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Writer's pictureBible Brian

About those "bronze age goat herders"


Those who have the most objections to the Bible are those who know the least about it. As an example, many atheists believe that the Bible is just a collection of bronze age folklore written by primitive goat herders. In reality, the Bible was written by a variety of authors over a span of 1400 years. Some of those authors either did own some kind of livestock, or had experience therein, but others were from radically different backgrounds.

"But they were still ridiculously stupid!" Actually, no. Look around our world. Our ancestors weren't primitive, they did things so amazing, we're still not sure how they did it, like building the pyramids, or moving the stones to build Stone Henge. They invented techniques we still use today, like the mortise and tenon joint. A variety of mathematical principles were discovered back then. They formulated arguments that still hold up. Their languages were very complex, often vastly more so than our own. The very knowledge about which we brag would not have been possible without the foundations laid down for us by these "primitive goat herders". Our technology has made us arrogant, but it has also made us soft and lazy.


But more importantly, the Biblical authors are only one small part of what makes the Bible the Bible. They didn't write the Bible any more than my laptop wrote this post. The real author of the Bible is God (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). Safe to say He knows a thing or two about a thing or two. Of course, at this point, the atheist will cry "circular reasoning", and that's fair enough, however 1) that's not the point I'm making and 2) That's the problem with the argument that the Bible was written by primitive goat herders. The idea that it was written by primitive goat herders who weren't even remotely inspired by God assumes the Bible is not the word of God, and so it is no less circular to say the Bible isn't true because it was written by primitive goat herders than it is to say the Bible is true because all Scripture is inspired by God.


Both the age and the human authorship of the Bible are irrelevant factors to determining its truth. Truth has no expiration date, and is just as authoritative coming from the mouth of a 4 year old as it would be from the world's wisest man. Thus, even if the Bible was written by the biggest dunce in all of history, on the very day mankind invented writing, it still wouldn't be any less true. Of course, in reality, it was mostly written as the events unfolded, by reliable eyewitnesses and contemporaries from a range of different backgrounds. Even taking away the divine inspiration element, its authors, particularly those of the New Testament, actually saw what went down, and were willing to die for their testimony. No one is foolish enough to die for their own made up nonsense, and anyone who would be is certainly not capable of keeping that story consistent with both themselves and their fellow witnesses. Ultimately, the "primitive goat herder" nonsense is, ironically, more of a foolish statement than would come out of a genuine superstitious goat herder's mouth.

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