Its an honest question.
You do realize that pretty much everyone has read the bible and that a person is quite capable of disagreeing with you and your book and actually being educated enough to have read the fiction?
2006-12-20 08:24:37 · 35 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
lol. Your bible has contradictions and you claim thats because I haven't studied it? Honestly....
Jett, it doesn't offend me. I rarely get offended on these boards. I think they're amusing. I just wanted to know why they think that we haven't read the bible and reply with things like "Read your bible and find out". As though we haven't already and disagree with whats said.
Reeann, he doesn't need to disprove the claims because anyone with a brain knows that things like turning a stick into a snake, a sea parting, water turning into wine, a man walking on water, and a man rising from the dead AREN'T POSSIBLE.
2006-12-20 08:33:23 · update #1
Chippy, that's disturbing. And incredibly funny.
2006-12-20 08:35:40 · update #2
caritas, I have the backbone to live without its lies. Do you?
2006-12-20 08:36:30 · update #3
sparkle, you're a diamond in the rough. Very very rare. Wonderful to see. I may not agree with your acessment of the bible, but it's still wonderful to see someone willing to see the real world around them.
Thank you.
2006-12-20 08:39:01 · update #4
person, my father-in-law is a Methodist Minister with a masters degree in Divinities. Its very hard to argue with him about religion because the man knows what he's talking about. Whats interesting is that he has yet to convince me he's right about god even after 6 years. lol.
I have to say, I do find religion to be fascinating. I just don't know how people can believe blindly.
Just because someone doesn't agree doesn't automatically mean they haven't read that book.
2006-12-20 08:42:02 · update #5
Chef bob, what makes you think that by quoting scripture to me you just made any kind of point at all when I just confessed that I don't believe anything in the bible?
Honestly, don't you see the contradiction in that?
2006-12-20 08:43:56 · update #6
Turnhog, that's my experience as well.
2006-12-20 08:44:47 · update #7
fenian, actualy it does have contradictions. It's only fundamentalist Christians that claim otherwise.
2006-12-20 08:46:29 · update #8
Brutal, by that way of thinking, the Christians also have a problem in that they aren't willing to consider anything outside their bible as a possible answer. They can't even remotely comprehend it.
However, saying to "read your bible" isn't going to matter to an Atheist and the Atheist will just dismiss that reply. Because the reading of the bible isn't going to "prove" anything to an Atheist because the Atheist doesn't believe.
Its a copout. You don't have the answer and aren't willing to search for one that will reach the Atheist mind.
Do you see the problem?
2006-12-20 08:55:05 · update #9
jeepwife, want to bet?
Unlike many, I actually HAVE faced death in the eyes. I've looked at the whites of his eyes and I've seen him pronounce my end.
What do I mean by that? I mean that I almost died in 2004 when I got hit by a car while I was crossing the street. Not a near miss. I was hit dead on. The doctors tell me that if he'd been going any faster, I would have died.
Did I see god in that nightmare? No. I didn't. I saw great doctors and a jerk of a guy that was speeding.
So how about you think a little before you post? Because I know things and have experienced things that you can't imagine. And none of them pointed to any god.
2006-12-20 08:58:13 · update #10
I have noticed this as well. I am not a Christian, but I'm almost done with my Religious Studies degree (in the spring). I have taken many, many classes about Christianity and the HB/OT and the NT as well! It irritates me when it is assumed that because I am not a Christian I don't know anything about the religion or the scriptures, when I often find out I have spend more effort in studying that many Christians.
2006-12-20 08:29:52 · answer #1 · answered by Mrs. Pears 5 · 4⤊ 1⤋
It's not that you haven't read the Bible it's that you don't comprehend it the same way we do. I'm talking about interpretation which I think is a crock.
A nonbeliever reading the Bible is like person driving in fog or walking through their house in the dark. You are familiar with it and yet it's not clear or the light's not on inside for you to see what it is clearly. It's frustrating b/c most atheists don't want to understand it and aren't interested in seeing it the way we do. It's just words on a page that their so called open minds can't seem to wrap around. They want to use it against us and as you can see, they aren't doing a very good job b/c most of us still believe.
There are actually very few Christians who have read the Bible and often misquote it based on what they've heard others say. That might be why atheists think they can have an educated disagreement about it. Also, it doesn't matter anyway. We know we do not have all the answers, that's why it's called faith. You will most likely win your arguments but what frustrates you is that we aren't here to split hairs over the Bible. People were Christians before the Bible. We have faith, and that my friend, is what makes the road clear for us. Turns the light on. God Bless.
