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As with many of us, I grew up Christian and attended private school. Studying the Bible was mandatory, and despite my early skepticism I still remained diligent in understanding (if that can be legitimately done) the "good" book. I also attended the Islamic Da'Wah center for approximately a year to get a grasp on Islam. I'm no Theologian but I feel as though I have a decent grasp on the ridiculousness within both text to refute the claims of a fanatical believer.
My experience is that people who ardently "believe," don't read the entire Bible. They skip the bad parts where the deity behaves like an old fart with a bad temper. They skip the parts that contradict their understanding of their god. They don't understand how the Bible was put together. They fail to see the absurdity in the theology --- at least I think it's absurd!
With that said, I see the Bible as a collection of stories from another time and place. There are some interesting stories and some beautiful passages. But I take it for what it is --- literature.
I also don't try to tell others that they are silly for believing that mythology. Each person has to come to that decision - or not.
I think many Christians in today's society profess to being Christian, but they don't walk the talk as the saying goes. I don't want to start a political debate, but the conservative Christians and tea baggers would not be recognized by Jesus. They use their Bibles as weapons and shields. But they don't believe in feeding the hungry or caring for the needs of the poor. They assume anyone who is not as wealthy as their are, did not work, was lazy and deserves to have nothing. They overlook the fact that many of them are living on their government pensions, enjoying in part government provided health care (Medicare). They overlook the fact that they were born in a good family and had opportunities that others never got close to. They have no mercy in their heart for others. They earned what they got and by god deserve it. They are filled with judgment and contempt for anyone who does not believe as they do.
Yeah I have read all I can and continue to do so. I am also part of the Atheist Ireland campaign to try and get more people in Ireland to read the Bible. I have never understood why so many people can claim to be Christian or Catholic yet never actually read it. I know many do, but a depressing number do not.
In fact the only people I have ever turned away from Christianity I did so not by arguing the facts or the science, but actually making them read the Bible. Its not a lot of people mind, but all of them came away from the experience saying essentially "I was meant to be believing THAT rubbish???" So from an atheist perspective I think getting people, believers and non, to read the bible closely is a good thing.
Not to mention that the KJ version is, if you ignore the fact people seem to want to make you think it is TRUE, is actually not a bad read.
Yeah I have read all I can and continue to do so. I am also part of the Atheist Ireland campaign to try and get more people in Ireland to read the Bible. I have never understood why so many people can claim to be Christian or Catholic yet never actually read it. I know many do, but a depressing number do not.
In fact the only people I have ever turned away from Christianity I did so not by arguing the facts or the science, but actually making them read the Bible. Its not a lot of people mind, but all of them came away from the experience saying essentially "I was meant to be believing THAT rubbish???" So from an atheist perspective I think getting people, believers and non, to read the bible closely is a good thing.
Not to mention that the KJ version is, if you ignore the fact people seem to want to make you think it is TRUE, is actually not a bad read.
It's kind of shocking how many Christians I come across who have not only not read the whole Bible, but haven't studied it. Especially the ones who claim it is the "inerrant Word of God!".
Yes, I spent many years as a christian and one of the 'benefits' is that I have a very good working knowledge of the bible and various texts supplementing the bible. In almost every church and home group I ever attended bible study was very important.
I have a fairly rudimentary knowledge of the koran, enough to get the gist of it anyway.
Yes and no. I originally read the contents (most of it) to better understand Christianity/Judaism for myself. I felt the need to answer questions for myself. I gave it a fair review. On its own, the content made it fairly apparent that "something wasn't right" (a lot actually ). Then, I went beyond the contents and studied the book itself. Once I recognized it for what it actually is, I continued reading (re-reading) it for much the same reasons you all describe. Once you've gained that sort of understanding of the Bible, it naturally carries over to your methodology for vetting other texts.
One day I had a light bulb moment (if you can call it that). It hit me that the Bible is like one of those "fine print" contracts which a MINORITY of Christians have actually read but have no problems telling you, based on the little knowledge they have about it, how wrong YOU are and how lost and confused YOU are. Many evangelical Christians were/are "saved" during some hell-fire and brimstone message or one about the beauty of heaven or even one about "fulfilled" biblical prophecy. In other words, they make the crucial decision to "follow Jesus" on just PART of the story. That was me.
For those who then continue on to REALLY study the bible (like I did), they are soon confronted by some rather odious passages. In other places, there is contradictory information and/or passages that go completely opposite of the "loving god" of John 3:16. This is where ego kicks in; saving face, so to speak. For many, they dig in even more, clinging even harder to the incomprehensible as a badge of faith and a sign of blind devotion while their minds keeps playing reality tricks on them.
That being said, I read through the Bible 4 times and went on to stock up on concordances, bible dictionaries, lexicons and chain reference bibles. I had just about every book on biblical apologetics and coupled with the rise of the internet, I was WELL versed in all things biblical but was CLUELESS about the bible's TRUE history (not the romanticized version) as well as church history. Talk about sobering. Now that I have walked away from Christianity (close to a decade now), I still have not forgotten biblical passages and how they are spun to fit into the Christian worldview. As many have pointed out, it really is [still] shocking that so few Christians even know a quarter of their bible. To prove this, I used to play a trick on my old Christian mates during bible study games. I used to ask them to turn to the book of Hezekiah and watch them rummage through the pages of the bible looking for a book that was never there in the first place.
As with many of us, I grew up Christian and attended private school. Studying the Bible was mandatory, and despite my early skepticism I still remained diligent in understanding (if that can be legitimately done) the "good" book. I also attended the Islamic Da'Wah center for approximately a year to get a grasp on Islam. I'm no Theologian but I feel as though I have a decent grasp on the ridiculousness within both text to refute the claims of a fanatical believer.
Anyone else?
I was the trouble maker at Sunday School, for asking too many questions. Fortunately for me and (unfortunately for her), one of the Sunday School teachers knew me well from school as well (middle school history teacher).
The fundamental problem with Christianity isn't that it is lacking spirituality, or lessons any person couldn't benefit from, but the unnecessary and ridiculous mystification of the religion, the provocation of tribal stories as being "God's word" and the irrefutable truth, is where only non-thinkers need apply.
One of the staunchest atheist I have around, happens to have "Christian" as his middle name. His mom wanted him to be a priest (Catholic). It was the practices and preaching that got to him and now he couldn't hate the idea of religion more.
Last edited by EinsteinsGhost; 09-08-2011 at 10:21 AM..
I was raised on it, and according to empirical data, most atheists understand the theological texts better than Christians do. It should be a very compelling stat, indeed, for those who think people are atheists because we haven't been exposed to God's love or some Moderator cut: inappropriate language
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). Then, I went beyond the contents and studied the book itself. Once I recognized it for what it actually is, I continued reading (re-reading) it for much the same reasons you all describe. Once you've gained that sort of understanding of the Bible, it naturally carries over to your methodology for vetting other texts.
