Lies and Absurdities within the Bible?

[RavEMasteR]

Well, like the title says, this thread is for debating about lies and absurdities within the Bible. In the end, the Bible will forever be upheld as evil/absurd/rubbish, or as truth/good.

To start it off, I'll provide a site as a massive resource against the Bible. Let us begin, shall we?

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/

The above site lists everything out by category, and I mean everything, good or bad.

Note that you can all try to debunk the idea that it's bad by providing a better intepretation of the stuff that's in the site.

Happy intepreting!

[The Hungry Atheist]

A quick comment on the Judas thing.

Matthew 27:5 reads: "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself."

Acts 1:18 reads: "Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

These two accounts can be reconciled, though why he would burst open like that after falling from the tree he was hanging from seems somewhat mysterious. But what is perhaps more worth noting is that, even if there is no outright contradiction here, neither passage gives the whole story. Matthew's description of Judas' death, taken on its own, would lead one to think that he hung himself from a tree, suffocated, and probably stayed hanging there for some time; there's no mention of any gushing of bowels. The description in Acts, however, when taken on its own again, does make it sound like a very different occurrence, like he just spontaneously burst open in some curious way. No mention is made of the hanging. Reading either one account could easily give a very misleading idea, then, of what apparently actually happened.

[Illyricum]

I was about to say who bought the field but I guess you will say judas only threw some of the money into the temple. He used the rest to buy the field. Then after he died the temple took the rest of the money and they also bought the field.

Well, actually, according to the Bible the priests bought the field:

"So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners." Matthew 27: 5-7

[Illyricum]

though why he would burst open like that after falling from the tree he was hanging from seems somewhat mysterious.

Not really. When an animal dies and sits in the heat it swells up, and if you were to throw a rock at it, or poke with a stick (in other words, put pressure on it) it would burst open (my dad, or maybe it was my dad's friends, actually did this with some dead cows when they were younger). I'm sure that is the is the same case with humans. Judas hanged himself, then, perhaps a couple of days later, the rope frayed or came untied, and he fell and burst open. Rather disgusting if you ask me.

[concerro]

though why he would burst open like that after falling from the tree he was hanging from seems somewhat mysterious.

Not really. When an animal dies and sits in the heat it swells up, and if you were to throw a rock at it, or poke with a stick (in other words, put pressure on it) it would burst open (my dad, or maybe it was my dad's friends, actually did this with some dead cows when they were younger). I'm sure that is the is the same case with humans. Judas hanged himself, then, perhaps a couple of days later, the rope frayed or came untied, and he fell and burst open. Rather disgusting if you ask me.

Acts 1:18 With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.

[The Hungry Atheist]

Not really. When an animal dies and sits in the heat it swells up, and if you were to throw a rock at it, or poke with a stick (in other words, put pressure on it) it would burst open (my dad, or maybe it was my dad's friends, actually did this with some dead cows when they were younger). I'm sure that is the is the same case with humans. Judas hanged himself, then, perhaps a couple of days later, the rope frayed or came untied, and he fell and burst open. Rather disgusting if you ask me.

Okay, that sounds plausible, it can certainly be shown that the scenario described does potentially makes sense. But my point is that what you just described isn't actually what it says in the Bible. The account in Acts makes no mention of his body hanging around and bloating up for a couple of days, it just says "he fell headlong, his body burst open". It's only providing part of the story, and either account on its own is very misleading.