2006-12-20 08:47:50 · answer #2 · answered by BrutalBaby 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, a lot of christians have not read the whole bible, so for you to say that everyone has is just plain wrong. I think a lot of christians that accept the bible as true, sometimes have a hard time wrapping their brain around the idea that others that have read it would actually reject it. It is amazing to them that someone would not want the opportunity at a relationship with the God of the universe. They wonder if maybe that person hasn't really read the bible is all. That is an honest answer. They just cannot believe that some people don't want to be saved from the penalty of their sins. That is not so crazy. I for one, as a christian, can accept the fact that a person can read the whole bible, and reject it, and scoff at it, and call it simply fiction. Some find it an amazing work of ancient literature, others don't, simply put. It does stand quite the test, from my studies.
2006-12-20 08:29:31 · answer #3 · answered by oceansnsunsets 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It depends on the comments. Some people's comments about the bible lead me to believe that they haven't really read it through, but have maybe read bits of it. I beg to differe on your statement that pretty much everyone has read the Bible. I wish that were true. Unfortunately, as osmeone has already answered, even a lot of Christians have not reallyread the Bible - they have only read bits. I find that absolutely scandalous, embarrassing, and a strong argument against Christianity (in case you haven't guessed I am a convinced Christian). I just can't understand how it can be, but it is true.
As for non believers, some have read the Bible, but too many claim to know what the Bible is all about and haven't read it.
Even people from certain sects. I had 2 people come to my door once, trying to teach me what God's plan is, and what the Bible says. I referred to a passage in the Gospel of John. The leader of the two took about five minutes to find the Gospel of John! Later I made a comment about the importance of reading the Bible for herself. She solemnly informed me that she had read the Bible through several times. I made her repeat that statement several times by asking her the same question in several ways. Afterward, I felt guilty at having made her lie (but not too guilty - at least not enough to lose any sleep over it).
2006-12-20 08:40:36 · answer #4 · answered by Mr Ed 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If Christians sense that you are an unbeliever, they jump to the conclusion that you haven't read the Bible because you likely were not raised within a community of faith and therefore didn't attend worship services to hear the preaching and you didn't attend Sunday school classes either. From my personal experience, however, I have found many Atheists and Agnostics that have done extensive studies of Christianity and the other major world religions. Thus, many times the unbelievers have a broader grasp of the overall religious picture then those who have stayed on their particular side of the religious fence. But let us remember, generalizations about religious people and unbelievers are just that, generalizations. I prefer to meet individuals face-to-face and see where they are coming from without prejudice.
2006-12-20 08:34:39 · answer #5 · answered by Turnhog 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well, some people obviously have not read the Bible. The Bible is not considered a fiction work, even among secular standards of documental proof. But thats a whole another study that takes time. Read Surprised by the Verdict. Its the biography of an attorney who goes about to disprove the bible and its claims. :)
2006-12-20 08:27:40 · answer #6 · answered by mariedockins 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
lol
The only parts that I disagree with you on are these:
#1: You totally generalize and stereotype in your question by saying "Why do Christians ...." instead of saying "Why do SOME Christians..." But I can totally understand that because I do not know your history, nor do I know how you feel about Christians in general.
#2: You said that "pretty much everyone has read the Bible..." Puh-leeeze.... I've been a Christian all my life, and I have not read the entire Bible from cover to cover. I study on certain books for awhile, but not once have I read the entire Bible. And can you honestly say that you, yourself, have read and studied the Bible from cover to cover? If you have, then seriously good for you!
2006-12-20 08:40:58 · answer #7 · answered by Aimee 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Because everything becomes soooooo clear after you've read it, obviously, if you have doubts, you haven't read it! QED
See above "all the answers you need are in it". Which might be true if I lived in the Bronze Age and was taught by a prophet to whom a wheelbarrow would have seemed hi-tech. But maybe not so true for the 21st Century.
We are dealing with people who can't even agree amongst themselves as to correct doctrine. But all the answers are there..yeah right.
2006-12-20 08:31:13 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
reading the Bible.....and reading the Bible and seeing the Truth with eyes opened by God are two VERY different things.
14. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14 (New International Version)
"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;
but unto us that are saved it is the power of God."
1 Corinthians 1:18
2006-12-20 08:34:35 · answer #9 · answered by Chef Bob 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
How ironic, literally no less than 5 minutes ago I sent a return email to a Christian for assuming that I have not read the Bible just because I'm not Christian myself. It's so annoying when that happens. I HAVE read the Bible from cover to cover and that's precisely why I DON'T believe in it. This question gets a definite thumbs up.
2006-12-20 08:29:14 · answer #10 · answered by Tiacola Version 9.0 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