what bible for an atheist, just to read the stories?

[fesershapiny2102]

Over the last couple of weeks i have been listening to a podcast which has included two dramatisations, one of the navitiy and one of the passion.

I am an absolute complete atheist, I donot believe in religion at all but based on what i heard, i thought it might be interesting to read the bible but there seem to be so many different versions.

i donot wnat to start a thread about the pros and cons of religion. PLease do not turn this into a religion or anti religion thread.

As a fully fledged atheist, what version of bible should I read for the stories?

[Guest deleted34304850]

any one you can find

[HeyYou]

King James version would likely be the easiest to read.

[Mudran]

I think there are children bibles with pictures :).

[masterdirector]

You need Jesus.

 

Check your local library's website under their "Downloads" section and see if they have an app called Hoopla. It's got free ebooks, comics, movies, music albums, etc. If your library offers it [pretty likely if you're in America], it's free with your library card. Some libraries let you sign up for a card online. Otherwise, drive to your nearest branch and get a card. If your license/photo ID has your address, that's likely all you'll need. Otherwise, take a piece of mail with your name and address. They should have you a card in under 5 minutes. Once you have a card, download Hoopla. Make an account, link your card when prompted.

 

Look up the Kingstone Bible. Here, I've got all the correct filters selected for you:

https://www.hoopladigital.com/comic/publisher/9352155960/series/kingstone-bible/1475161302/titles?comicType=CE&languageId=179283379&page=1&sort=A_Z

It's Volumes 1 to 12. There are a few duplicates for some reason (e.g. two listings for Volume 1, Volume 3, etc). I'd just get the one with slightly more pages for each. It probably doesn't matter.

 

That publisher also has some other potentially interesting series for you, like 101 Questions About the Bible & Christianity:

https://www.hoopladigital.com/comic/publisher/9352155960/series/101-questions-about-the-bible-and-christianity/9377184470/titles?comicType=CE

 

And The Christ:

https://www.hoopladigital.com/comic/publisher/9352155960/series/christ/2101220665/titles?sort=A_Z&page=1

Looking at the page numbers on this one, I'd start with the one called "The Christ" without any volume numbers. It's 145 pages while the others seem likely to all be 36 pages in that series. I'm betting that one collects the first four volumes (36 pages x 4 = 144 pages, close to 145 pages).

 

If you don't want to go the graphic novel route, I'd suggest a study bible or annotated bible of some sort. I'd suggest the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV - New Revised Standard Version). I think that'd be the best bet especially for an atheist wanting to read. NRSV is broadly accepted by Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians. There are some translation and interpretation nitpicks between those groups, but those aren't likely to matter to you. I just found a link to a cheap used copy for you (~$6 shipped) here:

https://www.abebooks.com/New-Oxford-Annotated-Bible-Apocrypha-University/30738494829/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade0to10-_-product_id=COM9780195289602USED-_-keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8O-VBhCpARIsACMvVLMfm71tF5cTuO2nqlRHBHyMRy04Nos-UsU9UDWh-uDm2JR_HnNnRGsaAoc4EALw_wcB

 

Alright, there's some options for you. Have fun. Find Jesus. Forever and ever Amen. :laugh:

[Pagafyr]

A bible is any story that has a history of the people, a family tree with all their names, and with stories of their lives.

 

If your family has a genealogy book and stories of your ancestors you already have your Family Bible, Atheist or not. A family book is the bible of your family and the lives they lead or led. You can get serious and take courses in college to study all religions.

 

Just about any comic book in any comic book store could do too. If you want the history of War's, the King James Old Testament is full of gory details about violence, crimes against their hero's, the losses in battles, and their god (who changes from a war god; to a kind and peace loving god; many times.).

 

The most prominent comic books actually have a long history of imaginary people also. Which is a way to get information about fictional characters.

 

Marvel Comics

DC Comics

 

There are many more books from different orders of religion. You could become a Theologian yourself and do justice to the study of religions and their Gods, or like many people who prefer the less realistic hero's and superhero's there are comic books and coloring books for your entertainment every where there is a bookstore.

[esmarix]

There are several translations or versions as some call them of the Bible and its a rather long explanation for why that is but I will try to make it brief.

The Bible is a library of books written over a very long period, depending on which authors you believe wrote the different books you are looking at a time span from Moses as the first author all the way to John the Baptist being the last, so we are looking at around 1500 years at least. Why mention the timeframe? Well languages evolve over time and therefore it provides an extra challenge when translating. The Bible books are written in many different languages also, for example Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. Whats the issue? well, depending on how deep you want to study certain topics, translators run into the issue of how to convey the meaning of the text from one language to another, and this is far more tricky than people care to think about. Example is Greek and Roman/Latin, Greek is a philosophers language and has built in capacity for examining and explaining stuff that is complex in ways that make sense, Roman/Latin was more of a lawyers or legal system language and did not have the capacity for the same features that Greek had but had other features. So to make it very short, the translators when they translate the Bible have to choose between various approaches:

-literal translations, that is translating as close as possible to literally every word, strength is closeness to original, weakness is meaning of expressions can be lost as they cant be easily translated to other languages.

-conveying meaning, that is translating so that the meaning of the text is expressed and as clear as possible in the language it is translated to, strength is that its more approachable for many people, weakness is that it is severely prone to misunderstandings and therefore wrong interpretations of the text for the end user - which can be a serious issue when dealing with religion.

-middle ground, trying to get the best from both worlds. Strength should be obvious that it provides a sort of middle ground that is acceptable and relatively understandable, weakness is that some parts can seem confusing and may require extra explanations.

 

Some here recommend KJV, I would say that its a good one if you like the first option, however keep in mind that that version is based on the Latin translations of the Bible and not the original languages of Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew and thus can seem very legalistic in places. On top of that KJV is a very strange form of English for many modern readers, but its very interesting as well since many sayings in English come from that exact translation, so its sort of a bonus to understanding parts of the English language. I would recommend something like ESV, which stands for English Standard Version, as it tries to be as faithful as possible and close to the original, like the KJV, except it uses all the extra documents found since the time of KJV which by now are in the tens of thousands when talking about the New Testament.

 

I will cut it off here since this can easily become a much longer post.

[MrPMG]

I'm hardly an expert, but I hear "The Way" is particularly easy to read. It's a "modern" illustrated translation from the 70s that has readability as a primary goal. I've never read it (or any bible), and I'm not sure about its accuracy, etc., but it sounds like that's lower priority for you anyway.

[Pagafyr]

Ooo! I think you might be missing something. You want a lot of good stories to read??? If you want to read a lot of the works that led up to the books people liked to read, get the 1990 edition of The Great Books of the Western World. Remember to read everything with a grain of salt. Because not everything is as it seems even in RL..

 

If you're a power reader and can stuff a hundred and twenty books a year into your noggin you could even find many of the The Great Conversation's stories.

 

I recently saw a copy preserved, badly damaged, an original book of the Quran in a museum where the people believe in Creationism. Lot's of stories came from Quran that have even shown up in the Bible! Like the one about one man building the first ever travel RV that he and his whole family and all their pets vacationed in for 40 days and 40 nights.

 

Try not to get that confused with Alibaba and the Forty Thieves, or the fact some Sha had horrible dreams for 40 days and 40 nights before he had to chose a new wife or lose his position to his older brother...

[xrayy]

some rebublican officials still do not know that in 2017 - i hope they do now...