New Resource: How Not to Read the Bible

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on Think Apologetics. Tabernacle of David considers this resource trustworthy and Biblically sound.

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It is true that many people do become skeptics by reading the Bible. Atheists use billboards like the following one here to mock the teachings of the Bible. The sign quotes a verse totally out of context and then proceeds to have a picture of a slave. Then atheists accuse Christians of adhering to Bronze Age Myths. What else could be more superficial? Furthermore, signs like the one above make them look like they just want to present a distortion of the Christian faith which is not backed up by proper research. 

Passages that are quoted out of context and give no attention is given to both the historical and cultural background of the texts that are quoted. In other words, no attention is given to sound Bible interpretation. With the advent of the internet, memes and You Tube clips abound with skeptics who want to demonstrate that Christians ignore these “problematic” passages in the Bible.

A new resource is available that deals with these kinds of issues. Granted, one could consult a good commentary or a good book on the cultural background of the Bible which would help answer a lot of these issues. But that takes work. So the good news is that author Dan Kimball has released a book called How (Not) to Read the Bible: Making Sense of the Anti-women, Anti-science, Pro-violence, Pro-slavery and Other Crazy-Sounding Parts of Scripture.

Skeptic Michael Shermer says he following:

“In his engaging new book Dan Kimball asks a question that I and many of my fellow nonbelievers have been asking ourselves and others: ‘How do thinking people understand and believe the weird and disturbing things found in the Bible?’ Indeed, as Kimball points out, many of them don’t, and as a consequence they leave the faith. Although I made a similar transition myself and so I am sympathetic to their skepticism, it must be admitted that most initial salvos from atheists against the many disturbing and morally-problematic biblical passages we quote have explanations, or at least historical context for what the stories are really trying to convey. While my religious skepticism remains undeterred I will confess (if I may) that I learned a lot reading How (Not) to Read the Bible.”
—Michael Shermer, atheist, Publisher Skeptic magazine, Presidential Fellow Chapman University, author The Moral Arc, Heavens on Earth, Giving the Devil His Due, and other books.

You can listen to Frank Turek’s interview with Dan here. Hope you pick up the book.