(Atheist only)?

Question

So you have read the Bible and believe all the negative things but believe not the positive things ??

see
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnPAenh0uuKtz2rW_Iuip_Lsy6IX?qid=20070427181915AA8LE1I

Answer 1

They're hypocrites. Simple as that.

Answer 2

No, I reject god based on his actions. Anything that has reinforcement of humanity is favorable in my eyes. I no longer read the bible, but remember things from time to time. Sometimes the piece that I remember suits the occasion. But it's by no means the complete truth to me. It's like any other resource book. Many things were appropriate for the time, and are not appropriate now. WE have to evolve as humanity. We can't look to our past for present behavior. We really must move forward. There is alot of wisdom and guidance in the world today. The bible robs people of their ability to seek out this information. All these things that people in Christianity, say are the same things that were said when I was a child.

Taking that, be in the world and not of the world way to literally. I grew beyond the structures of the Bible. Maybe that doesn't make sense, that have a piece of it there but it's done as an active source of information.

Answer 3

There are some good things in the Bible, and I have no problem with those things. But there are FAR too many things in there that promote hate and intolerance. IF the Bible was brimming with love, then I would be more than happy to use it as a sort of a guide in my life. (Not to mean that I would become a believer, but I mean use it as a guide.) The love in the Bible, however, is extremely conditional. If you don't believe what they tell you to believe, live how they want you to live, love who they tell you to love, then it promotes hate towards you. It encourages people to reject you. If you look at the majority of Bible quotes believers use--even on this forum, you'll see that it's usually one passage or another telling people why they're going to go to Hell. These believers that claim to be so "full of Christ's love" spend far too much time looking at nothing but what they deem to be the faults of others, and not enough time worrying about how they can better themselves and promote love in this world. And these believers are not any closer to perfection as human beings than anyone else. That's why atheists and other non-believers get so agitated with them. We see it as being so hypocritical.

Answer 4

No,

I have read the bible and compared it to other historical records and known scientific facts.

I trust that the parts supported by other sources are true.

I know that the parts that contradict reality are false.

The rest I am waiting for more evidence.



Now. Have you read the Odyssey or the Iliad?
Facts in these books have been shown to be correct and they are supported by other historical records, just like the bible. It shows examples of good and evil behavior as lessons for the reader - just like the bible does.

So, why do you not start worshiping Zeus and the Greek gods? By your reasoning they must be real.

Answer 5

It is intellectually dishonest to believe the Bible for the positive things and ignore those things that are negative. Christians do that all the time and we atheist call them on it repeatedly. To accept some must be to accept all.

I reject it all entirely.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is a positive thing but I don't need the Bible to tell me something that is really just a rehash of an earlier idea that has been repeated many times before.

Answer 6

I've tried to read the bible, honestly I have. But after a while, I just can't focus on the text. It doesn't register in my mind and it starts to wander. I've heard that some people like smoking more than others because they have more nicotine receptors in their brains; there must be something similar going on here and I must have no unsubstantiated nonsense receptors in my incredibly powerful Atheist brain.

Answer 7

I personally don't believe much of it. It is just fun to torture you guys with it. And the Old Testament is far more negative, so if you had to take a side, on the whole it is awful.

And Jesus didn't deny those things. Quite the opposite actually. So frankly, on the whole it is far more negative than positive.

Answer 8

There is some value in writings of many religious scholars and many secular scholars. The problems arise when adherents of a belief system claim exclusive rights to basic life truths or claim validity to the exclusion to all others. Christians are famous for such.

Answer 9

I had read the bible, but I do not believe any stories inside, positive or negative.

For me, those are just narration of people from hearsay, which itself is not accurate.

Answer 10

I take it as I would the Iliad.. a book that has no way to verify what is between it's covers because there are no other sources to cross reference it with.

The bible was written by human beings who inherently have human bias and will see things in their own way. There is no way to know how much accurate and how much got fluffed up.

Answer 11

Um, no! Don't generalize. Because one person said "thus n so" doesn't mean all do. The bibles got some wisdom, some cruel things, some illogical things. Just like lots of books written by ancient people.