There seems to be a lot of non-believers that study the Bible - How exactly did you "study" the Bible

My last question got lots of people tell me they have studied the Bible and yet they still dont believe but never really said how they do that


I'm curious about how much, what sources, whatever you would like to tell me about your Bible study habits

There seems to be a lot of non-believers that study the Bible - How exactly did you "study" the Bible
Hi, servant! Great question. I have noticed that a lot of non believers here were raised in the church. God only knows why they choose after all that hearing and studying to reject Him. Someone also said that it takes more faith to be an atheist. I'm going to watch your question to see the answers. So far, you've stumped 'em.
Reply:i simply read it with my eyes open. much clearer that way. Here are some fun examples of internal conflicts in the bible. I am not spinning these in any new way, just quoting the bible. words that are in ALL CAPS are my addition to point specifically at the variations.





Matthew 10:5-6


These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel."





Matthew 15:24


"I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."





I Samuel 17:23, 50


the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name...DAVID prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him.





II Samuel 21:19


And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and ELHANAN the son of Joareoregim, the Bethlehemite, slew Goliath the Gittite. ((Gittite meaning "man of gath"))





Matthew 1:16


and JACOB was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.





Luke 3:23


Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of HELI
Reply:That's between me and my Father.





I am a believer.
Reply:I studied the bible in church and in college. I also studied greek mythology. Why should I believe either one? Why don't you believe in the greek gods? They are all pretty interesting myths.
Reply:I was a "christian" (or I never was since I'm not now, but let's leave the semantics out of it) then one day I actually read the bible. After reading it and reaching a certain level of agnosticism I read it again. With my BS detector going wild I finally became an tried and true atheist on the third attempt.





By study, I didn't try to prove it true and accept it at face value, that is not studying, sorry.
Reply:*sigh* ONCE AGAIN, studying the Bible in the "good" and "proper" way doesn't make deities any more existent.
Reply:The Bible is a book, and as with ay book, it is possible for anyone to study it whether they are a believe or not. Believers study it as a message from God and therefore it has a certain kind of meaning for them. Non believers study it as just a piece of literature, and there are many ways to study literature.
Reply:I read the bible cover to cover as a child.





When I got older I focused more closely on the parts that seemed to convey the teachings of Jesus.





I found that most of the Bible conflicted drastically with the teachings of Jesus.





The more I read it the less sense the inclusion of the OT and the writings of Paul in the bible made. I then started to research how the bible came to be and the reason for the conflicting nature of the biblical text became painfully clear.





I suggest that you do the same. I am still a follower of the teachings of Jesus but I no longer refer to my self as a christian. Nor do I follow any religion.





Love and blessings Don
Reply:Like I studied the Iliad, like I studied Shakespeare, like I studied Aesops fables. Should I believe all of them were the word of god too? And what happens if I study the Koran and the bible in the same week. does a logical black hole open up in the universe?
Reply:Let's see, I was born into a Baptist family, owned my first bible at 6. First read through the bible at 8, again at 10, again at 13, again at 16.





During the time I was reading through the bible I questioned my pastors and Sunday school teachers on a regular basis.





Through the years what happened was, the more I found out about the real way the world worked, the less the bible could be taken as literal truth, it did not mesh with established historical fact.





Then came the major shift, I met people of other religions and had dialogs with them. At that point the enchantment was broken and I decided to find the path to the Divine that worked for me.





Say what you want about my being a Pagan, I'm happy and far more willing to hold myself accountable for my actions than I was as a Christian.





Your mileage may vary, be open to the path that is right for you.
Reply:I studied the bible a great deal before leaving Christianity. Spent 3 years in a fundamentalist church. It's what got me to thinking about the nature of belief and faith. It's why I left Christianity.





As for being an atheist, only atheist who actually believe there is no god (strong-atheism) hold a belief about god. They are in the minority of atheists. Before you assume that this is agnosticism, agnosticism is the "philosophical" position that knowledge of god's existence or non-existence isn't possible. In that regard, I'm also an agnostic, but that doesn't say if I believe or do not believe in a god.
Reply:I've met quite a few non believers who were once believers. They read and studied the Bible just like any other believer would. When their faith began to wain, the Bible was a further source for them to question and analyze. Most who say they have "studied" the Bible mean they have read it and questioned it and find it to have too many flaws to be truly the word of God.
Reply:I read the first three Gospels cover to cover, but I couldn't get through John--it just seemed like it was written by a lunatic. Also a smattering of the Old and New Testaments. And I read the writings of some theologians. My favorite is Elaine Pagels for spiritual insight, though I think Hyam Macoby may have had a stronger grasp of the actual facts of the lives of Jesus and his followers. Sometimes if someone quotes a passage to me, I will look it up.





