Have you thrown away your Bible?

[RankStranger]

I was going through some boxes the other day getting ready for a yard sale. I ran across the bible that my dad gave me for my high school graduation present (some folks get a car or college money).

 

I thought I'd got rid of it 10 years ago, but it's been hiding in one of those boxes... following me through four states and more moves than I can remember. I would've sold it in the yard sale, but nobody is going to buy a bible with somebody else's name on it... so I tossed it.

[deepblue]

About a year ago I got rid of all my Christian books, except a copy of the Bible. That was hundreds of books - to a second-hand dealer for free, rather than the rubbish bin. A lot of them were in almost-new condition.

[The Sage Nabooru]

As for my own personal Bible, I didn't throw it out but I can't find it. Wonder what happened to it.

 

(It was a Catholic Bible, so maybe my mother or grandmother found it and burned it as a tool of the Papist devil.....)

 

As for the other Bibles in my house, I have an excuse for each one of them. The Children's Bible was a gift from my mother, and while she realizes I am no longer Christian and doesn't encourage me to read it, I just can't throw away a gift, especially from a close family member. The Student Bible has a lot of good points in it....that prove how neurotic its God is, little notes and paragraphs on a lot of pages detailing how it's justifiable for God to kill people. It's too useful to throw out. My mother's Bible isn't even mine so it would be wrong for me to throw away; also she's had it since she was a kid so it's fairly old, it has pictures here and there that are very pretty with bright colors, and it zips up around the sides, a feature I was fascinated as a child (even if it was essentially useless). The last Bible is Nate's Topical Bible, which was my grandfather's and thus even older than my mother's. I keep these last two and the first Bibles for their sentimental and family history qualities if not for their contents.

 

the best one i had that was a graduation present, i accidentally left at a church and never saw it again.

 

It's funny to think that some good Christian probably found it there and thought, "Hey! Free stuff!" and just took (i.e., stole) it without giving it to the church Lost and Found. "I didn't STEAL it, God SENT it to me!"

[Kurari]

I left mine at my mom's house when I moved out. I kept my new-age, Wicca, and angel books though because I use them for business.

[Guest Mr. XC]

Luckily, I only have one to deal with. I will keep it as a reference in case I need to do some research in absurd religions (usually prompted by debating with a Christian). I mostly use on-line resources though.

 

Did anyone else here get a baptism certificate? I thought about burning mine when I as deconverting, but I could not find it at the time. Now that I found it, I think it will keep it in my archives. Maybe it is good for ID or something (getting a passport).

[Thackerie]

I still have my bible -- "The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Expanded Edition" -- and I don't ever want to part with it because it helped lead me to the light.

 

It was 30 years ago, I was a freshman in college, and I had to buy this big, over-priced book, which is thick with footnotes and maps, for a class on "History of the Bible." I had never been much of a christian, certainly never a fundie, but I was interested in religion or, more precisely, in why people believe the things they do. That class turned out to be a real eye-opener because it exposed me, for the first time, to the historical events that determined what was canonized, the ancient mythology that was "plagarized" by the Abrahamic religions, and, of course, the multitude of contraditions and "editorial errors" in the bible.

 

And that is how the Oxford Annotated Bible led me to the light and put me on the path to being the freethinking agnosic I am today.

 

Of course, now it's just sitting on a shelf, along with the Riverside Shakespeare (another big, over-priced college textbook), and rarely opened. These days, whenever I'm moved to check out biblical passages, I find it so much easier just to go to skepticsannotatedbible.com.

[Guest Mr. XC]

I still have my bible -- "The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Expanded Edition" -- and I don't ever want to part with it because it helped lead me to the light.

 

It was 30 years ago, I was a freshman in college, and I had to buy this big, over-priced book, which is thick with footnotes and maps, for a class on "History of the Bible." I had never been much of a christian, certainly never a fundie, but I was interested in religion or, more precisely, in why people believe the things they do. That class turned out to be a real eye-opener because it exposed me, for the first time, to the historical events that determined what was canonized, the ancient mythology that was "plagarized" by the Abrahamic religions, and, of course, the multitude of contraditions and "editorial errors" in the bible.

 

And that is how the Oxford Annotated Bible led me to the light and put me on the path to being the freethinking agnosic I am today.

