Does The Bible Turn Away Disciples?

This is very long. I have included page jumps for the convenience of whoever happens to be here, but mostly because I wanted to do it.

1. The Atheist's Claims and Related Introductory Information
2. The Beginning of My Refutation
3. The Difference Between an Actual Christian and a Christian by Name
4. The Start of The Substantiation of Claims
5. Reading The Bible May Be Influential Toward an Atheist Conversion
6. What Even Is The Bible
7. How Reading The Bible Actually Works
8. The Original Claim Is Not Only Wrong, The Opposite Is True
9. A Short Conclusion

1. The Atheist's Claims and Related Introductory Information

These are claims I see frequently from atheists:

Reading the bible will turn Christians into atheists.
Christians don't want you to read the bible, because it turns people from faith.
Christians don't read their bibles because they're afraid it will turn them against God.

Similar claims exist of course, but these suffice for a summation.

As far as evidence goes, I've never seen this argument substantiated - further than a single person claiming "Well, I was raised a Christian and became an atheist when I read the bible!" In fact, collecting data on this would be incredibly difficult and would have a high chance of lacking a genuine scientific backbone due to the very nature of how this data would be obtained.

Specifically asking "Did you turn into an atheist when you read the bible?" would not suffice to answer this question in any true form. It is a leading question - if an atheist felt that they have multiple aspects in their conversion, they may still be tempted to answer yes. Finding an appropriate survey group would also prove difficult. You would have to ask atheists and Christians who have read the bible - finding a control to ensure that the people polled did indeed read the entire bible would be difficult. All in all, this question cannot actually be answered by asking this question. It must be approached differently.

2. The Beginning of My Refutation

To start off, first of all, if any atheists who make this claim were to ask actual Christians, pastors, or other religious officials, they would quickly learn that Christians are highly encouraged to read their bibles. Note, this isn't whether they do or not, but that they are encouraged to do so. If the bible really did turn Christians from their faith so easily, why would people whose entire lives are devoted to making disciples and keeping those disciples on the right path specifically want and encourage these people to read it? As an aside, the Catholic church never banned the reading of the bible, if that's something you've heard.

Religious officials do genuine research on how best to reach their congregations, how to convert people, and how to make and keep followers along with a variety of other things - they would know by now that it was not a good idea to encourage bible reading if this claim had any backing. And, if reading the bible was turning followers away in droves, the question of how they would still find it in their hearts to devote their time, money, and entire lives to the faith would be much higher on the list of questions I'd ask.

Now, what's the difference between how the atheists learn their claim and how I learn mine? Atheists learn their belief that reading the bible will turn people away from faith from people who are not Christians - and likely never actually were. I would go so far as to say that a lot of the famous people who have made quotes about how rapidly the bible will turn a believer into an atheist probably didn't even find themselves an atheist because of it. They may have never even been Christians in the first place. It's not difficult for someone who is already a nonbeliever to read the bible without context, background, or understanding and say "Wow, I can't see anyone believing this if they read it. Christians must not read their bibles!" At least one person has done so, as I had done exactly that.

3. The Difference Between an Actual Christian and a Christian by Name

It is very important to note that quite frequently, those former Christians that say they read the bible and it turned them away from the faith will say things like "I was raised a Christian." This phrase and similar phrases will be highly important in pinpointing something that should be quite obvious.

Many people are raised in a faith without a solid foundation. I can say I was "raised a Christian" as much as my friends who were legitimately raised in the church, around religion, and actively learned about their faith as they were growing up. The significant difference here is that I went to church when we had a funeral. We celebrated Christmas the same way as secular Americans do. I was not taught to pray before bed, meals, or at all. I was told that there is a God, that Jesus was important for some reason, and that the bible had something to do with it. I was a Christian because my family was. I turned away from the faith because I had little to no understanding of it and was misled by the false idea that science and religion were in a war, that science somehow disproves God. I have since learned that it does the very opposite, but that's not the topic at hand.

People who were "raised Christian" in the same way that I was will find it very easy to read a bible without context, background, or understanding and turn away from the faith. They also tend to not actually read the entire bible. It's a pretty long book. These are the same people who will say that they need not devote any time or energy researching theism or religious documents because they know they are worthless. An opposing claim from a Christian - I need not devote any time to science or logic because I know it's not worth my time - would be laughed out of the room (with good reason), and yet some atheists find this entirely acceptable.

Now, here I am, making claims. While, if this were a debate, the atheist would have to be the one to substantiate their claim that reading the bible turns one into an atheist, I'm here talking to myself. So, to start looking for some evidence one way or the other, I started my search with "why did you become an atheist."

