Do You Still Have Your Bible?

[TotalWreck]

I don't. I tore mine up and threw it in the garbage because I was SO angry that I believed that shit and it failed to deliver any of it's promises. I actually did this three different times this year as I was going through my crisis of faith - I'd tear up my bible and say I was done with religion, and then about a week or two later I'd feel scared about dealing with reality and then I'd buy another one. But there is no bible in my house now because it just made me so angry to even see the book of lies in my house.

 

Do you still have a bible or did you get rid of it?

[mymistake]

I still have a few. However I gave away a couple and threw away even more. This wasn't a ritual for me. I just had too many and needed the space they were taking up. I wouldn't mind burning a Bible. But that wouldn't have any meaning to me. Yeah I'm mad about how I joined Christianity. But in my opinion taking it out on paper doesn't change anything. Your millage may vary. I will always keep one Bible around just for reference.

[Suzy]

I do. But for 20 years it was always near my bedside, because I read from it every freaking day. I felt guilty when I did not and I was afraid God would be angry with me if a day goes by not studying his word. But after I deconverted I put it away in a cupboard. I also have an English language Bible somewhere on my bookshelf. And I have got a new copy of Bible from my fundy father a couple of months ago but I put it in the cupboard right away too.

 

I like to study the Bible now from a different aspect - ie. from a secular, scholarly aspect. It's very eye-opening. But now I go to online Bibles when I want to look up something.

[Eugene39]

I've not gotten rid of mine. They just sit on the shelf until needed to find a reference for something, and probably half the time it's for some point I'm trying to make here.

[Legion]

Do you still have a bible or did you get rid of it?

I have sipped deeply upon the Bible. As Shakespeare, I have brought it deep into my heart. Unlike Shakespeare, I will apply the insights gained therein towards manifesting not inspiring works of poetry, but rather towards manifesting beautiful acts of evil.

 

[JadedAtheist]

I have a whole bookshelf of Christian books, including all my Bibles. I don't hate them enough to get rid of them but they aren't useful enough for me to actually use. I'm hoping to slowly but surely give them away to Christian friends.

[Legion]

I have a whole bookshelf of Christian books, including all my Bibles. I don't hate them enough to get rid of them but they aren't useful enough for me to actually use. I'm hoping to slowly but surely give them away to Christian friends.

JA, I arrogantly advise you to sell them instead. You're a devilishly clever guy so you may be asking yourself... Why? Because they are filled with half-truths. These are the best truths for cultivating evil in the world. But this is not enough. When you profit from the dissemination of evil, this is even more evil. You with me on this?

 

Go. Now. And sell the accursed words. Taste the bliss of bringing evil into the world.

[Deva]

I have a lot of Christian books and some Bibles. I have a leather bound Book of Common Prayer. I don't look at them anymore but for some reason am reluctant to part with them. The Book of Common Prayer does have some good usage of the English language. I mean, some of it is beautiful if you can get past what the bottom line message is.

[Onyx]

I bought a Bible for fifty cents and the profit was to the local library and possibly in extension to the university of Oxford who is the publisher. Nothing like contributing to places of true learning with a book that you don't believe in anymore and find pernicious. Fifty freaking cents.

 

The bible to me now is either a debating tool or a book of literature that our foolish forebears sincerely believed in. And it is really minor in my life right now. A book doesn't have to define your life. That's what indeed.

[gypsy79]

I got rid of all my Bibles except for one. It is the one I used during my deconversion process, and it has notes all over the margins. Quite a few "WTF"s and other assorted vulgarities mixed in with scholarly observations.

[Chikirin]

I threw several out, I kept the one my grandmom gave me.

 

I also threw out multiple copies of My Utmost for His Highest that I'd gotten as gifts over the years, that and several dozen christian self help books.

 

 

[Positivist]

I have just one Bible--the one I've had in adulthood and spent years poring over dredging up secret messages from, and insights into, God.

 

It is a piece of historical fiction literature that clearly has a strong hold on many parts of the world, so I like to hang onto a copy for archival purposes.

[asanerman]

I have several bibles. The Layman's Parallel Bible which is a quarter inch shy of three inches thick, contains The King James Version, The Modern Language Bible, The Living Bible and The Revised Standard Version, It is a large book. Wouldn't any book containing the answers to everyone's life be at least that thick?

 

I have The New Testament in Greek by Westcott and Hort. the student edition with lexicon, A Parsing Guide to the Greek New Testament, The Analytical Greek Lexicon,

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, A Manual Grammar Of The Greek New Testament by Danna and Mantey.

 

I have A History of Christian Thought, by Paul Tillich and a two volume History of Christian Thought by Otto W. Heick, both required reading in my undergraduate career.

I could go on.

 

I have all my textbooks from undergraduate and graduate work plus shelves of Christian authors, although, the "hop-a-long Jesus" stuff I disposed of early on.

 

While studying The Gnostic Scriptures--The Nag Hammadi--I experienced a paradigm "shift," and Christianity lost her Wisdom for me, at least the Christianity of which I had been exposed.

