As a supplement to my review of the Bible I shall present some arguments, thirty-six in number, against the divine origin and in support of the human origin of the Bible. The brevity and incompleteness of many of them will, I admit, justify the conclusion not proven. I have space for little more than a mere statement of them. The evidence supporting them will be found in the preceding chapters of this book.
In a discussion of this question the champion of the Bible is placed at a tremendous disadvantage—is handicapped as it were—at the very commencement by this fact: While both the advocates and opponents of Bible divinity admit that man exists and has written books, it has not been proven that a God even exists, much less that he has written or inspired a book. But let us concede, for the sake of argument, that there is a God; that he is all-powerful, all-wise, and all-just; and that he can write or inspire a book. Is the Bible the work of such a Being? It is not. The following are my arguments:
1. Its mechanical construction and appearance. The Bible is printed with type made by man, on paper made by man, and bound in a volume by man. In its mechanical construction and appearance it does not differ from other books.
2. The character of its contents. The contents of this book consist of thoughts—human thoughts—every thought bearing unmistakable evidence of having emanated from the human mind. There is not a thought expressed in the Bible, the meaning of which can be comprehended, that is beyond the power of man to conceive. If it contains thoughts, the meaning of which cannot be comprehended, they are not a revelation, and are self-evidently human.
3. The manner in which its contents were communicated to man. These thoughts are expressed in human language. The Bible originally appeared, it is claimed, in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages, two of them obscure languages of Western Asia. The president of the United States does not issue an important proclamation in the Cherokee or Tagalese language, and the ruler of the universe would not have issued a message intended for all mankind in the most obscure languages of the world. Had he given a message to man he would have provided a universal language for its transmission.
4. Lack of divine supervision in its translation into other tongues. Failing to provide a universal language for its transmission, God would at least have supervised its translation into other languages. Only in this way could its inerrancy and divinity have been preserved. Yet no divine supervision has been exercised over the translators, the transcribers, and the printers of this book. Divine supervision, it is admitted, was confined to the original writers.
5. Not given to man until at a late period in his existence. This is an argument advanced by Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon rejected the Bible. He said that if it had been given to man at the creation he might have accepted it, but that its late appearance proved to him that it was of human origin.
6. Not given as a guide to all mankind, but only to an insignificant portion of it. Not only has the Bible been confined to a small period of man’s existence, it is nearly all addressed to one small race of earth’s inhabitants. While Christians affirm that it is a universal message intended for all, its doctrines and ceremonies pertain to the Jews. This is wholly true of the Old Testament, and, with the exception of a few doubtful passages, true of the Four Gospels, the chief books of the New Testament. Now, is it reasonable to suppose that this great and just All-Father, as he is called, would for centuries take into his special confidence and care a few of his children and ignore and neglect the others?
7. It deals for the most part, not with the works of God, but with the works of man. What man does and knows is not a divine revelation. Paine says: “Revelation, therefore, cannot be applied to anything done upon earth, of which man himself is the actor or witness; and consequently all the historical and anecdotal part of the Bible, which is almost the whole of it, is not within the meaning and compass of the word revelation, and therefore is not the word of God.”
8. But one of many Bibles. There are many Bibles. The world is divided into various religious systems. The adherents of each system have their sacred book, or Bible. Brahmins have the Vedas and Puranas, Buddhists the Tripitaka, Zoroastrians the Zend Avesta, Confucians the five King, Mohammedans the Koran, and Christians the Holy Bible. The adherents of each claim that their book is a revelation from God—that the others are spurious. Now, if the Christian Bible were a revelation—if it were God’s only revelation, as affirmed—would he allow these spurious books to be imposed upon mankind and delude the greater portion of his children?