61 Comments added to this post
Aaron says:
You are wrong Lesley, stop defending nonsense. The bible DOES have contradictions in science especially. Saying it doesn't means that you just can't stop making excuses and lying for it. And if the bible is parables then here is the consequence: Everything is interpreted and can thus be wrong. You cannot quote anything and you cannot be sure that ANY part of the book is true. ANY one passage may be only poetic imagery and you may have misinterpreted the passage. So you must admit that you could have misunderstood the bible OR that it is perfect and then you must face the fact that you support nonsense.
August 27th, 2010 at 12:39 AM
lesley says:
Im just assuming that you believe in all the science nitty jitty- Explanation about life. Well in the bible it does actually say the Jesus was just talking in parables so that we may get the story he is talking about. Just like how poems use imagery to help us understand them. It doesnt mean we actually believe that dragons do exist and all other mythical creatures too- those are just imagery used to help us understand the story He's telling us. Please dont judge what we teach because if you have actually read the bible, it shows that the bible has no scientific contradictions or scientific inaccuracy- and here you are contradicting our ideas. And correct me if im wrong but ..science excels in answering questions about the HOW of things but it has no answers concerning their WHY. It just comes to show that we all need to keep our business in our own beliefs unless you have any OCCULAR proof that says that we Christians are really wrong and inaccurate. Not make up some ishh about what we beleive in and not know whats behind that theory.
August 10th, 2010 at 3:55 AM
Matthew says:
The essential problem with your argument is that it rests upon a presumption. You’re not alone in this; many Christians also errantly subscribe to this same presumption. This presumption is that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. There is nothing remotely correct about that statement and cannot be supported biblically. Its rise to biblical truth was made by Constantine after his usurpation of Christianity as a means of control. If the bible is the inerrant word of God and only the learned of Constantine’s minions could act as ciphers of such information, then Constantine or his subsequent replacements held absolute power over their subjects.
Without going into the historical details, quite simply the inerrant Word of God is Jesus Christ. The bible is a compilation of books and letters written over many centuries. It didn’t take on any sort of an agreed upon, rudimentary form until late in the 4th Century AD during the Ecumenical councils.
If you’re going to criticize, at least get your facts straight.
August 1st, 2010 at 12:15 PM
george busegeano says:
yes i agree...there are monkeys among us killing us slowly
July 17th, 2010 at 10:38 PM
Whoathere says:
You have to agree these things come off sounding like Jay Leno's Street smarts, but the heart of the Judeo-Christian scriptures is reflected in an agape love that reaches out to those who hate and can help transform them. Too bad that many religious people spend more time bickering and bombing than believing. Maybe some of us can help even up the odds a bit.
July 9th, 2010 at 12:54 AM
q says:
on the unicorn thing: i used to a be an orthodox jew, and i stil understand hebrew, and it says plain out that moses went, grabbed a unicorn,{which was multicolored} and used its hide for the construction of the tabernacle.
also on a side note, why is every1 obsessing with the unicorns, has any forgot the small passages about SEA MONSTERS! or SATYRS!
July 1st, 2010 at 1:32 PM
Ashlyn says:
Thanks. There is much very useful information on your blog for me.
June 18th, 2010 at 4:00 PM
Mats says:
When I look at http://bible.cc/numbers/24-8.htm, I realize that the more layers of translation and with texts left so open to interpretation things get diluted real fast, imagine the dilution of a text that is more than 1 500 years old...shit people can't tell the same story twice.
May 12th, 2010 at 1:09 AM
Ryan says:
I second the notion on the Unicorns t-shirt... LOL. That's hilarious.
Great post by the way.
April 11th, 2010 at 12:00 AM
Cora says:
I'm more than open to contradiction, but I looked up some of the unicorn verses, and all the ones I looked at were talking about an ox, not a unicorn. Was there a different translation...?
April 1st, 2010 at 12:09 AM
Rain says:
"William says:
Oh, good job! You had me going. For a minute I thought, "Wow! Maybe, I should read all these passages again."
Then I read this; "You believe the earth is flat. The authors of scripture constantly reference the “four corners of the earth,” as if the world is a level plane."
"The four corners of the Earth." ??? Please. This is still a common idiom in our modern language and no one accuses the author who uses it as a "flat-earther."
Anyway, I figured that if you are going to be this disingenuous, then what’s the point. And I stopped reading."
