Has anyone read the whole bible?

Question

I don't mean this as a topical or trick question. I just can't believe that anyone has that much patience. It's like reading the entire works of Shakespear with pages missing at the vital points.

Answer 1

i couldn't even go through the children's version... but my grandma must have read the bible cover to cover hundreds of times... only thing she really reads

Answer 2

I must admit i read most of it; as a staunch atheist i thought i should at least try and see what all the interest was about. I was also doing a literature project regarding religious works and thought that i would try and understand it on various levels, both literal and symbolic.

It seemed so outdated which being writen so long ago, it obviously would be in some way, but I thought i was going to be inspired- that the messages in it would somehow survive time for me. However, it seemed like a cross between arabian nights and a sort of fantasy novel and a political manifesto, so i must say i did speed read some of it but i did concentrate quite a lot on other parts.

unfortunately, rather than being converted, it made me feel that i disliked the bible even more.

i could look at it as a test from god, to make me realise that all these man made stories are vain and futile. But nah, what would be the point of that i thought, it you were all powerful, why bother with tricks.

Answer 3

No, i have only read genesis as part of my uni course, but we were informed the only way to truly contextualise the bible you have to read all of it your self or you lose most of the meaning and you can misunderstand the "idea" behind it.

And allot of the "missing" parts in the bible is to do with pace, and meter and also the "tale" that is being told would take up a lot of books if t wasn't condensed into the import factors.

Despite personal belief the bible is a great literary work.

Answer 4

I don't mean to be disrespectful but I don't think anyone could do it all at once. I must have read at least three quarters of the Bible. Although it was for Bible studies about ten years ago and I was younger with a better attention span and more patience.

Answer 5

Having been educated by nuns we had bible reading 5 days a week plus of course extra on Sundays. Mind you we only had maths once a week because this was not considered so important for our souls. I now read D H Lawrence and Jilly Cooper.

Answer 6

I've only done it once. And, yes, I did have to go back a few times to get the things I missed in the first read through. It took several months to do it, but well worth the time.

Answer 7

Yes any true believer like the ones you see on the train, reading page after page after page! My god how boring must that be!

I have read odd bits of it, but now way am I a Dot Cotton / Branning!

Answer 8

By the whole Bible, do you mean the Christian Bible or the Judaic Bible? For Christians, only the New Testament really matters... Yeah, I've read that, and I'm still an atheist. Yay!

Answer 9

Lord of the Rings must be bigger! Surely that counts...
Not to mention the library - a library must beat a bible.

My sister has read parts of it... but not me - I've read short parrts (the bit about Jonah and the Whale)

Answer 10

I have read it, not in one go though. We read most parts of it during infant and junior school and also sunday school. It took about 15years to know the book though. I could never have sat down and read it like a non stop book/novel though. There's probably bits i dont even know about or have even read.