The Bible of Bibles; Or, Twenty-Seven "Divine" Revelations. Kersey Graves

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СКАЧАТЬ The Bible teaches us that day and night were created three days before the sun. Every school-boy now knows that it is the revolution of the earth upon its axis that causes day and night; and, but for the existence of the sun, there could be no day and night. If Moses' God was so ignorant, he had better never have wakened out of his eternity of darkness.

      10. The Bible teaches that the earth came into existence three days before the sun; but science teaches us that the earth is a child or offshoot of the sun. Hence it could be equally true to say a son was born three days before his father.

      11. "And the earth was without form, and void" (Gen. i. 2); but philosophy teaches that nothing can exist without form, or when void. The declaration brings to mind the Scotchman's definition of "nothing,"—"a footless stocking without a leg." We have an idea of a thing which does not exist.

      12. "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. i. 2). Here we are taught that the original state of the earth was that of water. But geology teaches its original constituents was fire or fusion; that water did not exist, and could not exist, in it, or on it, for millions of ages. Professor Agassiz says our earth was once in a state of igneous fusion, without water, without rain, and even without an atmosphere ("Geological Sketches," i. 2). And even the pious, God-fearing Hugh Miller says that "the solid earth was at one time, from center to circumference, a mass of molten matter" ("Lectures on Geology," 256). Here we have geology against theology.

      13. God spent a day making a firmament, by which he "divided the waters from the waters." If it had then stated that he spent a day in making moonshine, or one day in making breath for Adam, it would have been as sensible; for the firmament is as truly a part of the earth (being eliminated from it) as our breath is a part of our bodies.

      14. "Divided the waters from the waters." Here is disclosed a belief which prevailed in various Oriental and heathen nations, that the earth exists between two large lakes, or sheets of water; and that the firmament is a solid floor, which holds the water up, and prevents it from falling, and inundating the earth; and, being supplied with doors and windows, when God wants it to rain he opens the windows (the Bible says "the windows of heaven were opened," see Gen. vii. 11). He pours it down by opening the windows, and stops it by shutting them up. "The windows of heaven were stopped" (Gen. viii. 2). How fully is the heathen tradition disclosed here!

      15. We are told that God gathered "the waters under heaven together unto one place" (Gen. i. 9). How ignorant he must have been of geography! He evidently had not studied the science, or had not traveled much, or he would have known the waters under heaven never have been "gathered together unto one place," but exist in many places, as the two hundred large lakes prove.

      16. The Bible tells us, that, when God created the vegetable kingdom, he ordered each species of vegetation to "bring forth after its kind" (Gen. i. 11). Can we suppose that apple-trees would have borne buckeyes, or mullein-stalks produced pumpkins, or any thing foreign to their nature, if the command had not been given for each to bring forth after its kind?

      17. According to the Bible, the vegetable kingdom was created before the animal; but the learned geologist Hitchcock, although a Christian by profession, in his "Elements of Geology" says, "An examination of the rocks shows us that animals were created as early as vegetables" (and he might have said much earlier). And yet the Bible says vegetables were created on the third day, and animals on the fifth (see Gen. i.).

      18. The Bible represents vegetables as coming into existence before the sun, but philosophy teaches that they could neither germinate nor grow without the warming and vivifying influence of the sun.

      19. The Bible tells us that "God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and God set them in the firmament to give light to the earth" (Gen. i. 16, 17). That is, he made two round balls, and then stuck them into a hole scooped out of the firmament for the purpose. This seems to be the idea. Here is disclosed the most egregious ignorance of astronomy. Think of that stupendous solar luminary, as much larger than this pygmy planet as a man is larger than a mouse, being hung up or stuck up above us for our sole accommodation! How sublimely ridiculous!

      20. The Bible represents the great world-builder, the almighty-, architect, as spending five days in plodding and toiling at this little mole-hill of ours before he got it finished up to his notion, and then made such a bad job of it that he repented for having undertaken it.

      21. But when he came to make the countless worlds, the vast suns, and systems of suns, which roll their massive forms in every direction around the earth, these were all made in a few hours. "And he made the stars also." This text tells the whole story of the origin of the boundless planetary system, comprising millions of worlds larger than our planet. What superlative ignorance of astronomy Moses' God manifests!

      22. Moses is awarded great credit by Bible believers for opposing polytheism, and teaching the existence of but one God: but it would have been more to his credit if he had stuck to a belief in a plurality of Gods; for it would take a million of such Gods as his imagination has created a thousand years to make such a universe as astronomers have brought to light since he wrote.

      23. The language, "Let us make man in our own image" (Gen. 1. 26), seems to imply that there was an association of gods,—a company of almighty mechanics, who had formed a copartnership to do up a big job.

      24. If man was made in the image of God, why was he cursed for eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge in order to be like God?

      25. According to the Bible, God became so tired in the business of world-making that he had to take a rest of a whole day (and perhaps took a nap also) when the job was completed; but geology and philosophy both teach that creation never was begun, and never will be finished, but is going on all the time. Hence new species of animals and vegetables are constantly coming into existence.

      26. The Bible represents the entire universe as being created less than six thousand years ago; but science teaches us that it has been in existence for millions of years.

      27. A large volume of scientific facts has been accumulated by scientists, showing that even our earth, one of the youngest of the planets, is at least several hundred thousand years old. Look at a few of the facts which go to prove it. The coral reefs of Florida are estimated by Professor Agassiz to be one hundred and thirty-five thousand years old. Charles Lyell estimates the delta of the Mississippi Valley to be at least one hundred thousand years old. Four growths of cypress-trees far below the surface of the ground, and situated one above another, have been discovered near New Orleans, whose successive growths must have occupied a period of at least one hundred and fifty thousand years. So much for the agreement of geology and Bible chronology.

      28. But we are told that a day in the Bible means a thousand years. Then, as the sabbath day constitutes one of the days spoken of in the Bible, and was provided as a day of rest, Christians and Bible believers should rest a thousand years at a time; and, as God rested a whole day (a thousand years), he must have been as tired of resting as he was of world-making. Why do the figures "4004 B.C." stand at the top of the first page of the Bible, if a thousand years mean one day?

      29. The Bible teaches that whales, fishes, and birds were made on the same day; but geology assures us that fishes came into existence long before fowls.

      30. The Bible teaches that beasts and creeping, things were all made on the fifth day of creation; but geology tells us that reptiles and creeping things crawled upon the earth millions of years before beasts came into existence.

      31. The Bible represents man as coming into existence about six thousand years ago; but human bones have recently been discovered in the vicinity of New Orleans which Dr. Dowler estimates to be at least СКАЧАТЬ