migueldarican
New Member
Any other nontheists reading the Bible?
My biggest reasons for coming here, a.) as I said in my intro thread, I'm a new agnostic, but also b.) I'm reading the Bible. I would say that I'm rereading it, because I was a Christian, but no, this is my first read through.
I gave Christianity 35 years of my life, and I'm 37. Now I have a new desire to actually read the Bible... skeptically. Seriously, I have never actually read the Bible. I read bits and pieces, whatever passage they were going over in Sunday School and the pastor's sermon. From 3rd grade through 10th, I attended a fundy Christian church and was a student at their K-12 private school. And I still probably have read... maybe a 3rd of the Bible. Even though from then on, leaving the fundy environment, and oozing my way into liberal Christianity, meeting a lot of actually smart and enthusiastic people, from theology majors in college to the cool plain clothes pastors I've met in my church hopping years. Still, not very encouraged to read the Bible.
I'm reading the Bible with Stephen Wells "Skeptic's Annotated Bible". And the SAB is not without its flaws. But it has helped me to look at the Bible in a new way. And with skepticism at heart, I'm actually motivated to power through the 1000+ page book that has influenced my life.
I just got done with Genesis (like just now).
And wow...
Reactions (and yes, these points are debate worthy... probably... but keep in mind, I'm probably going to start a whole new thread dealing with these points:
1. Good thing: I love drama, okay? Not a big soap opera fan and all that. But if you can take the recipe for a soap opera and use a scifi or fantasy backdrop, I'm hooked. So... needless to say, Genesis had me addicted.
2. Was... God... afraid of Adam?
3. I hope for our sakes, God always sees rainbows.
4. Looks like God was afraid of the tower builders.
5. OMG! INCEST! Like cover to cover! Christian Grey is turning red.
So while sometimes I feel that Christianity (both conservative and liberal) owes me 35 years of my life back, I'm actually very grateful for my time in Christianity, for I know that Christians are not idiots. They're smart, many of them smarter than me, so I have hope that they can at least rethink this. And read the Bible with a magnifying glass (figuratively speaking) the way I am now.
Wow, this sounds like a really bad Bible commercial.
My biggest reasons for coming here, a.) as I said in my intro thread, I'm a new agnostic, but also b.) I'm reading the Bible. I would say that I'm rereading it, because I was a Christian, but no, this is my first read through.
I gave Christianity 35 years of my life, and I'm 37. Now I have a new desire to actually read the Bible... skeptically. Seriously, I have never actually read the Bible. I read bits and pieces, whatever passage they were going over in Sunday School and the pastor's sermon. From 3rd grade through 10th, I attended a fundy Christian church and was a student at their K-12 private school. And I still probably have read... maybe a 3rd of the Bible. Even though from then on, leaving the fundy environment, and oozing my way into liberal Christianity, meeting a lot of actually smart and enthusiastic people, from theology majors in college to the cool plain clothes pastors I've met in my church hopping years. Still, not very encouraged to read the Bible.
I'm reading the Bible with Stephen Wells "Skeptic's Annotated Bible". And the SAB is not without its flaws. But it has helped me to look at the Bible in a new way. And with skepticism at heart, I'm actually motivated to power through the 1000+ page book that has influenced my life.
I just got done with Genesis (like just now).
And wow...
Reactions (and yes, these points are debate worthy... probably... but keep in mind, I'm probably going to start a whole new thread dealing with these points:
1. Good thing: I love drama, okay? Not a big soap opera fan and all that. But if you can take the recipe for a soap opera and use a scifi or fantasy backdrop, I'm hooked. So... needless to say, Genesis had me addicted.
2. Was... God... afraid of Adam?
3. I hope for our sakes, God always sees rainbows.
4. Looks like God was afraid of the tower builders.
5. OMG! INCEST! Like cover to cover! Christian Grey is turning red.
So while sometimes I feel that Christianity (both conservative and liberal) owes me 35 years of my life back, I'm actually very grateful for my time in Christianity, for I know that Christians are not idiots. They're smart, many of them smarter than me, so I have hope that they can at least rethink this. And read the Bible with a magnifying glass (figuratively speaking) the way I am now.
Wow, this sounds like a really bad Bible commercial.