Mike D Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 When you were a Christian did you find the Bible interesting enough to read? I have to admit, I found the Bible to not just be boring, but painfully boring. Like almost to the point of tears boring. One, I have a very short attention span as it is, and two, I find ancient mythology to be probably one of the most brain numbing, coma inducing topics of study that I can possibly think of. Anytime I would attempt the read the Bible, within 10 minutes of reading I was either so unable to focus I wouldn't know what I had just read, or I would just flat out fall asleep. Honestly, if there really is a hell the perfect way to torture me would be to sentence me to an eternity of reading the Bible. Was your experience similar or did you enjoy reading the Bible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skepticaldude541 Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Deep down I thought it was terribly boring, but I tried to force myself to love it. Eventually I convinced myself it was amazing until my deconversion. Now I wouldn't read it unless I had to. (After saying all that I realize I only read it in the first place because I felt obligated to, it was supposed to be my guide in life, etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 Deep down I thought it was terribly boring, but I tried to force myself to love it. Eventually I convinced myself it was amazing until my deconversion. I am glad I am not the only one who found it boring - for awhile I thought I must be retarded because I couldn't totally absorb myself in it like so many Christians claim to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dB-Paradox Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I liked reading the early chapters of Genesis and most of Revelations. Otherwise, most of the bible I found hard to read, but I hate reading at the best of times. I actually still like Genesis and Revelations. I like mythology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Most of it is definitely very boring. Genealogies, nonsensical "prophecies," and ancient sanitation laws is most of what it is. I already knew the rare interesting stories from readings at church, so there was basically no point in reading it. I sat down a couple of times and tried, but it didn't take long before I was just looking at the words and thinking about something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ Fuego ♦ Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 No, I actually liked reading Greek myths and such, so reading the battle stories was exciting, and all the more so when I thought I was part of the "in crowd" with the same deity. I eventually read and re-read Romans many times to try to understand Paul's logic in explaining the sacrifice of Christ, and was really impressed at the time with how it was said. Now that the man behind the curtain has been revealed to be an abusive SOB, all the woo-factor went out of it and was replaced with revulsion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Yes! My dad always told me that it was like an onion, you just had to peel off the layers and get at the meat. I found it more like a banana; easy to peel and only one layer underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vomit Comet Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Yeah, for the most part, it bored the shit out of me. Although I did get a kick out of weird supernatural tales like in Daniel or Revelation. Like the thing in Daniel about the "writing on the wall"... when I read that I was like "holee fuck-eeng sheeeeet!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 For the most part, I actually enjoyed reading the Bible when I was a Christian, especially the NT. I thought it was God's Word and I wanted to know him better. I did, however, find stuff like the genealogies, laws and tabernacle/temple descriptions to be boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raul Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Not really, except the parts about "That king had so many horses,this dude gave birth to that dude" (and this shit is going on and on for pages) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocksandstuff Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Yes! But you can't admit that if you are still a believer, because you are told that the more you read it the better it gets, deeper and deeper... That was not my experience either, but I am sure it is true for some (not all) of those who say it. I just felt tired of reading the same things over and over again. Once I left the faith I started to find it extremely interesting to read about the bible. But I'm a history nut too, so it fits right in with that. I still enjoy reading about it, but reading the bible by itself, not so much. That may be one baby I've thrown out with the bathwater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShallowByThyGame Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I actually only read the bible in comic book form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocksandstuff Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I actually only read the bible in comic book form. I am seriously looking forward to reading this: http://boingboing.net/2009/06/09/r-crumbs-book-of-gen-1.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mongo Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 For the first year or two after my born again experience I was transfixed. I read and reread the NT several times. Before that reading was an infrequent task but afterward I'd read before going to bed and then have a (quiet) holy ghost prayer time all alone. It was however a boom and bust experience. (I should probably start a thread on that.) I would pray and read rabidly and then get tired of it and go into a slump. I'd feel bad about my slump and then read and pray "through" to the lord until I "got the victory". Its the common fault of the charismatic christian - mountain top and valley. During the valley times, bible reading was dry. When I ventured into the OT, I found it deadly. Only now that I'm an XC do I see a reason to read the OT. Odd huh? But now I can better appreciate what the OT represents and it is more of a hunting expedidition where I know I'll find something interesting. When I was a xtian the OT seemed jarringly out of sync with the NT and I found it hard to put the two together like so many of the holier than thou elders at the church. Mongo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiddlingAround Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 When I read the Bible as a Christian, one of two things would happen. Sometimes I'd be bored, just reading for the sake of reading each day and not really getting much comprehension out of it. Then the boredom would become too much, and I'd enter a no-Bible-reading phase. Other times, I'd be really into and paying attention and learning - then, inevitably, I'd run into something truly repulsive. Again, a no-Bible-reading phase would follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyone Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I made a committment to read it, so it was with conviction that I started and determination to finish. I was looking for every connection, and if every word was god inspired, I felt I had better pay attention. Event he geneologies. They are, actually, quite important - in disproving Christianity (NT geneology). It was with an open mind that I read it, but that doesn't mean that I understood it in common sense terms. It took several massacres before I started to realize that this is bullshit. Those people were at HOME when they were attacked and slaughtered. There were innocent - not to blame. Their religion was their religion, and even at that the children could not be blamed for being sacrificed. Killing children so they wouldn't be sacrificed? That is beyond moronic. So I found it all interesting - in my memory. There were some passages or books that I just couldn't fathom because they were written for a different audience, but I still thought they were important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaraOlive Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Once I left the faith I started to find it extremely interesting to read about the bible. But I'm a history nut too, so it fits right in with that. I still enjoy reading about it, but reading the bible by itself, not so much. That may be one baby I've thrown out with the bathwater. ^ This. Now that I've had some time and emotional distance to separate myself from the emotional "devotional" readings of the Bible, I can see it as an important and interesting insight into a historical culture. The OT has similarities to the Code of Hammurabi and the NT has similarities to Roman mystery religions (among many other historical/religious documents). I don't get pissed off or upset when I see that the writings of other 4000 year old cultures contain sexism or racism - it was their best understanding of how to control their world, so they made imperfect laws that represented human effort, just the same as we try to do. Their priests and people in power backed up their law with religion to stay in control. I'm sure that there were some legislators who wanted to be just and give their tribe good laws, some who were corrupt and twisted the law for their own power, and many who saw the necessity of basic moral laws to have any order in the tribe at all. The Israelites did this the same as their neighbors. Many ex-Christians talk about the horror and evil in the OT - and I agree if you consider this to be coming from a perfect, omnipotent, omniscient god. At any time, he could have made a commandment saying "thou shalt not enslave another human". But I think that you can see a lot of good in it when you see it as just one of many groups of people, struggling for survival, fighting for land and water, trying to figure out morality in an imperfect way- no god or ultimate perfect moral code behind it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Genesis Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I actually find the bible to be more fascinating to read now as an atheist than I did as a Christian. As a Christian, I just never had the motivation to pick up the bible and start reading it on my own. I'd read it in church and stuff but I never studied it out of my own motivation or anything. I oddly find it more fascinating now that I know it was written by humans and not God as I find it an interesting look at the history of an ancient culture and I enjoy reading about reilgious culture and mythology in general. I also still like the teachings of Jesus and even Paul has a few gold nuggets buried underneath all the rubble if you understand the history of the Greek manuscripts and the whole controversies behind the Pauline letters. The only parts that still bore me now are the genealogies and the pointless ritual laws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRDWarrior Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Some of it I found boring...some of the more ancient history type stuff I found interesting since I almost went into archeology. I still love ancient stuff, and see the OT to be a part of that world - inaccurate, yes, but still a part of it. Now my view on it is a bit different though, and I see it as another old text, not something to base my life off of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight-mindwanderings Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 I like reading boring things so while reading the bible as a child i found it interesting. I could easily make the stories seem real and alive which made many stories really hard to read and accept, but most of it I found extremely interesting. The books I liked the least were most of the prophets because I couldn't get into their story telling mode. I also disiked Revelations because if you read the bible like its telling a literal, acurate story, revelations is extremely freaky. I didn't think revelations was literal ever, but I didn't like it being there. I actually didn't like the NT that much because most of it is uninteresting story wise. I read the gospels the most. Since deconverting I haven't re-read the bible, but its still easy for me to find what I am looking for. I think I should try Isaiah again since I never really understood it as a child. It never seemed to be saying what everyone else thought it was. I suppose that could be said for much of the book. On a somewhat related note, hell for me would be having to silently endure evangelical television. srsly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hungrydingo Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 I found certain books interesting. The various letters written by Paul and others I never read on my own spare time, they were always boring to me. I never admitted it to myself while I was a believer, but I now I can say it without shame. Parts of the Old Testament are interesting, but most of it is boring as well. I found The Edda much more interesting, and the likes of Odin, Loki, and Thor are much more interesting deities than anything in the Christian bible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vomit Comet Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 I found certain books interesting. The various letters written by Paul and others I never read on my own spare time, they were always boring to me. I never admitted it to myself while I was a believer, but I now I can say it without shame. Parts of the Old Testament are interesting, but most of it is boring as well. I found The Edda much more interesting, and the likes of Odin, Loki, and Thor are much more interesting deities than anything in the Christian bible. "The New Testament is a bore." - Nietzche. He was actually fascinated by the heroics and bloody battles of the Old Testament. He also said that Plato was a bore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 hell for me would be having to silently endure evangelical television. srsly. Same here. Even as a believer I couldn't stomach those blab-it-grab-it types that are popular on TV. Augh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneyardDiva Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Yes, yes, three times yes! The bible is probably the most dull book I have read. I did find Greek & Norse mythology interesting, but mainly because it was easier to read. BYD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 It is very personally painful to me to think back at what were my favorite books of the Bible - the New Testament and in particular the Gospel of John. I loved the high flown imagery, and it was very appealing to me. It took me out of a life that in many ways was very unsatisfactory. It established Jesus, someone who loved me, as the very God of creation. Now, of course, all I can see is how terrible that book has been in contributing to the horrible persecutions of the Jewish people through the centuries and I can never go back. I was seeing that book through the eyes of a child and not someone informed about the bloody history of Christianity. The Baptist church, of course, never mentioned it. The Crusades and the inquisition were done by Catholics, who were not "true Christians". In fact, I grew up in the era of the Vietnam war and my father, being in the military and a fundy, was all for it. We should bomb those commies back into the stone age. That was the attitude. I see all too well the connection between Christianity and war and on some level I still can't forgive him for instilling that attitude in me, who was still a child. I am so thankful that I grew up enough to see how misguided and screwed up the fundamentalist idea is when applied to the real world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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