Bible specifies good medical and hygienic practices
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Claim
The Bible describes medical and sanitary practices remarkable for the time. It says you should bury your excrement [Deut. 23:13]. It requires people to wash themselves after touching a dead body [Numbers 19:11-22]. It notes that the eighth day after birth is the safest time to perform circumcisions [Gen. 17:12, Lev. 12:2-3].
Source
- Anon, 1985. Life--How Did It Get Here?, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., p. 204-206.
Responses
- This doesn't do much to support the claim of biblical divinity, as many pre-scientific societies develop useful medical knowledge by trial and error. This isn't usually done in a deliberate fashion, but rather (ironically) in a slower, Darwinian fashion that allows these practices to select for societies with traditions that are beneficial to the individuals that comprise them.
- God tells Ezekiel to eat barley cakes that are made with "the dung that cometh out of man." Ezeikel 4:12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
- Just check out this Bible Poop quiz
- add more responses
Fallacies contained in this claim
- False Cause (medical knowledge may be based on trial and error)
- Suppressed Evidence (of bad medical advice in the Bible)
References
- Frazer, Sir James, 1993. The Golden Bough. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth.
- Scott, D. Russell, 1979, in Eiselen, C., E. Lewis, and D.G. Downey (eds.), The Abingdon Bible Commentary, Abingdon Press. Citing Frazer, Golden Bough vol. i, pp. 327f.
Related claims
- Bible specifies best time for circumcision
- Moses reveals that blood is the essence of life
- Bible's accuracy on other scientific points shows overall accuracy
- Bible says the earth is round
- Bible says the earth is unsupported
- Bible got water cycle right
- Records say civilization was man's original state