 

And now as I pick up the first bible I purchased some 45 years ago, The Marked Reference Bible, and open its thin and worn pages I still feel the high emotion, the new expectant 'taste' of that unbelievable promise that my life could be different! That old bible still has that smell and texture of the first day I gave my life away to someone other than myself!

 

All those sweet and innocent expectation come streaming back, for a moment, through touch, smell and sight!

 

And I stand, "once upon a time," on "holy ground" and know that this old book is only one of the many enduring chronicles that speak to "that side of life" which we cannot "prove" or even explain--that beyond the limited analytic intellect is a mind that includes, as Kabir Helminski suggests, intuition; wisdom; a sense of unity; aesthetics, qualitative and creative faculties; and image-forming and symbolic capacities. .. Mind that is in spontaneous connection consciously and subconsciously often referred to as "heart."

 

I see my "Quest" as reconstructing the enduring truths of the great wisdom traditions but without their metaphysical baggage and asking; "Do these ancient chronicles ring true, do they tell a story similar to my own and have they "charted waters" of which I will pass on my way? Is there some way of understanding and knowing my own "heart" that the "beating muscle" cannot convey regardless of the ways I dissect it?

 

From the first day I purchased that old book, which was said to have all the answers, I've been on that Quest, even until this moment!

 

Although, the answers the Church said that were in that old book turned out not to be-- and as it turns out I was naive, too trusting, and way too hungry of a struggler looking for an explanation for what I was doing on this planet--How can I throw out the junior years of my becoming?

 

This old book, I stand holding, speaks of the struggles of those ancients who, not unlike myself, were on a Quest to find "heart!" Steeped as it is in its tired and worn metaphysics, I can at least respect their Quest!

 

This old book has strown throughout its pages much of my life's quest. Throw it out?

 

---How can I throw out the junior years of my becoming and honor enfolding and transcending?

[Deva]

--How can I throw out the junior years of my becoming and honor enfolding and transcending?

 

Maybe that's the reason I can't get rid of mine, either. Well said.

[Suzy]

As for other Christian books, I have them still, though in a closed cabinet. I won't do like when I was required to do when I converted: which was to throw away all "ungodly" books and CDs. There are some books I still regret throwing away, especially because one was a first edition of a rare book.

 

So I decided, as an atheist I'm free, I'm not required to do anything, to throw away or burn books or anything. So I won't (unless I will need space but not because I feel required to get rid of them out of "spiritual" reasons). I keep them for entertainment value. It will be interesting to read "Late Great Planet Earth" or "This Present Darkness" again at a later date, for example.

 

The problem is my fundy father keeps giving me such books as gifts (he doesn't know I deconverted). OK, not a big problem yet, there's still some room in the cabinet. Last time he gave me a book written by the leading pastor of the church I left and another which was a collection of essays written by church leaders of the same church. After running through the table of contents and some paragraphs I put them away immediately in the cabinet. I didn't feel like reading them. Same old boring bullshit. It's really just hollow and empty gibberish, the same old over and over again.

[Kaiser01]

i still have my main bible becuase its a cool bible in that its part history book. even though alot of history in there is scewed by christian bias so i enver go to it for refrence thats for sure

[hereticzero]

I still have several, those that were given to me as gifts I still have. I also have a computerized version e-sword to use online. I can cut and paste with the best of them!

[Eugene39]

I have several bibles. The Layman's Parallel Bible which is a quarter inch shy of three inches thick, contains The King James Version, The Modern Language Bible, The Living Bible and The Revised Standard Version, It is a large book. Wouldn't any book containing the answers to everyone's life be at least that thick?

 

Oh, Saner! I'm sorry, but I can't stop laughing!!!!

[oddbird1963]

I have several Bibles in the house as well as Colin brown's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, a greek lexicon, a Hebrew Old Testament and a greek New Testament. I believe I also kept the Systematic theology textbook from my seminary days.

 

I keep them around for reference. It helps to have good references when certain christian apologists start playing lawyer with words, concepts and bible passages.

[asanerman]

I have several bibles. The Layman's Parallel Bible which is a quarter inch shy of three inches thick, contains The King James Version, The Modern Language Bible, The Living Bible and The Revised Standard Version, It is a large book. Wouldn't any book containing the answers to everyone's life be at least that thick?

 

Oh, Saner! I'm sorry, but I can't stop laughing!!!!

 

Eugene, don't be sorry!

 

To have taken things so seriously and not see the tragedy, comedy and fairy tale in it all would surely be the ultimate unmaking!

 

As a mentor once said:

"Sanity requires a recurring decision to leave the fantasied world of single and secure satisfaction and come again and again into the world of plural satisfactions and plural pains. There are more things in this world than philosophers or clergy or neurotics can dream of."

 

Laugh, live and love, large!

[asanerman]

--How can I throw out the junior years of my becoming and honor enfolding and transcending?

