity in Egypt cannot have lasted more than 350 years, not 430. 6.14 The times of events between the captivity in Egypt and the reign of Solomon don’t add up. In I Kings, Solomon took the throne 476 years after the Israelites left Egypt, 40 years after David began his reign after some years of Saul’s reign. "And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel…" 1Kgs 6:1 "David…reigned forty years." 2Sam 5:4 In Acts, the Israelites came out of captivity, wandered the wilderness, and conquered the Canaanites-all taking about 450 years until the beginning of rule by judges (beginning with Saul and David who preceded Solomon). This means it was well over 490 years (plus the length of Saul’s reign) before Solomon came to the throne, not 476 years. "The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt…And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet." Acts 13:17-20 6.15 Solomon received an annual tribute of over $20 million in gold (666 talents times about $30,000/talent in 1994 dollars), yet the emperor of Rome received only $22 million from all of his Asiatic provinces at that time. (McKinsey, 336) "Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold, Beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffic of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country." 1Kgs 10:14,15 6.16 In ‘94 money, David was given $3 billion ($3,000,000,000) in gold and $2 billion ($2,000,000,000) in silver. That’s more than even the Roman Empire possessed at the height of its power. (McKinsey, 336) "Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand [a million] talents of silver…"1Cr 22:14 6.17 The length of Omri’s rule doesn’t add up. He reigned from the 31st to the 38th year of Asa. That’s seven years, not the twelve years in the text. "In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years…And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel…" 1Kgs 16:23,29 6.18 The invasion of Judah by Sennacherib in 701 BCE cannot have been in the 14th year of Hezekiah’s reign per II Kings. Hezekiah began his reign in the 3rd year of Hoshea’s reign (728 BCE at the latest). Therefore, the invasion cannot have been prior to the 27th year of Hezekiah’s reign. (McKinsey, 336) "Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign." 2Kgs 18:1 "Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them." 2Kgs 18:13 6.19 Solomon’s sacrifice was fantastic. 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep would involve slaughtering and burning 2 oxen and 12 sheep per minute for seven days, day and night; or 4-1/2 oxen and 24 sheep per minute during daylight only. "And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep…Solomon kept the feast seven days…" 2Cr 7:5,8 6.20 Captivity in Egypt seems to have been very good for the Israelites. The population and growth figures are incredible. The Israelites began with about 70 of Jacob’s people. "And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already…And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly…and the land was filled with them." Ex 1:5,7
After leaving Egypt, there were 603,550 men of military age, not counting the Levites. If each man had a wife and three kids, there must have been about three million Israelites, total. "…for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men [603,550]." Ex 38:26 "…in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt…all those that were numbered of the children of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel; even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty [603,550]. But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them." Num 1:1,45-47 6.21 Moses was still alive when 600,000 Israelite men journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. Since the Israelite sojourn in Egypt lasted about four generations (Levi, who went with Jacob into Egypt, to his son, Kohath, to his son, Amram, to his son, Moses, who was with the Israelites when they left Egypt), each Israelite male would have had to produce something like 40 children per generation. "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children." Ex 12:37 6.22 When God spoke to Moses on Sinai, there were just over 22,000 firstborn males, including children, in a population of 600,000 men. That means there were something like 30 male children (600,000 ( 20,000) and 30 female children(3) for each breeding pair of Israelites. Sixty kids per family! "These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spake with Moses in mount Sinai…And all the firstborn males by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen [22,273]." Num 3:1,43 6.23 Up to three million Israelites left Egypt on foot on the same day that God notified Moses and Aaron. It is not credible that the word reached a few million people spread across lower Egypt and that they assembled and departed on the same day. A disciplined column of people, fifty abreast, would have extended about thirty miles; so it would have taken that compact column at least ten hours just to march across a line in the sand. It probably would have taken many days to get the word out to two or three million people, to have them gather their "spoil," to assemble, to travel to Succoth, and to walk out of Egypt. "[God] called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel…take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone…And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children…even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt…And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. Ex 12:31,37,41,51 6.24 The Bible would have us believe that over 600,000 people (this doesn’t count women, children, or Levites) stood in a courtyard 150 feet wide by 75 feet deep. That’s over 50 people per square foot. If we include women and older children, that’s over two million people or about 180 people per square foot. "And gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle…the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." Lev 8:34 "The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits [150 feet], and the breadth fifty [75 feet]…" Ex 27:18 "…in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt…all those that were numbered of the children of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel; even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty [603,550]. But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them." Num 1:1,45-47 6.25 Over 600,000 men stoned someone to death. That means that they would either need to re-use bloody stones (soon to be declared "unclean" to them) or they would be tossing stones on a rock pile ("bouncing the rubble" in military terms). "Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp…and let all the congregation stone him…And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord…all the congregation shall certainly stone him…" Lev 24:14,16 6.26 In three generations, over 215 years, five men from the house of Reuben grew to 43,730 people. "And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi." Gen 46:8,9 "Take the sum of the people, from twenty years old and upward…which went forth out of the land of Egypt. Reuben, the eldest son of Israel: the children of Reuben; Hanoch, of whom cometh the family of the Hanochites: of Pallu, the family of the Palluites: Of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Carmi, the family of the Carmites. These are the families of the Reubenites: and they that were numbered of them were forty and three thousand and seven hundred and thirty [43,730]. And the sons of Pallu; Eliab. And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the Lord:" Num 26:4-9 6.27 Forty was evidently a magic number. It was everywhere. Some translators say "forty" just meant very many. "…I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights…" Gen 7:4 |
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The Bible (as opposed to nature) was made by human beings — fallible, anonymous