Dissecting the Bible

[Unbeliever]

A guy calling himself "Doc Skeptic" has written a very good book (Dissecting the Bible), about all the medical miracles in the Bible, and it's really very good. I've just finished my first reading, and was wondering if anyone else here had also read it.

The "Doc" says he used to be a very devout Christian, but has since become an atheist. If only more of them would do the same!

 =D>

[stromboli]

http://www.amazon.com/Dissecting-Bible- ... 897&sr=1-1

[ApostateLois]

Can you post a couple of examples from his book?

[Solitary]

I haven't read it, but I did work as an orderly, instrument technician, orthopedic technician, and in the emergency ward of a hospital when still a teenager. I don't see how anything in the Bible could be cured medically accept if a condition was psychosomatic and the cure would be the placebo effect which can be done with hypnosis.    Solitary

Here is what the Bible says about medical science:

First of all, if you get sick, its your own damn fault.

If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee. -- Exodus 15:26

When you are sick, rely on faith-based medicine. Prayer and faith alone will cure you.

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. --James 5:14-15

For as it says in the Psalms,

The Lord ... healeth all thy diseases. -- Psalm 103:2-3

And as Jesus said to the woman who touched his garment,

Thy faith hath made thee whole. -- Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, Luke 8:48
Or just touch your religious leader's handkerchief or something.
So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. -- Acts 19:12

But whatever you do, don't go to a doctor. God is insulted if you trust science more than faith.

And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians. -- 2 Chronicles 16:12

[Screaming Mime]

I can see different types of healing beliefs here; some are more problematic than others. One is the attribution of "praiseworthy" characteristics to God as a way to glorify him, as is commonly done with deities. (The psalmic example.) The other seems to be superstition, like witch doctor beliefs in many tribal cultures (anointing with oil; this one is a bit more disturbing because is a literal belief about the scientific world). The third seems to be beliefs dating from the age of the Deutoronomic historian (ie. before hell was invented, and God was believed to punish "wrongdoing" in this life and reward the "righteous"); in this worldview, you couldn't really get sick if you were an obedient servant of Yahweh. (More disturbing still because people are judged for suffering they can't help, like they are in the Hindu caste system for being born into a certain class.)

The last is the belief that not only CAN God heal diseases, it is WRONG to trust in anyone else to; the most disturbing of all I think because it actually sees relying on proven scientific methods as wrong. Reminds me of the "rely on Allah alone" doctrine of Islam, where even invoking the name of hope is considered blasphemy, only taken way too far. But even when religious people don't go that far it can be harmful. My Dad actually refuses to work with very devout Christians (and he is fairly religious himself) because they believe that prayer can rescue them from all their business problems, leading to inaction that drags everyone down in the end.

Of course most Christians nowadays have common sense and realize that you should "trust God and tie your camel down". They don't really believe in an interventionist God, at least one who can be trusted to interfere, as much as they claim to. I don't hold it against them, especially if they're the sort who won't become atheists anyway. Hypocrisy of religious people doesn't only lead to bad things...

[Jason78]

Since the Bible is the living word of God...

Doesn't that make this vivisection?

[Colanth]

I don't see how anything in the Bible could be cured medically accept if a condition was psychosomatic and the cure would be the placebo effect which can be done with hypnosis.

There are diseases that are self-limiting, and those that are real but spontaneously "cure" for some reason.

On a related note, I never understood why people like Christian Scientists don't accept that God created doctors for them to go to (as a sort of intermediary to God).

[ApostateLois]

Since the Bible is the living word of God...

Doesn't that make this vivisection?

Sometimes, one has to be cruel to be kind.  :)