Is the bible original / unique

oeb

Hey guys, I stumbled on an interesting blog post just there. It makes the claim that alot of the content of the bible is directly ripped off from earlier publications.

What do you think?
http://www.anatheist.net/2008/09/is-the-old-testament-unique-or-original/

Dades

I'd like to dump this into Christianity, but I think I'll spare them. :pac:

I have no idea about the originality of the bible, and I don't claim to be an expert. In fact, afaic, the exact origins of one particular book aren't a definitive factor of atheism in general.

oeb

Well, I think it does relate to athiesm. One of the claims of christianity / judaism etc is that the bible is the word of god. That it's contents were dictated to the writers by god etc. IE "How do we know there is a god? Cause the bible says so. How do we know the bible can be trusted? Cause god wrote it. How do we know he wrote it? Cause it says so."

Can it have been written by god if it's a blatent rip off of previous works?

Mr. Presentable

Important to remember is the bible is a collection of books. They are collected to create a cohesive whole. You could just as easily create a completely different bible by using different ancient works.

Dades

oeb wrote: »

Well, I think it does relate to athiesm. One of the claims of christianity / judaism etc is that the bible is the word of god. That it's contents were dictated to the writers by god etc. IE "How do we know there is a god? Cause the bible says so. How do we know the bible can be trusted? Cause god wrote it. How do we know he wrote it? Cause it says so."

I'm not saying it isn't a factor, but it's still only one of any number of holy writings. There's more to atheism than debunking Christianity!

oeb

Dades wrote: »

I'm not saying it isn't a factor, but it's still only one of any number of holy writings. There's more to atheism than debunking Christianity!

I do not argue about that fact

Soul Winner

Has Christianity been debunked? When? How? Where? and by whom? I wanna know and be done with it :eek:

CerebralCortex

Soul Winner wrote: »

Has Christianity been debunked? When? How? Where? and by whom? I wanna know and be done with it :eek:

Well we're atheists we don't care as long as we don't have to be subjected to any policy with a Christian/Muslim/insert religion here bias.

Fanny Cradock

There are a great deal of sentences containing the words 'seems to' in that article.

CerebralCortex

What do you mean?

Fanny Cradock

'Since Genesis seems to borrow...'
'...it seems to be derived from'
'...sounds suspiciously like'
'...seem to derive'
'...seem less likely'

Every paragraph contains accusations backed-up with these limp-wristed qualifiers. The author should either back the claims up with evidence and drop the subjectivity or not make the claims in the first place.

robindch

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

'Since Genesis seems to borrow...'

Since nobody knows for sure that this has happened, it's dishonest to claim certainty where it does not exist.

Galvasean

Remember how agnostics don't like to deal in absolutes..