Learning the bible
Offline So I've read a handfull of freethought literature over the past year and I'm becoming more and more interested in taking up philosophy and religion. I made an attempt to read the bible over summer, but just couldn't take it. I didn't have much of an interest in reading it at the time. I've never read it before and now I really want to learn a lot about christianity. I'm just curious to hear about everyone else's approach on studying the bible and christianity. I'm thinking about finding a bible study group around here to make things more interesting. I don't want to read it on my own without anyone to interact with. I don't have much time to chat with people here on this forum, but I would make time to make new friends.
Would everyone else recommend a bible study group? What are some interesting methods of learning this?
I'm willing to try anything, but I don't think I could get myself to try going to church. I want to read some great critiques on the bible as well. I'm also looking for an apprentice to help me out along the way. Anyone here want to help me out via myspace? I would rather do that than ask the same old questions that have been answered in the forum over and over.
Thanks.
"Every true faith is infallible -- It performs what the believing person hopes to find in it. But it does not offer the least support for the establishing of an objective truth. Here the ways of men divide. If you want to achieve peace of mind and happiness, have faith. If you want to be a disciple of truth, then search." - Nietzsche
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I would avoid Bible Study groups - mainly because they tend to be bias and heavily Christian - and that isn't the way to learn anything. My suggest is to do several things.
1.) If you want to learn about Christianity you absolutely HAVE to read. I know it's tedious - take it from me, it can be downright painful to read through some of the texts out there, but the payoff is knowledge and that is more then you can say for the average person.
2.) Pick up several versions of the Bible (At least three, I recommend the NASB, KJV and the RSV), and I would even grab a study Bible - like Naves or better yet - get the Oxford Study Bible.
3.) Pick up a concordance - I would recommend Strongs Exhaustive Concordance. It's generally reliable (96% of the time) and has a kick-ass Hebrew and Greek lexicon, all numbered, and everything you need to know to understand the Bible better.
4.) Get a good encyclopedia of archaeology - I recommend "The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land" by Negev.
Hope that helps - and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me on MSN or AIM at any time. [email protected]
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Here are sites you can read or study the bible.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/
http://www.onlinebible.net/
Here are some great critiques of the bible.
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html
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All that and make Rook your new best friend.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/
Hey, I like pictures. Makes it more fun.
If your library has them, some great audio books on Christianity are
1. History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon
2. New Testament
3. After the New Testament: The Writings of the Early Apostalic Fathers.
All of them are lectures given by Professor Bart Ehrman for The Great Courses lecture series. Just rip them into your iPod for about 30 hours of listening pleasure. You can also buy them here.
You will learn a ton from this guy.
I definitely agree avoid Bible study groups - they avoid the bad parts and the most absurd parts of the Bible like the plague, and unless they're fundies focus on the "feel good" parts.
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
I completely forgot that I made a post on here. Sorry for the delay on my reply.
Hey, thanks a lot Rook. I really admire your efforts and all of the time you put into your hard work. I'll be sure to stay in touch with you.
Thanks to everyone else as well. I need to make more time to come on this forum and learn from everyone.
"Every true faith is infallible -- It performs what the believing person hopes to find in it. But it does not offer the least support for the establishing of an objective truth. Here the ways of men divide. If you want to achieve peace of mind and happiness, have faith. If you want to be a disciple of truth, then search." - Nietzsche
Thanks! You're more then welcome, my work is done for the good of the community. Stick around.
Atheist Books, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server, which houses Celebrity Atheists. Books by Rook Hawkins (Thomas Verenna)
I too would say avoid bible studies that come from churches. There are bible based bible studies however. Those are usually the ones that put forth an effort to use all the materials that were aforementioned plus some. You'll know the good ones because the leader of the group will typically tell you, "don't believe me research it on your own" kinda statement. You can't truly study what's going on in the bible if you do it alone - that's how assumptions are made a poor decisions come about not to mention fallacy galore.
What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason. - Voltaire
I would say not to avoid anything at all, because bias is everywhere. Nothing is value free. It would be better for you to experience and understand other point of views rather than censor them from your brain. Your mind will be thankful for that later.Furthermore, there are several places you can begin, though others have already stated some good sources.
1.) Certainly some good modern translations help, such as the NASB, but do good into looking into other translations such as the Concordant Literal Translation as well as the Young's Literal Translation. A Strong's Concordance coupled with the complete set of Wigrams Concordances work wonders in study.
2.) Understanding literary genres helps, as well as the historical, poetic, and theological aspects of early Christianity and Judaism. Some books you can pick up are:
Ancient Israelite Literature in it's Cultural Context
From Jesus to Christianity
Christianity: History, Essence, and Future
The Early Church
Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period
3.) Many of the early Church father's writings help reveal early thinking regarding Christian theology and also help to reveal certain aspects of Christian history.
4.) Since others here have posted some websites I think there are others in order that I believe reflect some, while rather basic, but good introductory arguments from Christian Apologetics:
http://www.christian-thinktank.com
http://www.tektonics.com
http://www.godandscience.org
Good luck and learn sincerely.
I obtained my Black Belt in History. Don't mess with this Master Historian.