The Hebrew word for gods-plural is Elohim, the word for God-singular is El. When the King James Bible was compiled and translated from Hebrew, the word Elohim was changed to El 2,600 times in the old testament alone. In 1992 after reading William Bramewell's 'Gods of Eden' I asked my Father, who had served in the mission field for ten years, and was a protestant minister for 40 years, "How many times was Elohim(gods plural) changed to El(god singular) when the King James Bible was assembled." His reply was short and quick, "Twenty six hundred times the word 'gods' was changed to the word 'God' in the Old Testament alone.

I've always wondered why, if god is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, miracles have ceased. Why did they suddenly end at the same time people quit believing in magic and other absurdities? Coincidence?

Also, I have trotted out Matthew 6:5-6 a number of times when people gush about celebrity douche bags who like to pray in public, on camera, and do other things to draw attention to themselves and tap into the massive, built in Christian fan base that exists in America.

Depending on which poll one chooses to cite, anywhere from 65% to 80% of Americans identify as Christian, or with the Christian faith. In my opinion, this is why so many celebrities and politicians make a public show or profession of Christian faith. Despite the fact that Christ clearly came out against such a thing (and probably for this very reason).

For the record, the Biblical account of Christ is awesome. If such a person lived, he is the kind of person I aspire to be like. Humble, loving, forgiving, caring, compassionate, honest, full of integrity and grace, nonjudgmental, and inclusive. But all mythology needs a lovable protagonist, I suppose.

I was recently reading a study on a key Buddhist sutra. There was an extensive breakdown of versions, translators, timeline, comparative strengths and weaknesses of each version, influences of language and culture, etc. It was a beautiful thing.

It threw into startling relief for me how absolutely absurd it is to claim any work of literature (especially large, old, important ones) is 100% straight from the source, unaffected by human error, malice, or the simple vagaries of time and language. And that's not even going near claims of "divine" provenance...

I don't try to prove or disprove the bible, i take it as a how-to manual, be it an ancient one.

I seek no proofs that disprove the bible, and accept the bible as just another book handed down through the ages, translated thousands of times, which is a metaphorical guide to human behaviour societal and personal. Was that a mouthful or what? hahaha

I don't try to disprove it any more than i try disproving mythical texts, poetry, other inspirational how-to publications, or anything else which has value, which the bible certainly has. It is a metaphorical masterpiece for me.

I try to learn something from everything.

I prefer to take the Bible, which i studied many years ago, as an ancient manual and benchmark for how people should behave, or not. It is a metaphorical learning opportunity for me, like any other behaviorally-focused published sources. No more, no less.

I have also had discussions with both rabbis and priests about the question of 'divine inspiration'. Isn't every author of meaningful works so inspired, if one believes in God?

God: Hey Abraham kill your son.
Abe: I don't want to but okidoke.
God: Jk
Abe: okidoke.

well, you don't have to go past the talking snake, really. i don't spend a lot of time trying to disprove a work of fiction, though. fantasy is fantasy.

g

Best proof against the bible is the bible itself.

Not calling it proof. Off the top of my head, some of my favorite strange I've heard about the bible is:
The parts where god talks to himself, and there are no humans around to write it down, leaps to mind. If god is real that would be worrying.

When Adam and Eve eat the apple god says he/they have to stop them before they eat from the fruit of eternal life. But if there was no death in the garden, they were already immortal.

Jesus saying nothing that passes through the body can defile us. Meaning it's ok to eat diseased meat, it won't make you sick.

Oh, god can't use his powers on iron chariots.

Reading the bible you get the impression god understand the importance of evidence - which is why Jesus went about flaunting his magic powers as proof of his divinity.
But now we are supposed to believe in books with no evidence. NOW it's a virtue to have completely blind faith.

When I run into an evangelical Christian I normally ask at some point “what makes your religion true and all the others false?” which generally brings some silence. ???

