The Holy Bible

Dr Joseph Mizzi (The Sunday Times, June 24) states that the Bible is the infallible rule because it came from the mouth of God while George Ebejer writes that it is a divine Scripture written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

As an avid reader, I occasionally and randomly read parts of the Bible, and the book of Leviticus provides laws about holiness in life and worship and about rituals of cleanliness and uncleanliness. When an animal without blemish is killed as an offering to God, the blood must be sprinkled on the four sides of the altar and the animal must be cooked because the smell was pleasing to the Lord. (Lev.1.9)

Rabbits and pigs must not be eaten because they are unclean animals (Lev. 11.8). When a woman gives birth to a son she is ritually unclean for seven days while she is ritually unclean for 14 days after she gives birth to a daughter. (Lev.12.1).

Why this discrimination? If a man has sexual relations with another man they must both be put to death (Lev. 20.13). These days they even get married in some churches!

Most of my friends get their hair trimmed, including their hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19.27. Should I smite them? If you need slaves you may buy them from other countries around you and you may also buy the children of foreigners. (Lev. 25.45).

In those days the Lord used to speak to Moses and in the book of Numbers the Lord commanded Moses to kill the Midianites and 12,000 Israelites went for battle (Num. 31.5) and they killed every boy and woman but kept for themselves all the virgins (Num. 31.18).

In Deuteronomy, chapter 3 they destroyed all the towns of King Og, in all 60 towns, and put to death all the men, women and children with the blessing of the Lord. In Deuteronomy chapter 20 the Lord commanded them to destroy all the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. "Kill them so that they will not sin against the Lord".

What I am suggesting now is that this Bible is not divine and the various books in it were written by very primitive and superstitious men who thought nothing of killing their perceived enemies especially if these enemies had agricultural land and towns which were desirable to them - in the same way as Czechoslovakia was desirable to Germany and Palestine to the present Israelites.

It is not possible for a professed Christian, who should forgive his enemies, to believe in this narrative and, for this reason, I would like to read the views of Dr Mizzi and Mr Ebejer on these quotations.