1: It's a common idiom today because it was a belief in the neolithic era. Idioms don't just "pop into existance". They have cultural & historical origins based on formerly held beliefs.
2: If you don't read the whole of the material, you have no buisiness commenting on it. And before you try to use that against me, yes, as a matter of fact, I HAVE read the while bible. A few different versions, actually.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:22 PM
Rain says:
"misty johnson says:
Amazing that an Atheist is trying to properly interpret scripture. It's funny because you focus so much on what you don't believe instead of mastering what you do believe in. Why waste your time disputing something you obviously do not care about. How stupid all of you must be to even mention items you don't believe in. Live your life and let other people live theirs."
Well, my dear... it's because you can't "Master what you believe in" when you don't have a fixed belief system. And we worry about what theists do because their outdated, archaic belief system has been irrefutably shown to HINDER HUMAN SOCIAL & TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS!!!!! By perpetuating these myths as truth, (and yes, they ARE myths, it's been proven) they keep humanity from discovering the real truths of the universe. After all, why search for anything when you're already convinced that you know "the truth". And while they argue against sound, provable science, they readilly take the word of ignorant, primative, superstitious, Neolithic apes who knew nothing of the universe & invented God as an all-encompassing explaination for anything they didn't understand.
March 18th, 2010 at 2:17 PM
trancebunny says:
@Octaron70... your apparent hatred towards muslims and your desire for them to be ridiculed instead of you is no better than anyone else being a "hater" on here. The majority of people who do not believe in a god or gods do not wish harm on those that do -- simply the opposite. I personally wish enlightenment on all, so that together we can usher in, finally, an age where reason, science and truth guide us to our full potential.
@"me"... we won't be there to tell you, and you won't be there to listen, because there isn't a "there" to go to!
March 18th, 2010 at 3:19 AM
trancebunny says:
@Octaron70... your apparent hatred towards muslims and your desire for them to be ridiculed instead of you is no better than anyone else being a "hater" on here. The majority of people who do not believe in a god or gods do not wish harm on those that do -- simply the opposite. I personally wish enlightenment on all, so that together we can usher in, finally, an age where reason, science and truth guide us to our full potential.
@"me"... we won't be there to tell you, and you won't be there to listen, because there isn't a "there" to go to!
March 18th, 2010 at 3:18 AM
kate b says:
dear misty you mention living your life and letting others live theirs. But most christians live their live trying to force or argue others to believe in their god or their version of the bible. Which I know is wrong and ultimately counterproductive. I like George Carlin's version of the 10 commandments. Thou shall be honest and faithful to the provider of thy nookie and thou shall try really hard not to kill anyone unless they pray to a different invisable man than the one you pray too. You should also add thou shall keep thy religion TO YOURSELF! If you wish to believe in ANY god feel free to do so but keep it to your self not everyone shares your veiws
March 12th, 2010 at 8:03 PM
Jonny says:
The references for Unicorns are actually a misunderstanding. In the Hebrew text it referenced the word "ראם" (read: Reh'em), an animal which a kind of an Antelope (Oryx to be specific).
There are so mistranslations from the Hebrew text to the English version I'm surprised so many people believe so much of the shit in it.
March 11th, 2010 at 5:28 PM
Senis says:
Answering Octaron70, may be it's because Cristianism is closer to the autor.
Once upon a time I was cristian, for that reason I know how it works, how the cristian people think and I read the bible (ok I jumped some parts like the sons of the sons of the sons of David ;)). I don't have time (neither a reason) to read the Coran, or the Torah, and that is what it has to be done to write an article like this. For the autor can be the same.
And of course this unicorns could be only unknown animals for bible's writters, but the fact that I think they wanted to explain is that the most of the people that believe in the bible haven't read it. They just believe because their family believes. They don't have to think, it's easier that way.
February 20th, 2010 at 6:49 AM
wow says:
I have so much to say about this. I want to start off saying I feel sorry for you and everyone else who does not believe in God. One day, when you're in Hell, you will regret it. I can't believe you're spending so much time trying to change peoples' minds about something that they believe in. I think we should pick on other religions who believe in "gods" and give Christians a break. After all, if you're an atheist you think every religion who believes in God or "gods" is wrong. Something else that irritates me is that people are focusing so much on things like witches, vampires (although you didn't mention them), and unicorns. Back then, the terms weren't referring to fairytale creatures! MEN made up the fairytale version. They took something in the Bible and made it into a fairytale. Now unicorns are horses with horns on their heads. THEN it could have simply been how they would describe an rhino. Now witches fly on broomsticks and have green skin. THEN witches was a term used to describe someone who was crazy and practiced spells and didn't believe in God. Witchcraft is a religion and belief system. That's what the Bible is referring to. Not the kind that fly on brooms. So yes, I suppose I do believe in unicorns because I believe that there is such a thing as an ox and an oryx. Not a horse with a horn on it's head. I do believe in witches because there are people who practice witchcraft. Not because I think a green-skinned mad women goes around flying on a broom.
