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People Share What Plot Holes In Religions They Don’t Get And Here Are 30 Of The Most Interesting Insights
Religions are very, very complex. And in order to truly understand them, one has to really devote oneself to learning everything in and around them. But no matter how hard they try, some people just can't wrap their heads around some of the teachings.
So, in order to spark a discussion that would make sense of it all, Redditor u/sebastian-yrigoyen asked people to share, as they put it, the 'plot holes' they have noticed while practicing their religion. From Jesus' teenage years to the lack of dinosaurs, here's the sacred stories that are bugging everyone the most.
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#1
Bring on the downvotes bc I know I'm going to get them.
No bible is the word of God written by man. They are the words of MEN written by MEN.
FFS there are over 1,000 denominations of Christianity alone, each knowing their version is the right one and all others are blasphemy.
Not to mention every bible from each religion is packed with contradictions...
All these 'plot holes' or people's search for answers in general highlight the fundamental differences between science and religion. The National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) shared this statement on the topic:
"Science and religion are based on different aspects of human experience. In science, explanations must be based on evidence drawn from examining the natural world. Scientifically based observations or experiments that conflict with an explanation eventually must lead to modification or even abandonment of that explanation. Religious faith, in contrast, does not depend only on empirical evidence, is not necessarily modified in the face of conflicting evidence, and typically involves supernatural forces or entities."
#2
"In the beginning there was Adam and Eve" Ok, I'm following that. 2 people on the planet.
They had 2 sons named Cain and Able. Yep, still with it. 4 people on the planet.
Cain killed Able. Ok, thats down to 3 people on the planet.
Cain took a wife. Wait, wut?
The National Academy of Medicine argues that because they are not a part of nature, supernatural entities cannot be investigated by science. In this sense, they say, science and religion are separate and address aspects of human understanding in different ways. Attempts to pit science and religion against each other create controversy where none needs to exist.
#3
Virgin Mary had a child. Glances suspiciously at churches/catholic schools stating abstinence is 100% effective in avoiding a pregnancy.
Electric Ed 4 years ago
Honestly Joseph, I didn't cheat on you with Matt next door. Nor Luke. Or Judas. It was ... umm... some sort of divine being that ... filled me with it's ... joy ... and... Now I am pregnant.
#4
If Adam and Eve were the first two people on Earth and are responsible for the birth of all people ever, than the entire human race is the product of incest.
Although, to be fair, that does explain quite a lot.
karla Meixnerová 4 years ago
I was told, that we should not take whole Genesis literally. You should look at it as a symbol - so Adam and Eve were symbols for a human race. But to be honest, we have a very "cool" priest, he said, that he has no problem to believe, that Adam and Eve migth even be a lower stage of human evolution, not Homo sapiens.
#5
I would say about 3/4 of hardcore Christians think being LGBT is wrong and against their god, but then also say that "God created everyone exactly how he wants them to be" like ?????
Terd Fergison 4 years ago
The bible says to get the town together and stone the homosexuals to death! If you aren't willing to follow through on your evil god's commands, maybe shut up about homosexuality. The bible is so evil that if you really followed all of its instructions in our modern societies, you would be arrested for committing atrocious acts.
#6
I could live my entire life, adhering completely to the Christian moral compass, save millions of lives, treat every person with the utmost respect and dignity, refuse all toxic thoughts and actions, and yet (according to most Christian dogma) I would still burn in hell for eternity if I didn’t believe the Christian God exists.
That sentiment alone tells me that morality, and the course of our lives in general, is irrelevant in the end. All that matters is that the Christian God gets recognition. That God, to me, sounds more narcissistic than benevolent and loving. And therefore, is not a God I wish to worship.
There’s also issues such as, if God is truly omnipotent and omniscient then he could have purged the world of all suffering and pain. But he hasn’t because... he loves us? Because somehow the gift of free will, and therefore the gift of imperfection is more important than letting your children suffer and experience pain? Some children are born into poverty, beaten, starved, and killed before 10 years of age, without ever seeing kindness. What’s the lesson there God? Why must you treat the creations you love with such disdain solely to “make a point.”
I could go on. There’s so many issues I have with that belief system and narrative.
Jess-a-men 4 years ago
The "God allows evil because free will" argument always confused me. I mean, isn't he supposed to be almighty? But... not almighty enough to remove evil without impacting free will? What kind of shoddy omnipotence is that supposed to be?
#7
God is perfect and cannot sin. There exists “the wrath of God.” Wrath is one of the seven deadly sins.
