AF friends, an opinion on Bible debate, please

[drfuzzy]

This question is for Atheists and Agnostics.   Some Theists will probably derail the thread, but here goes anyway:

What value do you place upon being able to debate about bible passages?  

Thankfully, there is no such thing as an atheist who follows the atheist rules!!  Here's the thing:  I actually know the bible very well.  I was required to recite verses by memory before being allowed to take a seat at the dinner table.  At one point in my life I had most of the *&$% thing memorized.  So you would think that I would excel at debating nit-picky bible points.

But I haven't had good experiences with such debates.  In the bible belt, any challenge to a xtian statement is met with fury.  Any assertion that a passage is contradictory is met with "you don't have enough faith to understand".  Any point that a story could not possibly be literal is met with "if god wanted ___ to be true, he made it to be true, and you'll go to hell for questioning him".  

I'm sick and tired of it!  I don't think the bible is worth any of my time, and I wish I could purge my brain of it!   While I have enjoyed a lot of the intelligent arguments presented to theists here (more please!) I avoid the debate, myself.  Is this un-atheist of me?   

Bible = 

[Exian]

I'm always in awe of the members here who can argue the finer points of the bible, but fuck if I can. I have the story arc down, and even the time lines, and that was all I could be arsed to care about learning.

Even when people know of a counter passage to exist, and search it out, I'm impressed.

As for value? Eh, it's always nice to hear a deconversion story based on arguing the bible with an atheist. We had one here recently. It's rare and I don't think it's even the point, but I feel happy for the deconverted when it works, especially when they speak of feeling free.

If I were you, I'd take the threats of hell as a win.

[brewer]

  Is this un-atheist of me?  

Not at all. I like discussions, I hate debate. Debate has to much win/loose.

Unfortunately quite a few of our discussions/debates devolve into attacks, but I guess on the net that is to be expected.

For me personally, I could care less if I never heard another bible quote from theist or atheist. I'm not going to rage against the machine. Not my thing and often regret it when I stick my nose in. For those that like to duel with Randy and the like, more power to you. I'll (for the most part) watch.

Last, I don't like it when the discussion becomes stagnant which can happen quite quickly with theists/atheists. It should just end with agree to disagree.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I see as much point debating the fine points of the Bible as I do debating the finer points of The Little Engine That Could.

[JesusHChrist]

Yes the little engine that could, is a metaphor for mankind's struggle against adversity.

There are probably give facts we can know with some certainty.

As for debating the bible, not worth the time really. Too much vagueness and interpretation possibilities.

[Pyrrho]

Don't worry about it.  Debating is a skill that is not the same as having actual knowledge about a subject.  If you wanted, you could take a debate class, but I do not particularly recommend it.  If you don't want to debate people, then don't debate people.

It is not as if you would be able to convince everyone anyway.  Most people are unreasonable, and remembering that fact can be useful when thinking about whether or not to have a discussion with someone.

[robvalue]

I find debating the bible to be useful only when you have very specific goals, such as:

-Demonstrating contradictions which undermine claims about inerrancy

-Demonstrating the immorality of the whole belief system as a reason to not join the cult, regardless of whether it's true

-Demonstrating how little a Christian knows about their own bible, undermining their claims about getting their morality from it etc.

Otherwise, just requesting a good reason to think anything in the bible is true (further to what can be independently confirmed) is all you need, and details just cloud the issue. In my opinion there is no valid answer. This is more than sufficient, and so it's certainly not un-atheist not to have a detailed knowledge of the bible, any more than not having a detailed knowledge of Noddy Goes To Town. It's up to the people making the claims to present the evidence (the burden of proof).

Being (sceptically) atheist is more about the lack of evidence in general for any kind of God, or perhaps the incoherence or unknowable nature of the concept itself. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and a story book is anything but extraordinary.

[KevinM1]

I see two uses in actually knowing bible verses:

1. Being able to counter the typical Christian garbage of "The bible says a, b, and c about our current topic" with "Funny, the bible also says x, y, and z about the same thing/in the same/similar context that directly contradicts what you just said."

2. Being able to pull those verses into a conversation about reality, e.g., "What makes that okay? Or moral? Or even believable? How can you willingly believe in that?"

Keep in mind, at all times, that most Christians attempt to use the bible as evidence for its own claims, which is ridiculous.

But, no, not knowing bible quotes doesn't make you a bad atheist. The book is a boring, nigh-incomprehensible slog of genealogy and vague magic acts. Even as a collection of myths it's boring, laughable shit. I've tried reading through it several times. I can't get past the creation myth in Genesis. The idiocy starts page 1 and doesn't relent, and, frankly, I have better things to do with my time.

EDIT: Rob and I on the same page because we're awesome

[robvalue]

Haha yeah

I just finished fiddling with my answer now

[ApeNotKillApe]

I enjoy analyzing stories, picking them apart and seeing how they function. I like judging the Bible on a narrative level, rather than the moral debates which never go anywhere, much more fun to turn the Bible's logic against itself. Debating biblical passages is amusing, the only value I give the scriptures are as ancient literature, there's nothing of practical moral relevance.