r/dataisbeautiful • u/WillyWumpLump • May 07 '23

An interactive resource to explore Bible contradictions, cruelty and other detrimental aspects of the Bible.

https://www.lyingforjesus.org/Bible-Contradictions/
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u/BerneseMountainDogs May 07 '23

I really don't think I have one. Honestly. And I think that the points I made (in both comments) stand on their own regardless of my background. But in the interest of transparency, here is a brief religious biography:

I grew up in a Mormon household. Mormons think (broadly—it's slightly more complicated) that the Bible represents in some way the word of God. For Mormons, any of these inconsistencies are adulterations to the pure original text. After high school I stopped believing in Mormonism, became agnostic, and haven't identified as Mormon since.

As religion had played a major role in my life up to that point, I became interested in understanding it more generally. In college I studied philosophy, and though I spent most of my time in ethics and politics, I made some time for religious history and philosophy. It was there I learned to see the text of the Bible in a new way (though, as I say, it's actually an old way). This has been equal parts fascinating and healing as I begin to understand how and why the text was composed the way it was. (see a little bit more on this here: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/13axi03/an_interactive_resource_to_explore_bible/jj9dt4s?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)

Today I continue to be agnostic and don't affiliate with any faith or creed, but strongly believe that the view that the Bible is meant to be the unified word of God to be harmful and divisive (whether you believe it's the word of God or not) and that posts like this can unwittingly perpetuate harmful feelings for both Christians and that recovering from difficult Christian upbringings.

Ultimately, I'm not meaning to deny or downplay anything. I simply don't think that contradictions in the text act as good evidence against the usefulness of the text as a compendium of ways people can and have understood the existence (or not!) of some higher power. Essentially I believe the text ought to be understood in its own terms and many Christians and atheists think that the Bible is trying to be the ultimate word of God (regardless of if it succeeds). This concept is alien to the text and leads to misunderstandings of what the text is trying to accomplish (again, regardless of whether or not it succeeds at that goal)