If you'd rather I spend 2 hours a day on it, I'm sorry. There are other books out there, too.
Reply:5 years. My habits are my habits. Unless it was a sister. Still no god.
Reply:Servant,





When you say non-believers, what the person is a no-believer in comes to mind, I do believe the bible, I do not believe in every person, or 1000 religions getting a different meaning of it, or each person that does the math from Adam to Jesus getting a different amount of years. Also every one that does a study on the meaning of the end time prophecy has a different view. NO ONE MAKES ANY THING SIMPLE.





So I hope I have made it clear on what I am a non-believer in. I rather stand before judgement with my mistakes than to believe in those of some one else.





I read it about 10 times the first near to 13 years. I went with it through a whole set of encyclopedia books and dictionaries. Bad Idea. I began to study on 17 x 17 " sheets of paper. The rule of study is to summarize the stories.


Turn any thing possible of study into songs or poetry or do what ever it takes to memorize all the important points, the books, the people or any thing important from one book that involves another to connect the distance between.


I just intended always, that if I had life, I would finish what I started. I learned along the way that people in general in religions or out, hate people that study the bible. You have no choice but to study their religious beliefs. That is mind boggling.





2Tim.2:15; 3:16,17; John 12:47,48; Philip.2:5,9-12; And don't twist any scripture, or add to or take from. The math can clear up most errors that just reading can't. The reason most subjects are in two or three books, if anything does not agree, the more study, the better the view. So few errors in so much materials covering so much time.
Reply:When the police receive statements from suspects and witnesses, do they:





(a) Idiotically and blindly accept what is told to them?





Or,





(b) Do they study the statements to check for lies and contradictions?





The godbots who say the buybull is true are type (a). The people you are criticizing are type (b).








Additional:





The questioner claims a Master's Degree yet cannot compose a proper English sentence? Either he's a Yank, he's lying, or both.








.
Reply:I grew up in a religious family. My bible study began in church, continued in religion classes (both in the church and out of it), and ended when I took it upon myself to read the whole thing and evaluate it for myself.





I never believed in God, but figured I better know what I was talking about before saying the Bible was BS.





Now I just brush up on the important parts now and then. I also love to watch documentaries on TV.
Reply:I had five years of weekly Bible study class growing up. I have read it straight through cover to cover twice which sad to say is more than many of the Christians I've met have done. I have also read Biblical scholarship from both conservative and liberal scholars. I personally don't see how an intelligent person can take a literalist approach to it but I respect their right to believe as they do. I also have a degree in biology and to me evolution is far more credible than the creation story, talking donkeys, talking snakes, and virgin conceptions. I also have a problem with divine revelation. How many people would or should believe someone claiming such? This is not to say that I don't also see things of value in the Bible as well. It is not for me after some study something I take as a literal guidebook on life.
Reply:Most non-believers, take the Bible simply as any other text, which means that they analyze and scrutinze it as they would any other piece of literature by looking at the style of how it is written and the historical context of the time frame in which it was written to develop an understanding of the ideas that are discussed therein. Thereby, their only different that should exist between their study habits and your is the assumption of the Bible's divine origin which your take on faith and others see as a proposition that can, or should be proved/disproved.
Reply:I'm confident they exceeded your study of science.
Reply:What is "snarky condesension"?


I'll take Servant's Questions for $600, Alex.
Reply:read it from cover to cover. A couple times through the NT.





I know what the Bible says, but I am accused to taking things out of context (I think not).





~ Eric Putkonen
Reply:My Uncle is a retired Methodist minister and my mother is a retired church secretary. I LITERALLY grew up in the church, because that's where I went after school to wait for my mother to get off of work.





Na-na-na-na-boo-boo!





)O(
Reply:well for one thing reading and referencing different versions of the Bible is one part of studying. Another is by looking up the language and what the words meant originally in the bible to what they translated to in modern times. A third is doing historical reference involving archelogy and history.
Reply:At university I studied humanities and that involved studying Christianity which meant I had to have a knowledge not only of the bible but of all the various controversies within the church regarding the interpretation of scripture.
Reply:I read it through in high school. It was pretty funny. There are so many contradictions and just absurd things in it that it is hard to believe that anyone takes it seriously.


Since I know this will be next. I think there are a few stretches on these lists, but they are pretty good.


Contradictions: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra...


Absurdities: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/abs/lo...
Reply:Well, I studied it in a church-based Bible school as a little girl, and then again as an adult, both on my own and at university. I've also looked at the historical background of the mythologies of the Bible (their prior origins in other cultures, etc.) and the ramifications of the Bible and the church on the history of modern society. Is that specific enough?