The Skeptics Annotated Bible

by Wells, Steve

I should tell you, though, that I don’t believe there are any inerrant books, although many come very close. My old Physical Chemistry book, for example. Written by Peter Atkins and published in 1982, that book and I spent a lot of time together when I was taking P-Chem. And though I loved the book and know of no errors in it, I don’t think it’s inerrant. I’ll bet there are a few spelling or grammatical errors and maybe a typo or two. And in its 1000+ pages there is probably an important mistake in an equation somewhere—maybe an exponent left off, a decimal misplaced, or something. And since it’s been 30 years, it could use some revising to get it caught up with recent advances in Chemistry. And, of course, as with any book, there are probably some errors in structure, presentation, and style.

  But if you want to call Atkins’ book inerrant, I won’t argue about it. And I promise not to write a Skeptic’s Annotated P Chem book or anything like that. But if I did, I wouldn’t have anything to highlight and nothing to say. Atkins need not worry about my snide remarks.

  There are a lot of books that come close to inerrancy, but the Bible is not one of them. And its errors are not confined to missing exponents or poor choice of words. Of all the books that I know of, the Bible is the most errant. It is by far the worst book I’ve ever read (with the possible exceptions of the Quran and the Book of Mormon). I know of no other book, for example, that commands you to kill homosexuals, Sabbath breakers, nonbelievers, rape victims who don’t cry out loud enough, relatives if they believe differently than you, etc. These are serious errors; they should be taken seriously, especially since two billion people believe the Bible to be the inerrant word God.

  Although contradictions are included in the book version of the SAB (see the list in the appendix), they more thoroughly treated at the SAB website (SkepticsAnnotatedBible.com), with separate pages and cross links for each of the contradictions.

  Conflicts with Science and History (428)

  Religious moderates and secular accomodationists claim that there is no conflict between science and religion. And although that might be true of some religions (Buddhism and deism perhaps), it is not true for any that are based upon the Bible. Because the Bible makes many statements about science and history that we now know are false.

  Biblical fundamentalists know there is a conflict between science and religion. They solve this conflict by rejecting science whenever it conflicts with the Bible, which it does whenever the Bible says anything about science or history.

  Biblical Family Values (413)

  The religious right loves to talk about biblical family values. So I’ve included this category to show just what those values entail. When should a father stone to death his whole family? What should be done with a non-virgin bride on her wedding night? What did Jesus have to say about hating our families? It’s all highlighted in the SAB.

  Interpretation (403)

  Mark Twain said, “It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.” And he was right about that. Most of the Bible is clear enough to anyone who takes the time to read it. And yet it’s surprising how many passages, whose meaning seems clear enough to a nonbeliever, are interpreted completely differently by the various groups of believers.

  Take John 6.53-66, for example. Catholics will tell you that Jesus meant what he said about eating his body and drinking his blood. Protestants disagree, saying that’s just too darned gross, even for Jesus. It’s a matter of interpretation, I guess.

  So to point out a particular interpretation I’ll highlight the passage using the interpretation icon.

  Misogyny and Insults to Women (384)

  The Bible has plenty to say about women, and nearly all of it is insulting. When should you cut off a woman’s hand, without pity? When may a woman teach or speak in church? What should you do with a wife that no longer pleases you? What to do with a menstruating woman? How to find out if your wife has been unfaithful? How are women saved? It’s all there in all of its misogynistic glory.

  Sex (253)

  I don’t want to give you the wrong impression here. I have nothing against sex. It is included as a highlighted category for the following reason: Bible-believers often complain about sex in library books, television, movies, and art museums. These complaints, when successful, result in censorship. Christians should realize, however, that if any book is removed from the library because of its sexual content, then the Bible should also be removed.

  I do object, though, to the Bible’s sexual ethics. For example, in Genesis 19, Lot (who is called just and righteous in 2 Peter 2.7-8) gets drunk and impregnates his two virgin daughters. There is no indication that God disapproved of Lot’s behavior.

