Is it ethical to read the Christian Bible just to be able to argue with Christians?

Tagged:

I love it when I can argue with an atheist that’s read the Bible. In the first place, this tells me that they care enough about the topic to do their research. It’s not always clear to me that people that make arguments against religion are doing it because they really want to understand or that they just want to fan their feelings of intellectual superiority. Actually reading the Bible makes that 100% clear.

In the second place, it gives me plenty of insight into how random people read it. Today I was reading Proverbs, and got hung up on the beauty of 3:7. Be not wise in thy own conceit: fear God, and depart from evil. Proverbs is a book about wisdom, and wisdom is a very tough concept to rigorously define. This line means that you should never take your own counsel as wisdom, all wisdom comes from the Lord, wisdom that comes from you leads to evil. As a mystic this is extremely deep for me. But most other people are just going to gloss over that line in search for something they find meaningful. It’s good for me to stay connected to that mindset, because I’ve lost it a long long time ago.

Finally, atheists reading of the Bible gives us a framework in which we can have a discussion. I don’t have to get into the semantic weeds or push through philosophical Mordor. We can stay right in the house of the Lord, and have a nice, civilized discussion over tea and crumpets.

I don’t care how or why you read the Bible. If you want to read it as literature, if you want to read it as fairy tales, if you want to read it as horror lit, by all means, pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry on top, read the Bible.