Book Review Written November 7, 2019
Deceptions and Myths of the Bible, By Lloyd Graham
Kindle Edition (496 Pages)

"Is the “Holy Bible” holy? Is it “the word of God”? And can it be disproved? There is nothing “holy” about the Bible, nor is it “the word of God.” It was not written by God-inspired saints, but by power-seeking priests. Who but priests consider sin the paramount issue? Who but priests write volumes of religious rites and rituals? No one, but for these priestly scribes sin and rituals were imperatives: their purpose was to found on them an awe-inspiring religion. By this intellectual tyranny they sought to gain control, and they achieved it." Deceptions and Myths of the Bible, By Lloyd Graham

The author waste's no time in presenting his point of view regarding the Judeo-Christian religions and their associate scriptural doctrines as expressed in both the Old and New Testaments. It is likely that soon after modern humans emerged on earth they sought to understand their existence and the operation of the forces in the universe that impacted their daily life. Frightened, hungry, ignorant, and alone, I suspect, religion, belief in a gods (or God) and associated myths or religion were probably among the most likely answers these early humans arrived at to determine the mystery of life. The author argues that through the efforts of science and rational thought it is now clear that there are just two principles in the entire universe, consciousness and energy, and they are inextricably bound together throughout the entire creative process. Without energy, consciousness can do nothing, and energy without consciousness will do nothing constructive. It is of these two then that we must seek the answers to the mystery of life. From all this we see that the mystery of life is man-made, not God-made. When an ignorant priesthood introduced the supernatural into a perfectly natural universe, it threw confusion into the human mind. The result was a myriad of warring religions and philosophies all trying like the blind men with the elephant, to explain the whole by something felt (emotional) instead of seen (mental). Only through reason and fact based science can these warring elements be harmonized, and the paradox posed by religion—divine source and savage nature—be resolved.

Not everyone will have the ability to open their mind enough to read this book, in fact many might reject it out of hand as sacrilegious. But those who take the time to read this book with an open mind may find themselves surprised and even discover changes in the way they think about the world. This book reveals, in a fact based manner, that the stories of both books of the bible are not original at all and most certainly not the inspired word of God. They are copied from other mythical stories with various degrees of editing to make them appear as though they are original and inspired by God. For example, the stories of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, Creation, the Flood, Noah, the Tower of Babel, and much more are lifted from Summarian myths that predate the Old Testament by 1000 years. Much of the facts regarding the birth of Jesus, his life, and miracles is lifted from Egyptian and other mythologies. Thd author asserts that the scriptures were written by power hungry, manipulative, cunning religious leaders determined to have the stories serve their own purpose which was empower themselves and to rule people through fear and ignorance. Further, succeeding generations of holy men edited and made wholesale changes to scriptures in order to suit their needs at the time, which further detracted from the content of the scriptures. In essence the bible is primarily made up of stories which are myth based and have nothing to do with either revealed or hidden truths for mankind. Is the bible a great read? Absolutely. Is it holy and the inspired word of God? Absolutely not. Don't take my word for it though if you are interested, read this book, after which do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

Brand	N/A
Rating	4.3 (139 ratings)
Price	$16.95
Category	Agnosticism