The Skeptic's Annotated Bible

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The Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB) is a skeptical analysis of the Bible, edited by Steve Wells. It consists of annotations presented alongside the text of the King James Version of the Bible to highlight internal inconsistencies, contradictions with science and history, and reprehensible ethics allegedly advocated in the Bible. Since its initial inception, The Skeptic's Annotated Bible has been expanded by Wells, with the addition a discussion board, an annotated Qur'an, an annotated Book of Mormon, and various links to external sites such as The Brick Testament. It is available for free online and in Plucker format for PalmPilots. A CD-ROM version is also available for purchase.

Contents 1 About 2 Fundamentalist response 3 Examples of quotes 3.1 King James Bible 3.2 Qur'an 3.3 Book of Mormon 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] About

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible uses tags to highlight issues including injustice, absurdity, cruelty and violence, intolerance, contradictions, family values, women, science and history, prophecy, sex, language, interpretation, homosexuality, and "good stuff". Each tag offers negative, critical commentary with the exception of the "Good Stuff" section, which usually refers to positive ethical teachings in the Bible. However, overall the sections that deal with impossibilities, contradictions, and negative teachings are to provide evidence that, as Wells explained, "it is time for us all to stop believing in, or pretending to believe in, a book that is so unworthy of belief". It relies much more on eisegesis (personal interpretation to promote one's own ideas, in this case a humanistic ethical philosophy and scientific world-view) than exegesis (socio-historical interpretation to discern the original meaning or intent of the authors). This is because the site's primary intent is not to better understand the history of the Bible, but to criticize the reliance (particularly by Biblical literalists) on Biblical moral and empirical statements which contradict modern humanistic ethics or scientific facts.

Wells' formal training is in botany and mathematics. He has said that he has "a B.S. in Botany and a more than 50 semester hours of graduate credit in Chemistry and Mathematics, with 15 years experience as an industrial statistician."^[1]

[edit] Fundamentalist response

Christian fundamentalists who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible have responded with Christian apologetics in an attempt to rebut the commentary. They have claimed that Wells has no education in the fields of apologetics, theology, ancient civilizations, or the ancient Greek and Hebrew languages and insist that these are required to do Bible exegesis.^{[citation needed]} They've also highlighted the fact that he does not cite scholarly or secondary works.^{[citation needed]}

Steve Wells responds by saying education is crucial to seeing the flaws in the Bible, and that he has spent many years studying the Bible. He does not claim any training in exegesis. His criticism targets the King James version of the Bible partly because: "It is still the most familiar version and some Christians consider it to be the only "authentic" version."^[1]

The SAB provides links to responses by apologists at the bottom of chapter and contradiction pages. It also provides a list of rebuttal sites.^[2]

[edit] Examples of quotes

[edit] King James Bible

• 1 Contradictions:[1]
  • "And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre." (Genesis 18:1) Contradicted later: "No man hath seen God at any time." (John 1:18) and "No man hath seen God at any time." (1 John 4:12)
• 2 Science:[2]
  • Bible: "So were all those that were numbered of the children of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel"(Numbers 1, 1:45) In a later section: "Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty." (Numbers 1, 1:45)
  • Annotated: "Population Explosion! The Israelite population went from seventy (Ex.1:5) to several million (over 600,000 adult males) in about 400 years."
• 3 Impossibilities: [3]
  • Bible: "For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man." (Deuteronomy 3, 3:11)
  • Annotated: "Og, the king of the giants, was a tall man, even by NBA standards. His bed measured 9 by 4 cubits (13.5 feet long and 6 feet wide)."
• 4 Absurdity [4]
  • Bible: "Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." (Psalm 137, 137:9)
  • Annotated: "Happiness is smashing little children against the rocks."
• 5 Violence/Homosexuality:[5]
  • Bible: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." (Leviticus 20, 20:13)
  • Annotated: "If a man has sex with another man, kill them both."
• 6 Women and family values: [6]
  • Bible: "And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or dove, for a sin offering."(Leviticus 12:6-8)
  • Annotated: "After a woman gives birth, a priest must kill a lamb, pigeon, or dove as a sin offering."

[edit] Qur'an

• 1 Contradictions: [7]
  • Quran: "And they will bid thee hasten on the Doom, and Allah faileth not His promise, but lo! a Day with Allah is as a thousand years of what ye reckon" (22:47) vs. "(Whereby) the angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years." (70:4)
  • Annotated: A Day with Allah is as a thousand years of what ye reckon. (22:47) vs. Unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years. (70:4)
• 2 Science and History: [8]
  • Quran: O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty toward Allah in Whom ye claim (your rights) of one another, and toward the wombs (that bare you). Lo! Allah hath been a watcher over you. (4:1)
  • Annotated: Humans created from a single man
• 3 Absurdity [9]
  • Quran: And ye know of those of you who broke the Sabbath, how We said unto them: Be ye apes, despised and hated! And We made it an example to their own and to succeeding generations, and an admonition to the God-fearing. (2:65-66)
  • Annotated: Allah turned the Sabbath-breaking Jews into apes
• 4 Violence [10]/Homosexuality: [11]
  • Quran: Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye know not. (2:216)
  • Annotated: War is ordained by Allah, and all Muslims must be willing to fight, whether they like it or not.

• 5 Women[12] and family values:[13]
  • Quran: Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great. (4:34)
  • Annotated: Men are in charge of women, because Allah made men to be better than women. Refuse to have sex with women from whom you fear rebellion, and scourge them.

[edit] Book of Mormon

• 1 Contradictions: [14]
  • Book of Mormon: Now there was a strict law among the people of the church that there should not any man, belonging to the church, arise and persecute those that did not belong to the church, and that there should be no persecution among themselves. (Alma 1:21) vs. And it came to pass that they took him; and his name was Nehor; and they carried him upon the top of the hill Manti, and there he was caused, or rather did acknowledge, between the heavens and the earth, that what he had taught to the people was contrary to the word of God; and there he suffered an ignominious death (Alma 1:15)
  • Annotated: Alma 1:21 "Now there was a strict law among the people of the church that there should not any man, belonging to the church, arise and persecute those that did not belong to the church, and that there should be no persecution among themselves." vs. Alma 1:15: "What he had taught to the people was contrary to the word of God; and there he suffered an ignominious death."

• 2 Science and History: [15]
  • Book of Mormon: And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands. (1 Nephi 2:20)
  • Annotated: "A land which I have prepared for you"- God made the New World just for Nephi and his family. (For though it had been occupied by the Native Americans for 15,000 years or so, God made it for Nephi, not for them.)

• 3 Absurdity [16]
  • Book of Mormon: And it came to pass that when he had traveled three days in the wilderness, he pitched his tent in a valley by the side of a river of water. (1 Nephi 2:6)
  • Annotated: "When he had traveled three days in the wilderness."- Did it take Nephi and his family three days to travel from Jerusalem to the Red Sea or did they just wander around for three days after reaching the Red Sea? If the former, then they were fast travelers indeed, covering 250 miles or so in just three days of walking.

• 4 Violence[17]/Homosexuality:[18]
  • Book of Mormon: Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief. (1 Nephi 4:13)
  • Annotated: God kills bad people to achieve good ends. (The ends justify the means.) It's better to kill one person than have a whole nation die unbelievers.

• 5 Women[19] and family values:[20]
  • Book of Mormon: For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts. (Jacob 2:28)
  • Annotated: God delights in the chastity of women.

[edit] See also

• Asimov's Guide to the Bible
• Jefferson Bible

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Skeptic's Annotated Bible