4. The Start of The Substantiation of Claims

Here is one particular source of what appears to be biased toward atheists: http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismquestions/a/whybecome.htm. The parent site is atheism.about.com. On this site there are a variety of unbiased articles about religion, some seemingly apologetics related articles, and many heavily biased articles, in favor of atheism.

This article states that there are a variety of reasons why one may turn to atheism. They are, summarized:

• Contact with other religions. The idea here is that exposure to other religious beliefs draws one toward heavier criticism of religion as a general concept.
• Bad experiences with religion. The idea can be given as a couple of examples: a thieving pastor, being condemned by the religious, hearing highly disagreeable things from a religious official, even being abused by a trusted religious leader, or things that don't directly affect the person like learning about priests' child molestation, etc.
• Disbelief through science. The same reason I was first turned away - the false idea that science is at odds with religion and the two are incompatible, or that science disproves religion.
• Philosophical arguments. The argument from evil, for example, or believing that a God who would do "those things" (fill in the blank) is not worth worshiping.
• Disbelief being the default position. While this is obviously arguable and I could write another 10 paragraphs about it, apparently the idea that we begin as disbelievers is a reason why some people "become" atheists. Strange wording, I suppose.

This article ends with:

Thus, a better question than “why are people atheists” would perhaps be “why are people theists?”

Arguable. But, regardless.

It was written by a man named Austin Cline, "Agnosticism and Atheism Expert."

Suffice to say this is definitely an article biased toward atheists and I therefore cannot be accused of using Christian resources.

This article has a distinct lack of explaining that anyone turns from faith due to reading the religious texts of that faith. Note that I broadened the requirements from "turning from Christianity by reading the bible," to "turning from any faith by reading their religious text." I find this to reasonably give the atheist more favor, as it includes any faith's texts. However, it is very common for Christians to talk about how conversions to Christianity occur simply due to reading the bible. It is not the biggest or the most frequent reason, but it happens enough to bring up. If the opposite happened enough to be mentionable, why is it being ignored?

Of course, this is only one article. In trying to find more, the material found on questions like "Why are more people atheists now?" turned up a total of zero general claims or personal claims of anyone turning to atheism due to reading the bible (or another religion's texts). I tried searches like "turning atheist," "why did you turn into an atheist," "why become atheist," etc. While I found many examples of people turning from faith, including some very disheartening stories of lifelong pastors finding themselves becoming atheists, none of these were caused by reading the bible.

This source: https://www.quora.com/Why-are-people-turning-atheist-nowadays, which is simply an individual's take on the subject, lists these three reasons:

• Increased levels of higher education. The idea that higher education has allowed us to think more critically, which allegedly draws people away from religion. Thinking more critically is what brought me back to religion, but that's not the topic today.
• Exposure. The idea that in being exposed to the idea of atheism, one will find it more favorable.
• Less persecution. The idea that it's acceptable to be an atheist, so people are "coming out" as one.

Again, not even a hint at the mention of reading a religious text being the cause.

5. Reading The Bible May Be Influential Toward an Atheist Conversion

Now, is it fair to say that maybe, perhaps, reading the bible was part of a conversion to atheism? Sure, and I agree.

The further problem with this claim, that claim being "reading the bible turns Christians into atheists," is that it is quite difficult for one exact particular action to simply convert someone. From anything to anything. To pick a harmless, apolitical comparison, one doesn't typically turn from a devoted fan of one particular sports team to another - or out of sports altogether - from one event. One loss or one bad player or coach typically won't turn you from a team you've devoted time and energy, and perhaps hundreds or even thousands of dollars in merchandise, toward.

Reading the bible could be part of a conversion from Christianity. However, my argument is that if this is indeed a factor, the person reading the bible and finding it disagreeable enough to turn away has significant other variables affecting their conversion.

Many people who find that reading the bible turns them away from Christianity may be better described as being turned further away from Christianity. This happened to me. (And, to note, I did not read the entire thing.)

The bible is a very tough book to get through. A profound lack of understanding of what the bible actually is will lead to very easy misinterpretation - and completely understandably! The bible is actually a collection of historical documents. Each book of the bible is an historical document and there are many different authors. Many people refer to the Bible as a "history book", but this is actually still wrong. History books take the historical texts and explain them - the Bible is the historical texts. This is not how most people learn, we usually have some sort of instructor or separate resource to explain what we are reading to us. Reading the Declaration of Independence without explanation may easily cause you to misunderstand it.

