spamandham Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Following the lead of the poll for christians, I thought it would be interesting to post a similar thread for ex-christians. Although all are wlecome to add comments, please don't answer the poll unless you are a former christian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogmatically_challenged Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Ive read the whole thing. But I think I need to read it through again and again instead of just searching for specific things. I want to be able to quote scripture without looking in the book. If I could do that and learn every language in the world I might be able to fool certain christians in RT that I'm teh devil! hehe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JP1283 Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I've read parts of the Bible and I know enough about it to be able to talk about it with people. However, I haven't read the whole thing and I probably never will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I read it, and re-read it, studied it, and wrote freakin Sunday School cirriculum. Just don't ask me to remember it anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I read it so many times, so I'm not even sure anymore. The whole book 3 or more times. NT too many times. Frigging read NT 3 times just during Bible school, and memorized 200 verses. And I can't remember a single one anymore... (edit) It makes me so sick (and it did while I was christian too) that most Christians never read the Babble. Most Catholics I've met have never read it at all! How can you claim to be a true follower of Christ and not spend your time passionately to know what God really wanted you to know? If you know you're going into a future disaster, and there's just one book that can help you avoid this disaster, wouldn't you spend all your time and energy figure out what this book will tell you? Or let's say you're dying, and there's just one machine that could help you survive, but you have to read the instruction book how to assemble and operate that machine, wouldn't you read that book? That Christians don't spend time in the Bible and read and study it, proves to me that they do not truly believe in it. It's just words to them, and religion is just a social engagement without real meaning. They're living a lie, and in a denial of what it really means if it was true, and they are delusional about that it will save them somehow through some miracle against their own actions. How can they know they will go to heaven, if they don't even know what it's required to get there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 My theory on why some christians don't read the whole bible is simply because they take on "faith" what their peers tell them about what is in the bible. Also denominations teaching their version differently than the next.... I was thinking about this topic actually and how much I used to take at FACE VALUE when I was a chrisitan. Of course, all the material I was reading and hearing was biased. Sorry for the hi-jack! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NimbusBirdMgp Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 My Vote was 40% - 50% I've read all of the New Testament, but I think I scanned some 10% without a lot of comprehension to getting anything from it. So I say 90% and I've only probably read 25% of the Old Testament, scanning 5% without a lot of comprehension to getting anything from it. Like a lot of be-gots (Names of who who be-got who who). So I say 20% of the Old Testament. 90% NT + 20% OT = 110\2 = 55% May not had been that much. So I really think 40% - 50%. But there is those special scriptures that I have heard a million times over and over and over from many church services and other events. Maybe my Vote should had been 50% - 60%. From all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tiffany Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 40-50% I read all the way up to Acts then skipped to Revelations, then I burned it and buried the ashes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saviourmachine Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I seldomly encounter someone that knows more of the bible than myself. Many 'sundays' of the Heidelberg Catechism I know too (in Dutch): "Wat is de enige troost in leven en sterven?" "Dat ik niet mijn, maar mijns getrouwen z..". I still know many texts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaded Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Every last word once. I have read most of it two or three times, and many parts I have studied on a regular basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I read it cover to cover at least 4-5 times. Parts of the NT, on a daily basis for years. I got to the point of such frustration when I realized that I couldn't read it objectively. Every passage was read through the filter of a sermon I'd heard or some apologetic I'd read. If I read it again today, I'd be surprised if this would be any different. My father always told me that every time he reads he finds something new. I found that to be bunk for myself after years of trying. He, on the other hand, apparently still believes this. He is in his mid 60s now and the last time I visited he was still starting his day off in devotion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spamandham Posted July 12, 2005 Author Share Posted July 12, 2005 Sorry for the hi-jack! Since your avatar gives me a woody, apology accepted. Personally, I've read it Genesis to Revelation twice all the way through (including the apocrypha), and the NT probably a dozen times. The second pass through was the beginning of my apostasy, when I realized that "this generation shall not pass" had already passed, and there were no good apologetics for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizard Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I read it cover to cover at least 4-5 times. Parts of the NT, on a daily basis for years. I got to the point of such frustration when I realized that I couldn't read it objectively. Every passage was read through the filter of a sermon I'd heard or some apologetic I'd read. If I read it again today, I'd be surprised if this would be any different. My father always told me that every time he reads he finds something new. I found that to be bunk for myself after years of trying. He, on the other hand, apparently still believes this. He is in his mid 60s now and the last time I visited he was still starting his day off in devotion. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It is hard to get past those preconceived ideas, isn't it? Although I rarely read it now, only in prep for debate anymore..I still find the "new" thing to be true. I think, for me, it has to do with the filter changing..or my new glasses? Seriously though..I could find convincing arguments for all sides, from fundiemental to liberal. Hmm..reminds me of horoscopes..you can make it fit, if you really try.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefranden Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I read it all twice a year for 20 years, though I admit I fell asleep more then once reading through the Chronicles. That doesn't count what I read and reread in preparing arguments, bible studies, sermons, and the like. I think that I also have read all the English translations that were available at the time. I also puzzled through it in Hebrew and Greek once! -- except for the Chronicles. PS But of course I never understood it because I never was a TrueChristian. PPS But I bet I can beat any TrueChristian at bible trivia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
☆ TexasFreethinker ☆ Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I've read the entire thing cover to cover once. Many sections I've read more than 100 times as I tried to study a particular subject. I also learned several bible verses by heart during "Bible Drill" when I was 8 - 16. I could also recite the books of the bible in order as a part of that program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vixentrox Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Every last word. And much of it reapeatedly. The more I read it, the less I belived. The bible itself was in large measure why I no longer am Xtian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
☆ TexasFreethinker ☆ Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 The bible itself was in large measure why I no longer am Xtian. That's what happened to me once I allowed myself to read it objectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynical Realist Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I read the New Testament several times but couldn't make it through the boring ass Old Testament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Broke Free Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 I read the New Testament several times but couldn't make it through the boring ass Old Testament. I was 16 when I first cracked open the bible. I was 16.1 when I put it down again forever; it had to be the dullest read in my whole life. I found myself at the end of each page wondering what I had read. You would think God’s message to mankind would be more interesting and easier to understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGiant Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 Read through it. Re-read some parts more than others, and to be honest, I skipped a few of the begats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalidasa Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 I read the whole damn thing. Multiple times. But don't ask me to quote it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ ficino ♦ Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 I even memorized entire epistles and chapters of gospels. What a fucking WOT. Shoulda been charting stocks or something useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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