The Nirmukta Freethought Community

I like jesus, but i don't like some christian fanatics...

I have read bible from cover to cover, and lost respect on bible,

some of lines i found

If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her. - Deuteronomy 22:28-29

If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed, and has relations with her, you shall bring them both out of the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbors wife.- Deuteronomy 22:23-24

When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. - (Exodus 21:7-11)

However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 )

When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. (Exodus 21:20-21)

these are just few lines, i can write about another 100 lines... I'm still surprised how a person can be Christian even after reading bible!!

Whats ur views??

--
Peace!

Well these quotes are going to be helpful for me to argue with hardcore Christians. Thanks for this.

BTW, are these from the New Testament?

The bible has been pretty well analyzed thanks to it being available in common languages. The Skeptics annotated bible does a good job of exposing stupidities in the bible.

There is a sweet irony in bible being available in easy to understand languages. The motivation was to make bible accessible to as many people as possible and score brownie points for no. of souls saved. But now that is working against Christianity. Anyone who reads the bible and understands it will be left reeling with questions and there is a good chance that they will reject religion (As is the current case in some European countries).

In contrast, Hindu scriptures are inaccessible to the lay person and they understand Hinduism only through hindu apologists who pick convenient passages and gloss over or distort unfavorable ones, and finally make absurd conclusions like how India had a golden age where everything was absolutely right and how Hinduism is Sanatana (eternal) Dharma.

Christianity should have followed Hinduism and never brought the bible to lay people.

Yeah, It was bad move for christians to bring bible in simple language in first place, but, 80% of case, most of christians really don't read bible, how many hindu read bagavadgita?? even though it is accessible in very plain simple languages, 70% people just follow, and listen what is told in church and TV. In churches they never teach lines which say such evil lines. It pretty much goes like cult group.

Where in case of upanishads and veda, we have lot evil lines, cast system was defined in upanishads, and there been lot line about how women should be treated and child marriages, widow life etc.. since its not really accessible plain languages, no one really pinpointed those.. someone needs to bring them out!!

(18-08-2010 10:22 AM)ayyawar Wrote:  I have read bible from cover to cover, and lost respect on bible,

As an aside, I dont know whether I should appreciate you for reading that book, or any non-reason-based book written thousands of years ago, from cover to cover or not :-). As someone said, why couldnt religious books offer some truly beneficial information about the nature of the world.. for e.g "Wash your hands regularly.. Hygeine helps to maintain good health".

I started reading the Book of Genesis.. and there was so much junk, that I gave up real soon.
Either way, if you havent, now go read some other books such as those pertaining to biological evolution, evolution of solar system, etc.. and see how much more informative/uplifting/practical they are :-)

This is only tangentially related to the thread, but if you are looking for a fun to read bible, checkout the Lolcat Bible.

(19-08-2010 09:19 PM)astrokid.nj Wrote:  

(18-08-2010 10:22 AM)ayyawar Wrote:  I have read bible from cover to cover, and lost respect on bible,

As an aside, I dont know whether I should appreciate you for reading that book, or any non-reason-based book written thousands of years ago, from cover to cover or not :-). As someone said, why couldnt religious books offer some truly beneficial information about the nature of the world.. for e.g "Wash your hands regularly.. Hygeine helps to maintain good health".

I started reading the Book of Genesis.. and there was so much junk, that I gave up real soon.
Either way, if you havent, now go read some other books such as those pertaining to biological evolution, evolution of solar system, etc.. and see how much more informative/uplifting/practical they are :-)

LOL, I totally understand what ur saying, Even i though pretty much after reading entire book, My ex-girlfriend what extreme christian, She said, if i read bible I'll understand what is christianity is, and become christian but, it didn't worked for me...

Al though they are lot of non-moral lines, but its not really bad idea to read, It has wonderful english literature, and there are lot more good things in bible, Like love ur enemies, forgiveness is greatest strength, Feeling compassionate. There is thomas Jefferson bible, where he removed all evil lines and jesus line, it turned to be wonderful book..

Being atheist is very tough position... We end up hating everything, Everything has good and bad, we have hate bad and admire good of it.

(21-08-2010 12:15 AM)ayyawar Wrote:  Being atheist is very tough position... We end up hating everything, Everything has good and bad, we have hate bad and admire good of it.

