SerenelyBlue Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I've read the whole bible except the old testament prophets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I went to a xian school for years so we did read it through. Although they had it planned out in such a way that we'd read it all but out of order to match up with some larger ecclesiastical lesson plan they had. Sort of how when you're in church at xmas or easter and you read the gospels for those stories but they never read the whole story from a single gospel but instead skip around (except in church they never actually go back and hit up the missed verses). So it seemed like a far more coherent and cohesive work than the ad hoc texts it is. When I deconverted I re-read the larger majority of it which confirmed this. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I don't think reading the Bible is nearly as important as validating its authenticity. And to validate the Bible, it's origins and evolution, it must be studied from a pure historical perspective. Reading for pleasure is obviously different than reading for information. Reading anything for information should require the information be validated as true & accurate. The Bible is not an exception.. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsathoggua9 Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I have read it all the way through several times. That was many years ago. I think that I had stopped doing my annual read-through by the mid-1980s. I never did understand how people could actually take the bible as the literal word of god..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhim Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 I read the entire Bible. Several times over, actually, though rarely in order (which I guess is fine since the books are not arranged in chronological order). I found the Old Testament to be of extremely high literary quality and to be rather insightful, while the New Testament I found dull, boring, irrelevant, and logically inconsistent. Maybe that's why I read the NT a lot more frequently, in an attempt to get it to make sense to me. Suffice it to say, that never happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 I have never done a full cover to cover read through but I have read the whole thing, even the genealogies. I can tell you from memory (and yes this is from memory and not google... you'll just have to trust me on this, and no I am not looking up the spelling so there WILL be spelling errors) that Peleg is the son of Sheber is the son of Canen, the son of Arphaxed, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamek, the some of Methusela, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of (huge spelling guess) Mahalliel... Mahailel... Ma-Hey-Lee-El, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. I just did a book at a time. Let time pass. Dive into another. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 4 minutes ago, Dexter said: Peleg is the son of Sheber is the son of Canen, No wait, Peleg, Eber, Shelah... you know what, it doesn't matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted October 30, 2018 Super Moderator Share Posted October 30, 2018 I had this schedule wherein one could read the entire bible in one year. I don't know how many times I read the entire thing through; but I know I followed that schedule for several years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PurpleLilac Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 I have. Leviticus-Deuteronomy are torture. I went to bible college and grew up fundie so I have more of that stuff in my head than I want to admit. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeverHealed52Years Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 I hate to admit it but I have read, re-read and studied it every way it is possible to read, study, dissect and analyze it. Memorized numerous verses/passages. Just some of the ways I studied it: as just great literature, as history, as end time prophecy, as a healing Team/Healing Rooms guide book, chronologically, by numerous major and minor topics/subtopics, multiple times sequentially read it in a year, the dispensations, the church/Christianity according to Paul, as a study of the culture, history, daily life, beliefs etc. of the Jewish race, how it compares to the many other manuscripts/fragments that have been found, how and why the apocryphal books were excluded, compare what they say to what bible says, just what Jesus said/taught - didn't say or teach, compared what Paul taught to what Jesus taught, the Greek/Latin/Aramaic to determine the "true" meaning of key verses, compare it to other spiritual beliefs/religions, compare what Jesus said to what Buddha said ..... And who knows how else... .BIG REGRET, ALL THAT TIME, ENERGY, BRAIN POWER WASTED!!! I am trying to fit in all of the creative and fun pursuits I can now !!! Better late then never. I still have intellectual pursuits but totally different subjects. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 I read the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 On 11/4/2018 at 5:25 PM, NeverHealed52Years said: I hate to admit it but I have read, re-read and studied it every way it is possible to read, study, dissect and analyze it. Memorized numerous verses/passages. Just some of the ways I studied it: as just great literature, as history, as end time prophecy, as a healing Team/Healing Rooms guide book, chronologically, by numerous major and minor topics/subtopics, multiple times sequentially read it in a year, the dispensations, the church/Christianity according to Paul, as a study of the culture, history, daily life, beliefs etc. of the Jewish race, how it compares to the many other manuscripts/fragments that have been found, how and why the apocryphal books were excluded, compare what they say to what bible says, just what Jesus said/taught - didn't say or teach, compared what Paul taught to what Jesus taught, the Greek/Latin/Aramaic to determine the "true" meaning of key verses, compare it to other spiritual beliefs/religions, compare what Jesus said to what Buddha said ..... And who knows how else... .BIG REGRET, ALL THAT TIME, ENERGY, BRAIN POWER WASTED!!! I am trying to fit in all of the creative and fun pursuits I can now !!! Better late then never. I still have intellectual pursuits but totally different subjects. Wow, I’m kind of grateful that this ended for me when it did. I could have spent my whole life reading it. Making things of it. Do you think it was the ultimate exercise in madness or what?! