It may come as a surprise to some of my more blinkered critics on here, but I've read this a few times, and some sections are particular favorites. I enjoy the prose and the narrative and in some places the imagery. It's a solid, well written book, and essential reading for anyone who hopes to gain an understanding of Western literature.

Personally, I doubt that there is any book that should NOT be read before forming an opinion, although in the case of works such as this, its difficult not to have preconcieved notions.

How many times is it that I've seen a totally uninformed judgement of the Bible. It really starts to get annoying after a while.

It is the standard for all christians and it explains our pupose on this earth. The Bible has lot's of Historical records and is definately relevant today. The Bible is Gods word and is not Inconsistent, saying so is slanderous. Gods word is true and perfect! The only inconsistencies that could take place are not from Gods word but are from translations that are from one langue to another!(man's error.) The Hebrew and Greek langue can be complex to understand because there can be words that have different meanings. An example would be the word love In the new testament, I believe the Greek word love can mean 3 different human meanings of love.(The English word is just, Love.) If you do not put that word in its context, then you will not understand what is being said and thus claim inconsistencies!! Read the Bible with two thoughts in mind: Read and understand the passage in it's context and ask God to show you!! People who claim that the bible contradicts it self or has inconsistencies seem to fail to truly study Gods word and understand it in its context.

illusionbuster, my new fave! I'm gonna have to look further into the contradiction thing since google came up with 1.2 million hits for it, but I do think those who get caught up in the contradictions that are largely the fault of dumbass men with pens miss out on the really great stuff that God put in this fantastic piece of literature!

P.S. Your co-workers didn't want to get into it with you because they thought you were nuts.

A long time ago at a certain place I use to work, when the topic of conversation came around to spiritual things most of the employees would say they don't believe the Bible because it contradicts itself and has errors . So I got tried of hearing this and finally one day I offered anyone who could prove the Bible was inconsistent a weeks salary if they could prove it. No one even tried to take me up on it, no one mention it at all ever again, I never heard the Bible has erros etc... again. It just gave me the impression that they were passing on something some else told them and using it as an excuse to hide behind and reject seriously looking into the claims of the Bible and it's message and whether it can be trusted or not. The were hiding behind a completely fake front pretending like they had some well reasoned position to reject it all. JESUS SAID: "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." (JOHN 3:19-21) from the Holy Bible

. . .especially those claiming to be Christian and takng quotes out of contexts to push the puritan-cause-of-the-day-that-my-prophet-would-approve-of. . .

A nontheist recommending the Bible? Of course! Read everything you can get your hands on (that way, if you choose to bother yourself with opinion, your informed efforts won't be entirely wasted upon those with the "dilettant" label ever at the ready). If you're like most, it'll take you the better part of a year (took me a little over nine (9) months); go with the King James version (the printed example closest to the actual timeline dealing with the collected Catholic writings and translations); read it cold, from cover to cover (and expect a staggering amount of boredom, repetition, and confusion); be wary of Biblical concordances (more interpretations of words, phrases, and concepts that scholars and partisans have never agreed upon, and never will); skip the various "Bible studies" juntas that infest most churches (feel-good "coffee clatches" offering contaminated lessons in group conformity); don't worry about the old "Greek/Hebrew" defenses (if the translations are so poor, then billions have been, currently are, and will continue being deceived, which remains to be seen how a "perfect" being allows that to happen for any cogent reason); keep a journal and write down the "strange hiccups" that occur (math, science, history, geography, genealogy, etc.); and finally, arrive at your own conclusions (tough to do in an advertisement-drenched society). The Bible is a chore, but one you're better off doing regardless of your worldview.

Although I would never consider reading another book before this one, I can understand where some may become tired and bored reading entirely through it. When you find a subject that relates to The Bible and want to know more, try looking it up in a concordance. That way your interest will hold steady for awhile. At least you didn't criticise it without reading it first, and, the truth is that scripture IS difficult to understand until after you are more familiar with it...all those begats, etc. It's a wonderful book once you do get into it!

It is amazing how many people out there think the Bible is full of 'eye for an eye.' Or think there is so much war or archaic stuff in it. They have not read the Bible at all and even if they did, they would probably miss the whole point. Although the Bible is one of those books you should read fully, a non-Christian or a sceptic or a new Christian should have guidance in reading it so they know what certain parts mean and so that really horrible sounding concepts eg killing the Canaanites can be explained. Plus for anyone who wants to read the Bible, there are guidelines to follow. First, to fully appreciate the Bible, you must know the author of the Book (God) and feel what His loving nature is really like before you can form any opinion. Otherwise if you don't know the author, a lot of it won't make sense and I can really see why people would find it boring. Secondly, and if you don't want to commit your life to Jesus, but want to read the Bible, I suggest that you start out by reading the Gospel of John. The reason I say that is because John is written in a very light, loving way and John seems to focus on the love and grace of God a lot. Plus in the book of John, Jesus directly tells us how to get saved. Besides which, John also tells us the whole point of the Bible, which was Jesus. After that, you should remember these two rules - 'God is love' and 'All the nice parts of the Bible are more powerful then all the horrible bits.' Although hell and our need for salvation is the only exemption. That means if you read something which looks cruel, then you know since God is love, we probably don't know the full story. God's judgment is fair and right. The Bible is also something you should read with an open mind. If you are reading it just to tare it apart, then there is really no point reading it in the first place.

The Bible is the most relevant book for the past, present and the future. The Bible is a book that needs to be studied. The Bible is a book that can be read but will not be forgotten, the words will touch the hearth and not return void. The Bible must be read in order or in context and not be added to or taken away from. The Bible is the living Word of God. To judge or form an opinion about the Bible without reading it is one of the biggest mistakes a person will ever make.

I think that the reason why there is often a misunderstanding concerning the Bible is because both people of faith as well as its critics concentrate on a story or a group of stories and therefore they don't see the Bible in its full context. I agree with another reviewer who said that some of the books are difficult to read and can be boring but they should be read at least once just to maintain continuity. To only concentrate on certain books or stories doesn't give you the full context. That is like going to an encycopedia, chosing the letter W, and then reading only about wars. If you did that you would think that we were a people who did nothing but make war and nothing else. Unless you looked through the entire encyclopedia you wouldn't know the depth of man's knowledge, our discoveries, or developments. The same holds true for the Bible. Just opening up a page, blindly pointing to a passage, and then reading only that passage can lead to serious misinterpretation. For example if I opened up a Bible and pointed to a passage I might read where it says "And Judas went out and hanged himself." If I did that a second time I might follow it by reading the passage "Go thou and do likewise." In my opinion, it doesn't matter if someone 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 read all the way through to understand it in its proper 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.