Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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296 of 312 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Let's get back to the book., June 14, 2000
For those of you who are interested in an actual evaluation ofthe book then by all means read this review. If you would prefer tosimply read about people preaching their religious views on-line then skip this review. The Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy is certainly controversial. The language is clear and the author is familiar with the subject manner. Most of the Biblical quotations are honest and not out of context. The index is also very good. I generally found the organization of the book to be well done except at certain points where the author needlessly restates an alleged contradiction. The author tends to be argumentative at several points in the text especially his concluding chapter. The book probably would have received five stars if the author had not included the final chapter. [Some of] the basic premise[s] of the book [are] as follows: 1)There are statements within the Bible that when examined together cannot be believed at the same time by the same individual without a gross amount of intellectual dishonesty.... 2) There are statements within the Bible which are violations of scientific principles (besides the miracles) found in astronomy; biology; mathematics; physics; and medicine (among others).... 3) There are certain acts of the characters found within this book, especially God/Jesus, which are ethically questionable and in many cases would easily be condemned as unethical acts if they had been committed by any other individual [such as war, assault and slavery].... 4) The main character God and/or Jesus is assumed by the author to be both incapable of error or contradiction; and unwilling to have ever committed an unethical act.... 5) Based upon these various violations of science, logic and ethics, the author states that the books of the Bible cannot be considered the infallible Word of God. Since God, being incapable of error, would not have given his human instruments incorrect information. Furthermore God would not have acted in such a way that his actions could be seen as morally repulsive. A further problem develops when one considers that God admits to decieving prophets in the past. How would one know if the inspiration one is receiving is God being deceptive or telling the truth? Or if it is God or Satan doing the inspiring? [And so on.] ...Since the Bible cannot be shown in its entirety to be the Word of God. Each statement found within the text must be examined for its truth or falsity and should only be believed if sufficient evidence supports it. The author finds little if anything in the way of supporting evidence to believe the claims found within the Bible are true. The author claims that the errors are so numerous in the text that there is strong reason to doubt that there is any truth to the Bible.
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104 of 115 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Thorough yet Disappointing Coverage., May 5, 2003
While this book seems to have gotten rave reviews from other readers, I was disappointed with the text (keep in mind I am not a Christian, either). I think the other reviews may be largely influenced by other *bad* books in this area, or by personal biases.This book was not worth the price for several reasons. For one, it is not nearly in-depth as it should be. McKinsey brings up a vast selection of errors but rarely addresses appologetic responses... and if he does, he does not address appologetic rebuttals to his response. Many of the things he brings up as points have reasons behind them that appear to be equally as valid as some of his reasons against them (metaphors, cultural explainations, etc). Furthmore, he appears to be reaching on many of his points. As one example, McKinsey makes the claim that the Bible cannot be true because one parable refers the mustard seed the smallest seed when it is, in fact, not. This seems just silly as the reference appears to be more of a litary hyperbole than a statement on botany. There are other examples similar to this one throughout the book. This book succeeds to showing good evidence that the bible is fallible, but because most of his arguments are far too shallow. Atheists who purchase this to gain "ammunition" are going to be frustrated when they receive appologetic responses for nearly every point he brings up (some rather logical, admittedly some not). Biblical scholars purchasing this book are going to be disappointed at the lack of depth. This books serves as a useful tool for basic arguments and a nice summary of biblical contradictions, but is in no way the be-all-end-all of biblical errancy books.
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80 of 89 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT BOOK, A MUST READ, August 30, 1999
By A Customer
Isn't it funny that some of the critics of this book that give it one star when obviously by their comments have not read it. In fear they try to bring the ratings down without trusting their logic to challenge the issues addressed. Unfortunately, they only show how biased and ignorant people can be when they believe in faith (or just because).The author could present the information in a more professional manner. However, there are points he makes that prove to me that the bible is to say the least poorly written and the old testament hardly supports the new testament. If the bible is poorly written then how can that be the word of God? After reading this book, the bible can only be perceived as well written to an individual does not read it seriously from an unbiased viewpoint. One of the issues Mckensy brings up is how Jesus refers to Isaiah as refering to him (page 409). When you read what jesus says and what Isaih really says it becomes apparent that the verse was manipulated to make it appear as a prediction of jesus. When one reads the chapter it is obvious it isn't about Jesus. Jesus changes the words and adds statements of healing the blind. If this is what Jesus, authors, and christians have to do to make people believe in their belief then I want no part of it. I want the truth for real and it amazes me how people who supposedly base their life on truth can convience themselves of obvious lies. I was not sure of my faith when I began to read this book and other books by the christian author McDowell. It appears the ones who claim to have the truth are the ones who are ignoring IMPORTANT well argued issues as if they never existed in defense of thier emotional attachments to their crazy beliefs. I simply want the truth and do not see how one can be convienced the bible has it after reading this book.
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