If they hate God so much then why learn about him? Is it just to know what to criticize or make fun of christians about or just to make up excuses for all the "magical" stuff and prove christians wrong? It's kinda pointless if your a nonbeliever. And for a believer to study the bible, they do it to learn what God wants us to be.
2007-09-15 17:08:41 · 39 answers · asked by Walter 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I was a Christian for 20 years, for one.
For two, I argue against religion because I see what religion does to the world, and in order to argue, you need to know something about the topic at hand. In my country, the main religion is Christianity.
For the most part, I don't really study the Bible much anymore. But after, oh, 4/5ths of my life, I know quite a bit.
2007-09-15 17:13:47 · answer #1 · answered by Snark 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Atheists may read the Bible and even say they study the Bible, however, without the Spirit of God , they can not interpret the Bible. The flesh cannot understand what the Spirit is saying. Pray that the non-believer that reads the Bible will have his/her eyes open so that they can hear the truth, so that they will accept God's great mercy and love, and His Spirit, so they can rightly divide the word of truth. Where did you get the idea though that atheists study the bible more than Christians? You can memorize the whole Bible and still be unsaved. The Bible should lead you to Jesus, not just to acquire "knowledge" - which really is no knowledge at all, without the Holy Spirit.
2007-09-15 18:16:20 · answer #2 · answered by AdoreHim 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They do not study it to learn, but to refute. When you study something, your studies should be neutral. Your conclusion can support one side or the other, but your studies shoudl at least be neutral. Atheists do not seem to want to actually know what the Biblical writers believed, they just want to say they are deluded, making up stories, ect. If they have already made that conclusion, then they are not really studying anything, they are just seeking to reinforce their prejudices.
For instance, I am a Christian and I spent two years researching America's Christian heritage. I did a neutral study though. I went to secular libraries, read books by respected professors, talked to professors from Yale and other colleges to make sure I was on the right track and to get help if I needed it. But a poor study, which many atheists do, is studying something only to reinforce the things you already believe. What they do would be like going to an anti-Christian website to find out about America's Christian heritage, of course they will only come out with one side of the story, most of which is probably false or misrepresented. So in my study I did not use one book from a Christian publisher, nor did I use one single online source because credible professors do not really have research websites.
But the atheist mostly gets their information from online, from Dawkins and Harris, and so on. They may read the Bible and look at Creationist websites, but they do not truly study it. They just look to confirm what they already believe.
I don't do this. I didn't look for books that said Ben Franklin was a Christian, I looked for any book about Franklin and whether he was a Christian or a polytheist I just had to conform to the facts.
Atheists do not want to conform to the facts, they want the facts to conform around atheism. So they often say that Jesus never existed, that no one wrote about him until 300 AD, that only the Gnostic texts are reliable, etc. Also they base much of their beliefs on the Old Testament, which is not the book Christianity is founded on. If they have a problem with the Old Testament they should ask Jews. Christianity is a religion of the New Testament.
2007-09-15 17:25:05 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
well my knowledge of the bible come from me being a former christian. I don't to study it. I don't every thing In it but I remember things from it. So my knowledge comes from that. I don't study it. If I where to that would make me not an atheist. I think most people on who claim to be atheist are not atheist. There are some true atheist out there. But I see some of them just christians or so called christians trying to get attention because there bored.
thats my take and have a nice day.
2007-09-15 17:19:19 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think the more interesting question is "Why do Christians, who claim to believe in the Bible, know less about it than Atheists?"
Also, if it's impossible to interpret the bible without the help of the holy spirit, as people keep saying whenever someone points out contradictions, absurdities and atrocities in the bible, what then is the point of having such a book at all, if literally NO HUMAN BEING can understand it?
2007-09-15 18:03:27 · answer #5 · answered by au_catboy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I really think it is just the tendency for Atheist to read a lot more than Christian's that listen to the indoctrinator and snob all other sources . your circular logic is deplorable as usual .
know one hates a god that doesn't exist that is impossible but the impact of the gullible believer is a danger to others .
your believers require the magic for your faith and if believers were personally responsible and had the integrity, courage and determination to seek the truth of free thinking and critical questioning they would not be criticized for such narrow mindedness like a horse with blinders reading only one book and ignoring everything else . think about it before you rush to judgment . I've spent years upon years in discussion with my eyes open and not prejudiced .
2007-09-15 17:20:03 · answer #6 · answered by dogpatch USA 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your first mistaken assumption is that atheists hate god. They don't; they don't believe in god.
Since Christians use the bible as a defense and as reasons for their beliefs, does it not then make sense for atheists to also study the bible in order to make informed statements? Otherwise, it's like someone who's never studied physics to try to argue with a physicist.
By the way, I was raised a Christian and went to bible school on Sunday.
2007-09-15 17:14:27 · answer #7 · answered by OPad 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
They don't study the Bible more than Christians. That is a popular, but baseless myth. I have never run across an atheist who expressed any real knowledge of modern academic study of the Bible. Every atheist that I have run across (who actually comments on the Bible) expresses a slightly more literal and uninformed interpretation of Scripture than the average fundamentalist.
2007-09-15 17:14:47 · answer #8 · answered by NONAME 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Not all atheists study the Bible. Probably a majority of them don't. Some choose to pick and choose scripture, then twist it, to try and prove their point.
As Christians, we need to be getting in our Word, studying and applying it, so that when something false is said we know it is false because we know the Truth so well.
2007-09-15 17:14:20 · answer #9 · answered by zero_or_die77 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I don't hate God, just ignorance.
I know a lot about the Bible because I studied it when I was a Christian. since then, I've studied a lot more - so I'm not.
what do you think of devout Muslims who would say exactly the same thing about "unbelievers" who fail to understand the Qu'ran?
humanity has come a long way since 2000 years ago when your "holy book" was written. close your bible and open your eyes.
2007-09-15 17:16:10 · answer #10 · answered by hot.turkey 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