  Some of the material in the Bible is filthy by any standard. Yet Ezekiel 23.20 is part of the “pure word of God”. (Psalm 12.6, 119.140; Proverbs 30.5)

  False Prophecy and Misquotes (231)

  The authors of the New Testament searched the Hebrew Scriptures to find passages that they could claim were prophecies about Jesus. Pretty much anything would do. But when a passage didn’t quite fit (and none of them did), they had two options: alter the scripture to fit the story about Jesus, or alter the story about Jesus to fit the scripture.

  Believers still justify their belief by pointing to the passages from the Hebrew Scriptures that supposedly point to Jesus. And I highlight such passages and point out which of the two options they use.

  Language (186)

  According to Proverbs 30.5, “Every word of God is pure.” If so, then there’s a lot in the Bible that isn’t the word of God. Try reading 2 Kings 18.27, Ezekiel 23.20, or Malachi 2.3, for example.

  I tried to apply the Proverbs 30.5 rule in the SAB by highlighting verses that just don’t seem pure enough to be included in the pure “word of God.”

  Homosexuality (25)

  Considering the amount of attention this gets from the religious right, you’d think the Bible had a lot to say about homosexuality. It doesn’t. There are fewer passages in this category than in any other in the SAB.

  Still, contrary to the religious left, the Bible, in the few verses that address it, is clear enough about it: homosexuality is an abomination, and the punishment for it is death.

  THE OLD TESTAMENT

  GENESIS

  Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes. — Genesis 19.8

  Genesis has it all: sex, violence, contradictions, insults to women, absurdities, conflicts with science and history, you name it. Well, except for anything good, that is. God declared his creation to be “very good” in 1.31, but I can’t find anything good in Genesis.

  Be sure to check out:

  The two contradictory creation stories. 1.1-2.3, 2.4-25

  God’s two magic trees: The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 2.9

  God’s clever, talking serpent. 3.1

  God’s curse of all women. 3.16

  The mark of Cain. 4.15

  The “sons of God” had sex with the “daughters of men,” and had sons who became “the mighty men of old, men of renown.” 6.2-4

  “There were giants in the earth in those days.” 6.4

  Noah, the just and righteous. 6.9, 7.1

  God drowns everyone on earth (except Noah and his family). 7.4

  Noah, the drunk and naked. 9.20-21

  The curse of Canaan. 9.22-25

  The Tower of Babel. 11.1-9

  Abraham’s “she’s my sister” lies. 12.13, 20.2

  Lot [the just and righteous (2 Pet 2.7-8)] offers his daughters to a crowd of angel rapers.19.8

  “The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire.” 19.24

  God turns Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt. 19.26

  A drunken Lot impregnates his daughters. 19.30-36

  God closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household to punish him for believing Abraham’s lie. 20.18
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  Abraham abandons his first son. 21.10-14

  God tells Abraham to kill his second son for a burnt offering. 22.2, 10

  Put your hand under my thigh (testicles) and swear. 24.2, 47.29

  Isaac uses his dad’s “she’s my sister” lie. 26.7

  Jacob goes in unto Leah by mistake. 29.25

  The great baby making contest. 30.1-23

  Rachel buys sex with mandrakes. 30.15-16

  Jacob wrestles with God and wins! 30.24-28

  Jacob sees God face to face and lives. 32.30

  The Shechem and Dinah love story/massacre. 34.1-25

  Reuben has sex with his father’s concubine. 35.22

  God kills Er for being wicked. 38.7

  Onan spills his seed; God kills Onan. 38.9-10

  Judah impregnates his daughter-in-law. 38.16-18

  GENESIS 1

  1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

  2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

  (1.1) “In the beginning” The first of two contradictory creation accounts. Compare with 2.4-25 in which the order of events is entirely different.

