I’ve been reading about the “Clergy Project” and it explains how surprised the students in Seminary are about the history of the Bible. Sounds like a lot of them change course and give up on preaching. Some of the ones that keep going have trouble explaining to their congregation things that they really don’t 100% believe. It seems to slowly eat away at them.

You might enjoy this little blurb;

Let's start with the "Facts" the Bible Claims;

1. God is omnipotent
2. God is omniscient
3. God is omnipresent
4. God has a message for all people.

That's what the bible claims right?

OK, so why couldn't God write down this message himself or otherwise leave a message where all can find it?
There are only a few possibilities to consider;

1. He didn't know how.=> He's not God.
2. He wasn't powerful enough.=> He's not God.
3. He did but someone hid it.=> God doesn't know where it is, could not have known it would be hidden => He's not God.
4. He did but someone destroyed it.=> God didn't know that would happen and could not prevent it => He's not God.
5. He did but man is too limited to understand the message => God didn't make his creatures so they would understand his message AND he didn't write his message so his creatures could understand it => He's not God.
6. God doesn't really have a message for all humans => The bible is completely wrong and does not describe God properly i.e. The God described in the bible does not exist.

There, ONCE AGAIN!! Solid Proof the God described in the Bible does not exist.

I have learned and found that 90% of Xrstians ONLY read the parts of their holy book that either, A) their priest/minister has told them to read, or, B) ONLY the parts that suit them them and their beliefs best.

I tend to think that this little meme attached says it all quite succinctly.

It’s so strange to me because it’s not my experience at all. i was raised in an extremely religious household, and i really did read my bible constantly. i think i only skipped genealogies and read everything else. my brother didn’t though, and it occurred to me more recently why. he was mostly a happy kid, but i started to struggle with depression and anxiety really early on, not to mention unknown body dysphoria. i’ve described it as someone handing me a book and saying, “this has all the secrets of the universe and how to live a happy life,” and i ate that shit up because i was such a sad kid. it’s kind of sick how they do that to children.

I once had a catholic try and argue that christianity predated the Romans. So I asked her if she had heard of Pontius Pilate? When she said no I said that I wash my hands of you

You've read the Bible? Bravo to you! I've tried to read it, believe me. Even if you can suspend disbelief--which is no easy task in itself--the Bible in every version I've encountered is such a bizarre assemblage of mashed together, self-contradictory, missing pieces and weirdly juxtaposed stories written in ancient languages and variously translated that it is nearly impossible to follow. It's also hard to stay awake while trying to follow.

If they did commit to reading it, page for page, and had the morals of decent human beings, they wouldn't be Christians anymore.

That is the whole problem. They only hear the snippets their pastor cherry picks to suite their purpose. I was raised Catholic and I asked for a bible for Christmas. My Dad actually said “you aren’t supposed to read the Bible. Only the priest can interpret it”. They of course don’t want you to think for yourself because you will invariably end up atheist if you do. I watch Atheist Experience on u-tube. One of the hosts knows the Bible chapter and verse and when theists call invariably they argue that what he is suggesting is not in the Bible. He leads them to the passage and they are dumbfounded. This is repeated week after week. It is astounding to watch. The host Matt Dilihunty says that it was reading the Bible while in seminary that he became atheist because he finally saw it for what it is.

Yes but christians don't believe in the bible. They believe in the bible as interpreted for them by a priest.

It seems that atheists tend to know the bible better than most christians.
Probably because reading the bible actually creates atheists.

Totally concur! The clergy project also has a small amount of members who actually shared what they learned in the seminary in their church bible classes and they got 'scolded' from members for doing that.

Many if they did might not stay Christian

So true! You would think that people who believe the Bible is the "word of god" would be interested in reading it themselves rather than being spoon-fed excerpts from their preacher. You would think those people would be interested in who compiled it, what was included vs omitted, and who the authors were.

I've long believed that the surest way to turn a Christian into an atheist is to have them read the whole Bible.

They read it, but only the crap that they are fed. Never the stupid shit contained in both testaments nor would the even dare to read the banned gospels nor the apocryphal ones.

