The Pathway Machine

In the Preface to the SAB the author points out that of the two billion people who claim to be Christian, few of them have actually read the Bible. This is a very important fact, and an unfortunate one. It is my opinion that most Christians are 'Christians' due to cultural, social or traditional reasons and not for any interest or love of God's word, the Bible.

It is also an interesting fact that I have discovered while communicating with many former Christians who have become adamant skeptics, atheists or antichristian, that they studied the Bible much more carefully as such than they did while they were Christians.

What this says to me is that they started out as Christians and their heart wasn't in it. They were not good Christians, who read the Bible and studied it carefully then and now they are far more willing to be good skeptics and study the scriptures much more carefully. This in itself isn't a bad thing because the Bible makes it clear that most people, even given the best of opportunities, will reject God and his word. Doing this should be an exercise not taken lightly any more than would be a choice to accept Christianity without careful consideration.

In effect the Christian who doesn't study the Bible carefully and the Skeptic who does do so are in the same position due to one other important fact. The skeptic almost never takes their study of the Bible outside of the misinformed studies of the apostate Christian teachings, they never rise above it.

The skeptic knows well the pagan influences that have been adopted by the Christian church as can be seen through their constantly bringing them up - Christmas and Easter for example being obviously pagan in origin.

Where the so called Christians have failed the skeptics should have succeeded but all that they are interested in doing instead is pointing out the failings of the Christians. This justifies their own position in their minds. To take it further, to examine things more closely would seem to be the scientific approach but it wouldn't bring them to the conclusion that they wanted to reach in the first place. This, one must speculate, is not an unlikely position when 'science,' which is so important to the average skeptic, is for the most part theoretical.

The author also points out that the Bible is not an easy read, and that may be true for many people, but it wasn't meant to be a work for the sake of amusement out of ignorance. What seems tiresome trivia, seemingly endless genealogies, and pointless stories and laws, when carefully studied as more of an historical work of extreme importance.

One point to this effect that is made by the SAB is: "Bible-believers that survive to the bitter end of Revelation must continually face a disturbing dilemma; their faith tells them they should read the Bible, but by reading the Bible they endanger their faith." This is only true if that is the desired effect and careful study isn't a part of reading the Bible.

It is not at all surprising, then, that the SAB would make the ridiculous proposition that the Bible should be expurgated into a smaller and more acceptable work which was 'good' in the eyes of an ignorant skeptic. Would they think so little of any of the comparatively inaccurate secular histories, or science? This is not only another indication that they have failed in taking an honest look at understanding the subject which they are skeptical of but may shed some light upon their overestimation of history and science as well. Suffice it to say that personally - I wouldn't advise leaving a careful study of the Holy Scriptures to the clergy or anyone else (including from the perspective of the reader, myself) any more than I would leave secular history or science up to historians or scientists. In this I see many similarities between the religious and the skeptic.

The beginning of a careful study of the Bible is contrary to what the SAB supposes in their very Preface, namely, that the believer must assume that the Bible is good, true, beautiful and perfect. The word of Jehovah God is all of those things and much more, but only the ignorant would overlook the fact that there are many problems which must be addressed in any translation. There are no perfect translations and anyone who proclaims a particular one as such misses this very important fact. This is never more obvious than the King James only enthusiasts. The reasons for the SAB using the KJV are obvious, but this should encourage a more careful study and comparison of other translations, and more importantly, of a careful study of the original language wherever possible.

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible is a good effort, and an important one, but the 'pro-Bible propaganda' of the so called believer is only replaced by the propaganda of the ignorant skeptic. Though a good effort it is not a remedy to the imbalance mentioned in the closing of the Preface, at least not until a more thorough criticism than has been offered is considered.