The Free Train

[futurekid]

I recommend this book both for softening believers up and to overcome the feeling that many have implanted in them that all who don't follow "the way" are lost. For someone who has visceral fear of hell this should be a wonderful perspective to encounter.

[kcinbama]

I will open with a quote from my current favorite author:

“All that is necessary, as it seems to me, to convince any reasonable person that the Bible is simply and purely of human invention -- of barbarian invention -- is to read it. Read it as you would any other book; think of it as you would of any other; get the bandage of reverence from your eyes; drive from your heart the phantom of fear; push from the throne of your brain the coiled form of superstition -- then read the Holy Bible, and you will be amazed that you ever, for one moment, supposed a being of infinite wisdom, goodness and purity, to be the author of such ignorance and of such atrocity.“ Robert Ingersol, The Gods (1872)

 

Has anyone tried simply reading and studying the Bible together? Bible reading would be non-threatening, right? I only ask that because I have just recently confessed my de-conversion and am wondering how to converse with those who still believe (my wife, specifically).

 

I never really knew, or thought much about, the horrible stuff in the Bible, until after losing my faith and doing research on the web. I think I have to give Christians the benefit of the doubt, ie, they don’t know what is actually written in the Bible, just what they hear on Sundays.

 

I guess that I am suggesting you both read passages together and discuss them. What would a literal translation of the passage mean? Or a liberal one? How does each of you interpret the same passage? What is God’s purpose of putting this passage in the Bible? Perhaps just getting him to ‘think’ about the passages is enough to start him “questioningâ€.

 

Based upon your post, perhaps you want to start with the subject of hell. The SAB has contrasted the verses that support death only and death followed by hell

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/interp/hell.html

 

My de-conversion came about because I started questioning why a good and loving god would create a hell for people that simply didn’t believe in him, regardless of his refusal to provide empirical evidence of his existence. Sounds more like a cruel joke to me. Obviously, ‘god does not exist’ answers this question very neatly.

 

Since your husband acknowledges that you could “demolish most of their argumentsâ€, perhaps he is already leaning away from the standard unquestioning acceptance of everything in the Bible. After all, he could have responded in many other ways that would have been more acceptable to his church audience.

 

Best of luck.