I wholeheartedly agree. I always thought that if there was a contract that would guarantee me eternal bliss then I would know it inside out to make sure I complied. If it was originally written in a different language I would learn that language just to make sure I'd got it absolutely right. But 99.9% of Christians don't bother.

Incidentally, most people who support Brexit have the same syndrome. They will state confidently that we have to obey orders from Brussels, or that there are great trade deals waiting for us when we leave, but when you ask them "what orders?" or how trade deals work they know absolutely nothing, can't answer and just go back to their talking points. Brexit is almost a religion now, as I suspect Trumpism is.

Same here. My religious wife never reads her bible and really ets upset when I point out bible verses that are trully crazy and she does not know about.

It used to amaze Tecumseh too. Tecumseh was a Shawnee chieftan, who, in his younger days, would visit White settler families. White settlers owned very few books. But most had bibles, or "good books". Unfortunately, most were illiterate, and couldn't actually read the "good book". Tecumseh, who had learned how to read somewhere in his youth, felt sorry for them, and would amaze the settlers by reading their bibles aloud to them.

The secret is that all but a select few know that the whole thing is a steaming pile of bull shit, but they are unwilling to accept the alternative because that implies that everything they do is for nothing, so they are left with no choice but to double down.

I have never read any of it.

That's why I avoid religious conversations. I would sound as illiterate as they do.

I definitely understand your sentiment and yes, in my experience, most Christians do not read the Bible. Their concept of God is primarily learned through their society and a pastor--------if they do attend church.

With the serious implications provided by Christianity, it would make sense to read the one "true" book. The Book that makes sense of it all. However if you look at the Bible as a contract, then you can ask yourself how many people enjoy reading contracts?

I skipped reading the terms and agreements for the last 100 websites I joined. If a person deems a contract a must read, they often outsource it to lawyers.

I understand that the contract laid out in the Bible is for eternity and not a trivial contract for a website or any other human agreement, but the fact still remains, Humans are adverse to reading contracts unless deemed necessary.

Most Modern Christians are casual at best. As stated earlier, in western society, we learn about the concept of god through society and our upbringing, whether or not we attend church. For most people, this concept is enough to suffice their desire to know this omnipotent God.

Most of what is promoted about Christianity by society is the values it espouses. The clear values that are not up for interpretation. For example thou shall not kill and the likes and that salvation is earned simply by accepting Jesus. The latter serve as a trump card, and in fact communicates that you don't necessarily have to know the contract well, as long as you belief in Jesus. This allow followers to have a general idea about the contract and thus some understanding of what it takes to keep it valid, without needed to invest the time needed to fully understand this contract

Our proclivity to be adverse to reading contracts, the promotion of Christian values in Western Society and the salvation through Jesus Christ trump card are the main reasons behind the not reading the Bible phenomena that you find mind boggling.

the dirty work is always left to the "Fan Club: and they rejoice in carrying out his "will" because he can't . . almost like he is powerless or doesn't exist

There are more good books than given time in a lifetime. Why would anyone want to waste a single minute reading the bible, such a useless book, beats the hell out of me.

I think partly it's that the Wholly Babble doesn't bear scrutiny very well. They know they don't like what it looks like -- so they don't look.

What's that old saying? -- 'No one can sincerely go to seminary school and come out believing in God.'
Apparently once you learn the details and the origins of those 'divine' stories, it's very difficult to take them seriously any more -- at least honestly.

And for a lot of the lay folks I think it's mostly laziness. They've always lived their lives that way so they just go along without thinking about things.
How did Carlin describe it? -- A church is a building where people gather once a week to compare clothing.

There is so much ignorance and lazy inertia in our society that the churches are still thriving after millennia of exaggerated claims and false promises (Carlin again). And I'm afraid they'll be with us for a while -- we're stuck.

Amen! I agree with you 300%!

I think many are intelectually lazy. They go to church a couple of times a week to have their "faith" reinforced by listening to select passages from the bible and probably do not open the book for the rest of the week.
At one time the "good book" was only published in Latin so that only the educated priests could read it so as to control the masses better.
After the reformation the church of Scotland opened "grammar schools" throughout the country so that the people could learn to read and could read the scriptures for themselves.
This probably backfired to an extent as some began to realise they were being conned and great thinkers such as David Hume emerged.