Be careful what you believe! When you're in Hell you're wish you'll wish you believed differently. Don't listen to this crap.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:06 AM
Ape Head says:
If I where a christian, I would definitely use the "mistranslation" card. It helps tremendously with the "denial" and "rationalization" process. Its one of the top 3 "one up" cards they use when there beliefs are shown to have the strength of a wet paper bag.
February 1st, 2010 at 12:06 PM
Stutz says:
Disappointing. The Thinking Atheist? Come on, you can do better. This is the stuff of a lame email forward. Read Dawkins for scientific refutations, Harris for philosophical refutations, Hitchens for moral and literary arguments, but don't pander in silly debatable translation games, which don't say a thing to address the majority of believers who find much of the OT Biblical stories to be metaphorical. It paints us actual Thinking Atheists as petty and lazy!
January 29th, 2010 at 4:54 AM
jalubcarrey says:
I'm having a problem with some of your assertions here. I ran several, though not all, of your bible verses through an online bible and couldn't find anything about dragons, centaurs, and the like. Usually the words were translated as serpants, goats or owls. I don't want to give xtians an inch, but I don't want to be wrong when I quote the bible. So, what translation were you using, because I can't find these mythical animals referenced. Let's not become like the absurd religious believers. I did find the flat earth thing in the bible. Good catch on that.
January 4th, 2010 at 12:59 AM
me says:
your arguments are absurd!
your beliefs are absurd!
Tell me there is no God after you die!
November 20th, 2009 at 10:02 PM
Octaron70 says:
I pulled this from a website on "The History of Unicorns".
- At the time of these writings the world was not as well known as it is today. Many old maps had great areas that read only ”here be dragons” to show that is was not explored. To the Romans and Greeks, stories of fabled animals such as elephants and giraffes were the stuff of fantasy. Many pictures of these animals found on pottery and in frescoes were more the product of the imagination of the artist, hearing verbal descriptions by travelers, than of reality. The unicorn could possibly be a misinterpretation of the appearance of a rhinoceros or even the Oryx of the Arabian Desert. When an Oryx stands sideways his horns are so perfectly aligned as to appear as one -
I'm sure I can do the same thing with all of the mythical animals listed above, but unicorns were mentioned many, many times.
I can't say who's right or wrong here. I do know though, that the majority of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew. Not just Hebrew, but Ancient Hebrew. I'm pretty sure there's no one who alive who can definitively translate the language. Look at the trouble we have with Old English (not the cleaner). We are hard pressed to translate it many times. Imagine trying to translate an ancient version of a language. There are historians and scholars who do so to enrich us with more knowledge of what the world WAS like. They'll be the first to admit that their art is NOT perfect.
It's a little irritating to see that the KJV is the only book to be bashed here. Why not approach a bunch of Muslims' and attack their beliefs and see what happens to you? Christians are used to being laughed at. It's happened throughout history. They just carry on with their faith.
Sadly, there are some idiots in every group who do nothing more than turn people off from their beliefs. Those are your crackpots who tote Bibles with them and bang those Bibles on your head while telling you that you're going to Hell. Not cool.
I personally don't like anyone who is disrespecful to others. That includes arrogant Christian assholes, Jewish assholes and Islamic assholes as well as a lot of people who have commented on here to cut someone else down.
Think about Muslims for a minute. They think it's perfectly alright to want to kill everyone who doesn't believe as they do. Please, anyone who likes to put others down (all haters, Christian and Atheist alike). . . please make fun of the Muslims for a change. I'm sure they'd understand.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:20 AM
jos says:
Men, how can you said those things about grasshoppers!!! I thought you believe in evolution...??? and I´m agree of why you talk about things you do not believe??? what is your point, you think you would change trully christian minds, that understand that all that stuff about unicorns are metaphors and we learn many things that you maybe will never understand because you dont look beyond only whatis infront of your eyes and no your nose...
