Christians: Read Your Bible Again… For The First Time
I find that most Christians get so wrapped up in their bronze aged mythology that they seem to have a really hard time taking an objective look from a non-Christian perspective. There is an old saying about walking a mile (or some such distance) in someone else’s shoes or something. The fact is that the Abrahamic religions have so much influence in the world today that most atheists were at one point or another in their lives a believer in some type of deity. Many atheists were even hardcore believers who studied to be in the profession of religion. So we know what it is like to walk in the shoes of belief.
Some Christians will claim that there was a time when they didn’t believe in the Bible and Jesus and I don’t want to take away from their claims of atheism. But at the same time, those Christians also live in a society in which the Bible is taken somewhat seriously. There was never a time in which we came upon the Bible without knowledge of the vast numbers of people who believe in it. Billions of people can’t be wrong right? If over a billion people believe in something, we tend to think that maybe there is something to it. In other words, most Christians have never really stepped back from the Bible and viewed it as alien.
I think it might be helpful for a Christian to take off their Christian hat for a little while and pretend that they are reading some other religion’s holy book. Maybe they should pretend that it is an alien being’s holy book or a tribe from an obscure African country’s holy book. Perhaps we can even forget that it is a holy book at all. Imagine if you will, that you found this book in the fiction section of your local Boarders Bookstore and you never heard of it before.
I want Christians to read their Bible again… for the first time. Does it sound like a plausible story? Is it entertaining? Would you pick it up off the bookshelf and after reading it think that perhaps it doesn’t belong in the fiction section, but seems to instead fit in with non-fictions books? Christians should remember to keep their Christian caps off. From an objective standpoint doesn’t the Bible really seem pretty silly? Be honest.
Filed under: de-conversion, Religion, the bible
