If someone were to ask me what I think is the worst passage in the Bible, this would be it. No question.
And that’s really saying something, because there’s a lot to choose from when it comes to the worst passage in the Bible — but this one takes the cake.
Let me apologize right off the bat — I’m sorry it’s so long. But that’s part of what makes it such a nightmare. It’s not something that can be skipped over and ignored. And in the length is just this…devastating specificity.

No, I didn’t choose any of the genocide verses in the Old Testament, or the laws on stoning, or the atrocious levity with which Moses — er, “God” — treated rape, or the really harmful ways that Jesus discussed hell. First, for most Christians these verses aren’t nearly as universal in application as 1 Corinthians 1: 17-31. And second, a significant number of Christians (though not nearly enough) are embarrassed by those verses so that they don’t have near as universal an impact — I’ve never met a Christian remotely embarrassed by the sentiments of I Corinthians 1:17-31. And third — as bad as those verses are, they don’t insulate belief as much as 1 Corinthians 1:17-31. They are the terrible inside of Christianity; I Corinthians 1:17-31 makes up the outer protective shell.

I’ll let you in on something: When I first deconverted, I thought it would be easy to get the Christians in my life to deconvert, too. Especially the fundies. It shouldn’t be that hard to convince people that we didn’t become aware of morality because naked people ate fruit at the prompting of a talking snake, or that the laws of the Old Testament were misogynistic and homophobic and transphobic nonsense, or that the genocides were the product of war-hungry tribes who needed an excuse to take over land, or that virgin births don’t happen any more often than people walking on water, or that it’s a bit absurd to think a godman waltzed out of a tomb after three days of stone cold death, or that it’s harmfully ignorant to think that hell exists for all the awesome non-Christians in the world (like yours truly).

But I was wrong. Oh, I was wrong. I mean…I could argue so that Christians could admit that I made logical sense. I could show them things that made them “uncomfortable” and that they “struggled” with. But then they usually rubber-banded back into full on Christian mode, thanks to I Corinthians 1:17-31.
It is fair to say that this passage has done more to keep Christians in my life in perpetual awe of the Bible than, I think, any other passage. The Christian’s belief in this passage has, I’ve found, made debate over every other passage in the Bible and belief in Christianity an absolute waste of time with countless Christians I’ve met. Because when you mention the horrible things in the Bible, and show them rationally that the book doesn’t make sense, they seem to inevitably use this passage (or the general sentiment they got from a preacher who used this passage) to basically say that the entire argument doesn’t matter. And worse than that, doing that makes them smugly feel more humble and holier-than-thou than you are.

And what I want to say, when that happens, is “stop pretending.” If you’re using this verse as your backup, please stop pretending that your beliefs are based on rational thought and honest examination, and state that you believe it in a vacuum or in spite of these things.

Here it is, in all its glory:
I Corinthians 1:17-31 (NIV)
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”


What Makes That So Terrible?
Right off the bat, verse 17 takes a pot shot at wisdom and eloquence. It’s like saying, “You can have intelligent, well voiced points, but that’s not what the cross of Christ is about — so your argument is invalid.” That verse and general sentiment is a wall. It doesn’t matter how well I make my point. The verse gives Christians the false license to hold up a cross and say they won the argument at any given moment. Like the kid who thinks they can claim victory at any moment by flipping the board.

Then, Verse 18 says that people who disagree with Christians are foolish and I deserve to perish. That’s really rude. I mean, I’m just saying that the Christian is wrong — I’m not making a judgment as to what they deserve (much less saying they deserve to “perish” — wow. How disrespectful). And then it gives Christians the holier-than-thou headtrip with the blatant attempt at flattery in the “us who are being saved” bit. Yeah…now they can see themselves as a superior class that can look down on me in pity for perishing (although I kinda deserve it, foolish person I am) instead of actually remotely taking seriously anything I’m saying, no matter how good my evidence and reasoning is.

And then there’s the most-quoted verse 19. Got wise, intelligent arguments that the stuff in the Bible is bunk? Doesn’t matter. Because of this verse, Christians thinks they can say, “your words and evidence and reason have no power here.” It doesn’t matter what you say; might as well be talking to a wall — This passage will turn it, in the Christian’s mind, into foolishness that is leading you to hell.

And I’m speaking from past experience as an evangelical and present experience as an atheist here when I say that this passage really has this impact on many Christians — including those who don’t know the actual verse and have been brainwashed with its sentiment through preachers and Christendom in general.
Then verse 20 — it outright says that the world’s wisdom is “foolishness.” So if something in the Bible sounds stupid to you, YOU’RE the stupid one. Why? Because you think something in the Bible is foolish. Merely say that something in the Bible doesn’t make sense in a remotely convincing way, and you can immediately, at any moment, be dismissed as missing the boat, as drowning in foolishness, and there’s no recourse, due to verse 20 — probably the most quoted end-of-argument verse I’ve encountered as a frequently arguing atheist.

