Have you read the entire Bible? I read the Bible for the first time when I was 9/10 years old. I made it to Leviticus before I couldn’t get through how boring Leviticus is but picked up again in the New Testament and made it to the end of Acts. I tried again in teen years with about the same results but then in my late twenties read each book along with a companion book that gives some background, establishes canonicity, discusses history etc. That took a couple of years and man it’s a bore when reading the prophets. I have some interest in it as a historical document and I like learning about the actual history of the Bible. I would be more interested in learning about it from a secular perspective now.
Most Christians treat the Bible like they treat a software licensing agreement. They don't actually read it, they just go to the end and click "I agree"
I said most. I feel like I've read it all over the decades, mostly because in all my discussions about it, its been a very very long time since someone brought something up that I wasn't familiar with in it. But I have not deliberately read it cover to cover while keeping track, so I can't really say I've for sure read it all. I have not read much of the Apocrypha nor the Dead Sea Scrolls. I feel like I need to become more familiar with those.
I've read it a couple of times. We did this thing in our church growing up where a group of us would read through the entire thing over the course of a year. There was also an audio book narrated by James Earl Jones that I had listened to in order to "cheat" for one of the read-throughs.
I think you will find that a greater % of atheists have read the Bible when compared to Christians who have read it.
Correct. Once you finish reading the Bible cover to cover, then the fun begins. There are tons of books written about the Bible and Religion. I devoted most of my 20s to reading books on the origins of the Bible. It has a haphazard logic of how it was pieced together, and this becomes clearly evident once you read the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi, and the Gnostic scriptures (let alone the history of the Gnostics and their demise). There is only one person in the Bible that can be credited for the Christianity we have today, and it isn't Jesus.
There's a big difference between "reading" something to say that you've read it versus actually taking your time to read something and absorb and think about what it means. The latter requires a lot more time and is difficult to do within a short period of time. I doubt that the majority of Christians have the time to carefully read the ENTIRE Bible, although there are certain parts and certain books that should be focused on. A lot of what's in the Bible probably needs a summary and side explanation for the modern reader. It would probably be a waste of time and not very productive to just quickly read the entire Bible all at once. And it is equally true to say that it would probably not be very productive to only read any section only once. No one is going to be able to absorb the entire meaning by reading it only once. They will have to go back and re-read every so often, every several months or several years. Some religious people read a few small sections every day. That said, there are comically a lot of Christians who would claim they "believe" the Bible but have barely read any of it.
There are several books about biblical history that you may enjoy reading. They draw on outside secular historical sources to give more context to what the biblical story is about. Some biblical stories are much more supported by historical evidence than others. Some of the older stories could have happened, and there is evidence that could support them, but secular historians are not sure. Most secular historians agree that Moses did lead the Hebrews into Canaan (modern-day Israel) but are not so sure about all the details, and believe some of the specific stories could be exaggerated or made up. Most stories are probably based, at least loosely, on real historical facts, but imagined things might have been added or used to fill in the details.
No, most modern scholars don't believe that the Hebrews came from outside of Canaan but more likely were just a splinter group already in the existing population. Most modern scholars believe that Moses is a fictional character. The Exodus of Jews from Egypt and their eventual conquering of the region is a myth.
You have me beat by a mile. When I was 25 I couldn't quote a single scripture from the Bible. And I thought that the image of a virgin holding a baby with a light in the sky at Christmas was just a pretty idea that someone thought up. Talk about dumb. I'm still pretty dumb, but less than before. Now I understand immaculate conception and the new light in the sky. And I can verify Isaiah's prophecy that the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. Now I know that God is real, that he lives and is divine. But I don't know from reading or hearing. I know from the visitation of his spirit in my heart, mind, and soul. It is good that I was dumb and unlinked from the dogma of the world. It makes the truth more welcome. For whom does one set aside ones harbor and keep the prize, but for the cause of God.
