Biblical Nonsense: A Review of the Bible for Doubting Christians [Paperback]

There are (and I am guessing) probably millions of humans who believe in a wise and benevolent figure (a wisened male, often depicted in popular culture with white hair and a big white beard) that, at the most basic level, hears and sees everything and subsequently rewards the good and severely punishes the bad. To many other people around the world this figure is simply a fabrication of man, conjured up to control the behaviour of the masses, who put their blind belief in him in order to be personally rewarded for being good. Belief in this figure is largely dependent upon where you are born, so if you are born in Surrey he is very, very real, but if you are born in say China, he isn't real at all.

To not believe in this Santa figure (that's Santa, not Satan), according to most parents, will lead to him becoming wrathful and ultimately to no presents at Christmas time. For the believing kids that would be a very bad, and a very real, thing. Hellish, in fact. So they all blindly believe in Santa.

I raise this point as this book is written by a one time believer in the Bible (that other great man made creation) and I sense the style reflects this cathartic conversion from belief, following careful examination of scientific and historic facts and a good dose of common sense.

Following on from the point above, imagine explaining the evidence supporting the existance of Santa Clause. The author here would start by examining the evidence for the existence of manufacturing facilities in Lapland sufficient to accommodate the scale of production required to supply all the toys in the world. He would go onto prove, through carefully examining census records, that the population of dwarves in Lapland was only 6 and therefore nowhere near sufficient to man the plant. He would discuss the local population's view that no jobs have ever been advertised at any such plant and that nobody had seen the vast number of trucks required to supply the raw materials. He would point out that companies like Mattel and Hornby had never been approached by representatives from any company from Lapland about the use of trade marks and no tax records show the payment of VAT or Corporation Tax from any such company. He would then turn his attention to the aerodynamics of sledges that made them impossible to fly, the fact there is no record of a Reindeer having been seen airborne and the vexed question as to how a rotund character could navigate a chimney clocking in at an impressive 32 stone. Finally he would conclude that flight data collected from around the world did not support the flight patterns required to visit all the houses in the World on one night and that to do this would require a flight time of at least 10,000 years.

The believer (child) would look at the evidence above and, based on an abject fear of not getting any presents, conclude immediately, and without question, that it must be a MIRACLE because its 'what their parents told them was true'. A rational, older, child would have just looked at this and concluded - well, it's just a load of tosh isn't it. And equally they would conclude the same about Noah, talking shrubbery, virgin birth's, walking on water, Earth consuming floods,talking donkeys and snakes, Satan with horns (the evil one), simple magical healing tricks and so on. However, the annihilation of, for example, the Noah story in this punishing vein is very entertaining to read (in a laugh-out-loud way). The author goes to the extreme level of pointing out that if all the animals of the World were indeed corralled into a 150m long wooden boat (the maximum length that a wooden vessel can be constructed according to this book) the build up of methane from the animals could lead to a pretty nasty explosion, particularly given the `FACT' that the ventilation system put in by Noah was only 16 inches wide and only in 1 compartment of the boat....

This book is worth reading despite the sledgehammer style described above, as, through the complete decimation of the Bible stories, there emerges a large number of clear points that will stick in the mind, such as the BIBLICAL FACT that according to the Old Tasty Mint (the infallible word of God, remember) the wrathful and jealous GOD Yahweh is directly responsible for the deaths of between 2 and 5 million people (including millions of innocent women and children), which puts him into the same league as both Stalin and Hitler - interestingly I am not aware that Satan (the evil one) has killed anyone according to the actual Bible - which is a bit odd given his poor reputation for sneeking around bushes, tempting people with fruit and vegetables and hissing at people in a sinister way (he's behind you..!).

There are lengthy interesting sections on historical time lines, the exact authors of the bible and so on, which deal with the more grounded parts of the Bible and then goes on to unpick these parts through hard historical evidence. These sections I found more enthralling than the stuff about Noah, Jonah and the Whale and so on which, as I said, is just common sense (even among the shrinking pool of people who still call themselves Christian in the UK, according to recent census surveys).

This book, therefore, is heavily biased to the loony tunes old testament, but it is important to bear in mind that millions of people still believe in all of this bronze age stuff (particularly in the US) and it is these BIBLICAL FACTS that underpin the whole Bible - without the nonsense in the old testament the later stuff in the new testament doesn't make any sense either, or as a minimum cannot be relied upon as in any convincing way factual. The whole shakey pack of cards is built on these basic foundations and the author systematically takes a sledgehammer to these foundations with predictable conclusions.

Worth reading.

I have read many books which expose the fallacy of religion from every angle (cult tactics; science; history; DNA; maths; etc). This book is extremely well written and he covers just the right topics in the right sequence/process to educate the reader from the basics as to HOW people get seduced by the lies of the clergy; how the clergy retain control over the minds of devotees (great explanation of cognitive dissonance) and great overview of logical fallacies as used by defenders of faith. Then he analyses the content of the Bible - the bizarre stories and doctrines. KABOOM ! he explodes the myths and exposes the patent folly and nonsense of the Bible.
I so wish i read this book as a teenager - i could have saved so many man-hours, money and headspace by knowing that the Bible is such illogical, implausible, impossible, anti-science, nonsensical trash which portrays a deity which is worse than the worst dictator and mass murderer.
GREAT BOOK - i strongly recommend this book to friends and especially to the slaves of religion who need help and liberation.
Friends don't let friends suffer from delusions/false beliefs.

This is the most powerfully persuasive and concise book I have yet read on this subject and I have read many others,including Darwin, Dawkins, Dennett and many others.
In my opinion it is unbeatable and should be compulsory reading in all secondary schools.
For a man who was brought up as a regular practising Christian, in the USA, (a land where Christian fundamentalism and fanaticism is just as rife and dangerous,as in countries where Islam follows a similar trend), he presents a totally unbiased and impartial, strictly evidence based, critical appraisal of the Judaeo-christian scriptures.
He accepts only that evidence which is provable and rejects "faith statements" based on the fallacies of "believing what it says in the scriptures solely because it is allegedly the word of God". If you read the bible (old & new testaments) you owe it to yourself to read the arguments that oppose them, before making up your own mind.
Like the author, I too grew up in a Christian household and was indoctrinated for the first 30 years of my life. I regret that I never thought to question it, until my 62nd year and feel I have been living a delusion for the past 32 years. So I feel a little embittered, that I was misled for so long. Thanks Jason. Retired professional SW England, UK.