Then 22-23. Looking for evidence in miracles? Looking for good reasoning? As a rebuttal the verse proposes — Jesus and him crucified. It’s ridiculous. But it explains why, in the middle of a debate, a Christian has, oftentimes, simply spouted off the resurrection story — which sounds incredibly outrageous to me — and think that it actually means something. I mean, that’s amazing. The story is its own argument there. It needs no evidence or rationality behind it. In fact, those things are annoying aspects that get in the way. So when you criticize it with calls for evidence and better reasoning, a Christian may entertain you for awhile — but the sentiments in this verse can (and do) become a way from them to just swat them away with a simple “I’ll pray for you.”

This happens all the time for me. It’s maddening.
And skipping ahead to verse 25 — I keep hearing Christians say, “Well, God is more intelligent than we are” whenever they encounter an objection. The thing about that is, of course, that they are saying that THEY are more intelligent than you — even though they can’t answer your argument — because they choose to believe in God. And this verse anchors that thought. God is bigger, stronger, faster. So if something doesn’t make sense to you, figure it makes sense to him, and keep getting on with life. And as a result of following that virtue, fairly intelligent people live their lives afraid to question and think seriously about the religion’s veracity.

And then those last verses — have you ever heard someone who is a far-right Christian say that even though they aren’t scientists, they know global warming isn’t happening because they trust in God? If not, here’s an example:

That’s just one extreme example of verse 26 -31 at work. You aren’t to take pride in your hard work and study in science — no, you’re supposed to take pride in your relationship with God. And so people without a science education seem to speak as if they know more than scientists simply because they are more proud and boastful of God than anything else (and you should be, too), so that their belief in and thus “knowledge” of God means a lot more than any of those degrees or any person’s supposed “wisdom.”

I’m not saying that ALL Christians take it to the same extreme. Of course not. But these verses act as an insulator — a way to dismiss rationality, thought, and even empathy from any conversation the moment they become inconvenient for faith.

And, worse than that, it renders the Christian’s OWN sense of rational thought null and void. When a Christian proudly quotes these verses to me, it really disturbs me that they’ve decided to give up all their sense of reason and empathy to a myth simply because these verses told them to. It’s really sad.

One irritating tendency I’ve found is that most Christians make a pretence at rational, evidence based discussion early in the discussion, instead of skipping ahead to the frustrating part where they just throw up their hands and say it doesn’t matter. Often, this response comes after I have painstakingly tried to explain my position, and they have tried to argue against it on rational grounds and failed, because — let’s face it, it doesn’t take rocket science to say some of the stuff in the Bible is downright ridiculous. It’s frustrating to know that, the whole time, the conversation was disingenuous. In those cases, I often wish we’d skip to the end of the argument, so that I’d know automatically that trying to have a rational argument is a waste of time.

Yeah, I know that there are other horrible verses in the Bible. But this passage, I think, is the worst offender in my mind. Most Christians hold to it, and I am convinced that the sentiments of this passage — after dozens of in-person and hundreds of online conversations with Christians — is the reason why most discussions on Christianity seem to go in circles.

Sometimes I wish that more Christians would skip to the end and admit that the primary reason they believe is not based on evidence and reason, but the sense of smug superiority couched in faux humility that passages like this give them, allowing them to permanently feel superior to everyone who disagrees with them.
Thanks for reading.

TITOBIGZ:
No be verse 13 d passage end?

elijah2u:
Trash

sonOfLucifer:
Link : HERE

sonOfLucifer:

Thank you.

bugzbunny:

Wanna ask u
Do u believe there is a lucifer?
Is heaven and hell real?

sonOfLucifer:

Heaven and hell is your condition on earth. Lucider, Allah, Yahweh are all brain farts from wandering Jewish nomads who travelled the deserts of the Middle East years ago.

bugzbunny:

You said lucider instead
But is lucifer a non entity too?

aloeeverhealth:
I think you have foolishly interpreted these verses. In essence and summary, what these verses mean is that God is the only person that can make one great regardless of your background, education, money, material things etc. And that if you are rich and wise, humble yourself before God. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Without him there is nothing; be it wisdom, money, smartness, governors etc

plaetton:
Common sense is your enemy, a Nairalander once said.

sonOfLucifer:

Typo. Lucifer is a bastard.

bugzbunny:

So u are son of a bastard
Hmmmmm

aloeeverhealth:
I think you have foolishly interpreted these verses. In essence and summary, what these verses mean is that God is the only person that can make one great regardless of your background, education, money, material things etc. And that if you are rich and wise, humble yourself before God. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Without him there is nothing; be it wisdom, money, smartness, governors etc

sonOfLucifer:




Nice



PS: Jesus was a bastard. And that's not an insult.