Ship of Fools: "Bible verses atheists love"

Thread: "Bible verses atheists love" Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Net Spinster (# 16058) on :

For the Ship's delectation

Valerie Tarico, an atheist, who somehow became aware of Chapter and Worse feature on the Ship decided to ask some atheists what they considered the best Bible verses were (without snark) and wrote up a little article complete with a description of the Ship "Bible verses that atheists love" Some of the atheists asked have blogged on this (see Hemant Mehta's take with comments).

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

But how charming. [Axe murder]

Love to have dinner with those people.

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

The regularly repeated phrase along the lines of "if people took these verses (eg: ones about testing things) seriously the churches would empty very quickly" caught my eye. Mainly because I would say that it's the failure of many to taking such verses seriously that results in churches emptying.

Posted by SvitlanaV2 (# 16967) on :

Of course, it's likely only to be atheists who've benefited from a Christian upbringing who'll know the Bible well enough to love anything in it. The rest will only know the bits they can use in arguments against Christians, or won't know it at all.

I agree with some of the atheists in that link that Ecclesiastes is a wonderful book. And in my life I've also noticed that a number of atheists are fans of the KJV, and firmly disapprove of more modern translations. In this, they resemble my late Pentecostal grandfather rather than myself.

Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :

quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
I've also noticed that a number of atheists are fans of the KJV, and firmly disapprove of more modern translations. In this, they resemble my late Pentecostal grandfather rather than myself.

No doubt because that's what they grew up with, so it "sounds biblical" to them.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

I don't know what it says about us that we find telling women to be silent in church more offensive than genocide, human sacrifice, gang rape, and dashing infants against rocks.

Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
I don't know what it says about us that we find telling women to be silent in church more offensive than genocide, human sacrifice, gang rape, and dashing infants against rocks.

"We" who? Speak for yourself.

Posted by Net Spinster (# 16058) on :

quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
Of course, it's likely only to be atheists who've benefited from a Christian upbringing who'll know the Bible well enough to love anything in it. The rest will only know the bits they can use in arguments against Christians, or won't know it at all.

Hemant was raised Jain. He chose Ecclesiastes 9:10.

The Biblegateway website commented on the original also

quote:
A few things stood out to me as I read these verses. First, it’s interesting to compare the “atheist favorites” list with the 100 most popular verses on Bible Gateway, which we compile and share from time to time. While the atheist list and our top-100 list don’t claim to be representative of all atheists or all Bible readers, the differences between the lists are noteworthy. Specifically, few of the atheist choices appear near the top of the top-100 verses list.

Posted by SvitlanaV2 (# 16967) on :

I've come across Hemant's website before, and had read about his Jainism. Of course, as a famous American proponent of atheism he'd have had to develop some familiarity with the Bible because he'd hardly be able to argue with American Christians otherwise.

Your link makes a good point about Ecclesiastes. Christian preachers and commentators rarely refer to it. It appeals to my melancholy nature, though. Some atheists would find it too dreary, I imagine, especially the type who like to emphasise that life is more fun without religion.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:

quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
I don't know what it says about us that we find telling women to be silent in church more offensive than genocide, human sacrifice, gang rape, and dashing infants against rocks.
"We" who? Speak for yourself.

The article in the link credits The Ship of Fools with the list of "Worst Bible Quotes." It has the "Women be silent in church," quote as number one. So "we" equals The Ship of Fools members.

Posted by Nicolemr (# 28) on :

Very interesting article, thanks for posting. Interestingly, although I'm not an atheist, I can't really call myself a Christian any more, and my favorite book of the Bible is Ecclesiastes.

[ 15. June 2014, 02:48: Message edited by: Nicolemr ]

Posted by ChastMastr (# 716) on :

Oh, here I was thinking it was going to be things like, "(The fool in his heart says) There is no God" and the like.

Posted by ChastMastr (# 716) on :

Kind of like all of those abbreviated movie reviews like "This movie was astonishing (-ly bad)" or "I couldn't wait to see what happened next (because it would be closer to the merciful, merciful ending)" etc.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

I am currently reading as biography of Labour leader, atheist, Ed Miliband, who asked, 'Am I my brother's keeper?'

Posted by que sais-je (# 17185) on :

I agree about Ecclesiastes: "better a live dog than a dead lion" often occurs to me for some reason.

Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :

quote:
Originally posted by que sais-je:
I agree about Ecclesiastes: "better a live dog than a dead lion" often occurs to me for some reason.

Which is Snoopy's favorite verse.

Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :

Isiah 2:4 and Joel 3:10 make a nice example of recycling. [Smile]

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