minister turns atheist dot org

That looking at rods produces striped offspring

Genesis 30:37-39. "And Jacob took him rods of green
poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white
strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in
the rods. 38. And he set the rods which he had pilled before
the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the
flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they
came to drink. 39. And the flocks conceived before the rods,
and brought forth cattle ringstreaked, speckled, and
spotted."

In order to get his rightful wages from Laban, Jacob decided
to ask that his pay be whatever striped, brown, or spotted
animals he could breed for himself. He puts striped rods in
front of the white animals at his disposal and then, as they
are watered and see the rods, they mate and conceive
spotted, streaked, and striped offspring! The belief that
visual stimulation affects offspring was a common belief in
bible days and still is today among ignorant peoples. The
rods were striped as were the animals that were conceived.
This fits in well to a culture that fully believed and endorsed
such superstitions, much like the South American
superstition that if a pregnant woman handles snake skin,
the baby will be born with snake qualities - usually a forked
tongue! That too belongs in the realm of untenable myth and
legend.


Stars that fall to earth

Revelation 6:13. "And the stars of heaven fell unto the
earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she
is shaken of a mighty wind."

These are very small stars indeed! Even if it is objected that
Revelation is a book of symbols and therefore, should not
be taken literally, such language in other writings
contemporary with the bible, betray that this was indeed the
literal understanding about stars of the time. Most believed
stars were mere points of light in the heavens to shine down
upon the earth for man.


Flat earth

Job 9:6. "Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the
pillars thereof tremble."

I Samuel 2:8. "..for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,
and he hath set the world upon them."

These passages clearly teach flat earth theology. No
wonder Catholic Church Officials were continually finding
fault with science findings! They flew right in the face of bible
passages like these!


Geocentric earth

Psalm 104:5, "Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it
should not be removed for ever."

I Chronicles 16:30, "Fear before him, all the earth: the world
also shall be stable, that it be not moved."

Psalm 19:4-6, "4. Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set
a tabernacle for the sun, 5.Which is as a bridegroom coming
out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a
race. 6. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and
his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from
the heat thereof."

Joshua 10:12-13, "12. Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the
day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the
children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun,
stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley
of Ajalon. 13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed,
until the people had avenged themselves upon their
enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the
sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go
down about a whole day."

The first two passages very clearly teach the geocentric
system where the earth is the unmoving center of the
universe. Attempts to interpret these passages figuratively
fail since the writers are describing an accepted truth about
the creation. Also, notice the way the texts in Psalms and
Joshua are worded regarding the operation of the sun. "He"
comes out of his chamber and his "going forth" is from the
end of the heaven. What stood still? The earth? No. "The
sun stood still." Bible defenders will point out that we use
terms like "when the sun goes down" figuratively and
commonly and yet we do not for a moment think that these
words are literal, and nor did the bible writers. But the
comparison is bad. When we use such terms, we are using
accommodative language to make a point, but this was what
men actually believed about the world in that day and time.
The language of these passages was not accommodative,
but literal, and this is rather obvious. Though the
personification of the sun, "He" is used, we have not the
slightest hint of any other significant figurative language
suggestions in these verses above. Again, no wonder the
Catholic Church found fault with the Copernican system - it
violated what the bible said about the earth and its place in
the universe!


Mustard seed not the smallest

Matthew 13:31-32. "31. Another parable put he forth unto
them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of
mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32.
Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it
is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that
the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."

It is a well known fact that the orchid seed is the smallest
seed in the world, not the mustard seed. To be fair, it is
arguably true that in the Palestinian area, the mustard seed
could be called the smallest commonly used seed. In the
interest of general application, I am willing to accept that
someone would have referred to the mustard seed calling it
the smallest seed only by way of teaching a moral lesson
about his kingdom, as Jesus supposedly did. In other words,
it would be absurd to fault the New Testament writers for not
having Jesus say, "The world's smallest seed is really the
orchid seed which is a seed far away from here and to it I
liken the kingdom!" This would be pointless since the gospel
writers wanted to use something (a common seed) to which
all listeners at that time could relate. I simply list it here as a
scientific inaccuracy to emphasize the point that the bible
text offers nothing remarkable or divinely insightful in the
least. Had the orchid seed been referenced in this text as
the world's smallest seed, bibliolaters would be holding this
verse up in our faces as "proof" that an all-knowing God
inspired the bible! Theists want the bible to be as accurate
as a science book and reveal unknown truths about the
world, and yet when push comes to shove, and we skeptics
demonstrate that no such evidence exists, we are told "the
bible is not a science book!" Not only is the bible far from
being a science book, it is only filled with references that
qualify it only to be a mere writings of the time that reflect
the views of the day in which it was written.

(JH)