Have you read the whole Bible?

[Brickjectivity]

I had trouble focusing on it to read it, so I started reading it at night until I would fall asleep. Next day I would got back to the last thing I remembered reading before falling asleep. I think it took about a month, but I think that just reading it did not really teach it to me. It did raise lots of questions, and there were many odd quotations that would rise in my mind. I would think about it from time to time.

 

[Kemosloby]

Haha... and you didn't even read the passage I linked to. "two she-bears" - that makes 2 bears. 2. and they killed 42 young boys, which the text strongly suggests was an action of God due to the curse Elisha called upon them after they mocked him by calling him "baldy" or "bald-head" or some such.

So... a guy gets miffed that a bunch of KIDS are making fun of him, and decides to call forth the wrath of Jehovah (the text literally says he "cursed them in the name of Jehovah"), and Jehovah is implied to have obliged him the curse by killing all the boys with bears.

And when did anyone say it was (or needed to be) a "major theme?" The Bible is full of dumb crap like this - major theme or no, it's a mess of overlooked/ignored travesty and morally questionable actions by "God" and His "chosen" buddies.

I was ok with the whole thing, shouldn't call people baldy. If it was Karma nobody would complain...

 

[Satans_Serrated_Edge]

I've read it back to front several times. The first go I took my sweet time and read it over months. The latest time, over a weekend.

I honestly think if more people read the thing there would be a heck of a lot less Christians.

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

I mean every page. And if you have, how long did it take for you to do that?

I've read the protestant bible cover to cover, from "in the beginning" to "may he come quickly amen" 7 times. The first time took 5 weeks. This does not count 100s if not 1000s of hours researching and reading particular parts. I've probably read ecclesiastes 50 times (yes there is some wisdom in the scriptures). I have to say, if it weren't for the scriptures, I might still be struggling with my rejection of christ, or any god(s).

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

<yawn>

... yet another bible-bashing thread cleverly masked as an adolescent temper-tantrum.​

</yawn>

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

<yawn>

... yet another bible-bashing thread cleverly masked as an adolescent temper-tantrum.​

</yawn>

Why is this a bible-bashing thread? I thought it was a fair question.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Why is this a bible-bashing thread? I thought it was a fair question.

So did I.

 

[columbus]

Except to those for which it is. But, shucks, why give them any consideration?

Why don't you just put him on <ignore> like you do most people?
Most of us don't care about your snark much.
Tom

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

So did I.

Ok, don't bother answering my question.

 

[columbus]

Ok, don't bother answering my question.

I doubt that he will.
Tom

 

[Brickjectivity]

Did a program in Bible college where we read six chapters per day. Took about 6 months or so, I recall. That's what led me to question the religion, seeing the mindsets reflected in the Old Testament; God sending bears to eat naughty children and stuff like that.

No, I object. The law is the alpha and omega, the source of all reality in the Bible. The bears, the numbers 2 and 42 and the children are all there to make comments about the law. That applies to everything in the Bible. A story in the Bible about a bear or a shark or an elf or breakfast cereal or anything else -- is always, always about the law; and the author of Kings would be horrified if they thought that their story were used to endorse the mauling of children. Nor is it OK in the Bible for God to maul children, because everything is about the law. In the Bible the law is a river of reality, and whoever wants to be real drinks it or touches it, or breathes it, or warms themselves by it. As you move away from the law everything is less real, colder, more invisible. The moment the story about the bears is not commenting on the law, they cease to exist. Imagine the law is a girl and you have a crush on her. Now take away that girl, and your heart is broken. That is what you have done with this story. You have made it meaningless. It isn't about anything now.

 

[MJFlores]

I mean every page. And if you have, how long did it take for you to do that?

Still reading - not yet done.

The thing is, I understood the message and the truth.

This is what I found out:

1. God is the Father
2. Jesus is not God
3. The Holy Spirit is not God
4. Jesus built his Church
5. The whole world is going to end
6. If you don't know the truth, your dead
7. The Bible is a closed book

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

Still reading - not yet done.

View attachment 18170

The thing is, I understood the message and the truth.

This is what I found out:

1. God is the Father
2. Jesus is not God
3. The Holy Spirit is not God
4. Jesus built his Church
5. The whole world is going to end
6. If you don't know the truth, your dead
7. The Bible is a closed book

I'm impressed at your ability to pick and choose! So your answer to the OP would be....NO!

 

[columbus]

The thing is, I understood the message and the truth.

Lots of people believe this.
Why are the vast majority so wrong?
Tom

 

[UpperLimits]

Technically, it should take about 48 hours from cover to cover. That's simply judging from the various audio recordings that are available.

Now, a rote reading of the words is one thing. Comprehension... well, that's up for debate.

 

[Thief]

I mean every page. And if you have, how long did it take for you to do that?

yep.....the whole thing
but with notation that different renditions exist and I won't live long enough to read all of them

so I did focus to a cross comparison of the Gospels

 

[columbus]

Now, a rote reading of the words is one thing. Comprehension... well, that's up for debate.

It does seem that the longer people spend reading the Bible the more they superimpose their beliefs on It.

It's a long and internally inconsistent book. The more time someone spends looking for evidence of what they prefer to believe the more likely they are to find it.

I see that right here on RF. Staunchly Bible believing Christians believe wildly different things. Real life is not any different. A person can believe that God says almost anything, if they spend enough time with the Bible to find it.
Tom

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

It does seem that the longer people spend reading the Bible the more they superimpose their beliefs on It.

It's a long and internally inconsistent book. The more time someone spends looking for evidence of what they prefer to believe the more likely they are to find it.

I see that right here on RF. Staunchly Bible believing Christians believe wildly different things. Real life is not any different. A person can believe that God says almost anything, if they spend enough time with the Bible to find it.
Tom

Not sure I concur. My first reading cover to cover was in response to a challenge. Having a masters degree in evolution, I read it in 5 weeks and became 'born again'....Over the next 4 years I read it daily and cover to cover another 6 times. Each reading flayed away the initial 'message' and confirmed my rejection of christ as savior, and of any notion of an abrahamic god that was worthy of my consideration.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I mean every page. And if you have, how long did it take for you to do that?

I read it incrementally and not in linear fashion. It was over the course of several years as deemed relevant towards a specific talk or study.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

For understanding the Bible, it is better to study one chapter than to just read through the Bible.

We did, that's why it took a year. It was reading accompanied by a bunch of study.