It is interesting that Ray Comfort assumes that when we atheists read the Bible, we read it with "pride in our hearts" which apparently can block our ability to be moved and persuaded by it.
As a believer, I did, in fact, read the Bible, and believe that everything in it was true, until I actually started paying attention, and remembering what I read from chapter to chapter.
I have the priviledge to have grown up in the 20th century, when things like racism and the equality of women were big issues, and I learned from growing up and experiencing these issues first hand. See, as I read the Bible in Bible studies, and was told "This is why women need to be submissive to their husbands... This is why Biblical-style slavery is okay..."
By comparing a society where women are equal to men with the Biblical idea of submissive women, I clearly saw that equality was clearly a better way than the Biblical one. By comparing Biblical slavery to American civil-war era slavery, I saw that neither was any "better" than the other, and that freedom and equal rights is actually better than both.
What became apparent, also, was that the people who wrote the Bible believed a lot of patently false notions about healthcare, medicine, food, hygiene, and other things. For example, take the lines in Leviticus where it tells people what to do after a man is cured of a discharge (presumably of semen). The Bible clearly tells you to take two birds, kill one, and spread it's blood all over the house, to purify it. The man then has to take a ritual bath. Leviticus also tells us that when a woman has her period, everything that she touches must be pronounced unclean -- pottery she touches has to be broken and discarded, chairs she sits on need to be thrown away, etc.
We modern people know that these practices are irrational and just plain stupid, as they accomplish nothing, and actually are based on bizarre superstitions. The Bible tells us not to eat pork (or any animal with cloven hooves), yet pork is, in actuality, one of the most nutritious meats, and the most economical.
The more I read the Bible, and remembered what I read, the less believable it was. I was reading stories that had, incorporated into them, all sorts of primitive superstitions -- things which, if this was written by God, should not be there, unless you accept that God has to lie to us the way parents often lie to their children to avoid having to explain concepts that their young minds can't grasp. The more I read the Bible, and remembered what previous chapters said, the more I saw blatant contradictions.
Reading the Bible literally changed me from being a believer to being an atheist -- which is why I tell people that the best way to become an atheist is to read the Bible and see for yourself what nonsense is in there. So take Ray's advice -- take a notepad, take notes, and remember what goes on from chapter to chapter. If you commit the stories of the Bible to memory, you will clearly see it's obviously human authorship -- primitive, tribal, superstitious human authors, with a lot of anger and hostility in their hearts.
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4 comments:
I guess Ray needs to red the Brick Testament.
I never believed in the Bible mainly because I was never raised with it, even though my mom was a racist Mormon...
When Ray says that, it's like a psychic saying that psychic powers can't work in the presence of a skeptic. Gimme a break.
I also think Ray needs to read this: http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2008/04/bible-is-not-to-be-questioned.html
"Those who know the Bible well enough to acknowledge the problems are denigrated as though they are unspiritual by those whose self-proclaimed superiority is based on their ignorance of it."
That's pretty much Ray for you. He's terribly, terribly ignorant, and he constantly fumbles over himself making really dumb comments -- then there's the problem with him not understanding what other people write.
Ray Comfort is even more divorced from reality than most of his brethren. He's one of those people who thinks reading John 3:16 will instantly convert anybody who doesn't already have an anti-God agenda.
Also, don't forget that according to him, you were never a True Christian™. He follows the "perseverance of the saints" doctrine-- also known as "once saved, always saved"-- meaning that anybody who turns away from from the faith was never REALLY a Christian to begin with. You may have gone to church, prayed to God, and all that stuff, but according to the Gospel of Ray you didn't actually believe, you only believed you believed.
In Ray's little fantasy world, you hated God from day one, so of course you'd misunderstand the Bible. ("Misunderstand" meaning "noticing anything that discomfits or embarrasses Ray Comfort.") When you point out anything that doesn't fit his conception of a loving, perfect God, it just proves you're a hate-spewing militant atheist, full of pride and trying to place himself in God's role.
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