 

Of course, now it's just sitting on a shelf, along with the Riverside Shakespeare (another big, over-priced college textbook), and rarely opened. These days, whenever I'm moved to check out biblical passages, I find it so much easier just to go to skepticsannotatedbible.com.

Interesting. I think I will get the "The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, Third Edition" for myself and a friend of mine who is still a Christian. After all, "Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived." - Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)

[Taphophilia]

I have this bookmarked:

 

Search the King James Bible

 

It's easy to use for looking up verses.

[Red_Pyramid]

Sorry, you need to burn them, thats what I had to do with my bible and apologetic books...

It's crucial to do this as it keeps the posion from spreading on your part...

[Amethyst]

I finally threw out my last Bible the other day. Not only did I throw it out, I shredded the pages. My shredder even overheated. I've never used it that much at any given time. But it was satisfying.

[Lycorth]

Sorry, you need to burn them, thats what I had to do with my bible and apologetic books...

It's crucial to do this as it keeps the posion from spreading on your part...

 

I'm all for that; I just burned one that I found in my attic a few days ago. Hopefully, the pics came out alright - I'll post 'em when they're developed

 

Yes - very satisfying indeed

[Checkmate]

[i can't believe I never replied to this thread! ]

 

In a fit of pique a few years back, I threw away many Christian books and a even few bibles. (I was purging myself of Charismatic doctrines and what Fundies called "false bibles" [anything NOT KJV] at THAT time of my life.) Now I wish that I hadn't because they were a great source of material/ammunition. Christians are always demanding that we "quote our sources", and now I can't since I threw them away. (And I sure as hell ain't buying them again!)

 

I still have a handful of Christian books and an assortment of Bibles, of which I am keeping. As many people have remarked, they make excellent resource tools in the War Against Faith. Sure we have the internet, but will you ALWAYS have the internet handy?

 

However, since I do have MANY bibles to spare, I often consider the symbolic destruction of a few. (Maybe the cheaper ones.) It WOULD be oh-so cathartic!

[Knightley]

For the record, I haven't. I haven't touched my Bibles in three years, but occasionally I find myself looking through my old conservative apologetics books for laughs. Books like The Case for Christ and books about how wrong it is to be gay (and some Christian books supporting homosexuality).

 

I was wondering if I should pitch it all, but I can't bring myself to pitch them. Especially my Bibles. You know, I spend so much money on them! LOL

 

 

 

I got rid of all my xian shit about two weeks ago. Even my music and I love music. I even threw away a bible that was inscribed to me by family friends. It was tough, but I had to do it. Why keep it if I no longer believe in it? The only thing that I have kept is a xian cross that my mom gave to me for my 16th birthday, and I rarely wear it nowadays. Christianity is no longer a part of my life so I needed to cut it out completely. I'm no longer straddling the fence and I know where I stand on that.

 

I understand if you would want to keep it, go back and read it, sometimes its handy having that material if you're in a debate, or pick it up to just think about things. But for me I just didn't see the point in keeping my books. You need to do what's best for you pandora in that regard. So whether you keep it or not, you need to be cool with whatever you do and no one should judge you for it.

[riverbank]

I still haven't got rid of my bible yet, but I think I'm fairly close to doing so, infact .. i might just throw it in the bin now .. oh, only trouble is, my parents got it for me last Christmas (when I was still a xian)..oh, stuff it, i'm getting rid

 

I got rid of most of my Christian music, and I think I'm gonna get rid of all of it now, but i will for the time being keep one of my Christian books because it was very funny, but I might get rid of it later.

[SwissMiss]

Didn't throw it away exactly, just didn't bother to take it with me when I moved out of my parents place. Now I refuse to have one in the house, if I need to check out anything there are plenty of resources on the Internet, particularly the Skeptics Annotated Bible, that's so cool!!!!

[AgnosticBob AtheistPants]

Why keep it if I no longer believe in it?

 

Sorry Knightley, but this reeks of the same mentality the Christians use. They won't look twice at a text that supports an opposing belief. When someone converts to Christianity they are told to "give up worldly things". So if they were Buddhist, they have to throw away their Sutras. If they were Hindu, they toss the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. Mormons have to trash the Book of Mormon and so on. I know as a Christian "reconvert" I sold all my secular music, a choice I deeply regret to this day.

