• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

What are the major scientific errors in major religious scriptures?

Subhankar Zac

Hare Krishna,Hare Krishna,
The only text I follow is Bhagavad Gita which surely has a few errors.

"Of the stars, I m the moon"
-Bhagavad Gita 10:21

A highly philosophical book that lacks dogma or fear mongering submission to be saved from God's torture.
It deals less with science and personal understanding of one's mind and nature.

Many other Scriptures have claims that are scientifically inaccurate.
From the Old testament to the Quran to parts of Vedas, mass errors are embedded in them.

What are the scriptures and verses that makes them inaccurate scientifically and why?
 

Brian Schuh

Well-Known Member
Well, modern day leprosy isn't contagious. So if modern day leprosy is the same disease as the leprosy spoken of in the Torah, people were quarantined for no reason. That would be a big blunder.
 

Brian Schuh

Well-Known Member
verse please and elaborate your explanation.
Leviticus 13 explains how to determine who needs to be quarantined. Leviticus 14 explains how to tell if a leper has been cleansed (cured.) Leviticus 13:45 commands that lepers always identify themselves so people will avoid them.

A scholar named Dr. Elizabeth Krukowsky explained to me that modern day leprosy isn't contagious. She was a reformed Jew, she didn't buy into everything in the Torah.

Modern Orthodox claim that the leprosy spoken of in the Torah is not the same as the modern leprosy. A religion can always redefine words to make them always look correct.

Bottomline is that there are multiple diseases throughout history that may have been called leprosy. The one in the Torah doesn't seem to currently exist.

It would be a shame to believe that people were quarantined over a mistake.
 

Jivaatma

Servants of Maha Vishnu
BhagawadGita has no errors, the only error is in your understanding of that verse...samaanadhi karanyam was proposed in that verse
 

Brian Schuh

Well-Known Member
The Talmud contains so much outdated and bad medical advice that even the ultra- Orthodox say to ignore anything the Talmud says about medicine and consult the best doctor you can get.
 

Subhankar Zac

Hare Krishna,Hare Krishna,
Leviticus 13 explains how to determine who needs to be quarantined. Leviticus 14 explains how to tell if a leper has been cleansed (cured.) Leviticus 13:45 commands that lepers always identify themselves so people will avoid them.

A scholar named Dr. Elizabeth Krukowsky explained to me that modern day leprosy isn't contagious. She was a reformed Jew, she didn't buy into everything in the Torah.

Modern Orthodox claim that the leprosy spoken of in the Torah is not the same as the modern leprosy. A religion can always redefine words to make them always look correct.

Bottomline is that there are multiple diseases throughout history that may have been called leprosy. The one in the Torah doesn't seem to currently exist.

It would be a shame to believe that people were quarantined over a mistake.


Isn't part of the Christian bible?
 

Brian Schuh

Well-Known Member
Isn't part of the Christian bible?
Oh, yeah. The Christian Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible called the Tanakh is basically the same. The only difference is that the Old Testament is translated from a Christian perspective and the Tanakh is translated from a Jewish perspective. The Old Testament sometimes is translated from texts other than Hebrew, while the Tanakh uses only one Hebrew text.
 

Jivaatma

Servants of Maha Vishnu
So, unless you can actually give some concrete reason instead of vague phrases in Sanskrit, I m just going to put it aside
read ramanuja commentary...a brief one here

http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/bhagavad-gita-10-21/

10.21 Of Adityas, who are twelve in number, I am the twelfth Aditya, called Visnu, who is paramount. Of luminuous bodies, namely, among luminaries in the world, I am the sun, the most brilliant luminary. Of Maruts I am the paramount Marici. Of constellations, I am the moon. The genitive case here is not to specify one out of many included in a group. Its use is the same as what is exemplifed in the statement ‘I am the consciousness in all beings’ (10.22). I am the moon who is the Lord of the constellations.10.21 Of Adityas, who are twelve in number, I am the twelfth Aditya, called Visnu, who is paramount. Of luminuous bodies, namely, among luminaries in the world, I am the sun, the most brilliant luminary. Of Maruts I am the paramount Marici. Of constellations, I am the moon. The genitive case here is not to specify one out of many included in a group. Its use is the same as what is exemplifed in the statement ‘I am the consciousness in all beings’ (10.22). I am the moon who is the Lord of the constellations.

moon also does not mean literal moon but because of krishna as atma, moon exhibits properties,
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
The only text I follow is Bhagavad Gita which surely has a few errors.