#8
God teaches us that it is a sin to be envious, and to be prideful, and that we must have compassion and understanding for others. And yet he will literally condemn someone to an eternity in hell for not worshiping him, even if said person has literally never heard of him.
Thomas brennan 4 years ago
To be fair, our perception of hell, fire, brimstone, the devil, torturing etc. Is more of a medieval invention. The Bible never mentions Satan as a ruler of hell nor does it describe any horrible firey torture. It actually speaks of hell as a place without God...the idea is your punishment is you never get blissful heaven
#9
I don't believe in any kind of God but I've always found it funny how in the bible, God made the sun on the fourth day. How could there have been any days before that?
#10
I don't know if this is considered as a plot hole:
Judas Iskariot was essential to Jesus' plan. If he didn't sold Jesus out then the prophecy will not come true.
Why then is he considered a villain? He should be at the top! He got the job done!
YupItsMe1234 4 years ago
I actually asked this question when I was 7 or 8 at my Catholic school. I was told to go see the priest. He got angry at me because I couldn't understand. Made me say an entire rosary. I still don't understand why he is vilified. Apparently praying an entire rosary didn't give me the answers (go figure)
#12
Plot hole: there are hundreds of other religions that also claim to be the only true one
#13
This isn’t my religion, but I always found it hypocritical that the gods punished Oedipus for sleeping with his mother without realizing it, despite the fact that Zeus married his own sister while being fully aware that they were siblings.
Eric Mac Fadden 4 years ago
Zeus could do whatever he wants.... who - besides Kratos - would disagree?
#14
Late to the party, but in Islam there's the belief that God knows everything you will do before you're even born. Meaning that we don't control our own actions. At the same time, to get into Heaven, you need to-- of your own accord-- pray 5 times daily, read the Quran, etc. So my thing is this: If God knows what everyone is gonna do beforehand, and He knows people aren't gonna do what it takes to get into Heaven (cause he is omniscient); doesn't this then mean that God has already decided who goes to Heaven and who gets Hell? Cause there's no possible way in any Abrahamic religion (cause they all operate under the "do this to get into paradise" thing and all have God knowing everything before it happens) that we'd be able to try to get into Heaven. And this is just the tip of the iceberg on questions
Kitsune Fox Girl 4 years ago
Wait... If God controls your actions, He doesn't just know if you'll go to heaven or hell... He can make you perform actions that will send you to heaven or hell! Plot twist
#15
I want to know why so many Christians say that murder is wrong but ignore all the killing that God did in the Bible. Like, how do they justify drowning everyone except Noah and his family?
troufaki13 4 years ago
Or the millions of people that died in the name of God because they refused this religion?
#18
If man is not perfect, but man wrote the Bible how am I supposed to trust what I’m reading from the Bible. How do I know they didn’t mess anything up?
#19
We can read Egyptian hieroglyphics. They kept extensive records. No mention of using Jewish slaves to build the pyramids, them revolting, a royal named Moses or a Red Sea parting.
Violet brown 4 years ago (edited)
Jewish slaves were kept and used but A sea splitting and ten plagues, really?
#20
Not really a plot hole in the Christianity , but a plot hole in the interpretation of it.
Christianity was originally highly Jewish based and they didn’t like Romans, a few centuries later it was Roman/ European based and they heavily discriminated Jewish people. Wut
Craig Welch 4 years ago
Also, modern Christianity was created when it was mixed with the pagan faith. No paganism is considered devil worship
#21
I'm a lapsed catholic. Idolatry is one of the biggest "plot holes." If you worship the virgin Mary or any other saint you are as a matter of fact doing blasphemy. Don't come with the argument of them being a "middle man." Speak to god directly. The worship of saints is pretty much polytheism with yahweh (christian god) being Zeus's equivalent.
Andres Tejeda 4 years ago
I asked my priest this when I was young (use to be catholic), I even told him why confess my sins to you? why not cut out the middle man and go straight to Jesus with my sins and prayers. He kicked me out of his office. I also brought up the point of graven images, where it is actually forbidden according to the catholic version of the 10 commandments. Then I told him the statue of Jesus on the cross, the rosary , and stained glass were all graven images. and again was kicked out.
#22
Why would satan punish humans for rebelling against god, something that he himself once did. I've always thought of it as hypocritical, and that satan would reward the human for exercising their free will and living a life free of religious constraints.
troufaki13 4 years ago
Lucifer means the bearer of light (light=knowledge). I don't understand either...
#23
It's not my religion but
"I love everyone no matter what" followed by "You better love me back or I'm gonna hate you forever and torture you for eternity" followed by "I don't love those people neither should you, what you should do is make their lives a living hell".
