How many Atheists, or Christians for that matter,?

Question

Have researched the History of the Bible. I hear atheists all the time saying theyve read it, but how many have researched its history, how it was decided upon, how and when it was translated, that sort of thing?

And how many Christians, who rely so heavily on the book have done the same thing?

And if you have, did it reaffirm your faith as a Christian, or your belief that it is tainted?

I have personally researched the history of the Bible, so I am not looking for help with that, just curious how many of you have

No Yoda I dont mind, ask it as a question, I can answer it.

Answer 1

I have researched the history of the Old and New Testaments, Church and Ancient history. I find it distressing when you hear someone throw around bits of information that they regard as fact, when they may have actually obtained it from "The DaVinci Code", or they heard it from some unreliable source. This is how rumors are started.
I have done the same in the past....past on info because I heard someone else say it....so it must be true. I try to be more careful about this now and not give out second-hand information without checking out it's source or looking into it first.

Answer 2

I've read most of the Bible (not quite the whole thing) and studied its history in college. If anything, it reinforces by belief that it is not the word of God. While a council was convened in the Fourth Century AD to determine the canon of the Bible, Christians had pretty much decided on it already. Six books were still being argued over, of which Revelations and Hebrews were included, the other four were rejected. The Bible has been translated in English alone numerous times. I believe in God, by the way, but do not believe the Bible is the word of God.

Answer 3

I have too. I've been studying the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Gnostic Gospels, the Lost Books of the Bible, the Book of Enoch, the Quran, the Enuma Elish, the Book of Enki, and the Epic of Gilgamesh in a comparative way for more than ten years, and I'm not done yet;)...Reading, questioning, and learning about past History and great ancient civilizations with an open mind help you understant humankind better;)...Oh, not to mention the Baghdavita, and all the ancient world's mythologies;)

Answer 4

The majority of my family are Christians, be it Protestant or Catholic. Naturally I was subjected to the Bible a lot during childhood, so I decided to read it cover to cover. Even at 12, a lot of things seemed to be contradictions, like how God in the Old Testament was wrathful but in the New Testament was loving and forgiving. Unless the Christian god has got a chronic case of bipolar disorder, it can be surmised that the Bible was truly written by man, who are flawed and incorporate their own thoughts into religion. Shortly after, I converted to something that adheres to both my moral beliefs and ancestry, that being Asatru. It was decided not only because of the Bible but the bloody history regarding Christians attempting to convert everyone. I do admit the origins and the polytheistic roots are quite interesting, but that's just because I adore theology.

Answer 5

Yes, I have and am still studying the historicity of Bible. I have studied the opinions of historians and spent time learning Hebrew and Latin. So I also looked at the Bible from a linguists view. I continue to read the opinions of archaeologists as well as anthropologists. I look at the Bible and any other holy book from every discipline I can educate myself about. I studied under Jesuits as well as rabbis. I am now an atheist and the study of various religions and faiths still intrigues me.The study of any religion's holy book could keep a person busy for a lifetime.

Answer 6

I've done a good bit of research on the History of the Bible, and I know a lot about how to read the Bible properly.

Answer 7

I do not pour over the texts as much as I would like, but my wife is in seminary and we have discussions about portions of text. I would consider myself relatively studied on the bible.

It *changed* my faith to learn the truth about the bible, but it never ended my faith. I don't consider my faith tainted, although the bible is certainly *not* a word-for-word instruction manual handed down by God's own Self. It's not perfect, but it's the best look into God's nature that we historically have.

Answer 8

Nah, as soon as I heard God didn't write even a single word on paper I sort of figured the rest of the selection process was no better than a room full of monkeys at typewriters. I mean, seriously, there ought to be standards on such things and to say "the word of god" ought to mean something just like "certified organic" means something. And yet, apparently I can claim this answer is the word of god with utterly no fear of god coming here and proving that it is not.

Answer 9

i have never actually read the bible but i have done a little bit of research on when it was formed and a little bit of the translation. i dont pretend to know everything about it nor do i quote it to get a point across

Answer 10

I have and it totally reaffirmed my faith. You have to be careful of bias material either way.

For example one person could say.
I'm so full, I had 5 whole peices of candy.

Another could say.
I barely ate a thing...I only ate 5 little peices of candy.

The same information can steer your thinking in one direction or another. Use your OWN brain to figure stuff out.

I have found studying the bible, apologetics...etc. to be the most faith building thing I have ever done. total validation.