6. What Even Is The Bible

Being an historical document, the bible describes historical events. In the bible when people do bad things, it is not reported as being A-OK'ed by God. It is simply a thing they did. Abraham telling all those people that Sarah was his sister wasn't God saying "it's okay to lie about your wife being your sister," it was simply what actually happened. One of the basic concepts of the bible is that mankind is fallen, and therefore is not perfect. Thinking that the bible is contradictory because it has people sinning (and therefore that sin is approved by God) is a misunderstanding of the bible. One that anyone who does not have an understanding of what the bible is, what it represents, and how you are supposed to read it will easily make.

If you are already leaning away from Christianity and decide to read the bible, you are already biased against it. You are already biased against what you will read, and when you start in Genesis and Exodus where people are doing weird things and it doesn't seem to make sense, it's understandable that you would find it to be disagreeable. This is why, when we say that reading the bible requires understanding, we're not saying "you need to agree with Christianity and believe our interpretations before you read it so that you don't get turned away." We're saying you need to understand what it is and is not. In fact, I read an atheist say that they specifically read the bible as if it were a fairy tale - and subsequently say "it's written very poorly for a story, it doesn't flow very well and it's not very exciting." Yet another atheist made a similar statement of the bible, "it's actually a poor read in terms of literary aspects such as character development and plot." Well, no kidding. The Old Testament is pretty hard to get through - especially Numbers. Go ahead and try to read through Numbers right now. I'd say I'll wait, but I doubt you'll read through the whole thing.

This is all because the bible specifically isn't a fairy tale! To regard it as such will result in misunderstandings. C.S. Lewis, an expert in fairy tales, converted to Christianity when he read the bible because it is so obviously not a fairy tale. It's bewildering why people would still believe that it was after reading it given how clearly it is not. Unless they haven't actually read many fairy tales - maybe people should start reading the bible side by side with fairy tales to see the stark contrast.

Furthermore, there is a significant importance between the Old and the New Testaments. Comparing the two to find "contradictions" is another misunderstanding of the documents - the Old Testament was the bible of the Jews before Jesus. Jesus changed the name of the game - literally - and while the OT is still relevant and important, the majority of the things not noted in the NT to still be important "laws" or "rules" are no longer important. We do not need to avoid wearing clothes of mixed fibers or eating shellfish because Jesus fulfilled the physical old laws. The new laws are of the heart - and are arguably more stringent because of this. It is no longer sufficient to just physically do all the right things - now you have to do all the right things sincerely. Example:

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. - Matthew 5:28

It is not enough to just not commit adultery. You have to also not have an adulterous heart. The laws about not doing this or that thing were relevant before Jesus, but He specifically says:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. - Matthew 5:17

This means that all of those laws about mixed fabrics and shellfish that the amateur atheist tries to use as a "gotcha!" have been fulfilled by Jesus. We no longer have to do them, because He did them for us when He came and died for us. He changed the law - and you definitely won't understand this if you can't even get through the Old Testament. It's far more than half of the entire bible!

If you read through Leviticus and all of these old laws without that very, very significant context, they will - understandably! - seem ridiculous and contradictory.

7. How Reading The Bible Actually Works

This - not understanding what the bible actually is - is the biggest and most relevant reason why people find it so easy to make the original claim, that reading the bible will turn someone away from Christianity. I have heard of many Christians who finally decided to read the bible having difficulties with it, especially when starting from the Genesis, but to say that they spontaneously become atheists is inaccurate. There are in fact recommended guides for reading the bible for new Christians or Christians who have never read it - and it is not reading through from front to back cover. This may seem open to scrutiny - "If the bible were so great and reliable, why doesn't reading it from beginning to end suffice? Why do you have to read it out of order? Sounds fishy to me!"

I understand this sentiment. As with anything, the surface of the situation is misleading. In case you forgot, the bible is a collection of historical documents. It describes historical events. It is, for all intents and purposes, a non-fiction, informative textbook. I never recall, not once, reading a textbook from front to back cover. It was dissected into sections and discussed in context by a knowledgeable leader, typically in a group with many other people learning the same thing. This is literally how bible studying works - you are not meant to do it alone.

Again, this is not so the pastor can redefine what the bible is saying, but so that it can be understood in context. A large amount of time during sermons on bible readings is in fact dedicated to understanding the context of what was written - what actual Greek words were used, who wrote it, when, who certain people were or what certain places are actually referring to, and so forth. I tend to cross-check these explanations by looking them up on my phone - of course, not because I believe the pastor is wrong, but because I enjoy substantiated evidence. Our sermon last week included a mini-lecture on what leprosy in the bible actually refers to, why it was considered so bad, and what it represented. Not what it represented to our pastor, but what it represented in context to the time in which it was written - historically and factually.

Many misunderstandings of the bible stem from the bible being misclassified. If you misclassify the bible, read it without context, and especially if you are already leaning away from the faith, it is no surprise that you may find yourself questioning the meaning of what you're reading.

