Atheists, whom have read the bible, I am curious?

Question

do you believe that this "ficticious made up character" called God, is in fact one person three parts "trinity" or three seperate beings altogether.

(father, son, Holy spirit)

just curious

me ^_^ ,

@ss clown, its called getting a different opinion, i thouth you were all about opening our primitive minds?

garwy

thats exactly what Im asking, what do you think God is in this "made up story book"

Answer 1

I don't believe he is a person at all. I sure don't think he is three people in one.

EDIT

Jeremiah, many atheist have read the Bible. Some of us have read it several times. A few of us even attended fundamentalist, church schools and were raised Baptist. Assume much?

Answer 2

American atheist here. I read the Bible cover to cover twice, back in the 70's.

I've known for a very long time that the Trinity was a politically inspired invention of the Catholic Church, beginning at the Council of Nicaea (325 CE) when the Bishops present voted that God (the Father) was consubstantial with God (the Son). In other words, Father and Son were said to be made of the same "substance." At the Council of Constantinople (381 CE) the Bishops voted to include the Holy Spirit in the Godhead and used the word "Trinity" to describe God, for the first time.

If I understand your question correctly, you're asking if I think of "imaginary God" in terms of the Trinity or as three seperate entities. The truth is, when I think of God in Heaven, I imagine a sort of humanoid deity who looks rather like a very dignified grandfather. I always think of Jesus as a completely human prophet, having no particular divine powers, except as granted by the Father. The Holy Spirit is the evil pedophile ghost who forcibly raped Joseph's child bride, Mary. As a child, I particularly hated the Holy Spirit because it molested Mary and did not ask for or recieve her consent before getting her pregnant. I also hated that the Holy Spirit caused my mother speak in tongues, roll on the church floor shrieking, and to eventually become a full-blown schizophrenic. Truth be told, I have never accepted the Trinity as anything but the political device it was. If I were ever able to renounce my atheism (very unlikely), I imagine I could only believe in God (the Father). Jesus and the Holy Spirit are just unnecessary baggage and serve only to increase my skepticism.

Answer 3

The idea of a "trinity" is a pagan belief. Christians claim to worship the God of Judaism yet the God of Judaism is not 3 separate parts. The fact is, the Jewish Messiah was not suppose to be a God, a God-man, or a Demigod. The Jewish Messiah is only to be a man, born of a biological mother and father. He isn't to possess superpowers either.
If one starts studying and educates themselves about Paganism, especially prior to the Christian era, one will see that the idea of a trinity was adopted from previous Pagan myths.
Ancient Egypt for an example had a trinity, Horus - the father, Osiris - the Son, and Isis - the mother.

This may seem like a false claim until you find out that this isn't the only Pagan idea that was adopted. As a matter of fact, there isn't one piece of Christian doctrine that can't be found in prior existing Pagan beliefs.
It is also important to note that 95% of the Roman Empire was Pagan prior to the establishment of the Catholic Church.

Answer 4

I'm not atheist, and I don't believe in the bible, and I have read it, cover to cover.

I don't 'believe' anything as regards one god, a trinity, or separate beings. All of these are figments of the imagination, and as such, don't deserve even one second's thought except as would any mystery mythology and also as a knowledge base to work from when dealing with 'believers.'

See, that's the whole point. There's no need to waste time 'believing' in any part of it, because there's no way to prove it one way or the other.

To me, it's like asking whether Jimmy Hoffa is buried in Michigan or at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean; the real answer might be that he was cut into bits and fed to the dogs. We don't know, we're not likely ever to find out, and most importantly, it won't matter one jot in our existence what the answer is.

Answer 5

Yeah i imagine a lot of folk have not study the bible. fairly the first 28,000 years at the same time as people were round before the bible changed into written. and then yet another 1000 years before they all started handing out the bible to different places outside of center east. And the blind who does no longer have get accurate of entry to to the blind typings. and persons that stay outside of majority civilization. a lot of islanders. Aboriginies. Many a lot of human beings really. Plus even more advantageous so now because we are analyzing a translated version of a translated version of a translated version. remember how a lot which skill receives tousled in overseas videos with dubs or subs? Now attempt this like 50 cases. And basically, maximum persons in present day cases have not study the bible. yet tremendous translations in easy words.

Answer 6

I have read the bible. I own a bible and went to a very religious school. I don't believe, I KNOW it is fictitious, and what's more, I don't think it was ever intended to be taken as truth.

In answer to your question about the trinity; It would be almost impossible to know as, each book in the NT has its own ideas and there doesn't seem to be anything canon. The way I interpreted it was Jesus was the 'embodiment of God' but god was still hanging around whilst Jesus was on Earth. So they are the same person but existing separately at the same time.

Answer 7

I don't think the Trinity appears in print until the Nicene creed gets layed down in 327AD.
It certainly is not a part of the Hebrew texts of the Old Testament. In fact the Old Testament is very strongly against the idea of a God in Triplicate form. It does not appear in the New Testament.
The Jehova's Witnesses seem to be correct in their claim that God is singular, undivided, and male.

Answer 8

I haven't been able to figure it out yet .Of all the preachers and chaplains who have tried to explain it seem even more confused . Some say that he's no more than a shamrock leaf , while others claim that he's more like an egg, with a shell , white and yolk . I guess he is a good egg .
Some say he's three persons. That one , I can't figure out at all . The plural of person is people, not persons . So far nobody has been able to tell me the difference between three people , and three persons .

Answer 9

Agnostic here -

Could be either of the two choices - if God is all powerful, then He could split himself up into three different entities (think taking 3 buckets of water out of a lake - the substance is the same, and came from the same source, is now separate, but could rejoin the lake later).

On the other hand - it could just be three different gods.

If I were to have faith in Christianity, I would lean towards the 3 is one more than the all is separate, because of what the Bible NT says.

Answer 10

I have read the Bible over twenty times in my life and if I wished to complete it, would be less than a semester away from a degree in Biblical Studies.

There is no evidence at all in the Biblical Texts to support Trinitarian doctrine. Of course, this is operating under the assumption that HaShem actually existed.

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dreamdress2:

Actually, the 'begats' are extremely important for understanding numerous cultural concepts of the times in which the books were written. If you're going to skip them, you might as well just skip the entire Bible -- they are seriously THAT important.

Answer 11

An Atheist; whom read the kjv; and decided there certainly is a Causative Power in The Cosmic Image.
The evolution of language, has made it easier to identify false prophets: Beware of phony prophets; their phony laws; and phony gods. that they merchandise for Tithe & Offerings*. According to KJV; Religious Homo Sap; has been worshiping "The Son of Perdition"!** for at least 3700 Gregorian years.

PeterW