God’s Word Is A Child’s Toy

It’s been a little while since I’ve shared here. I’ve been busy with another project and also enjoying some holiday time with the family. I haven’t spent much time reading posts on here or commenting. It’s not that I don’t want to, but my time is quite limited. That being said, on to my post…

Like many others, I was raised to believe in the Bible. I was taught that the “word of God” is contained in the pages of this supposedly “holy” book. I was raised to believe and had these beliefs reinforced by the church. I was taught that the evidence was rock solid and irrefutable. I am here to tell you that I was wrong. Those that taught me were wrong. The Bible is wrong.

Here’s how it works: The Bible is said to contain truths. Not just any truths, but God’s truths. That would imply that these truths are universal. Everyone should be able to read and understand them to be from God. Yet, we don’t. Why not? We certainly should all be in agreement if these words truly were inspired by God to teach the whole world. There are unending interpretations of these words that are said to be “plain to see” and that “even a child could understand them.” Why is it that the Old Testament is disregarded by a huge portion of believers? Why is it that the contradictions of the Bible are swept under the rug by the majority, but still cause inner turmoil among some? Why is it that so many of us believe for a long time, but lose faith and never regain it? Why isn’t “God’s word” strong enough to pull us back in? Why? Because God’s Word is as solid as a cheaply made children’s toy. Let me explain with a few photos from my recent holiday experience with my two youngest boys:

At first, the Package is enticing. The contents seem interesting and full of promise. You may have heard good things about this product. For such a minimal investment, the rewards seem too good to be true.

Then you open the package and realize there are a lot of useless parts. So, in order to make it work for you, you need to trim away at the parts you don’t need until you are left with the parts you have been instructed to keep. These are the “essential bits.” The rest is not relevant. It’s fine to trim away and toss out the unimportant “extra” pieces. However, it takes time to trim each unnecessary part and you had better be careful. Trim too much and it may just not function properly. And whose job is it to trim? The creator of the product? Nope. It’s up to the consumer to do all of the work for them.

Now that the excess has been trimmed away, the product can be used right away, right? Nope again. Now you have to follow the instructions within. At least they are clear and straightforward, right? Not so much. There are contradictions that cannot be reconciled. There are parts that don’t add up when compared to other parts. Sometimes there are two pieces of information about the same thing that are supposed to be identical, but are clearly in conflict with one another. We’re just expected to “chalk it up to human error” and move on. We are supposed to ignore the fact that the one who made the product, who is supposed to know what they are doing, somehow made obvious mistakes.

We are supposed to ignore that some things in the “instruction manual” are completely different than others even thought they are describing the same thing. For example, notice how the numbers for the stickers for the toy following 9 in the image above, are 10, 11, 12 and 13. Compare that with the image below, which is the actual sticker page after I used the stickers. They are supposed to be identical. Notice any discrepancies?

Of course, I did figure it out and the stickers were placed on the correct pieces. It wasn’t a big deal that after 9, they had printed 16, 17, 18 and 19 instead of 10, 11, 12 and 13. It was clearly human error and I can excuse that. But this is a toy, not the “word of God.” Human error in the Bible is inexcusable and not indicative of an all-knowing being. Look at the Gospels and compare all of the details. Do these discrepancies matter? Yes, they show a pattern of error and poor “witnessing” that call into question the veracity of the entire story. Can you still make the Bible work for you? Maybe, but there’s a catch:

This product CAN be trimmed to fit your needs. The errors CAN be excused and we CAN pretend they’re no big deal. This shiny new toy CAN bring happiness…for a little while. But soon, the toy will break. The flimsy parts holding it together will begin to show cracks. The shine will fade and the user will lose interest after it breaks beyond repair. Who is to blame for this? I’ll tell you. Those peddling cheap goods as “incredible deals.” They should be ashamed. But at the same time, we need to be able to spot the weaknesses of the products that we bring into our lives. If it seems flimsy at best, it’s a safe bet that we should avoid it. We need to be smarter consumers. Even if some of us think it’s the best thing in the world just for a moment…

That’s it for now. Just a few thoughts as we wrap up the holiday season. I hope everyone is doing well. To all who are reading this, I wish you a happy and healthy new year. I’ll be posting regularly again at some point in the new year. Take care.