If you do not believe in God, you must not have read the Bible

Why does this thought seem so common amongst Christians that argue with non-believers? Must you be so wary of those who are not of the same faith?

At one point in my life I had considered becoming a priest; four of the people I look up to the most were spiritual leaders, Martin Luther King Jr, Martin Luther himself, Mr. Fred Rogers, and finally, my mum's pastor, Pastor Janet; and I read the Bible cover-to-cover when I was going through confirmation and deciding if the path was right for me, a key step in my path towards skepticism.

Yet, every other time I argue against Christianity or hypothetically about interpretations of Christianity; I come under suspicion by a believer of St Thomas' ilk.

US Studies have shown that Atheists and Agnostics know more about religion than Christians, and Christians have a rather shaky view (45% of Catholics didn't know about the transformation of communion wafers and wine; 53% of Protestants couldn't name Martin Luther as the great reformer; link to NPR's full overview)

 

I quit arguing with them.

It's like they have trained responses for everything I bring up.

 

I think it's plain simple: they don't expect a non-believer to take the effort to read the holy book. Kinda logical too but still a generalization at best.

 

I read the bible. I was forced to growing up in the bible belt. That is why I don't believe in god.

 

I beleive in something greater then myself but i would not call it god or even a god.

 

The force?

 

There are good, full, individuals amongst the religious -- they can just be uncommon, and quite rare amongst the most devout.

Not all subscribe all their thought over to the thinking of the Word; sometimes, they manage to simply fill their heart with faith and let their brains carry on in a normal way.

Just like how their are some good cops, lawyers, and politicians. :2thumbsup:

 

No lmao It is a being or beings i just cant really put it into words.

 

I'm not even sure it is a being but I call it God anyway. Ontopic: of course there are lots of sane and sensible christians! It just can be really hard to understand each other when it comes to someones faith or their (dis)belief in something divine. Christians probably get thrown even more generalizations at them these days as well. Or perhaps not more but they're not the majority anymore (gladly). So we can all speak out our misunderstandings in the open

 

Duck, I'm guessing that my posts in another thread have prompted you to create this one.

As I said in the other thread, I'm not out to defend or promote any religion. I just find it amusing and annoying when people speak out on a topic and make far sweeping proclamations as to the truth or falsehood of religion, yet upon further examination it is discovered that they really have no first hand knowledge of what they speak.
If someone is going to make declarations of what the Bible does or does not teach, then they damn sure had better have some familiarity with it before making claims about it. That applies to any subject.
That is really the only thing I take issue with. Not just with religion, drugs are also another topic full of experts that have no real knowledge whatsoever about the subject. They just go with the popular opinions about it and run the mouth.

It's interesting how many opposed to Christianity follow that model of just going with the popular anti-Christian rhetoric without truly investigating it for themselves.
And they call Christians sheep

I just call for honesty in ANY conversation, if a person doesn't know a topic, then they shouldn't attempt to speak as an authority on it. It really is that simple.

So I'm not speaking out in defense of Christianity or any damn thing, I'm speaking out against people talking out their ass. (not you specifically)

 

Ge, this is just like a Stargate sg1 episode..

 

Regardless of what your studies say, I find that Atheists and Agnostics generally have very little knowledge about what the Bible actually says and tend to just parrot what they have been told about what the Bible says or repeat what they read on the internet without actually checking to verify whether it is true or not. I find that most of my time spent here, is spent correcting the mistaken ideas most people have about what the Bible says.

As for your premise that amongst Christians it is common to believe that; "If you do not believe in God, you must not have read the Bible", personally I know of no Christians that believe that.

And although I know who Martin Luther was, I don't consider him to be the great reformer and thus would not name him as such.

 

I've been told I misinterpret the bible before.. but no one has ever accused me of not reading it.

If you have a basic understanding of the bible, it usually shows.

 

That's been the same in my experience too.

I know that many read the Bible, but I get the sense that most don't understand what they're reading. It usually does show.

 

I was raised in a "religious" home, in that we went to church, said prayer before meals, etc. My family (mother and her kin) actually "lived" as they talked, meaning Christian...however, they were "hard" people. However, I digress...I am most familiar with the bible, and now am a devout, strong believer...and by "strong and devout" I mean that I have no questions.

It was not always so...I have had many questions and have about been a "doubting Thomas" during my life. I have made the most stupid of mistakes of being mad at God. Yeah, I know...brilliant use of energy, right?

At any rate, reading the bible and even knowing the bible AND definitely "believing" and giving one's heart over to God do NOT necessarily go hand in hand.

Sincerely seeking answers, and actually understanding the science of astrology (which I got neg rep for in the past, "taking up for astrology"...oh well) brought me "back" to God.
For in understanding astrology, I understood something else - that even the planets in the sky were placed with precision and an omnipotent awareness/intelligence I cannot even begin to comprehend. imo none other than the Grand Creator, God Jehovah Yahwey, created us, as He did the universe, and etc.

 

When a conversation about religion with a fundie is inescapable without being rude,

I state that I will not accept the 'bible' as more divine than any other text

then i ask if there's anything unrelated to the divinty of the text that they'd like to discuss about christianity

if they are not too bright: choke

if they are sunny balls of jesus' love: bore

if they think they are smart: annoying debate

if they are smart... well, that could be cool

 

I went to a lutheran private gradeschool and couldnt care less what i've forgotten of biblical text or martin luther's unradical reformation

the premise that i might be persuaded to take interest in religion is more of a nuisance than a stimulating conversation

i'd guess i'm somewhere near the median of biblical understanding

the most COMMON argument I hear is a sort of intelligent design, beauty of creation, logical fallacy

still probably the strongest argument in the arsenal

 

Well, having faith and theological knowledge are two different things. Together with some wisdom you'd have an interesting religious debate partner. I think the majority of both religious and atheistic peeps are lacking in one or more department. This does not bother me at all since your belief in God(s) is primarily for yourself, but it's clear to me that having read the bible from cover to cover doesn't have to mean anything.

 

The big book of lies:
http://youtu.be/cQBDGMj2h-c

 

What's your point on this topic?