The Bible

I've read it before, and in fact rejected it more then I did before hand. I tried to read it neutrally, yet still found myself becoming more and more annoyed by its passages.
If anything, I found myself disliking religion more so...
Not sure why, just really grated me after reading it.
Maybe I wasn't as open minded as I should've been.

I had pretty much the same experience as you. Atheism + the Bible =

No, you'll need a religious upbringing combined with a healthy dose of Bible bashing to actually begin believing the crap it says. Trust me, I've experienced it. If you just read it on it's own, though, you're more likely to find yourself being more critical of Christianity, because there's an awful lot of terrible stuff in there (God destroying whole cities) and lots of rules that Christians ignore (technically, they shouldn't be allowed to eat bacon or shellfish). Say what you like about Muslims, but at least they follow what's in their religious text to the letter! It is quite a good read, though.

Youve got to believe it it's the WORD of GOD (despite the fact most of it was written by groups of people decades after jesus died) .

Everything in its true (apart from the bits shown to be ridiculously unlikely/obviously contradictory, those are just metaphors).

If you dont follow its rules youve sinned and will go to hell (not including all the ones we dont bother with at the moment)

I think that's being a little harsh. Passages from any religious text can seem stupid and ridiculous, we all know that. If you have indeed read the Bible you would know that in Acts 10 these 'unclean' foods are said to be fine to eat which is where the Jewish faith differs etc etc. Old testament/New testament.

Yeah, but didn't Jesus - so, God - say that they're unclean, and then someone else said they were clean (I can't remember who, but it wasn't Jesus). Interesting how Bible passages are manipulated in favour of good things like nommy food, but not in favour of less desirable things like women priests.

I'm not going to answer this from any other point of view other than from what the Bible itself says on these matters


Why does it matter than some was written after Jesus died? The Bible itself says through out that the Holy Spirit (which is God) is with believers and guides then and is considered to help them, possibly including what is written.


The Bible isn't completely a narrative history. The bible tells us this itself by the structure and language choices used. Narrative histories are not set out like poems or songs or even use repeated word choices.



Not true at all. This last statement shows a complete lack of understanding of what the Bible actually says.

1) Following the rules does not get you to heaven.
2) No one can ever possibly expect to follow all the 'rules' - in fact the only person. the Bible claims did was Jesus himself.
3) Breaking the rules does not mean you will go to hell.


I'll leave you to think about what the Bible actually says on all this, but it most certainly, 100% is not what you said in your last point....in fact what you said is a common misconception amongst many people, both non-Christians and indeed some people who claim to be Christians too

Jesus actually said is claimed to have said no foods are unclear:

Mark 7:14-23

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Of course you can. I'm a Christian and have read most of the Qur'an - I say most because I eventually couldn't take the boredom and repetitiveness to be honest

Not to tread on anyone's toes, there are many parts of the Bible that are ridiculously boring and seem somewhat irrelevant, just my two pennies that's all.