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 On 11/4/2018 at 11:23 AM, PurpleLilac said: I have. Leviticus-Deuteronomy are torture. I went to bible college and grew up fundie so I have more of that stuff in my head than I want to admit. The thing I have the biggest issue with is that I really do find it to be an immoral book. Even a lot of the teachings of Jesus, especially when considered from a higher point of view of morality outside religion. Jesus was petty, didn’t actually say that much, and people have to admit that a lot of the things are just down right not very useful for life. There’s nothing about how to live a good life, why something’s are the way they are, as in there is no rational for the body (human body) the kinds of thing a creator would know intimately. If Steve jobs or Jonny Ives were showing off a product they would be able to talk about the inspiration behind it. No explanations for the human brain, how to work it, why it works the way it does. A creator would be able to elucidated these things, not shroud them. Real inspiration and understanding and explanation has come from psychology and sciences, things that make us say Aha. The brain has a lot of limitations, can you imagine the kind of insight a creator would be able to produce, a sort of users manual. Jesus was not a demonstration of any of these things, he was as merely human as you get. He didn’t go above or beyond anything that a person couldn’t expect to see on any day of the week from someone with charisma and solemn gravitas. Ironically charisma and solemn gravitas don’t have anything to do with truth. It’s human, so human to like these things, human to uplift them. We like to feel like we are being led by heirarchy, that’s human/ape-like behavior. Everything demonstrated by this book is proof of how clearly it is a product of man especially by way of its lack of imagination. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeverHealed52Years Posted November 8, 2018 Share Posted November 8, 2018 On 11/7/2018 at 3:00 PM, Samuel said: Wow, I’m kind of grateful that this ended for me when it did. I could have spent my whole life reading it. Making things of it. Do you think it was the ultimate exercise in madness or what?! Yes it was total insane madness....but desperate people will do anything to learn how to please and receive good things from God and find help and relief from the life of relentless hell they were born and raised in... especially when raised with, and continued on into adulthood, being told that all the bad things happening to them were because of their evilness/sin/wrong thinking/lack of faith. And my all-time favorite lie, God (and my severely crazy, extremely abusive parents) is punishing ( they say chastising) me to teach me and to "get the evil out of me". . The other lies that keep people reading/studying the Word is being told they have not " built up their faith enough" to receive Gods help, and the only way to hear from and receive from God is to keep the Word of God going into the brain and heart all day EVERY day. Plus, I just happen to be one of those folks who has a tendency to research and dig deep to understand and "get it right, do it right", whatever subject I am learning about. I love your statement "making things of it". That IS exactly what religion is. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesus Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 When I was first saved I averaged 4-8 hours a day of bible reading for about a year. I read through the NIV, NKJV, and NASB and dabbled in several other translations I’ve skipped here and there thru some ‘begats’ and shit like that but I’ve read it and read it. I’ve read the NT I don’t even know how many times. It has to be 100s of times over the 19 years of brain washing myself. I could probably quote or paragraphase entire chapters at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 This thread makes me feel sad, angry... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mich Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 I've studied it all my adult life..so for the last 30 years, mostly the last 2. That's why I am here... It only took finding 2 contradictions to convince me that a good god didn't write that book....woah..what a journey since then it has been. I kept studying it. I couldn't stop..I was curious how many MORE contradictions there were. I found hundreds. HUNDREDS of blatant contradictions. I am still finding them. After a while I began to notice the questionable behavior of god, and began to wonder just how many things the bible calls evil, sinful, and wicked...is the god of the bible guilty of... There are literally HUNDREDS of verses that have god doing the very evil things that it tells us not to do...and satan doing none. Not one verse. We are supposed to know them by their fruit. I have not found ANY verses of Saran doing ONE thing the bible calls evil. He is accused several times, but no actual deeds. But god...creates evil, devises evil, brings forth evil, speaks evil, sends forth evil spirits, has evil thoughts, threatens to spread poo in his people's faces, threatens to make them eat their babies etc etc etc there is no way that a good God commits 99% of the evil in his own book. I find it scary to be around people that know these verses are in there, but uphold the book anyway.... 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insightful Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 I tried many times! It was my perennial new years resolution. I always got to about 1st or 2nd Samuel... Anyway I always find it interesting when pastors and Sunday school teachers joke about the pages sticking together in Leviticus... Basically admitting the obscure, inane, total irrelevance of part of the book that they are saying is the single inspired revelation of God to humankind. Isn't it odd that the one and only revelation of God would have large sections that no one in their right mind would ever even want to read? even people who think it is his word? