No longer a Christian

I have read the Bible for my whole life, but only a few years ago, I started to study it, really study it. I even looked at the arguments both for and against it. As I looked into the Bible more and more, it made less and less sense to me. It contradicted itself. It contradicted science. It contradicted history, logic, etc…

Contradicts itself.

There are a lot of verses that can be compared here. You can compare the creation story in Genesis 1 with Genesis 2 (seriously read the order of man versus the plants and animals, whether we came from the water or ground, when eve was created, if God was happy which each day, etc…). There are verses stating that only through Jesus are we saved, and then another saying that we can be saved through our spouses. Do a Google search, you can find hundreds of different verses contradicting with another one, then actually look up the verses if you don’t believe the source. But I think you get the idea.

The following is definitely one of my favorite contradictions. I don’t ever hear it, but it is funny:

• …I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God… Exodus 20:5
• Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous…. 1 Corinthians 13:4
• God is love. 1 John 4:8

Contradicts science.

By far the easiest example of this is the store of Noah in Genesis 6-8. To even think this story is true is to show a lack of understanding of the world around us. There are so many things wrong with this story, but here are just 10:

1. There are no geological records of a world wide flood. However our geological records show 5 mass extinction events.
2. There are no records of any sudden stop of life during the time period the great flood happened. In fact for thousands of years prior and after to the supposed date of the flood we have records of life continuing among various civilizations. Even these civilizations often overlapping each other. We would have noticed several years of only Noah’s civilization
3. There are approximately 10 billion species on the planet today, even accounting for mutations among the animals, there is no way that Noah could carry the minimum of 2 of every animal and still result with such a wide diversity of life in such a short period of time.
4. Certain animals only live in distant remote regions on the planet which Noah or God would have needed to bring over. Such as kangaroos in Australia or penguins in the Arctic.
5. Many creatures have certain climate requirements. There would need to have been parts of the boat that ranged from very cold and wet to very hot and dry.
6. Noah lacked the space to hold the food requirements to feed so many animals for a year.
7. Certain animals would have to carry life threatening bacteria/worms/viruses. Some of these internal creatures would even result in make the animal sterile.
8. An estimated additional 4,530,488,766 kilometers cubed (1.19682852 × 10^21 US gallons) of water is what is needed to flood the planet. Three times what is on the planet now.
9. The mixture of rainfall (fresh water) and the salt water would result in the death of marine life. Much less the destruction of all plant life that existed on land before the flood.
10. One male and one female breaks the 50/500 rule which states that at least 50 adults are required to avoid the damaging effects of inbreeding, and 500 to avoid extinctions due to the inability to evolve to cope with environmental change.

Contradicts History

I have already stated that there are problems with the story of Noah and history, but that isn’t the only one. Take for example the birth of Jesus. In one book, it is happening during the time of King Herod (Matt 2:1-3) and then in another book it is happening during the time of Quirinius’s census (Luke 2:1-5). And yet, historians have stated that this census took place between 6 and 7 C.E. and Herod the Great died in 4 B.C.E. Maybe the “virgin” Mary gave birth to Jesus twice.

Contradicts Logic

I am going to go with the story of Adam and Eve and the idea of original sin. So God created Adam and Eve and told them not to eat from the fruit of knowledge. At some point a serpent comes along and tempts Eve and tells her how great this fruit is and to eat it. She and Adam eats the fruit. God finds out and punishes them for disobeying him. Then curses all of their decedents to be born into sin.

So let’s start with all the problems of this. God created everything, including Adam, Eve, the serpent, the Garden of Eden, the tree of knowledge, free will, etc… And also God is omniscience (all knowing). So he knew that if he created a garden with a forbidden item in it, and if the serpent tempted Adam and Eve, then his own creations would fall for this deception. Plus, why would Adam and Eve not trust the speaking animals God created? Did the concept of lying exist prior to eating from the tree of knowledge?

Consider this example. Someone takes their young child (parent A), and in their kitchen there are tons of fruits and vegetables, and a cookie jar. And then that parent tells the child that he is not allowed to eat a single cookie, but he can eat everything else. Some time passes (say weeks) and the spouse (parent B) comes along and tells the child that it is okay to eat the cookie. Do you really think the kid would not take the cookie? Let’s also say that parent A knew what parent B was going to say and allowed it. Do you think parent A would be justified to punish the child? Of course not, that would make no sense. Do you think that the children of that child should also be punished? Definitely not. Yet, those who actually believe this creation story, actually find this response from God acceptable.

I’m not a Christian

For a long time now, I have had a problem calling myself a Christian. I use to say it was because of all of the other Christians. I just could not stand how a group of people could say they love everyone and then have such contrary actions such as hate, bigotry and inequality. It was so strange but those with no beliefs seemed to follow the values of Jesus more so than those who actually claimed to follow Jesus. This pushed me to start noticing issues with my own ideals/beliefs and the Bible.

Then I moved away from my parents and I was responsible for studying the Bible on my own. This made things worse, as finding a good church that accepted gays was incredibly difficult. At first I tried to rationalize and make it work, yet as more time passed, it became harder to accept the Bible as the infallible truth of God. The more that I studied this book and science, the more flaws I found within the Bible.

I am very logical, and I like science. After all, science and logic is testable, falsifiable, and willing to change in light of new evidence. In the end, it came down to, a single question. Do I give up logic, science, morality, rationality and so much more, or do I give up the Bible?

As of this point in time, I personally place the Bible up there with Harry Potter or any other religious book in the world – piece of fictional literature. And as the foundation of Christianity is based so strongly on the Bible, I find that I am no longer a Christian. The things that caused pain and fear in my life are gone, and I am a happier and better person now.