 

Maybe that's the reason I can't get rid of mine, either. Well said.

 

Deva, as I think about it, maybe I've rid myself of more than an oral tradition or a sacred canon. Just maybe, with the death of the great Judo-Christian God, I somehow gave up the madness and fear that I have no control over the images, thoughts and desires that sweep over me. That other have power but I do not. That I can only put myself in their control. I cannot find truth--other can.

 

With the death of "God" I started to understand that what I thought was "The Way" was really "a way" (among many) of sealing myself within the sovereign kingdom of an isolated ego and handing the responsibility for the world and myself over to others. The others hold the keys to my kingdom!

 

Better than a "book burning," I began to find liberation and freedom beyond all that---a liberation and a freedom beyond my wildest dreams! The old books took care of themselves!

[pratt]

couple of months ago, i cleared my book shelves dedicated to christianity.....

 

at least 10 different copies of bible, chinese (2 versions), leather bound bible, discovery bible, greek-english new testament (did not even started reading and deconversion starts), KJV, NIV, New NIV and can't remember versions of english bibles and autobiograhies of various missionaries, commentaries, christian fictions and help book on evangelism, anger, demon possessions and don't know whatnots,,,,, must be at least a couple hundred of books, all thick and thin....

 

put in the garbage bag, and left beside the garbage dump,,,,, i don't want t know what the garbage collector do it,,,

 

it actually felt pretty good at the time, feeling the closing of the past error era of believing......think that i must have spending thousands of dollars on these books,,,,, sigh,,,,,

[Positivist]

I have all my textbooks from undergraduate and graduate work plus shelves of Christian authors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

While studying The Gnostic Scriptures--The Nag Hammadi--I experienced a paradigm "shift," and Christianity lost her Wisdom for me, at least the Christianity of which I had been exposed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now as I pick up the first bible I purchased some 45 years ago, The Marked Reference Bible, and open its thin and worn pages I still feel the high emotion, the new expectant 'taste' of that unbelievable promise that my life could be different!

I haven't read your extimony but it sounds like you were into Christianity well beyond the hip-wader level, with graduate degrees too. I'm going to have to find your extimony.

 

Early in my deconversion process I purchased the Gnostic Gospels. As I was reading them (haven't finished) I constantly had this urge to look over my shoulder to make sure no one's there, watching. I've never allowed myself to seriously question my faith until now, but reading non-Christian stuff has me feeling like I'm looking at porn! LOL! Silly but true.

 

I've kept only one Bible--the one that was with me through all of my adult life since I graduated from high school. Many tears I have shed reading it, and many insights gained. I have some emotionality, too, about this book.

[asanerman]

I have all my textbooks from undergraduate and graduate work plus shelves of Christian authors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

While studying The Gnostic Scriptures--The Nag Hammadi--I experienced a paradigm "shift," and Christianity lost her Wisdom for me, at least the Christianity of which I had been exposed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now as I pick up the first bible I purchased some 45 years ago, The Marked Reference Bible, and open its thin and worn pages I still feel the high emotion, the new expectant 'taste' of that unbelievable promise that my life could be different!

I haven't read your extimony but it sounds like you were into Christianity well beyond the hip-wader level, with graduate degrees too. I'm going to have to find your extimony.

 

Early in my deconversion process I purchased the Gnostic Gospels. As I was reading them (haven't finished) I constantly had this urge to look over my shoulder to make sure no one's there, watching. I've never allowed myself to seriously question my faith until now, but reading non-Christian stuff has me feeling like I'm looking at porn! LOL! Silly but true.

 

I've kept only one Bible--the one that was with me through all of my adult life since I graduated from high school. Many tears I have shed reading it, and many insights gained. I have some emotionality, too, about this book.

 

 

Positivist, I remember the day I went to Barnes and Noble to purchase Dawkins' The God Delusion. Talking about paranoid, I was 59 years young at the time and I felt like a high school freshman buying his first pack of "rubbers" at the corner neighborhood Walgreen's and the cashier taking my money was my mother!

 

The cashier at B&N's had that "you're an infidel" look in her eye's as she took my money and stuffed the "contraband" into that nice green and white bag! And the cashier at Walgreen's.......Well

 

You are not silly! It's the mind games we play that are silly!

 

As a good and trusted friend once said, "with any leave taking there comes guilt and shame." The guilt of betraying a trust and the shame felt for breaking a promise! Judas!

 

Letting "the book" go was nothing compared to letting go of the emotional attachment. The emotion I feel comes from a healthy respect for the route/root from which

I come.

 

Forget the hip-waders! Get wet!

[Legion]

It's the mind games we play that are silly!

At once I agree and disagree and I'm trying to figure out why.

 

Come on Legion. Think, damn you. Why do you agree and disagree with this?

 

I disagree because I have chosen the path of the mind warrior. And if I agree with it, I will have to re-examine that choice.

 

Well done Legion. Now why do you agree with it?

 

I agree because the mind games we play often are silly. What do we hope for? Men who stare at goats?