The Bible Myth

When referring to the bible I often call it a book of myths. But a close examination of this book shows the careful reader that it is a little bit more than that. An anonymous poster commented on my blog that the "legend of Samson is true." In my reply I realized that he used the word "legend" and decided to look up its dictionary definition.

Legend:

1. old story: a story that has been passed down for generations, especially one that is presented as history but is unlikely to be true
2. old stories: a group of stories presented as history but unlikely to be true

Myth:
     1.ancient story: a traditional story about heroes or supernatural beings, often attempting to explain
        the origins of natural phenomena or aspects of human behavior

Based on the two definitions I have provided above the Bible can be called both a book of legends and myths. As a legend it is thought by many to be accurate and historically true, although anyone who tries to verify it find themselves unable to do so. I have had people try to tell me that because archeologists have verified the existence of the city of Jericho that that verifies the truth of the scriptures. But all that really verifies in this case is that there was a city of Jericho dating back to the times in which the story was written.

Creative fiction authors often use actual places and people in their stories. They basically are weaving their tales into a historical backdrop. I think that this same technique has been used by the authors of the bible as well. They have woven fictional tales into history and many people today have been led to believe that those stories were absolutely true when in fact they are nothing more than old legends. The bible is full of tales that have been handed down from generation to generation as historical fact

 Historical events of the past

History:

1. what has happened: the past events of a period in time or in the life or development of a people, an institution, or a place
2. study of past events: the branch of knowledge that records and analyzes past events
3. record of events: a chronological account of past events of a period or in the life or development of a people, an institution, or a place

We all know that history in the case of conflicts is usually written by the victor of said conflicts, and in some cases it is not totally reliable. But a lot of things in history such as rulers and places etc. can be confirmed. Since the bible is a book of myths full of fantastical tales and lot's of what theists refer to as "miracles" it is easy to see that it is not a historical book in the traditional sense.

Many things in the bible such as the resurrection, the existence of Christ, Noah's ark,etc. cannot be confirmed utilizing the conventional methods of history. I have read many books on the historicity of Christ and have found that outside of the gospels the evidence for Christ is sketchy and scarce. There is actually no evidence of the existence of Christ available when he supposedly lived outside of the scriptures.

Miracles in the bible cannot be confirmed mainly because they supposedly occurred in the past and because they only happened on one occasion. Finally, the bible has been proven on numerous occasions to be scientifically and historically unreliable.

  
Actual history writers of the period did not bother writing about the amazing events narrated in the bible and I think that this fact alone serves as evidence that the entire book is a book based on legends and myths of a particular culture and race of people. It is my opinion that the bible should be filed in libraries and book stores all over the world in the section labeled myth. It is time that people outgrow these insane and utterly irrational beliefs.

Note: All word definitions are taken from the online Bing dictionary.