Regardless of how many times they've read it.
2007-12-14 05:56:34 · 59 answers · asked by God Still Speaks Through His Word! 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
johnny z - Should you have read the additional details, your first question would be answered. I did not assume that atheists haven't read it. My question has to do with the fact that despite reading it, atheists cannot understand it. Stay tuned for the answer.
2007-12-14 06:17:42 · update #1
lb_centaur - Sorry, this isn't Jeopardy! I'll take truth for infinity.
2007-12-14 06:21:31 · update #2
Thanks to all for your responses.
2007-12-14 06:42:42 · update #3
2 Corinthians 4:3,4 ' ... And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ ... '
2007-12-14 06:06:25 · answer #1 · answered by cheir 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
Well, as a Christian, and in my experience with atheists who have de-converted from Christianity and have read the Bible many times - I have often wondered the same thing.
They claim to have once understood the Bible and then later, rejecting it.
I think the answer lies in psychology. We Christians are literally inundated with scripture and passionate sermons about the Bible and Christ.
In fact, most Christians, this is a continuum that perpetuates itself along one line: to be like Christ.
I remember questioning this premise once, and just taking a break from my Christian saturation so that I might gain a more proper objectivity about my relationship with Jesus.
DO NOT DO THIS!
I began to ask all sorts of questions and thinking thoughts I shouldn't (I very well came close to blaspheming!)
In short, when a Christian de-converts, he breaks away from the regimental and dogmatic machine that "keeps him" a Christian.
He gains a new perspective and a new objectivity. In other words, he begins to learn to think for himself. It's no wonder that he rejects the narrow-thinking that Christianity demands, he has, in effect, broken out of a cage and learned that he does indeed have wings and that it's OK to not have all the answers and believe in a story that requires so much faith that it seems insane, in retrospect.
But we "true" Christians must fight for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus and hold every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ... We must not associate with unbelievers and we must daily put on the helmet of salvation which covers our brains and ears so we do not become deceived by the vain babblings of this world...
Together, we can squish free-thinking!!!
REPENT AND BELIEVE...OR BE TORTURED AND DIE
God Bless
Oh, I almost forgot.
The Holy Spirit. You cannot just be a Christian - you have to have the baptism of fire that gives one magical understanding of both the Rhema and the Logos Word of God.
Remember, just because this "dispensation" has all the earmarks of brainwashing, don't believe it.... Brainwashing is merely satan's (small "s" because satan is evil) attempt to fool smart people into believing that Spirit-filled Christians are delusional!
Just because it looks, smells, and sounds like a duck - doesn't mean it's a duck! In the Spirit-Filled Christian's case, we may appear to smart people to be deluded and brainwashed, but we know that it is only because they are comparing us to real brainwashed people who Satan uses to make us look bad!
2007-12-14 09:21:43 · answer #2 · answered by John Galt 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because god did not give us eyes that see and ears that hear? Deut. 29:4, Prov 20:12, Isa 6:10, Isa 32: 3, Jer 5:31, Eze 12:2, Matthew 13:15, Acts 28:27
Because we do not have faith?
Because we have not received Jesus' righteousness as our own and therefore cannot adequately receive the righteous word of god?
Because the spirit (divine teacher) is not with us? John 3:6, John 6:36, John 14:26
Because god has hardened our hearts? Mark 6:52, Mark 8:17
I'm not mocking you. I'm telling you the biblical/extra-biblical-Christian answers. I'm sorry to disappoint but the bible isn't a difficult to understand book. King James version is needlessly complicated, but the book itself is not.
Every major religion has claims that there is something magical/spiritual/special about their religious texts. That there is something mystical that requires a special understanding or a spiritual rank that you must achieve before you'll know the "secrets". That is how religion creates edge, authority and power. For the Mayans... it was the sun and being able, through their religion to determine when a solar eclipse was going to occur. We know now that it's basic astronomy. But back then when it happened on the day the priests said it would, the people submitted themselves to their religious authorities completely and yielded to their perceived "power".
For Christians it is doing EXACTLY what you are doing. Claiming most do not "truly" understand. As if you need special spiritual tools or a spiritual maturity to understand it. And as if there are hidden messages in the books you can’t uncover without this "spiritual maturity." The truth is, the bible is not complicated. And if we try to make it more complicated than it really is, aren't you doing a disservice to your god? Aren't you being a little arrogant?
2007-12-14 06:08:38 · answer #3 · answered by Acorn 3 · 2⤊ 4⤋
As a Christian presently I would ask; Have you discerned between the scripture and the 'Bible' yet?
I assume you know what a test is. Satan gave 'christians' a test (actually a few of them). My point: the scriptural old testament is not (part 1; test question 1; Genesis-Malachi (T or F) apply 2 Tim. 3:16-17; part two (fill in the blank) the scriptural old testament is the law of Moses (synoym 2 Cor. 3:13-14 KJV) apply Matt. 18:16, 2 Cor. 13:1.
2007-12-14 06:26:53 · answer #4 · answered by jefferyspringer57@sbcglobal.net 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
not only atheist that cannot understand the Bible also those wicked according to the bible DANIEL 12:9-10 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: AND NONE OF THE WICKED SHALL UNDERSTAND; BUT THE WISE SHALL UNDERSTAND. And to those who are not believe in God the bible said they are fool PSALM 14:1 The FOOL hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
2007-12-14 06:50:00 · answer #5 · answered by gen c 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If you are a Christian, you should understand that. Even Satan knows the Bible, and he does not worship God. Only those who have received the Holy Spirit can accept and truly understand the Bible; it's too confusing otherwise.
2007-12-14 07:55:55 · answer #6 · answered by Bride of Yeshua 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why people don't understand the BIBLE? Because God the Father has not CALLED them YET! God is calling a few now to teach those left in the millennium. Then those from the millennium will teach everyone when they are RESURRECTED after the millennium back to the very beginning to Adam and Eve.
Everybody will have an opportunity to live the WAY GOD wants in building the righteous character that GOD wants us to have for his Kingdom and family.
If you have the understanding of what the BIBLE is telling us and not what MAN teaches it says, then you must live and do what Jesus and the disciples did and taught.
Pick up your BIBLE and read it for yourself.
The_narrow_way
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/dave022240
2007-12-14 06:09:29 · answer #7 · answered by David 2 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Because they are full of something which Christians lack, and Christians have something Athiests lack.
Atheists lack the hypocrisy.
Christians lack the morality to actually pay attention and follow their own rules that they claim to love.
Also, why do you ask this question to Christians? You should ask Atheists as a Christian cannot understand the common sense of an Atheist in the same way that an Atheist refuses to understand the stupidity of fairy tales.
2007-12-14 06:01:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 5⤋
In a way, an atheist can truly understand the bible better than a Christian. An atheist can read it without being clouded by personal belief, or otherwised biased towards positive aspects while overlooking the negative.
2007-12-14 06:01:02 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 5⤋
Because Satan has 'blinded the MINDS of the unbelievers' as stated in 2 Corinthians 4: 3 and 4.. "3 If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, 4 among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through."
2007-12-14 06:02:35 · answer #10 · answered by d_eic 2 · 3⤊ 4⤋