(Login Provoker42) Sufi Posted Mar 10, 2010 1:15 PM
People, whether they are believers or not, usually have a preconceived idea of what the bible says, based on the scriptures they have heard from their youth: John 3:16, Eph. 2:8, John 5:24, etc, etc. When they read the bible, they tend to read with mind glazed over until one of the remembered scriptures comes along, and then they say to themselves; "Yup, it's in there, just like I was taught".
In other words, we read from recognized verse to recognized verse, without a clue about what was in between those verses.
I think that the best thing is to read a child's bible story book to get a simplified view. Then put those stories together in a logical, chronological, progression, to see how one story leads to another, and therefore see the larger story that they lead to. Once one recognizes the larger story, then he can read the bible from beginning to end, always keeping in mind the context of the whole story, and can form a more honest opinion of what the bible actually says.
"I don't speak for God. All I have is personal opinion based on the story of continuity which runs through the bible!"