As noted in another mini-essay on this Web-site, we should be all in favor of anyone reading the Bible, especially if he does so with an open mind. Most Christians I’ve talked to about reading the Bible act as if reading it is crucial, but generally they only seem to know the verses their preacher chooses as his text for his sermons.
But anyone who tells you to read the Bible deserves to be asked why they want you to read their allegedly sacred text and not any of the many others: Koran (also spelled as Qu’ran), Bhagavad-Gita, Mahabharata, Veda, Five Classics (Sayings of Confucius), Tao Te Ching, Zend-Avesta, and many more. And, even if someone can convince you that the Bible is the sacred text, you still have to decide which version (I’d recommend Douglas A. Rankin, Queen Jane’s Version: The Holy Bible for Adults Only, Dallas Emporia Press, 1999). If a biblicist says, for example, that you should read the King James Bible (an earlier Protestant standard) or the Douai-Reims Bible (an earlier, pre-Vatican II, Catholic version), because that one is the true word of God, ask him how he knows this. If he says that the Bible itself tells him this, explain that all sacred writings claim to have “The Truth,” that they cannot all be right, and that his reasoning is circular or closed.
Then ask your pursuer what his Bible has to say, specifically,
· About abortion? (The answer is virtually nothing—causing a woman to lose her unborn by attacking her is treated as a property crime, not murder; Exodus 21:22.)
· About rape? (Rapes are described, even apparently encouraged for women left behind when their men lose in battle—but not explicitly prohibited.)
· About slavery? (Slavery is discussed frequently in both the Old and New Testaments, including some admonitions to masters to be kind or fair—but it is not condemned in the Bible anywhere. See Exodus 20:17 and 21:2-11; Leviticus 25:44-50; Deuteronomy 5:21; 1st Corinthians 7:20-24; and 1st Timothy 6:1-3.)
· About the rights of women? (Nothing. Indeed, see 1st Corinthians 11:3-15 or 14:24-35; or 1st Timothy 2:11-14 to learn that husbands have all the rights.)
· About unruly or disobedient sons? (Lead the community in stoning them to death, of course—you certainly cannot be expected to put up with rebelliousness, right? See Deuteronomy 21:18-21 for details.)
· About marriage? (Better chance of getting to heaven if you don’t. See Luke 20:34-35.)
· About premarital sex? (Well, a woman who marries when not a virgin should be put to death; OK for the guys, of course. See Deuteronomy 22:13-21.)
· About family values? (Hate is a family value after all, according to the Bible. See Jesus’s own words, allegedly, on the subject in Luke 14:26 and Matthew 10:35-36.)
There are many other, similarly difficult questions to put to your questioner, but that should be enough to get him started—or maybe even stopped.
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CFI SUMMIT
OCTOBER 24-27 2013
TACOMA, WASHINGTON
Joint Conference of the Council for Secular Humanism, Center for Inquiry, and Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
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