Do you know somebody who has read and studied the Bible thoroughly and is not a Christian?

Question

My experience has been that the people who most often criticize and are contemptuous of the Bible are people who are completely unfamiliar with its contents. They have lots of (usually misguided) ideas about what's in it, but can form no cogent arguments or meaningful defense against it.

Answer 1

No I don"t;Because to move from known truth, to reject that truth,
would be an Apostate-----awaiting Judgement( Devine Correction)

Answer 2

I TAUGHT Catholic school, so I have certainly read the Bible. I assure you, since Christianity is the major religion in our culture, I studied it carefully when I was seeking the right faith for me. It was that very study that caused me to reject Christianity. I WANTED to be a Christian and WANTED to believe in the words of the Bible, but could not. My own heart revealed another path. That was ten years ago and my faith in my gods is still unshakable.

If I were you, I wouldn't come into this forum baiting the atheists for "cogent arguments and meaningful defense" against the Bible. You're just asking for it.

I hope you realize that without "interpretation," it is a logical and scientific impossibility for the entire Bible to be true and infallible.

Answer 3

Members of the Church of Satan primarily follow the Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey. It has nothing to do with Wicca or any other occult group. It only has to do with LaVayan Satanists. The Satanic Bible does not mention any Christian groups by name. Really, it barely talks about Christians at all. It talks about the Christian religion some, but really doesn't focus much on the followers. Sounds like you haven't a clue what you're talking about, want to believe something you heard on YouTube, and are grasping in the dark at straws trying to justify a conclusion you admit you've already formed.

Answer 4

Yes I know there are so many people who have read and studied the Bible throughly and is not a Christian because they studied the religion comparatively.Among others is Ms Irene Handono who was formerly a fanatic Catholic and she wrote a book called Islam Menghujat or Islam Claimed.The other one is Amhed Deed-
at an Indian but he lived in South Africa who wrote a book The Choice..By studying 2 religions or more comparatively someone will know which one is the best religion.

Answer 5

I am a Christian at heart though I don't follow the Main stream religions of Christianity. I have studied the bible and in my search found the original Bible (new testament of Jesus) who's actual name is Yesuah. King Constantine had all the original new testaments burned (but two where found) it was easy to do back then because only the hierarchy of the church had copies and the Government officials. And most women didn't read. If you are a sincere christian and seeker of truth go to gospelofthenazirenes.c and see for yourself the Real Christ.

Answer 6

I would say exactly the same thing about the Quran and Islam. People who are ignorant are the most contemptuous and people wh are contemptuous are the most ignorant.

I've read and studied the Bible, and I am not Christian. I also am not contemptuous of Christianity - I consider Christians my brother/sister believers in the one God.

Answer 7

I am a serious student of the Bible and I do consider myself a Christian. I have at least 7 different translations in print and over 30 different translations on my computer. I have talked with/argued with/debated with persons of position in most major denominations of Christianity and come to the same conclusion that you did. Most people, even ministers, priests, and pastors, haven't the slightest freaking clue what is taught in the Bible. I even had one person rip a page out of their own Bible right in front of me because I showed them that what I was telling them was, in fact, in the Bible!

Answer 8

actualy I find nothing destroys my Christian beliefs MORE than reading the Bible!
I know many Athiests, Agnostics and others who have studied the Bible extensively....
So much dodgey stuff, so many contradictions....only the most absurd arguments can be used to justify these faults. Only reading people like Bishop Spong has saved any remnants of my christian faith!

Answer 9

I have read and studied most of the texts of the major religions. Actually it is the other way around, I don't see how anyone could read the Bible and still be a Christian.

Answer 10

As an agnostic, I don't regard the Bible as infallible, divinely inspired "Truth". But I've gotten much more out of the Bible than I ever could as a believer. Believers, especially literalists, are very limited in their ability to interpret the Bible, because they can't permit themselves to understand beyond their preconceptions about God and the tenets they've been taught.

Here's an example: In Luke's gospel, Jesus tells the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, in which the dead, tormented rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus back to his living relatives to warn them of his fate. Abraham tells him they would not believe "even if one were to return from the dead." In John's gospel, Lazarus DOES return from the dead. John deliberately makes a connection betwen the parable and Jesus' power to raise the dead. A believer would say there's no connection, because Luke's Lazarus was a story and John's Lazarus was real. They can't conceive that John would tell a "story" about Jesus that didn't happen exactly as told.

Another example: If I described a story about a man named Joseph who had dreams in which God talked to him, and who eventually brought his family to live in Egypt, a believer might assume I was talking about Joseph, the son of Jacob, owner of the colorful coat. But I might actually be talking about the Joseph of Matthew's gospel, who was told in a dream to flee from Herod. But Matthew couldn't be deliberately imitating the Genesis story because he was simply describing actual events, right?

Studying as a believer can seriously inhibit the ability to analyze the structure of Bible stories and teachings because certain attitudes are considered disrespectful, even taboo. Many stories in the Bible are seldom read because there appears to be no suitable moral lesson there, the story of Shechem and Dinah, or of Tamar and Judah, or Lot's daughters, or the story of the Levite and his concubine at the end of Judges, or even Absalom & David in 2 Samuel. But with a reasonable understanding of the culture, the apparently gruesome stories make sense. But believers consider these characters as some sort of spiritual ancestors doing inexplicably bad things without a reason, so they shift their attention to the nice stories that are more in character.

There are certainly people who are both ignorant and contemptuous of the Bible, just as there are people who are both ignorant and loving of the Bible. In my experience, I've known many Christians who admire the Bible very much but are a little terrified of getting in beyond their depth. They stick with safe parts and rarely venture beyond what they already know. I don't take the Bible too seriously, and as a result, nothing in it upsets me. (Your remark about forming a "defense" against the Bible is amusing. I don't think it's all that dangerous, except to serious believers.)

May I recommend a book? Read "The Harlot by the Side of the Road" by Jonathan Kirsch. It may give you some insight into how to read the scriptures with greater understanding.

Answer 11

I've read the Bible and I am an atheist.

"No cogent arguments..."

"Therefore he smote it; and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up." - 2 Kings 15:16. Would God approve of this?