(November 1, 2008 at 12:46 am)Daystar Wrote:Hey I agree what you said here apart from the bible being evidence of God. I also think its important to have knowledge of the bible in order to judge it if you're an atheist. But only for the morality thing and to learn what people believe IMO. IMO it has nothing to do with checking if God exists by reading the bible. Would you read the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster just to check if it was the real God? Or to check if it existed? I don't think its a requirement really.(November 1, 2008 at 12:33 am)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: Us atheists believe God does not exist. So what the bible actually says is probably less important than how it is interpreted by the majority of people. Perhaps.
Perhaps. Most of the atheists I have had discussions with are more knowledgable of the Bible than the Xians I have had discussions with. The majority of people, especially Xians, would strongly disagree with my interpretation because of their pagan influence. This in turn, influences the atheist or skeptic.
My interpretation is more accurate. In order to be a militant or outspoken skeptic one should, I believe, be educated on the Bible. I was reading a An Important Message To Theists on the Suggestion board and noticed that one of the tips was for a theist not to say something to the effect of Atheists are going to hell. In my mind it is important to educate oneself against the ignorance, if not the irony of such things. I would hope that it would be at the least an interesting read.
I know you don't agree, but the Bible is about as good as evidence for God as it gets and as such that should mean something to you rather than being dismissed offhand.
I didn't say I was against reading the bible. Certainly not. Its a very important book, the most famous and widespread book ever, etc, etc.
And I'll get round to reading it eventually, its just its such a big book and I've never felt I had a reason to read one before I became a stronger atheist actually!
All I mean is I think that how the bible is interpreted by the majority and/or huge majority of people is more important in my opinion than what it actually means/says. Its how it effects the great majority thats more important in my opinion, because there isn't actually any evidence that God, etc is true IMO, or that miracles are true, or that anything supernatural is true.