"Confirming" the Bible

Thanks to Pharyngula, I recently came across this piece by Ray Comfort, explaining how the Bible had anticipated modern science by millennia. Take a look in the comments for a bit of debunking, but I wanted to focus on one particular point because it's from a passage that rather leapt out at me when I read the Bible cover-to-cover as student:

12. THE BIBLE: When dealing with disease, hands should be washed under running water (Leviticus 15:13). SCIENCE NOW: When dealing with disease, hands should be washed under running water. SCIENCE THEN: Hands washed in still water.

Now, I'm going to assume that Comfort's description of Science Then is accurate, because it will simplify my argument, but as we shall see I've got no particular reason to assume he knows what he's talking about. Here's the full passage from Leviticus, taken from the KJV (choice of nuts everywhere) kindly provided on-line by the University of Pennsylvania:
Lev 15:
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean.
3 And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.
4 Every bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean.
5 And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
6 And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
7 And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
8 And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean; then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
9 And what saddle soever he rideth upon that hath the issue shall be unclean.
10 And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the even: and he that beareth any of those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
11 And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
12 And the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which hath the issue, shall be broken: and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
13 And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.

We can see that there is only one mention of running water, and that's in verse 13. When is that? "when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue". Seven days afterwards, depending on how you read it. So before that, it's OK to use still water or running water. Comfort apparently failed to read the passage carefully before opening his mouth.

Worse, this only applies to people with running sores; there are a great many infectious and potentially fatal diseases that don't produce sores (or worse, don't produce them for a while). We know the Israelites ran into a few of them, because they are recorded in the OT as producing mass casualties.

So let's rewrite that, shall we?
12. THE BIBLE: When dealing with disease, hands can be washed in still water (Leviticus 15:1-12). SCIENCE THEN: Hands washed in still water. SCIENCE NOW: When dealing with disease, cover mouth and nose with a mask. Wash hands before and after dealing with the patient, especially when dealing with open wounds or sores. Use clean running water or preferably disinfectant such as alcohol. Clothing and bedding should be boiled or otherwise sterilized.

And why the difference? It's because here in the 21st century, we understand the germ theory of disease: infectious disease is caused by tiny living (or semi-living) agents that can be passed from person to person, and can be killed by heat or chemical attack. This is an understanding that has been hard-won; it plainly did not come from the Bible, because it did not appear in Christian Europe for centuries. And the reason it didn't come from the Bible is because the author of the Bible either didn't understand it or didn't want to communicate it.

The rest of Leviticus is worth a read too - and it's this that I particularly remembered - it contains some detailed rules about when water becomes unclean from contact with unclean animals (like tortoises, and weasels, and lizards, and snails)... but only when they're dead. Water must be discarded, earthen pots broken, etc etc... the basis for some reasonable hygiene rules, except that live animals, clean or unclean, are excluded. And if they fall into a pit or spring where there's plenty of water, that's OK too. I don't know about you, but if a sheep steps in my drink I will not be finishing it.

So here's a sentence that you will not find in Leviticus:
"If the water is unclean, or you think it might be, boil it."

It's advice that is routinely issued to hikers and people in floods and anyone who goes anywhere out of range of chlorinated water. It's simple to remember and easy to do. It saves lives and prevents all manner of disease. The Israelites had fire and pots; all they lacked was the information. It's not in there because the author of the Bible didn't have it or didn't want it released or didn't care.

If the author didn't care or wanted people to keep dying from water-borne disease, then he's not the deity for me; apparently he's not the deity for Ray Comfort either, since he's convinced the Bible was meant to give us important disease management information. The idea that the creator of the universe wouldn't have thought of boiling the drinking water is ridiculous. To me, that leaves us with an ordinary human author (or authors), working with bronze-age technology and morality.

People like Ray Comfort give Christianity a bad name with me; they make religious types look like credulous idiots with reading comprehension problems. Books like Leviticus do the same; they remind me of just how badly the religion hypothesis stands up to scrutiny.

Fortunately, most Christians ignore the Bible most of the time; they remember that they are supposed to be decent and honest, and rely on common sense to figure out how.