October 19th, 2009 at 9:30 PM
Shaul says:
Hi, I'm an Israeli atheist. As a person who knows the original bible in hebrew, i just wanted to correct you about the unicorn thing. this, an many other funny mistakes are a matter of bad translation. i checked the verses in hebrew and it doesn't say unicorn, it says the name of an antelope which can be translated to oryx.
what's funny about the christians is that not only do they believe blindly in the bible, they believe in the translation, so technically they still believe in unicorns.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:38 PM
thad gottisttot says:
misty, oh misty, we wate our time to evolve our cultute, not unlike the folks that helped you to be able to vote and if you are African American a fee person. Religion is the greatest cause of wars and bigotry around the world. We are in essence helping you and your children to live a realistic livestyle.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:46 PM
DNAkiller says:
@Viv - the bible is a pretty good source of morals? So we should stone adulterers? Kidnap women and forcibly marry them? Destroy our neighbours and commandeer their property? And so on. Obviously, you wouldn't accept those as examples of good moral behaviour - which means your moral sense does not come from the bible, but from your culture and own good sense. Who needs the bible for that?
September 14th, 2009 at 5:45 AM
Viv says:
However you can't deny that the bible is a pretty good source of morals... after all, itsn't that all it is? A book of stories that tell us how to be "good" people (for the most part).
July 24th, 2009 at 2:31 PM
J.on says:
Apparently we all agree the bible has some pretty embarrassing stuff in it. Some of us show it just by flipping the pages, others by flipping the translations.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:03 AM
Brg says:
About the unicorns in the bible(s), and listed from modern to olden times:
- The modern versions of the bible have bulls and oxes.
- The Vulgata, an early bible written in Latin, has unicorns and rhinoceros.
- The Codex Sinaiticus, one of the earliest Christian bibles, which was written in Greek, has unicorns.
- The LXX, the earliest Jewish translation to Greek of the Torah, has unicorns.
- The Torah, in Hebrew, has Re'em, which seems to relate to an undefined mythical animal.
I haven't checked dragons or satyrs there. A quick glance looking for dragons in the Torah returns none. I suspect that there were no dragons in the original OT texts, and that these were added to the Christian Greek and/or Latin translations.
Brg
July 20th, 2009 at 6:37 PM
1984 says:
The holy books are outdated sources for anything. They reflect the times they were written in and there is nothing holy about them.
July 18th, 2009 at 7:47 AM
misty johnson says:
Amazing that an Atheist is trying to properly interpret scripture. It's funny because you focus so much on what you don't believe instead of mastering what you do believe in. Why waste your time disputing something you obviously do not care about. How stupid all of you must be to even mention items you don't believe in. Live your life and let other people live theirs.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:46 AM
Richard T says:
The first comment from WIlliam said:
"The four corners of the Earth." ??? Please. This is still a common idiom in our modern language and no one accuses the author who uses it as a "flat-earther."
Where on earth william (pardon pun) do you think the idiom came from? Our language is full of references to earlier cultures. Such a phrase would not be coined in a culture that understood what we do abou the earth and the solar system.
Modern Language uses it in the same way as it uses phrases like "bury the hatchet" (from native american culture) or when it uses an adjective like herculean. We know what is meant by herculean without having to believe any of the myths about Hercules or his labours.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:25 PM
William says:
Oh, good job! You had me going. For a minute I thought, "Wow! Maybe, I should read all these passages again."
Then I read this; "You believe the earth is flat. The authors of scripture constantly reference the “four corners of the earth,” as if the world is a level plane."
"The four corners of the Earth." ??? Please. This is still a common idiom in our modern language and no one accuses the author who uses it as a "flat-earther."
Anyway, I figured that if you are going to be this disingenuous, then what’s the point. And I stopped reading.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:55 AM
William says:
Oh, good job! You had me going. For a minute I thought, "Wow! Maybe, I should read all these passages again."
Then I read this; "You believe the earth is flat. The authors of scripture constantly reference the “four corners of the earth,” as if the world is a level plane."
"The four corners of the Earth." ??? Please. This is still a common idiom in our modern language and no one accuses the author who uses it as a "flat-earther."
Anyway, I figured that if you are going to be this disingenuous, then what’s the point. And I stopped reading.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:55 AM
Julián Rodriguez Orihuela says:
@Lisa:
Isaiah 34:34 is a typo, it's Isaiah 34:14
July 14th, 2009 at 11:30 PM
tdg says:
KJV of Numbers24:8 "God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows."
