What stories in the Bible are now accepted as myths by some modern Bible scholars?

Answer 1

Some modern Bible scholars who do not believe The Bible regard anything they cannot prove historically as a myth. The fault is thus with the bias of the Bible scholars and not the Bible itself. The Hittites were previously regarded as mythical and were subsequently proven to have existed and now have whole museums of their material. This type of thing has been repeated ad infinitum. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Such scholars also demonstrate an anti-supernatural bias which means that anything involving the supernatural is automatically dismissed as impossible. Liberal scholars though, who tend to fall into this type of category are consistently bending under the weight of evidence regarding the New Testament, for example, and regarding it as having been written much earlier than they previously postulated. John A. T. Robinson in his ground-breaking work 'Re-dating the New Testament' for example regards everything as having been written before AD 70 and thus in the lifetime of the apostles. Robinson is a liberal.

Thus there would probably be literally hundreds of such stories since much of the Bible contains supernatural elements. It also contains things in antiquity some of which evidence has now been discovered. So it also depends on which Bible scholars one quotes and whether they are aware of the evidence.

Myth 1. The Creation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_myth

Myth 2. Garden of Eden. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_Eden

Myth 3. Tower of Babel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel

The above provide some examples. What is interesting is that none of these stories can be proven to be false. Not one. The reason they are regarded as myths is that they do not fit into the prevailing world view. Another example would have to be the Great Flood of Noah's day. This particular event together with the Bible account of creation are still regarded as myths even though there is plenty of actual evidence to support them.