Bible study for the atheist

[Firebird]

So I recently decided to try reading the Bible just to see what the big deal was, and to see how far I could get. Not very far, it turns out. So I've been looking around for some sort of bible guide for the non-believer, which has been a bit of a challenge. I was considering Asimov's guide, though. Anyone here have a suggestion?

[Whitney]

I tried reading through the bible and highlighting anything that I found odd, contradictory etc.  After quite a few pages of full highlights I lost interest.

You could read through the Skeptics Annotated Bible  http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

[Sweetdeath]

The bible seriously confuses me, as I feel its written with so many metaphors and riddles.

I wish there were footnotes for it. XD either way, I don't really care.

[Whitney]

I did read the whole thing back when I was religious....I wasn't so religious after I did that.

[Stevil]

I think it is a very hard read.

The language is aweful, the thou's thy etc
The amount of repetition and the unnecessary babble.

I was in a hotel last week and they had a bible, I had another go at reading it but really only got to page 3 or 4. It is such an awful ready.

"Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters.
5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.
6 And Seth lived one hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh.
7 Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.
8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.
9 And Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan.
10 Then Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters.
11 So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.
12 And Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel.
13 Then Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters.
14 So all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.
15 And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Jared."

Isn't this just dull, boring and stupid writing. Who can read through this rubbish?

[Firebird]

This one was pretty amusing too: http://www.thebricktestament.com/ Maybe I'll just go with that for now

[Too Few Lions]

This one was pretty amusing too: http://www.thebricktestament.com/ Maybe I'll just go with that for now

+1 I love that website, I bought myself the Brick Bible for xmas 

[Ecurb Noselrub]

If you really want to understand it, I could offer a couple of suggestions:

1) Get a modern translation - no "thee's and thou's."
2) Skip the genealogies - they were important for the Jewish people who focused on tribes and the priesthood, but are boring to read and of little import now.
3) Look over a Bible outline first, to get the flow of the entire book (actually, the flow of the 66 books that make up the Bible).  Here's a Christian one, but it still serves to give you an overall view.

http://bibleoutline.org/

[AnimatedDirt]

If you really want to understand it, I could offer a couple of suggestions:

1) Get a modern translation - no "thee's and thou's."
2) Skip the genealogies - they were important for the Jewish people who focused on tribes and the priesthood, but are boring to read and of little import now.
3) Look over a Bible outline first, to get the flow of the entire book (actually, the flow of the 66 books that make up the Bible).  Here's a Christian one, but it still serves to give you an overall view.

http://bibleoutline.org/

As if it was written in King James language/speech only.   

[Stevil]

The Lego version is much more palatable, but it is still extremely dumb. Would have been better if they used the Star Wars lego pieces. God could have been Darth Vader. The Snake could have been Obi-Won. Adam and Eve could have been Han Solo and Lea.

The creation story is a waste of time. No value in it whatsoever. It gives a nonsensical mythical telling of how the earth formed. I guess people were wondering about night and day, and animals and people, man and woman, sun stars and moon and plants and food. But the story is pointless, just a myth.

The garden of eden story.
Still very silly and pointless. Talks about a tree of life and a tree of knowledge. I guess the author was pondering about life and death, man and woman, why people wear clothes and feel ashamed of being naked. Why a woman's birth experience seems more painful than other animals, why a snake slithers.

It is incredible to think that grown adults take this seriously and build up the concept of "original sin". It is just a myth story, it has no historical truth, no natural truth. It's nonsense.

It certainly leads towards two themes that I find very disturbing:
- Man being important and woman being there to serve the man.
- People being punished for what their ancestors did.

[Stevil]

Cain and Able.

I guess a recognition that the eldest child is often jealous of the next sibling.
And showing how bad parenting, seemingly favoring one child over another can cause distress and disharmony, conflict and murder.

Nothing divinely revealing or particular intelligent. Just intuitive human observations of sibling rivalry. This chapter is pretty much a waste of time.

[Sweetdeath]

Cain and Able.

I guess a recognition that the eldest child is often jealous of the next sibling.
And showing how bad parenting, seemingly favoring one child over another can cause distress and disharmony, conflict and murder.

Nothing divinely revealing or particular intelligent. Just intuitive human observations of sibling rivalry. This chapter is pretty much a waste of time.

This happens all the time too. I am envious of my gf who is a single child. My lil sister is being coddled so much right now. My father probably feels a stronger bond with her anyway, cuz she believes his rubbish. She prays a lot I found out, and thinks our mom is watching over her. *eye rolllll* bleh

[Firebird]

The idea here is to read the Bible as literature; understand what all the passages mean, where they came from, how people took them literally and affected out history in real life based on these mythical stories. I'm not debating the merits of the stories or whether they make any sense. I figure that if I'm going to argue the bible doesn't make sense, I may as well understand why

[philosoraptor]

I don't have anything to add that hasn't already been said, but I'm interested in watching conversation develop.  I've always said that the Bible alone often makes the best case for atheism.

[fester30]

If you really want to understand it, I could offer a couple of suggestions:

1) Get a modern translation - no "thee's and thou's."
2) Skip the genealogies - they were important for the Jewish people who focused on tribes and the priesthood, but are boring to read and of little import now.
3) Look over a Bible outline first, to get the flow of the entire book (actually, the flow of the 66 books that make up the Bible).  Here's a Christian one, but it still serves to give you an overall view.

http://bibleoutline.org/

As if it was written in King James language/speech only.   

I used to attend a Southern Baptist in Arkansas where the preacher gave one of those sermons where he was yelling at the congregation.  Part of the sermon was about the King James Bible and why it's the only translation a real disciple of Jesus should read.  When I was Christian, I always was puzzled by the idea that one bad translation was better than any other bad translation.