Philippine Atheists

The following is an exceprt from my reply in a public forum when somebody asked me what do I think about bible quotes directed towards me.

The bible is full of interesting things. It has many good things and a lot of bad things. In it the merciful god of the OT waged genocide and murder, at one point drowning the whole of creation except for one family and select pairs of species. My position is that the bible, specially the OT, is a work of bad fiction. The NT is a lot better specially the four gospels. If we ignore the fantastic and the fabulous stories and sub-stories in it, I can agree that Jesus Christ is one of the most noblest characters ever (invented by man). The morality that he teaches is one of humility and love and caring for our neighbors. Obviously, and as is shown by participants in this forum including myself, he is a hard act to follow so to speak. There are great stories in the bible and my favorite is the story of Joseph who was sold by his brothers as a slave to the Egyptians and soon became the second most powerful person in all of Egypt. Then there is Moses. Together with his commander-in-chief god were vicious and wicked characters. Upon instruction from god, Moses committed acts that pales the achievements of a modern day war criminal (see Numbers). My point is, I cannot believe that a merciful and benevolent god inspired the Old Testament so either god was malevolent or the bible was the product of a barbaric time. For me, there can only be one conclusion. If there indeed is a benevolent and merciful god, then this book cannot be his inspiration. If you quote the bible to me, it has the effect of quoting, for example The Outsider of Albert Camus. It’s a work of fiction so it must be taken with a pinch of salt. Sure it can send me thinking but not at all seriously. There may be some truths in it, and there are lots of good things in it as well specially when it doesn’t talk about miracles or angels or heaven or hell, and this is what makes it worth more than another work of fiction is. In short, it doesn’t have the intended effect on me. (No offense to Mang Renato) I take what I think is good on its own merit alone (like “the truth will set you free”) and ignore those that don’t make sense or make only nonsense.

They said the most effective weapon against the bible is the bible itself. Read the bible and see for yourself what it really is. It’s not fit for reading by impressionable children and should be rated PG13.

Here is a good start: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/index.htm

The Qu’ran is not any better.

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