God Knows Shit
I recently received the following argument, “In Deuteronomy 23:9–14, we learn that human wastes were to be buried, away from human dwellings. Today we call this sanitary waste disposal, and its benefits are widely understood but not always practiced—especially in poverty-stricken areas — and God put this principle in the Bible thousands of years before mankind’s science understood its benefit!”
This argument illustrates just how stupid some Christians think humans are. Not only is this argument ridiculous, it also suggests that people are so stupid that we couldn’t possibly have figured out on our own without divine guidance that our waste products might not be good for us to keep around. Maybe people noticed that shit smells… well, shitty. Maybe we have evolved to the point where our noses can help us to protect ourselves from possible illnesses. Maybe people noticed that those who slept next to shit all the time or who ate shit ended up getting sick. No, we needed God to tell us these things.
Democritus came up with Atomic Theory 2500 years ago and yet modern science didn’t accept the Atomic Theory until the 19th century. Is this proof that the Oracle of Delphi is real and that Zeus is the one true God? I don’t really think so. I think it proves that people are smart and cleaver and sometimes can formulate good ideas that go largely ignored until hundreds and even thousands of years later.
The Bible has many ideas, which certainly were very good. The Hebrews valued scholarship and in some cases critical thinking. They made many observations and realized many scientific facts about the world. Claiming that those facts came from a personified deity was not one of their good ideas. But I guess it probably helped in getting people to follow those ideas and in that sense they were useful. Today, we don’t need the fear of an all powerful, angry, and vengeful deity to tell us that it may not be healthy to eat shit, because if you eat shit you may die. Plus, it probably doesn’t taste very good.
Filed under: Religion