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mich Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 5 hours ago, Insightful said: Isn't it odd that the one and only revelation of God would have large sections that no one in their right mind would ever even want to read? even people who think it is his word? Yes! It is odd that we went out to church all those years and heard only 1% of what is in the book... considering one verse says that "all scripture is profitable for doctrine"... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeverHealed52Years Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 10 hours ago, mich said: I've studied it all my adult life..so for the last 30 years, mostly the last 2. That's why I am here... It only took finding 2 contradictions to convince me that a good god didn't write that book....woah..what a journey since then it has been. I kept studying it. I couldn't stop..I was curious how many MORE contradictions there were. I found hundreds. HUNDREDS of blatant contradictions. I am still finding them. After a while I began to notice the questionable behavior of god, and began to wonder just how many things the bible calls evil, sinful, and wicked...is the god of the bible guilty of... There are literally HUNDREDS of verses that have god doing the very evil things that it tells us not to do...and satan doing none. Not one verse. We are supposed to know them by their fruit. I have not found ANY verses of Saran doing ONE thing the bible calls evil. He is accused several times, but no actual deeds. But god...creates evil, devises evil, brings forth evil, speaks evil, sends forth evil spirits, has evil thoughts, threatens to spread poo in his people's faces, threatens to make them eat their babies etc etc etc there is no way that a good God commits 99% of the evil in his own book. I find it scary to be around people that know these verses are in there, but uphold the book anyway.... Yeesss....my thoughts exactly. Thank you for writing and telling it so well... I couldn't put it into words and especially not as concisely and clearly as you. I have pondered for sometime now that we are totally being duped...the BibleGod is really who/what we are calling Satan/demons/evil. The biblegod is the god of war, destruction and source of all evil. He has us all duped into worshipping and following him being falsely taught he is the good guy. . Maybe we should reverse it all and then a whole bunch of things about life makes more sense! To confuse us even more Jesus (if he existed at all) constantly referred to his Heavenly Father that had him healing everyone and being kind and having compassion and teaching love. That certainly wasn't the OT Biblegod. Had to be someone else. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ Fuego ♦ Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 50 minutes ago, NeverHealed52Years said: the BibleGod is really who/what we are calling Satan/demons/evil Reminds me of this image: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mich Posted November 11, 2018 Share Posted November 11, 2018 9 hours ago, NeverHealed52Years said: To confuse us even more Jesus (if he existed at all) constantly referred to his Heavenly Father that had him healing everyone and being kind and having compassion and teaching love. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division...~jesus For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law...~jesus So every quarrel or unpeaceful event , we can blame on jesus... according to the bible.. And of course god takes the credit for all the evil and darkness .. Isaiah 45:7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
◊ Weezer ◊ Posted November 11, 2018 Share Posted November 11, 2018 Growing up in the main stream Church of Christ, it was interesting that the Old Testament was seldom referenced, and we were not encouraged to read it. And even after going off to a church related "Christian" college, when I took the required Old Testament course, there were certain books we skipped over. I was already questioning God, and after reading those books we skipped over, I REALLY began to question. They were one of the main reasons for starting the really serious questioning which led down the road to deconverting. I never did read all of the OT, and although I read the NT several times, I only read Revelations 1 time. It was another book the CofC ignored. Even at an early age I decided it must have been written by someone on mind altering drugs. I am almost ashamed to admit it took 30 years to come to terms with the inconsistency and contradictions. Early conditioning and need for acceptance, especially by a devout family, is hard to shake off. I would dare to say over 90% of Christians have never read the bible. They just listen to the clergy and follow along like docile sheep. Jesus got it right when he referred to his followers as sheep. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TruthSeeker0 Posted November 11, 2018 Share Posted November 11, 2018 2 minutes ago, Weezer said: I would dare to say over 90% of Christians have never read the bible. They just listen to the clergy and follow along like docile sheep. Jesus got it right when he referred to his followers as sheep. Now I'm left wondering, do the negative connotations of calling people sheep arise from the christian reference? I'm guessing no, and it's simply based on the animals themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mich Posted November 11, 2018 Share Posted November 11, 2018 1 hour ago, TruthSeeker0 said: Now I'm left wondering, do the negative connotations of calling people sheep arise from the christian reference? I'm guessing no, and it's simply based on the animals themselves. I was just pondering the other day about sheperds and sheep... shepherds have a hidden agenda.. it's not really love..they want what they can get out of them..their wool, their meat... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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