  1 The two creations

  2 Who created heaven and earth?

  The Genesis 1 account conflicts with the order of events that are known to science. In 1.1, the earth and “heaven” are created together “in the beginning,” whereas according to current estimates, the earth and universe are 4.6 and 13.7 billion years old, respectively. In Genesis, the earth is created (1.1) before sun and stars (1.16); birds and whales (1.21) before reptiles and insects (1.24); and flowering plants (1.11) before animals (1.20). The order of events known from science is in each case just the opposite.

  3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

  (1.3) “Let there be light.”God creates light and separates light from darkness, and day from night, on the first day (1.3-5). Yet he didn’t make the light producing objects (the sun and the stars) until the fourth day (1.14-19). And how could there be “evening and the morning” on the first day if there was no sun to mark them?

  4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

  5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

  6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

  7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

  8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

  (1.8) “God called the firmament Heaven.” God spends one-sixth of his entire creative effort (the second day) working on a solid firmament. This strange structure, which God calls heaven, is intended to separate the higher waters from the lower waters.

  9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

  10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

  11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

  (1.11) “Let the earth bring forth grass.” Plants are made on the third day before there was a sun to drive their photosynthetic processes (1.14-19). Notice, though, that God lets “the earth bring forth” the plants, rather than creating them directly. Maybe Genesis is not so anti-evolution after all.

  3 Were plants created before or after humans?

  12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

  13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

  14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

  (1.14) “Let them be for signs.” God placed the sun, moon, and stars in the firmament so that they can be used “for signs.” This, of course, is exactly what astrologers do: read “the signs” in the Zodiac to predict what will happen on Earth.

  4 Does the bible condemn astrology?

  15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

  16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

  (1.16a) “God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.” But the moon is not a light; it only reflects light from the sun. And why, if God made the moon to “rule the night,” does it spend half of its time moving through the daytime sky?

  (1.16b) “He made the stars also.” God spends a day making light (before making the sun and stars) and separating light from darkness; then, at the end of a hard day’s work, and almost as an afterthought, he makes the billions of trillions of stars.

  5 When were the stars made?

  17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

  (1.17) “God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.” Then why is only a tiny fraction of stars visible from earth? Under the best conditions, no more than a few thousand stars are visible with the unaided eye, yet there are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy and a hundred billion or so galaxies. Were they all created “to give light upon the earth”?

  18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

  19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

  20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

  (1.20, 24) “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl … Let the earth bring forth the living creature.” Does the Bible teach evolution?

  6 From what were the animals created?

  7 From what were the fowls created?

  21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

  22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

  23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

  24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

  25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

  (1.25) “God made the beast of the earth.”

  8 Were humans created before the other animals?

  26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

  (1.26a) “Let us make man in our image.”

  9 How many gods are there?

  (1.26b) “Let them have dominion … over all the earth” God gave humans dominion over every other living thing on earth. This couldn’t be true, of course, since millions of other species existed for millions of years before humans existed. This verse is used by fundamentalist Christians to justify the mistreatment of other species and disregard for the environment.

  27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of
God created he him; male and female created he them.

  (1.27) “So God created man in his own image … male and female created he them.” This verse implies that God is both male and female and that men and women are of equal value.

  10 When was Eve created?

  28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

  (1.28) “Be fruitful and multiply.”

  11 Is childbearing sinful?

  29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

  (1.29) “I have given you every herb … and every tree … it shall be for meat.” God gave us every plant for food. What about Canabis sativa? Is it okay to eat (or smoke) that plant? How about the opium poppy, coca plant, or the peyote cactus?

  Since many plants have evolved poisons to protect against animals that would like to eat them, God’s advice here is more than a little reckless. Would you tell your children to go out in the garden and eat whatever plants they encounter?

  12 May Adam eat from any tree?

  13 Which animals may we eat?

  30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

  31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

  (1.31) “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” God purposefully designed a system that ensures the suffering and death of all his creatures, parasite and host, predator and prey.

  GENESIS 2

  2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

  2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.