The all important distinction through all of this has been what kind of Christian is reading the bible and turning away from faith. A truly faithful Christian, devoting time, money, and effort to their faith, not only probably won't turn atheist from reading the bible, but probably reads the bible already. A Christian in name only - a Christian because their parents were Christians, with no actual religious education - is not even a Christian. In our church, we take the time to ensure that people explicitly understand that you are not a Christian because your parents were. As a sentient and cognitive individual with their own free will and ability to make commitments and decisions, a mature human being must make a conscious and purposeful decision to devote their life to Christ. If you did not do that before you were "turned away" by the bible, then you did not convert from Christianity to atheism. You made a conscious choice based on your vague and incomplete religious understanding to declare yourself a non-religious atheist. You didn't even convert, or turn, at all - it was your first choice. As it was with me.

If this were the description of this claim - that a person with a vague understanding of Christianity but of no religious affiliation and an inclination toward secularism reading the bible, out of context and without guidance, has a higher tendency toward becoming an atheist - then I would go ahead and concede that this is probably reasonable.

8. The Original Claim Is Not Only Wrong, The Opposite Is True

However, unlike the claim that reading the bible makes people atheists, I actually have some evidence that shows the opposite. While it is likely that the above claim is reasonable, it is more likely based on the evidence available that people do in fact turn toward Christianity when reading the bible. It is important to note that this includes in context and with understanding. Having other people to guide you and using more resources than just the bible - talks and sermons, maybe asking questions of religious people - yields an even greater result, but is not vital to the claim being made.

This is prefaced by being open to the idea of Christianity. It is unlikely that you would simply be convicted by the word and by faith alone if you have shut any idea of Christianity out of your mind. If you have prefaced your exploration with the belief that "This is not right, it will never be right, I will never think it is right, and in reading and exploring this I will prove that it is not right," it would be an incredible testimony to be able to say that you still found the truth of Jesus. I would never expect someone with those prior biases to convert - and even still, it has happened. The author of Who Moved the Stone, Frank Morrison, set out to prove that the bible was an unreliable fairy tale - in exploring this theory, he found the evidence to be overwhelmingly in favor of the bible in fact being reliable and valid, afterward converting to Christianity. This is not necessarily a case of reading the bible and being converted, but I think it's beautiful and felt like including it. It does, however, show that even the most stubborn of hearts can be brought to Christ.

However, to go back to the claim that simply reading the bible can convert someone...

Just as atheists claim that there are many variables that factor into their conversion to atheism - and this is referring to any situation, from any prior religion or lack thereof - there are just as many reasons why people convert to Christianity. There is a profound lack of understanding that theism is deeply complex and a vast majority of believers are not simply brainwashed sheep, led toward the comfort and safety of a loving God and eternal afterlife. It is therefore very interesting to point out to the unaware atheist that people convert to Christianity for many of the same reasons that atheists claim as their own. Overwhelmingly included is higher education and better critical thinking. Imagine that.

Unlike my search for atheist conversions reasons, "why did you convert to Christianity" did include multiple examples of people converting through reading the bible. I did not dig any further than I did in my atheist search - in fact, I dug far less. In my atheist search I searched multiple terms and looked at as many forums and sites with user-generated content as I could find until I got bored, while I actually only had to search for a few moments to find the opposite example. Now, this is by no means comprehensive, and there were of course a plethora of other reasons - simply reading the bible was by no means the biggest reason for conversion, but there is an obvious difference between the reason showing up and not showing up at all.

Now, this is still not an all-encompassing reason. You need to be convicted to convert to Christianity - which means that those people who read the bible and became believers felt a conviction through reading the word of God. Simply put, reading the bible is still not the only reason one would convert to Christianity. You can have a belief in atheism without a true conviction, as there is no devotion or appreciation involved. You don't become a Christian by simply finding the evidence more compelling and saying "this is the correct thing." You have to also make a conscious decision to follow Jesus. Indeed, becoming a Christian is far more complex than becoming an atheist, so the comparison is not even a true parallel.

9. A Short Conclusion

Indeed, at the end of all of this, the bible alone probably does not do much to convert any atheist to a Christian or any Christian to an atheist. There are always other factors. At any rate, these widely-circulated and beloved quotes from influential people about how the bible is converting believers into atheists left and right is, at its best, an oversimplified and misrepresented statement about something that is barely arguably reasonable and only anecdotally true.

If you believed you were truly a disciple of Jesus Christ but dropped your faith after you cracked open the bible - and for no other reason - I would love to read a lengthy and genuine depiction of your switch to atheism.