Scopes Trial

The Holy Bible might be sacred, but not because of that must we take it word by word. Like Darwin said: “The Bible is a book. It’s a good book, but it is not the only book.” Inherit the wind. I must begin by clearing out that I am a firm believer in God. Nevertheless, I am aware and can easily tell the difference between believing in God and belonging to a certain religious institution. To believe in God, one must only accept the existence of a supreme, divine power that overrules the universe. On the other hand, an institution such as the Catholic Church demands its followers to accept a series of other traits and consequentially apply them. The acceptance of the Bible as the Lord’s will, and therefore follow its content word by word form a part of a devotee’s tasks. This point, however, is the easiest to debate on. Aside from the fact that the Bible was written and put together a long, long time ago and thus customs have obviously changed, it is a rather controversial piece, in my opinion, due to its various contradictions. To start off, I would like to point out a particular story that I found to be both disturbing and shameless; the story of Lot and his daughters. If we literally look at it, word by word, we can obviously observe what was going on. Unable to find any sentimental partner, Lot’s daughters decide to lie with their old father. Besides, they make him drink wine first in order to have him in a drunken state. How would such an act be perceived in modern society?

I would like to restate, however, how the Bible may indeed be applied into one’s life in an orderly manner. It is in fact a good book; one filled with values teachings that if interpreted in the correct way may contribute to the development of one’s character. Because of this, I’d argue the idea of taking the Bible’s content word by word, accepting its literary meaning, and would rather propose that it be taken as a guide, just another tool in building one’s values and moral.