Looks like unicorns to me!
July 14th, 2009 at 9:36 PM
Rob says:
@vee
Try the king james version where the wild ox mentioned is known as a unicorn
July 14th, 2009 at 9:31 PM
Derek says:
Num 24:8 God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce [them] through with his arrows.
When making NIV, people realized the bible is silly and try to hide whatever parts they think they can get away with.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:58 PM
Jon says:
I think it's the King James Bible which refers to unicorns and such. What's the proper translation of such passages? I have no idea.
I'm surprised you left out references to Leviathan in Job where even the Revised Stadard Version describes the creature as a fire-breathing sea-dragon.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:47 PM
Anonymous says:
I think it's the King James Bible which refers to unicorns and such. What's the proper translation of such passages? I have no idea.
I'm surprised you left out references to Leviathan in Job where even the Revised Stadard Version describes the creature as a fire-breathing sea-dragon.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:47 PM
Closed says:
Vee, It depends on what translation you read. Yours seems to be the American Standard or New American Standard while the King James says;
God brought him forth out of Egypt
he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn
he shall eat up the nations his enemies
and shall break their bones
and pierce them through with his arrows.
Considering the most well known English bible translation is the King James, (At least according to my christian friends. I could be incorrect) I would say it is not that far of a stretch to say that the bible does speak of Unicorns very often.
Also, I hope you see that the bible has been translated so many times that what you read probably is not even what the original text truly spoke about. So much is lost in translation...
July 14th, 2009 at 7:42 PM
Matt A says:
Ok the "stars" falling from the sky is obviously a reference to comets and meteors. Thats a cheap shot, hell 1/2 the people in america would get that wrong now
July 14th, 2009 at 7:24 PM
Lisa says:
There is no Isaiah 34:34. Just sayin'.
I didn't check though all the rest to see if they were accurate, but when you are trying to make a point such as this, you might want to make sure you get your verses right or it gives ammo to the other side.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Derek says:
@Vee
It depends on the translation. The King James version says Unicorn,while other versions say ox, rhino, or some other derivation.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:01 PM
Mike says:
Vee, many different translations of the bible list it as "ox" or "Buffalo" but the good 'ol king james version (along with a few others) clearly says "unicorn"
http://bible.cc/numbers/24-8.htm
July 14th, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Brad says:
Vee,
Learn Hebrew. It's definitely unicorn. KJV is crap for OT.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Vee says:
Numbers 24:8 "God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
and break their bones in pieces;
with their arrows they pierce them."
That doesn't spell unicorn to me...
July 14th, 2009 at 5:09 PM
Victor says:
Great post, and a great way to present the fanciful beliefs recorded in the Bible.
July 14th, 2009 at 9:26 AM
Open says:
"It’s perfect. It’s infallible. It’s divine. It’s irrefutable. And there are unicorns in it."
I would wear that t-shirt.
July 13th, 2009 at 8:56 PM
Mitchell A. Lagle says:
thanks for the post. I was once a christian and didn't know these scriptures were in there. Adding to my list for my next religious conversation.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:02 AM
Alchron says:
Heh, guess christians won't admit to believing in fairy tales.
June 29th, 2009 at 9:22 AM
Ralph Johnstone says:
I found your article very interesting I do however wish that you had continued with a few more pages. Even though you burst my bubble. I use to believe that mythical creatures truly existed and that Harry Potter is not fiction. And I believed in Santa Claus the Easter Bunny and the great pumpkin and now my world has been totally shattered and I had also been under the illusion that the world was truly flat. As for religion and God, man has been around for over 4,000,000 years give or take the one thing I have noticed is there is no researchers. Scripture, going back even 1,000,000 years ago. Some horseback, there are man developed the ability to think (think?) And reason so he had to come why there were solar eclipses lunar eclipses. Thunder lightning tornadoes and hurricanes monsoons droughts volcanic action and earthquakes. So therefore he created gods to worship and pray to and it has escalated from there so that now we are a bunch of mushrooms that are kept in the dark if there is a God that can only be one and all religions can only believe in that one religions would have you believe that there are thousands of gods but until God comes down and personally tells me which one is correct. I will have nothing to do with any of it I care not to be a mushroom yes, George the sun still rotates around the earth really it does.
August 29th, 2010 at 12:23 PM