I'm almost atheist but study the bible

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26 Comments

I'm highly agnostic, but I still study the bible in depth. I've read many parts of it and I plan on eventually reading the entire bible, but I have very little faith. I come from a catholic family which was somewhat devout, I'd attend church every Sunday with my grandfather when my parents and myself and siblings would visit the rest of the family, and I believed a lot more when I was a child and a teenager than I do as an adult. But I still feel like I need to learn it, even though it would be useless to me because of my lack of faith and lack of discipline. Should I continue to study the bible, and is it normal?

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87% Normal
Based on 30 votes (26 yes)
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Comments ( 26 )
  • sancheze035911
    9 years ago

    Study the Bible, The Quran and many other religious texts. Atheists know more about religion and it's history, that's why we're atheists.

    Also read Christopher Hitchen's "God is Not Great", Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" and Steven Pinker's "How the Mind Works".

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/09/28/130191248/atheists-and-agnostics-know-more-about-bible-than-religious

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  • WhiteStallion
    9 years ago

    Don't just study the bible, go on with others... study the Koran...etc. That knowledge definitely helps with communicating with others, understanding yourself and your society. I do it as well. Hey it may even help you figure out what to do with that 'almost'

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  • reminiscent
    9 years ago

    Its not useless knowledge...im not Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, greek...ect.
    but I still like to learn about such religions...and having knowledge of them isnt useless.
    You dont have to believe in something to learn about it.

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  • Miller18
    9 years ago

    That's the most "normal" Thing Iv seen on this page today.. I would encourage you to still study and read your bible with open eyes and well as a open heart and most of all open mind ... your an adult now and you can lean and believe how ever you see best for you. I have questions myself and In my life time have had many different levels of faith. I'm catholic as-well and struggle with the same issues brought by you today. In a very personal way I do Hold the belief that GOD is .

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  • poon__jabber
    9 years ago

    Public schools sometimes study the bible nos in a religious sense but as a work of literature. So that makes sense you are sort of doing the same thing. I would recommend finding the book of Enoch that was deleted from the bible because of an agenda of the early Catholic church.

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  • cupcake_wants
    9 years ago

    Well, I think that the bible has been changed to suit some agendas. Roman Catholic church were the first to center around Jesus and they made the bible. They left out the whole book of Enoch bcuz it didn't suit their agenda. That church was ok being unified with the government so they wielded so much control over the masses that you could be killed or thrown in a dungeon for a "sin". I'm not saying to throw out the bible altogether, but if you cross reference with many other texts around the world you start to see where the lies tend to be. Power of the mind is not "of the devil". think about what happened between the end of ancient Egypt and the beginning of the roman catholic church. They established CONTROL. Many say THIS was the onset of the illuminati.

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  • Couman
    9 years ago

    It seems surprisingly common for atheists to know the bible better than Christians. Then again, when you consider all the crazy and horrible stuff in their, maybe it's not so surprising after all.

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  • Miller18
    9 years ago

    I hope your able to talk to many more people about this and hear for different view and take what your hear from this page and your on personal study and with out influence,make your own personal decision.

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  • Swan_Theif9854
    9 years ago

    Yeah it's normal. If you're going to be interested in a religion, or lack there of it's important to do research on it first. When I started thinking on my own I decided I'm progay, and a feminist, two things Christianity are against.

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  • ArmusWasTheFirstTroll
    9 years ago

    As an devout Athiest agnostic, I, too, have studied the bible. I like to know what is I don't believe. Given that a majority of people do believe it's useful to know what it is others say they believe. There more you read the bible the more you'll realize people do really follow it.

    Reading the bible is the best tool an atheist has against the supposedly faithful.

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    • CanadianCowboy
      9 years ago

      Thanks

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  • ArmusWasTheFirstTroll
    9 years ago

    What does highly agnostic mean?

    Do you not know things more than other people admit to not know things?

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    • CanadianCowboy
      9 years ago

      Yes

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  • thegypsysailor
    9 years ago

    Keep you friends close, but keep your enemies closer.

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    • daydreamer394
      9 years ago

      Why?

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      • thegypsysailor
        9 years ago

        Read history.

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  • Derps
    9 years ago

    U have a part of you that believes in God?

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  • slings_and_arrows
    9 years ago

    It is by no means useless. I am an atheist but I find the Bible fascinating and very important as a sociological phenomenon. It is a cornerstone of Western civilisation and gives us knowledge about the ancient people of the past regarding history, many aspects of life, their ideas on morality etc.

    There are also many beautiful and evocative passages in the Bible e.g. 'If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." And evocative intense imagery like the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the nativity, the idea of wheels within wheels...At least it's very affecting to me.

    If you do find some moral teaching in it, remember that this was written by people who were behind our morality in many ways, and certain things were more practical and safe before modern science came along e.g. Waiting till marriage to have see - well we have birth control now, so its not so necessary to wait. But it made sense back then.

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  • daydreamer394
    9 years ago

    Why do you study it?

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  • Avant-Garde
    9 years ago

    Yes. Religion is very fascinating.

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  • green_boogers
    9 years ago

    Fine, but just remember that religion's main purpose is to control the masses, and that science explains all of creation.

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    • slings_and_arrows
      9 years ago

      Yeh everything except erm...how creation was created and how the universe came into being.

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      • green_boogers
        9 years ago

        Yeh, but "separating light from darkness" misleads the reader immediately. At least the Big Bang tells you that at 10^-43 seconds forces had not split off the unified field.

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        • slings_and_arrows
          9 years ago

          The Bible should be read for what it is, not with an expectation that it is logical, rational or truly contains the thoughts of an omnipotent god. It is a hermeneutic text and therefore it is something that needs to be interpreted. Some aspects are about morality, some about history and some like the beginning are poetic and create the mythology. Beginning of Genesis:

          "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

          And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

          And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day."

          I really like the beginning its like a fable/fairytale. Nobody is misled by the separation of light and dark as this isn't to be interpreted literally, its creating a poetic scene. And as you may know I am an atheist, so I'm not defending it.

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          • green_boogers
            9 years ago

            Creation really happened. Explaining it with a mythological tale leaves many young hearts and minds empty. EMPTY, I say. At age 4, I wanted my Mother to read library books about Astronomy to me. An interest like this is not unusual for a 4 year old. The Bible alienates many young children.

            BTW, for eloquence and imagery in an English language fairy tale, why not read "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" by Eugene Field.

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            • slings_and_arrows
              9 years ago

              Well in the UK we are taught about the big bang, even at primary school I think. We were def not taught that god created us. We weren't taught about god or the Bible at all really. Maybe just a bit to go along with the nativity at christmas. I barely knew anything about christianity upon leaving primary school. It would be horrible to have someone shoving Christianity down your throat saying thats the way it happened. They would probs lose their job for that here, unless it was at roman catholic nutcase school.

              Thanks for the poem, I've never come across it.

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