My Journey (Part VIII): Breaking down the foundation...

Having dealt with the concept of faith, I realized I had to deal with the other concepts I had held as fact. At the top of this list was the infallibility of the Bible. I had been taught all my life that the Bible was infallible and that it was the foundation of true faith. After all, “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” I had been taught the answer to all of life's problems were in the Bible and that it was the inspired and infallible word of God. I considered a few things about the Bible as I determined its validity.

I considered its accuracy: I began doing some serious research and found that it was not infallible. There is no historical proof for the story Moses. The “kingdom” of David is non existent in history and by even many Jewish scholars appears to be nothing more than tribal leaders, a story embellished by History. The Bible is its own proof. We would scoff at any other book that was in and of itself its best and only defense. All other books that have been written to defend it, use the Bible to defend itself. Sure there are many truths and there are many moral and social views that can be learned from it, but when it is all said and done it is NOT infallible.

I considered it consistency: It is a study in ideological contradictions. We are to make god our example and strive to be like him. He tells us not to seek vengeance yet tells us that vengeance is his. We are told we have free will and the freedom to choose, yet if we do accept him as our “savior” we are doomed to hell. It is the equivalent of a gang charging for insurance from themselves. We are told the first commandment is to love him, to fail to love him is to receive eternal damnation. This is the equivalent of a boyfriend beating his girlfriend because she refuses to love him. We are told on one passage in James chapter 1 that every good thing comes from God. We see Job, tested by the devil as God stands by and allows it. We are taught God didn't do these horrible things to Job, He allowed it. This is no different than the person that stands by and allows his family to be killed, he is an accomplice and is equally as guilty by any law we know and respect.

I considered its motive: Two things struck me about the Bible. First, the fact that it is a Hebrew book, written by Hebrew men telling us that the Hebrew god would judge us if we didn't take care of the Hebrew people. Now I found this to be an amazing feat! We defend Israel's every action. The beginning of this alliance with Israel was because our leaders believed we had a responsibility to protect “God's Chosen People”. Take for instance the latest unpleasantness in the Gaza Strip. Israel was every bit as guilty as the Palestinian's yet we stood unquestionably beside Israel. We have placed ourselves right in the middle of a fight between Israel and the Muslim's all so we can gain favor with their God. I find this to be one of the most amazing blackmail jobs in the history of the world! Second, the most anti feminist book in the world is the Bible. You have a book written by men, consistently placing the original sin on woman, telling women they are the weaker vessel and going so far as in the New Testament stating that women should be silent in the congregation and if they have a question to ask their husband. It is the single most male chauvinist book in the world....yet it gets a free pass.

There was more that played into my final choice to reject the Bible as infallible. More than will fit on this blog. Suffice it to say that after many hours and days spent reasoning through the information available, I determined that it was not worthy of my unquestioning faith and devotion. Having removed the foundation of every other belief I held dear it was only a matter of time before the existence of God came up....as it did...