It's hard to believe this!

[Fenky]

Being hated by people in my school for being athiest is in the past but something strange is going on.

None of the kids who hated me have read the Bible as much as I have. One day I read it just for the hell of it. Nobody else has read it. That's very stupid. Don't preach what you barely know! That's like Ebert giving a movie four stars because he read about it on wikipedia and like the sound of it but never watched it.

Hell! I even have a passage from the Bible in my wallet. (It's Ezekiel 25:17. If you've ever seen Pulp Fiction then you'll know why I have it.)

Do you think it's strange that the town athiest has read more about the Bible than the Super Christians have?  

[Dark_lord_15]

No, that's why they aren't atheists. Reading the bible is supposedly one the main reasons people become atheists. I've never read it, but I know it's really just a big book of contradictions, so I didn't bother.

 

[Dathu]

Dark_lord_15

No, that's why they aren't atheists. Reading the bible is supposedly one the main reasons people become atheists. I've never read it, but I know it's really just a big book of contradictions, so I didn't bother.

She's got a point. It was my ferverent puruit for the all things bible related that made me ask the first questions. I think that's why people prefer to let a paster or priest tell them what's in the bible, rather than read it themselves. I also think it has something to do with us being better readers because we're smarter, but that might just be me. cool  

[Ruminating Skeptic]

Oh trust me, I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. I myself am reading the bible right now, and wow. I kept talking about certain verses to my mom, and she was like: ok...

Me: Have you read the bible? I mean the entire thing?

Mom: only bit's and pieces of it.

Me: *speechless* *sinks back into seat, marveling at the sheer hypocrisy*

You're correct, the best way to convert someone to Atheism is to get them to read their own damn holy book.

How. ********. Pathetic. Is. That.  

[Prince Rilian]

It's not unusual.

I've seen Pulp Fiction, but I don't remember. I'm tired, so instead of looking it up, I'm just giong to go to bed.  

[Dread Dionaea]

Yep, it's fairly common. I dated a guy (very) briefly who was quite the Biblical scholar. He'd read it all excessively and thoroughly. He also found the whole thing hilariously ridiculous. He'd tell a lot of really funny stories from it with a great narrative.

Unfortunately he completely lacked any semblance of tact and frequently thought it was a great idea to vociferate these stories as loudly as ******** possible in crowded waiting rooms and restaurant lobbies. I can't count the number of times he got subpar service after doing that, and it made dates absolutely miserable.

People, yes the Bible is hilarious. It's insane. It boggles the mind how people can take it seriously. But there is no excuse to piss off random strangers. There's a polite way to discuss this stuff that will end up in your favor and help them reconsider. Yelling "YOUR GOD IS SILLY" is not the way to do it.  

[Redem]

Yup, that bible certainly helped me. I read it for answers, back when I was a good little catholic boy...

I found the only good answer in the whole thing. It's a pile of crap that only makes sense if you realise the context of it. The collected oral traditions of tribal lore from primitives who could barely understand how the universe worked and practised animal sacrifices to appease their gods, and the writings that have been added to that over the centuries as people's understanding changed.  

[Theophrastus]

The more I read of the Bible and studied Christian apologetics the more I realized it was a load. I think you guys have a fine point.

See the following conversation.

Me: "Wait. God Made me. God knows everything. God is all-powerful. God is love.

"Right?"

Pastor: "Right."

Me: "So He made the situations in my life that would make me question Him?

"...and He knew that these very situations would corrode my faith?

"...and He did nothing to stop this?

"...He engineered the doubt of the world? He set up the circumstances that caused people NOT to choose Him and consequently suffer an eternity in Hell?

"...that means that by omission and inaction, He makes people atheists?

"...so God's making me go to hell? Well, that sucks. What kind of love is that, again?"  

[banryuu]

I've read the bible many times.
I'd have to say the only good part of it other then the sex poems in Song Of Solomen is the book of Ruth. If you cut our the your god is my god shpeal then its just a story of a strong and coragous woman who lost her husband but insted of going back home to her fathers house she followed her mother in law(who had lost 2sons and a husband) to a country she had never been to. To live in poverty and work in the feilds. She was a GOOD person who treated all other people will kindness and respect. Only for that and not "Gods grace" did she fall in love with a hadson wealthy man and be king david's grand mother.  

[Tenth Speed Writer]

banryuu

I've read the bible many times.
I'd have to say the only good part of it other then the sex poems in Song Of Solomen is the book of Ruth. If you cut our the your god is my god shpeal then its just a story of a strong and coragous woman who lost her husband but insted of going back home to her fathers house she followed her mother in law(who had lost 2sons and a husband) to a country she had never been to. To live in poverty and work in the feilds. She was a GOOD person who treated all other people will kindness and respect. Only for that and not "Gods grace" did she fall in love with a hadson wealthy man and be king david's grand mother.

If you read through most of those stories, that's not an uncommon theme. It just tends to be called a blessing; the fruit of effort is something implied.  

[Dread Dionaea]

banryuu

sex poems in Song Of Solomen

These gave me my favorite joke pick-up line--"Your teeth are like a flock of sheep".

Of course I'm certain he meant clean, freshly-shorn sheep. However, I hear this as "Your teeth are greyish and wooly".  

[AnonymouZ]

Yep... reading the bible will make you atheist, or at least agnostic IF you have had an education prior to that.

But, if you are already a "faithful" believer, you will realize that everything's been done already, and god took away your need to think, so there's nothing wrong with ignoring the "contradictory" parts of it.

And i do like that in church (catholic anyway,) after readin their scriptures they say, "god's word," or something like that... but i like it because it makes the following quote just beautiful.

"If god has spoken, why is the universe not convinced?"  

[ProjectOmicron88]

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever concieved."
--Isaac Asimov

I took a read once myself, and I gotta say, I think I killed off a couple million brain cells in doing so.  

[Dathu]

Dread Dionaea

banryuu

sex poems in Song Of Solomen

These gave me my favorite joke pick-up line--"Your teeth are like a flock of sheep".

Of course I'm certain he meant clean, freshly-shorn sheep. However, I hear this as "Your teeth are greyish and wooly".

blaugh God sure has a way with the ladies. blaugh  

[cup_noodles]

Dathu

Dread Dionaea

banryuu

sex poems in Song Of Solomen

These gave me my favorite joke pick-up line--"Your teeth are like a flock of sheep".

Of course I'm certain he meant clean, freshly-shorn sheep. However, I hear this as "Your teeth are greyish and wooly".

blaugh God sure has a way with the ladies. blaugh

Because wooing things he created out of ribs is his talent.