3 out of 4 stars
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The Bible Dilemma is a non-fiction book by M. L. Gutierrez.
The subtitle of this book perfectly sums it up: “Historical contradictions, misquoted statements, failed prophecies and oddities in the Bible.” The author begins by going through the Old Testament, with great emphasis on Genesis. He challenges the stories about the creation of this world and the Great Flood. He then moves onto the New Testament, covering Jesus’s crucifixion and questioning if he really is the Messiah. Along the way, he places doubt on God’s power, knowledge, and the notion of his perfection. The author points out fables and doctrines that may have been borrowed from to write the Bible. He also highlights unfulfilled promises and historical inaccuracies. This book doesn’t just deal with the major questions about the Bible. It heavily nitpicks at the minor details, like inconsistencies in lineage and subtle differences across Bible versions.
The structure of the book is an outline, which makes it very easy to read. The author often poses a question and then compares two Bible verses that seem to contradict each other. Sometimes there is a brief note at the end of a point to expand on the idea or provide background information. There are some charts that list things like genealogies.
The book is filled with dark and crude humor, which keeps things interesting. This was the best aspect of the book. The author shows that God punished the Philistines by giving them hemorrhoids in their "secret parts.” He also points out that David bought his wife by giving the king the foreskins of 200 men he slew. Another of the author’s strong suits is posing interesting questions, like why plants were created before the sun. In many ways, the book goes beyond common knowledge. The author provides fascinating information from historical, sociological, and scientific standpoints. One such example is a more realistic explanation about the parting of the Red Sea. Though the author’s purpose is to debunk religion, he does so in a non-aggressive way. This was both surprising and refreshing.
While there are a lot of good things about this book, there is also some bad. One major problem is that there are ellipses in the verses the author presents. He cuts out a lot of words and potentially takes them out of context in order to make his point. The verses don’t always back up the claims he is trying to make. This was the worst aspect of the book. Some sections from earlier in the book unnecessarily appear later in the book. Additionally, some of the author’s notes are just restatements of the point he just made. While there is a bibliography at the end, there are no citations in the text so the reader can directly look up the information the author used. Occasionally, the author is mistaken in his usage of verb tenses.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. Sometimes it’s convincing; other times it’s not. Despite its faults, it manages to be humorous and intriguing. The author expands on a lot of questions that I’ve had about the Bible through the years; he also made me ponder many new questions I hadn’t before considered. I would caution the reader to use this as a reference book for one’s own studies rather than taking all of its content at face value.
If you tend to stay away from the topic of religion altogether, then this isn’t the book for you. Religious skeptics would most likely appreciate this book. I think it would also appeal to believers who are curious about the seeming errors in the Bible.
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The Bible Dilemma
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