Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: November 28, 2024, 10:27 am

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Do you think you'd still be a believer if the bible were more pleasant/accurate?
#51
RE: Do you think you'd still be a believer if the bible were more pleasant/accurate?
Probably not, but maybe I'd speak out against it less.
[Image: edgecrusher02.jpg]
Reply
#52
RE: Do you think you'd still be a believer if the bible were more pleasant/accurate?
(May 3, 2016 at 7:58 pm)Cecelia Wrote: Do you think you'd still be a believer if the bible were more pleasant and less inaccurate?

No.

The bible (or any other 'holy' scripture) had nothing to do with my disbelief. It was only ammo.

"Love me or burn forever." That just is not 'god-like'. Every attempt at a description of god is basically a description of a man.

Attempts by myself over the years to come up with a reasonable description of a god have failed miserably.

(the only time I even came close, the god blew its brains out.)
You make people miserable and there's nothing they can do about it, just like god.
-- Homer Simpson

God has no place within these walls, just as facts have no place within organized religion.
-- Superintendent Chalmers

Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things.
-- Ned Flanders

Once something's been approved by the government, it's no longer immoral.
-- The Rev Lovejoy
Reply
#53
RE: Do you think you'd still be a believer if the bible were more pleasant/accurate?
(May 3, 2016 at 7:58 pm)Cecelia Wrote: A thought occurred to me.  What if the bible were far more pleasant?  Instead of stories of Adam and Eve getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden, of God flooding the world, and of Hebrews stoning people... you'd find stories of God actually showing what we consider kindness.  No laws against working on Sunday, or disbelievers going to hell, or eating shellfish, or gay people. 

Take out some of the scientific inaccuracies, the sexism, the homophobia, the genocidal rage, etc... and replace it with more pleasant things.  For example the ideas of feeding the poor being important, while also allowing gay people to get married, being against slavery, etc...  Instead of saying the world is only 6000 years old, it might make no claim to the age of the Earth.  

Do you think you'd still be a believer if the bible were more pleasant and less inaccurate?

It's hard to say, for sure. I think I almost certainly would have lasted longer, but I'm not sure how much longer. Me being troubled by certain parts of the religion was part of what pushed me away.

There's a book called Love Wins by Rob Bell that basically paints Christianity this way. He comes up with creative ways to jettison belief in hell and some other unpleasantries. My wife and I read it within the first year or two of me not believing in God. At the time, I'd wondered if I'd still be Christian if I'd read it three or four years earlier. I honestly can't say for sure...
Reply
#54
RE: Do you think you'd still be a believer if the bible were more pleasant/accurate?
Well i was a person who was into hinduism and even though I have my gripes with it, it is still a bit more pleasant than the cristian mythology. Still I turned out an atheist but that's just me. So no I don't think I'd still be a believer if I had started out with the cristian mythology.
[Image: 6QOh5df.jpg]
Reply



Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  When were the Gospels Written? The External and Internal Evidence. Nishant Xavier 62 5172 August 6, 2023 at 10:25 pm
Last Post: LinuxGal
  How accurate is Radiometric Dating? jerrymass 44 5307 April 1, 2023 at 7:05 am
Last Post: Paleophyte
  why do people still have faith in god even after seeing their land turned into dust? zempo 8 1736 June 20, 2021 at 8:16 am
Last Post: onlinebiker
  Are you a better atheist today than you were yesterday? Silver 17 2033 March 24, 2021 at 5:39 pm
Last Post: Gawdzilla Sama
  Abortion: 10 years as an atheist and I still don't get it Nihilist Virus 330 42803 March 5, 2020 at 5:26 pm
Last Post: The Architect Of Fate
  If there were no atheists? Graufreud 24 4751 July 20, 2018 at 4:22 pm
Last Post: Angrboda
  What were your first questions? Sayetsu 51 9640 March 28, 2018 at 2:36 pm
Last Post: Edwardo Piet
  Why am I still worrying about coming out as atheist? Der/die AtheistIn 48 6808 February 11, 2018 at 10:37 am
Last Post: Little Rik
  Would I still be an atheist if I believed this? SuperSentient 21 4253 March 23, 2017 at 3:15 am
Last Post: SuperSentient
  You can be an atheist and still follow the ten commandments as guidelines ErGingerbreadMandude 48 11073 January 30, 2017 at 3:00 pm
Last Post: The Valkyrie



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)