I read it in my late teens, primarily out of a sense of fairness. I had been "attending" church (more like daydreaming inside of it) since before I had the power of speech, and my hostility towards Christianity was enormous, although I don't know that I had ever opened a Bible in my life. So, in order to justify or refute my negativity towards what the Bible ostensibly represented, I started at page one..."In the Beginning"...and continued on to the bitter, hallucinatory end (and if you think the people who wrote the Bible didn't take drugs, reread "Revelation"). At the end, it was both good and bad. There was a lot that was worthwhile in the Bible, if only from an historic standpoint, or as literature. There was sensible philosophy, beautiful poetry, and Jesus Christ came across in my reading of his (or His, as you choose) life as the first Marxist (which I mean as a compliment), rather than the stern, joyless Puritan that I had been raised to see him as. The idea of taking what was in the Bible literally struck me as idiocy, quite frankly-- so much of it is allegory, parable, obvious mythology (unless you take Adam and Eve or Noah's Ark as something that actually happened). Much of it struck me the wrong way (God commanding Isaac to kill his son, and then saying, as the knife descended down to the flesh, "Stop, stop! Just testing!"; or Lot offering the homosexuals outside his home in Sodom the use of his daughters-- "Gee, thanks, Dad!"; or...well, I could be here all day giving other examples, but I'll leave it at that). I learned some things I hadn't known-- it's in the Bible that men should have short hair and women long. Slavery is ok. Women menstruating need to go somewhere far away so as not to "contaminate" her menfolk. And so on. Parts of it were deadingly dull. Or silly. So the good part of reading it was that I did gain some appreciation for what was valuable in it (to me at least) and my hatred of it lessened accordingly. The bad part of it (if you want to consider it negative)? I'm still an agnostic. Then again, I used to be an atheist, so maybe that's a good thing.

I think that they used the word "begat" too many times.

probably responsible for trying to get most of the other books banned. I don't take the bible that serious.

The Bible has been challenged throughout the ages, whether it is due to different interpretations or due to the fact that it has been banned in Communist countries (Josef Stalin ordered religious texts, including the Bible, to be placed on the highest shelves in libraries so no one would get to them). Another ruling in 1994 banned the Bible because of the "inappropriate" content (this was within a school district). Nowadays, I doubt the Bible would be banned anymore, whether or not people take it seriously.

The Bible, banned in some countries, primarily during the height of communism. I have read it many times in many of the english translations. I found that it is a book of hope and triumph over the despair of humanity. Whether you choose to believe what it says is your decision.

the bible is an interesting book of stories that may or may not be true. being raised in a borderline religiously fanatical atmosphere i spent a small part of my life denying everything it stood for, but i realized that i cannot blame a religion on its misrepresentation. i have read it cover to cover and find in contradictory in many ways, but 66 books written by forty-something people and translated by various governments and denominations is going to be flawed. it is absurd to think that the bible hasn't been altered through the ages. it has also been used to condone atrocities and war. the crusades, the inquisition, televangelists who con the sick and elderly, etc. are all acts commited by people who pervert their own belief structure because of greed. the bible can be as dangerous as it is useful. choose wisely on how you interpret it.

The Bible is sixy-six books written in different literary styles by perhaps forty different authors with diverse backgrounds over fifteen hundred years, and yet the Bible amazingly unfolds one continuous drama with one central message. That, my friends, points to the existence of the divine Mind that the writers claim inspired them (Case for Faith, pg. 179)

In my opinion, I think the reason why people often misunderstand the Bible is because we sometimes have a tendency to concentrate on a particular story or group of stories and by doing that we don't get the full context. That would be like going to an encyclopedia, choosing the letter W, then reading only about wars. If you did that, you would think that we were a people who did nothing but make war all the time. Unless we read the rest of the book we'd never know how water, weather, wheat, the wheel, and wood have affected and improved our lives. On the same level the Bible needs to be taken in its entire context. For example, if I opened a Bible and blindly pointed to a line I might read ....and Judas went out and hanged himself. Then if I close the book, open it again, point to another passage, I might then read Go thou and do likewise. In my view, it doesn't matter whether a person believes that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God, a religious book, a history book, or simply a book of stories, it should be taken in its entire context. If we do that, then it becomes a book of hope with answers to many of life's questions, rooted in love, so that we may learn not just how to live, but how to live with each other.

The bible was banned? Where? Besides, it has been used to justify not only censorship, but also the most depraved and evil acts ever committed by human beings, so it is hard to feel outraged over it's banning. Just because it was challenged does not lend it legitimacy. I personally don't think it should be banned, because it's an extremely important book from a literary point of view, and I don't believe that ANY books should be banned, but raising a cry over the unjust censorship of this 'holy' book is a lot like those maniacs Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell crying Christian persecution every time their narrow political views are rejected by rational-minded folks. There is some interesting stuff in here, but I would never read it to children because I don't think it's appropriate to expose them to so much sex, violence, and God.

I feel that it is essential that all people, believers and non (and I speak this an an avowed atheist), read the Bible. Choose to believe what you read or not, but it is an amazing book and provides a better history lesson than a textbook could ever give. In my case, reading the Bible also helps me to give arguments against what is in the Bible. Certianly, it is full of sex, incest, murder, and has some disgusting stories (Judges 19, Second Samuel 13) that make the things in Steve King and Anne Rice seem so tame. But that doens't change that it is a great book of huge importance, and anyone trying to get it thrown out of any library will be going straight to hell. In my opinion, censorship is the ultimate sin.