 

I personally still have every Bible translation I owned AND the two software packages (QuickVerse and Logos) with study guides, reference books, and about 10 to 15 different translations in each. I've kept the books I have and HAVE considered tossing them, but primarily that was when I was still very angry with Christianity. I'm still angry, just not as much as I used to be. Now it's gotten to be more of a perturbed thing. I am VERY glad I didn't toss the books because now I can always have them to go back to whenever I need to for whatever reason, be it for laughs or to pull an Xian down off his soapbox and beat him with it. Now I did give all my contemptible...oh sorry...contemporary...christian music to my ex when I left. I sincerely doubt any of that is going to be worth a dime EVER. It's not enjoyable to listen to anymore and it really holds no educational value, so what's the point?

[benjaburns]

I haven't thrown away my main Bible (New International Version) because I got it when I was in third grade and it's important to me. Also, like pretty much everyone else here I like to keep it so I can look verses up when I need to. However, I used to have a pocket New Testament which I did pitch. In fact, I burnt it. Not in the sense of burning books because you think the books are "evil", but in the sense of burning it as a symbol of getting rid of the last vestiges of my former beliefs.

[Gaura]

I have three still around. All Douay versions, I believe. Probably need a Protestant version though. What is the most popular version with fundies and such lately? That would probably be the best bet.

 

I do plan on getting a full religion library built up once John is old enough. I plan on teaching him to go back to the source to see what is really being said. So, plan on getting the Torah/ Talmud, a Qu'ran, some Hindu scripture (probably at least the Gita), some Buddhist scripture including the Tibetan Book of hte Dead, the Analects, the DTao DTe Ching, aome Shinto stuff. a better collection of Native American works, the Eddas and Sagas... am I missing anything major in this list? I want my son to be able to look at all the sides of the story! Then he can make up his own mind

[RedFox]

I haven't done anything with the bibles I have. Most of them are not mine and belong to other family members. There's a KJV one I have somewhere with small text and marigns that I could so something with, like make art with or burn it. I also have some Chick tracts that I collected at university to laugh at and to take out of circulation. Maybe I could so something with those as well as the religous mailings I got in my university mailbox. I wasn't a fundie, so I didn't have fundie books pile up. Even when I was a believer, I had science books piling up.

[Scarlett]

I thought about having a good ole' fashion bible burning, but I couldn't bring myself to burn books...any books. I just love books too much even if I do think they are bullshit. So I've had all my Christian books and bible stashed out in garage. Maybe one day I'll sell them or something.

[smellincoffee]

I've thrown a few away, but kept several. It's just a book. The ones I kept (my own personal one, The Message, and so on) I occassionally read through, either to find references for something I'm discussing/writing or to remind myself of how far I've come.

[truth]

I have all my bibles still... I trashed/recycled several of my xtian books the rest of them and my cds are in a bag in the bottom of my closet.. I think I have some more devotional books still sitting in one of my nightstands I am doing a winter cleaning so they proaball won't be there for much longer.

 

I am thinking about maybe having a nice bonfire on the beach sometime and burning some stuff... I don't know if I could actually burn a bible though. Anyone want to join me for a winter solstice bonfire?

[StewartP]

I have all my bibles still... I trashed/recycled several of my xtian books the rest of them and my cds are in a bag in the bottom of my closet.. I think I have some more devotional books still sitting in one of my nightstands I am doing a winter cleaning so they proaball won't be there for much longer.

 

I am thinking about maybe having a nice bonfire on the beach sometime and burning some stuff... I don't know if I could actually burn a bible though. Anyone want to join me for a winter solstice bonfire?

Tssh! I'd burn a bible no worries, it's just paper and ink.

 

But actually I'm about to go out to the barn and try and find my old NIV Bible. It got packed away and not unpacked because I had become so apostate. Now I'd like it nearby so if anyone starts I can grab the thing and show chapter and verse what a crock of shite it all is: The contradictions, the insane little laws in leviticus, The nonsence about the flood, the cruelty of Jehovah the desert goblin.

[Delicate_Catastrophe]

I still have my Catholic bible from high school around somewhere that I might keep as a reference (ammo against xtians.) I'd have NO problem burning it if I didn't want to keep it, though. I wouldn't want it to get into anyone else's hands, as I disagree with the contents, I don't want to be an enabler!