Willful Misrepresentation of the Bible

Atheists and other Secularists willfully misrepresent the Bible, taking stories out of context to prove whatever point they want. In my discussions with these people, the foundation of their argument is that what’s in the Bible is what’s advocated by Believers. So all the rape and sodomy, lies and other bad behaviors is what Believers justify as acceptable in their [atheists] view. A couple examples would be the story of Sodom and Gomorrah when Lot offers his daughters to the mob outside his house to protect the travelers he had as guests, or the story in Judges (Chapter 19) when there was a similar situation, and again daughters were offered. Ultimately, and oversimplified, these are stories of what happens when we turn our backs to God. In many of my discussions with atheists, they forward these stories as advocacy for demeaning and raping women, and other stories as advocating despicable behavior; as if religious people have that market cornered.

Here is a story from pagan, polytheistic society. Using the same advocacy principle, is this about it being sanctioned behavior?

Plutarch writes this story circa 730’s BCE:

“[Archias] could not win over the boy (Actaeon, with whom he was infatuated), so he decided to kidnap him. He gathered together many friends and servants and went on a ‘komos’ (a group of drunken men in the streets at night after a party) against the home of Melissus [Actaeon’s father] and tried to extract the youth. But the father and his people fought back, and the neighbors as well ran out and engaged the attackers in a tug-of-war, so that Actaeon was pulled apart and killed. Archias’s party then made themselves scarce.”

Usually these “komos” or “revellings” were tolerated. Would one, using the advocacy principle, say that this was advocating murder, homosexuality, pedophilia, or rape? I’m positing the absurd to show the absurd. This is only a story of a bad event. The stories at the beginning of this piece were also stories of bad events, representing unspeakable behavior by everybody involved. From the Judeo-Christian perspective, they represent what happens when humanity turns their back on God.

The Apostle Paul, stating what we get when we have a society rebelling against God:

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

An atheist friend criticizing Christians’ behavior said she wished Christians would read their own Bible. I wish atheists would. Christians do read it at whatever level they can, and often fall short of the ideal of Christian understanding, belief and behavior. Often we misunderstand the Bible. That’s easy to do; it’s really complex, and rich, and full of everything about life. But they don’t willfully lie about what’s in it; and if it isn’t willful lying, then the criticizers should take some time to understand what’s being said themselves, before attacking what they don’t understand.