Being an atheist doesn't mean you have to hate everything. There will always be people/things that you don't like no matter what your views on life are. You just ignore them and pursue things you like the most. Also I don't think everything has good and bad parts (Unless you meant taking anything to an extreme is bad). With some qualifiers, there are things which are always good or always bad.

(21-08-2010 12:15 AM)ayyawar Wrote:  Al though they are lot of non-moral lines, but its not really bad idea to read, It has wonderful english literature, and there are lot more good things in bible, Like love ur enemies, forgiveness is greatest strength, Feeling compassionate. There is thomas Jefferson bible, where he removed all evil lines and jesus line, it turned to be wonderful book..

I have heard about this Thomas Jefferson bible from another friend too.. hopefully I will read it someday. I have lot of respect for Jefferson, based on whatever little I heard of him. Its also good that you found positive morals, and 'wonderful english literature' in the bible. I am all for learning and inculcating positive stuff.

Quote:Being atheist is very tough position... We end up hating everything, Everything has good and bad, we have hate bad and admire good of it.

No.. dont say that.. we dont end up hating everything. Most of us have the open stance as you.

(21-08-2010 12:15 AM)ayyawar Wrote:  

(19-08-2010 09:19 PM)astrokid.nj Wrote:  

(18-08-2010 10:22 AM)ayyawar Wrote:  I have read bible from cover to cover, and lost respect on bible,

As an aside, I dont know whether I should appreciate you for reading that book, or any non-reason-based book written thousands of years ago, from cover to cover or not :-). As someone said, why couldnt religious books offer some truly beneficial information about the nature of the world.. for e.g "Wash your hands regularly.. Hygeine helps to maintain good health".

I started reading the Book of Genesis.. and there was so much junk, that I gave up real soon.
Either way, if you havent, now go read some other books such as those pertaining to biological evolution, evolution of solar system, etc.. and see how much more informative/uplifting/practical they are :-)

LOL, I totally understand what ur saying, Even i though pretty much after reading entire book, My ex-girlfriend what extreme christian, She said, if i read bible I'll understand what is christianity is, and become christian but, it didn't worked for me...

Al though they are lot of non-moral lines, but its not really bad idea to read, It has wonderful english literature, and there are lot more good things in bible, Like love ur enemies, forgiveness is greatest strength, Feeling compassionate. There is thomas Jefferson bible, where he removed all evil lines and jesus line, it turned to be wonderful book..

Being atheist is very tough position... We end up hating everything, Everything has good and bad, we have hate bad and admire good of it.

Being an atheist does not mean hating everything. It merely means that you base your beliefs only on evidence. There is zero evidence that the bible or any other scripture is the word of god. Lets not be apologists by cherry picking the good stuff versus the bad.

(19-08-2010 06:03 AM)ayyawar Wrote:  Yeah, It was bad move for christians to bring bible in simple language in first place, but, 80% of case, most of christians really don't read bible, how many hindu read bagavadgita?? even though it is accessible in very plain simple languages, 70% people just follow, and listen what is told in church and TV. In churches they never teach lines which say such evil lines. It pretty much goes like cult group.

Where in case of upanishads and veda, we have lot evil lines, cast system was defined in upanishads, and there been lot line about how women should be treated and child marriages, widow life etc.. since its not really accessible plain languages, no one really pinpointed those.. someone needs to bring them out!!

There are plenty of articles on 'hindu' label and the scriptures at http://www.nirmukta.com

(18-08-2010 10:22 AM)ayyawar Wrote:  I like jesus, but i don't like some christian fanatics...

I have read bible from cover to cover, and lost respect on bible,

some of lines i found

If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her. - Deuteronomy 22:28-29

If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed, and has relations with her, you shall bring them both out of the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbors wife.- Deuteronomy 22:23-24

When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. - (Exodus 21:7-11)

However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 )

When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. (Exodus 21:20-21)

these are just few lines, i can write about another 100 lines... I'm still surprised how a person can be Christian even after reading bible!!

Whats ur views??

--
Peace!

How do you say you like Jesus? How are you sure the same Jesus as described in the bible even existed? The bible is a collection of myths made up by people.