The Skeptics Annotated Bible (979 page)

12 But
above all things
, my brethren,
swear not,
neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

(5.12) “Above all things … swear not.”
63 Is it okay to take oaths?

(5.13-16) If you are sick, rely on the power of prayer. It works every time.

13
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray
. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

(5.13)
“Is any among you afflicted? let him pray.”

14
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

(5.14)
“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

15 And
the prayer of faith shall save the sick
, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

(5.15)
“The prayer of faith shall save the sick.”

16 Confess your faults one to another, and
pray one for another, that ye may be healed
.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

(5.16a)
“Pray one for another, that ye may be healed.”

(5.16b)
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
35 Has there ever been a righteous person?

17
Elias
was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he
prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

(5.17)
“Elias … prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”
237 How long was Elijah’s drought?
God’s 92nd Killing

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

20 Let him know, that
he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death
, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

(5.20)
“He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death.”
157 Does hell exist?

Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
—
1 Peter 2.18

The author claims to be the apostle Peter (1:1), but most scholars think it was forged. Illiterate (Acts
4.13
), Aramaic-speaking, first century, Palestinian Jews didn’t write letters in Greek.

There are a few things in First Peter that should be of interest to skeptics. Slavery is approved in
2:18
, women are insulted in
3.1-7
, and believers are told not to run away from skeptics in
3.15
.

Here are the highlights.

• We are all predestined to be saved or damned. We have no say in the matter. It was all determined by “the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”
  1.2
  
• The author believed that he was living in the “last times.”
  1.5
  ,
  1.7
  ,
  1.20
  ,
  4.7
  
• “Gird up the loins of your mind.”
  1.13
  
• “The precious blood of Christ … was foreordained before the foundation of the world.”
  1.19-20
  
• “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.”
  1.24
  
• “Submit yourselves … to the king.”
  2.13
  ,
  17
  
• Slaves should “be subject to [their] masters with all fear,” to the bad and cruel as well as the good and gentle.
  2.18
  
• “Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands.”
  3.1
  
• Women are to use “chaste conversation, coupled with fear.”
  3.2
  
• They are not to braid their hair, wear gold, or put on any “apparel.”
  3.3
  
• A wife should call her husband “Lord” as Sarah did.
  3.6
  
• In relation to her husband, the wife is “the weaker vessel.”
  3.7
  
• “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.”
  3.15
  
• God drowned everyone on earth except for Noah and his family.
  3.20
  
• Things may get rough for Christians, but it will really be hell for nonbelievers.
  4.17-18
  
• “The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
  5.8
  

1
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

(1.1)
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ”
The author of 1 Peter claims to be the apostle Peter. Most Bible scholars, however, believe it was forged. (According to Acts 4.13, Peter was illiterate.)

2
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of
the
Spirit, unto obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ
: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.