"Of the stars, I m the moon"
-Bhagavad Gita 10:21

ādityānām ahaḿ viṣṇur
jyotiṣāḿ ravir aḿśumān
marīcir marutām asmi
nakṣatrāṇām ahaḿ śaśī

Of the Ādityas I am Viṣṇu, of lights I am the radiant sun, of the Maruts I am Marīci, and among the stars I am the moon.


Technically it could also read "of the stars". The -āṇām ending is the genitive plural of nakṣatra (star), "of the stars" but it also has a meaning of "being part of", "grouped with", "among".

Among the stars, the moon is the most prominent at night, and thus the moon represents Kṛṣṇa. It appears from this verse that the moon is one of the stars; therefore the stars that twinkle in the sky also reflect the light of the sun. The theory that there are many suns within the universe is not accepted by Vedic literature. The sun is one, and as by the reflection of the sun the moon illuminates, so also do the stars. Since Bhagavad-gītā indicates herein that the moon is one of the stars, the twinkling stars are not suns but are similar to the moon
http://vedabase.awardspace.com/bg/10/21.htm

More commentaries:
http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Gita/verse-10-19.html

So, I wouldn't call it an error, but a way of describing Krishna's supremacy among celestial objects. If he were a celestial object.
 

Jivaatma

Servants of Maha Vishnu
ādityānām ahaḿ viṣṇur
jyotiṣāḿ ravir aḿśumān
marīcir marutām asmi
nakṣatrāṇām ahaḿ śaśī

Of the Ādityas I am Viṣṇu, of lights I am the radiant sun, of the Maruts I am Marīci, and among the stars I am the moon.


Technically it could also read "of the stars". The -āṇām ending is the genitive plural of nakṣatra (star), "of the stars" but it also has a meaning of "being part of", "grouped with", "among".

http://vedabase.awardspace.com/bg/10/21.htm

More commentaries:
http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Gita/verse-10-19.html

So, I wouldn't call it an error, but a way of describing Krishna's supremacy among celestial objects. If he were a celestial object.
Nakshatras do not immediately translate to the english word star,
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
Nakshatras do not immediately translate to the english word star,

True, but that's probably the easiest if not most accurate translation. "Lunar mansion" or "segment of the ecliptic" is a bit mind-blowing. :)

This is a good example of "losing something in the translation", and why it's probably not a good idea to just read things at face value.
 

Jivaatma

Servants of Maha Vishnu
True, but that's probably the easiest if not most accurate translation. "Lunar mansion" or "segment of the ecliptic" is a bit mind-blowing. :)
yeppp :)...There is always more to it than you know in sanskrit where same word has multiple meanings depending on the context in which it is used. ;)....Also there are another kind of nakshatras or a group of stars and each grouping has an inner god associated with it.

http://www.ganeshaspeaks.com/blog_The_27_Nakshatras_in_the_Hindu_System_of_Astrology_2414.action
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
in sanskrit where same word has multiple meaning depending on the context in which it is used.

That's another good point, and one I think about (I know very little Sanskrit, though I know how it works: cases, inflections, etc.).

When Robert Oppenheimer, who helped develop the atomic bomb, taught himself Sanskrit and read the Mahābhārata in Sanskrit, witnessed the first test (Trinity) he said he was reminded of Bhagavad Gītā 11.32, which he translated as "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." The original says "Time I am, destroyer of the worlds..." kalo 'smi loka-ksaya-krt I think there's a big difference between the words death and time.
 

Jabar

“Strive always to excel in virtue and truth.”
BhagawadGita has no errors, the only error is in your understanding of that verse...samaanadhi karanyam was proposed in that verse

The Bhagawad Gita has many errors/ contradictions.


:)
 
Top