They claim that the Bible is the oldest book ever, but you can go on Amazon and buy brand new bibles. That’s not old, you dumb theists.

Carbon Dating

Reality.

The Bible that is in use by the majority of Christian beliefs was pieced together from tales written by hundreds of scribes from hundreds of legends. Tales from various beliefs were incorporated into the legends passed down verbally over thousands of years, then reinterpreted over thousands more. It is a book of fiction based loosely on history and events at various times. It has the same value as worshipping Harry Potter (some day it could happen). And then all those legends and scrolls were condensed into a single work by a Roman emperor to consolidate his power, with any parts that did not affirme his power left out. This book was then translated by other monarchs and religious orders to suite their own agendas. Up to present times where variations are still published from time to time to serve religious leaders by “simplifying” the language to advance their own agenda. There is nothing more believable in the Bible than there is in Spartacus or Ulysses.

the self contradictions are enough to show that the text can't come from a "perfect" source.
When an argument is self contradictory you don't need to argue against it.

a virgin giving birth always gets me...

Good article. Thanks for the link.

In and around 2005 I wrote a series of articles detailing false prophecies in the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. I also wrote on contradictions in the Bible, and about my hypothesis that Matthew was written as a satire, and various other articles showing why the Bible is not credible. I had posted them on my own website, which no longer exists.

I'd love to share them on this site, but I do not know if Word documents can be uploaded here. Help, anyone?

But to answer your question, the false prophecies are my favorite proofs against the Bible. Consider Deuteronomy 18:21-22:

You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed. (NIV)

If these verses are true, the biblical prophets are proved to be frauds by their demonstrably false prophecies. If the these verses are false, they are just one more example of biblical falsehoods.

Serious academic biblical scholars don't claim that the Bible is 'true'. They recognise that it is a collection of folk-tales, legends, poetry and bits of history mixed together to form the foundation story first for Judaism and then for Christianity. It is only fanatical religious believers who claim that the Bible or any other religious book is 'true'.

It's funny, but no matter how inconsistent, ridiculous, moronic or downright evil something in the Bible is, Christians will defend it vigorously. When I first started studying the faith I was brought up in, I was surprised to find some of the inconsistencies. I thought "now why haven't other Christians noticed this?", but the more I looked, and the less I believed it was actually the inspired word of God, the more ridiculous it seemed to me. When I read in now, it reads like any other ancient myth.
It's really all in your head. If you believe it, you'll forgive any contradictions or ignore them. When you start to disbelieve, they just seem to jump out at you, and it all seems unbelievable.

“God said let there be light and there was light.” ? x 1000.

This comment is more to your question. I don’t worry about “refuting” the Bible. Most theists take care of that for me. Since for them the Bible gets its authority from being the word of god we don’t have to refute it. If they try to use the Bible to prove god or their religion they are commuting the fallacy of begging the question. The Bible is the word of god and therefore, god what they are trying to prove by using the Bible cannot be used since his existence is already assumed. QED ???

The fact that Jesus called gentiles 'dogs' not worthy of feeding, yet saint Paul makes them his ministry. (Sorry I see that's in there, posted first and read second, but it is still vital.)

Claiming the moral high ground while endorsing slavery.

To have a talking snake or donkeys or build Noah's Ark. The goat herder guilds to the Universe writers. Must of had something stronger than the blood of Jesus or magic mushrooms in their wine..

My biggest proofs against the bible are the bible itself. How and when all the books were put together as one book, people thinking this made a chain of events as a story, and lying through their teeth to claim it is all in harmony as an infallible narrative. That idea is simply not the case and is also exactly why you will find biblical contradictions.

Let's get into that very first book where you find a talking snake and it is all because of this serpent that you even need Jesus. It gets more ridiculous when you find out that the snake was right. To go along with Christianity you have to just continue to make things up. I rest my case.

I prayed for a new bike when I was 10... I didn't get it! What more proof do I need?