#24
An omnipotent being is used to explain the origin of everything in this universe, but there's no explanation for the origin of said omnipotent being.
#25
If Satan punishes those who sin, wouldn't he be considered a good guy?
Alternatively, if Satan is a bad guy, why would he punish other sinners?
BiLal Asif 4 years ago (edited)
That's not true even by biblical standards at least read the Bible before Saying things like that
#26
What happened to Jesus in his teen years tho?
#27
The concept of eternal peace and joy in heaven sounds very psychologically degrading long term. It sounds like living like a pet dog.
Placebo Domingo 4 years ago
Valhall seems much more attractive, with unlimited mead drinking and fights all day, forever.
#28
Why do Christians think the characters in the bible are white or very caucasian looking?
Dave P 4 years ago
Um, the Nestorian Church in China (6th-17th centuries a large presence there) portrayed everyone as Asian looking, the Ethiopian Church portrays as black, the Byzantines did a very Mediterranean look, etc. Everyone imposed their look onto these figures for their own culture. However if you read both Ancient Greek and Egyptian writings about what Semitic people from the Levant looked like, it is very different than what you might think
#29
Former catholic.. still waiting for somebody to explain Jesus's DNA situation is.. is he haploid? Where does his Y chromosome come from? So many questions.
David Brown 4 years ago
I like to tell myself she was raped, but Joseph as a cool dude who kept loving her anyway (at that time in history she'd be executed for it) and either helped or went along with her b******t story to trick the idiots.
#30
I am a Christian and a thing that has really puzzled me is that if Adam and Eve ever gave birth to a child wouldn't it be a sin even if marriage wasn't a thing back then? Like despite marriage not being a thing back then it would still technically be a sin in the future. Or did God make marriage a thing in the future and just brush it off since Marriage wasn't a thing back then? I am confusion.
What do you think ?
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago (edited)
If god is so loving and loves all his children even sinners then why did he recommend stoning in the early testaments, why are children and innocent people dying of diseases and allow human suffering, why would god give boys foreskin but then decide that they should be circumcised as a “contract” between them and god, why did god create f*****g mosquitos, fleas, ticks and wasps (besides possible population control), how is it even possible for noah to have taken 2 of every animal. It is a logistically impossible and extremely inconceivable. Why would god punish everyone else for what 2 people did thousands of years ago. That is like punishing a whole classroom for the rest of the school year for the behaviour of one student. If god created satan and is all mighty then why hasn’t he destroyed satan. If humans were created to be perfect but have free will, how can we make bad decisions? that is not perfect, a perfect person wouldn’t make bad choices. I have soooooooo many more that I can ask but I would literally be here forever.
Parmeisan 4 years ago
Yeah, I just saw a comment hidden with 34 upvotes... :P
Load More Replies...
Hanni 4 years ago
Standard answer to discrepancies in the Bible: "you don't have to take that literally, it's more like metaphor". :-( Then why is it so specific all the time?
Hume de Bruyn 4 years ago
The biggest problem is a term called "lost in translation". For example, an easy experiment to do is to take a King James translation (which is the most accurate English translation or should be), and any other more modern English translation and compare the texts. You will find one says one thing and the other says something else when taken into context.
Load More Replies... Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago (edited)
If god is so loving and loves all his children even sinners then why did he recommend stoning in the early testaments, why are children and innocent people dying of diseases and allow human suffering, why would god give boys foreskin but then decide that they should be circumcised as a “contract” between them and god, why did god create f*****g mosquitos, fleas, ticks and wasps (besides possible population control), how is it even possible for noah to have taken 2 of every animal. It is a logistically impossible and extremely inconceivable. Why would god punish everyone else for what 2 people did thousands of years ago. That is like punishing a whole classroom for the rest of the school year for the behaviour of one student. If god created satan and is all mighty then why hasn’t he destroyed satan. If humans were created to be perfect but have free will, how can we make bad decisions? that is not perfect, a perfect person wouldn’t make bad choices. I have soooooooo many more that I can ask but I would literally be here forever.
Parmeisan 4 years ago
Yeah, I just saw a comment hidden with 34 upvotes... :P
Load More Replies... Hanni 4 years ago
Standard answer to discrepancies in the Bible: "you don't have to take that literally, it's more like metaphor". :-( Then why is it so specific all the time?
Hume de Bruyn 4 years ago
The biggest problem is a term called "lost in translation". For example, an easy experiment to do is to take a King James translation (which is the most accurate English translation or should be), and any other more modern English translation and compare the texts. You will find one says one thing and the other says something else when taken into context.
Load More Replies...
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