Biblical misconceptions

[GoodQueenAlysanne]

Not a Bible or religion bashing thread!

I saw a post on fb about someone who'd actually read their bible, and realised there were more than x2 of some animals loaded onto the ark, and their mind being blown by that.

I've been googling and there seem to be loads, it makes me want to actually whip out a Bible and start reading it properly.

Some of the top of my head, I already knew about are

Hell.

The true nature of angels, and what they really look like.

Who wrote the Torah, the Gospels and various other books.

That the Lords prayer was supposed to be copied, and not just read as an example.

Mary Magdalene being a prostitute.

How Esther became a Queen.

David and Jonathan being "friends"

There are bound to be tons more.

At the feeding of the 5000 there were 5000 men present plus women and children, so really it was feeding the quite a lot more than 5000!

And there was feeding of the 5000, plus feeding of the 4000. They're referenced together at one point as clearly separate occasions.

The most obvious one is the "three" wise men. Just wise men from the East with three named presents.
And on the same story, the wise men came up to two years after Jesus had been born-that's why Herod had all children under 2yo killed, rather than just the new born babies.

Not exactly what you were asking, but I'm taking part in a fascinating course about the bible at the minute. The first session was all about the inconsistencies and how it contradicts itself all over the place, which as its a set of books written by different authors, its bound to. It's sort of an anthology of different people's interpretations of Christianity (most of it written before Christianity was even a thing). The point of the session though was that the main themes are constant throughout so we should be focusing on that rather than the specifics.

The Christmas story is full of differences between what is 'commonly believed ' and what he Bible says or rather does not say. Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem but it does not say they had a donkey with them. The wise men actually found the baby in a house with Mary his mother. Nowhere does it say Jesus was born on a stable, just that they used a manger as a cradle, just as in later centauries people used a drawer for the same purpose.
Another story that comes to mind is Jonah who was not swallowed by a whale but by a big fish
I'm sure there are others. I'll have a think.

The plagues were actually the eruption of Mount Thera. The locusts, frogs, cattle etc swarmed to escape the ash. In Egypt, the firstborn sons slept downstairs, so when the fumes of the volcano passed through, they would have been killed but the people upstairs spared.

@sheleg I've never heard that theory, I know many archaeologists and historians now doubt the exodus story due to lack of evidence, and some say mistranslations mean either the dates or locations etc are off, if it did. That theory would make so much sense (and according to Google would place the last "plague", at around 1600 BCE?).

I'm looking forward to doing some more reading on some of these. I think I'll start with re-reading the Gospels, as there seem to be quite a few misconceptions there, and I've never read them directly from a Bible, in order. I've read before that Jesus most likely wasn't born on December 25th, and perhaps not during winter at all, but we celebrate his birthday then, because it was a way to integrate an earlier pagan festival, into Christianity.

*did happen.

@Sheleg

The plagues were actually the eruption of Mount Thera. The locusts, frogs, cattle etc swarmed to escape the ash. In Egypt, the firstborn sons slept downstairs, so when the fumes of the volcano passed through, they would have been killed but the people upstairs spared.

That is fascinating! Definitely going to look into this more.

Great thread OP

It's interested me too. Off to look for articles/podcasts now.
Any links, anyone?

Have been trying to read the whole Bible but it often doesn't make sense to me.

So far I've only posted things that afaik, really are misconceptions, but have seen found more I haven't had time to fact check yet, so apologies in advance if anything is inaccurate.

serene-musings.blogspot.com/2013/06/10-common-biblical-misconceptions.html?m=1

listverse.com/2008/04/20/top-10-misconceptions-about-the-bible/

thefederalist.com/2015/01/06/the-eight-biggest-myths-about-the-bible/

This article is interesting, but a bit more theologicaly contentious

leewoof.org/christian-beliefs-that-the-bible-doesnt-teach/

*have seen found

I think in the Bible there is only a reference to not eating from the tree of knowledge, it doesn't mention apples.

There were 613 commandments not 10.

humans celebrated the turning of the year probably for millenia so remembering the birth of the 'bringer of light' on that date seems to be a natural choice.
It never was meant to be an actual birtdate

I saw a post on fb about someone who'd actually read their bible, and realised there were more than x2 of some animals loaded onto the ark, and their mind being blown by that
My mind is blown that someone would actually believe that

According to this article, the bible doesn't forbid sex outside marriage, but rather only sexual deviancy (incest, beastiality, using prostitutes etc)🤔

www.state-journal.com/sponsored/what-is-the-correct-meaning-of-fornication-in-the-bible-neverthirsty/article_a789107c-03de-11eb-864c-c3b93647869c.html

This article suggests that maturbation isn't ever clearly stated as being sinful.

www.christianity.com/wiki/sin/masturbation-a-sin.html

Jesus was probably born in late spring or early summer. The Romans were not stupid, they would not have required people to travel long distances for a census when the roads were mostly mud and the shipping lanes closed due to winter storms

"My mind is blown that someone would actually believe that"

My son was surprised when I told him this too, (well, he is every time actually, as he keeps forgetting...). I would believe someone found this surprising. But yeah the "mind blown" bit is obviously exaggerated, and hyperbolic, so the whole topic is clearly just a pointless, right? .

I agree with Whenwillow I love reading, but find the bible a real slog. I find it easier to pick a specific "story" or specific few chapters to read at a time. I've tried reading it Genesis, Exodus etc, but I always get fed up and give up. I've been thinking about looking for an audiobook with a good narrator, and skipping ahead past all the begats?

*a pointless load of nonsense,

Thanks for the links OP

That money is the route of all evil. The Bible says that love of money is the route of all of evil. Money itself can be a tool for good and there are several examples such as the woman who have her last coins.

I'm more interested in who decided what to put in the Bible in the first place. It didn't appear out of nowhere - people had to choose what to put in and what to leave out. How many other gospels were left out, and what do they say?

BrownOwlknowsbest that makes sense, but I think it's worse than that. It seems that there wasn't a census at all. At least not near that time and that they wouldn't have required people to go home for a census anyway.

@Sheleg

The plagues were actually the eruption of Mount Thera. The locusts, frogs, cattle etc swarmed to escape the ash. In Egypt, the firstborn sons slept downstairs, so when the fumes of the volcano passed through, they would have been killed but the people upstairs spared.

well that is an interesting theory, and worth investigating.

But I assume that the OP started the htread about the discrepancies between what is written on the page and what people think is written in it.

Back to the 3 kings

1. they are kings
2. It doesn't say they are men
3. it doesn't say how many

So it could have been 10 wise women! And this isn't that unlikely as the 'Magi' in the eastern courts were a mix of men and women.