More Info...

A bit more before we get started (I know, I haven't even started and I'm procrastinating!) on the actual study. The only bible I have now is the one I was given for free at school (it's kinda cool, it's leather with an Academy seal on the front), but it's not KJV! So I think I'll be okay using this one. It's the New Revised Standard Edition from the 80's. Of course, you should be able to follow along with any bible, but some wording/phrasing will be different.

Also a disclaimer: I am not a theologian, I am not a bible scholar, I am not professionally involved with any of this. I am merely a thinker, an ex-Christian atheist, who wants to know what we can really find in the bible. I am not doing this to "disprove" the bible, and maybe along the way god's love will descend upon me in a fuzzy little cocoon and I will re-convert. It's possible. But more likely I'll just be poking fun and musing.

A note: Christians are welcome to follow along, read, comment, anything they would like. But I am warning you upfront that I have very little use for being overly polite on my own turf, so any "I'm so offended!" emails will go straight to the trash.

Okay, enough preliminaries! With no further ado, I bring you Genesis 1...

Welcome!

Welcome to A Skeptic Bible Study! I'm sure I'm not the first person to undertake such an adventure, and I doubt I'll be the last. But for what it's worth, I'm offering the world my thoughts as I read through the bible as an atheist.

Reading the bible was a favorite pastime of mine when I was a Christian. Straight to the source! Unfortunately, the source was flawed, and it was plainly evident to me. I would say a good knowledge of the bible was one of the biggest factors in my deconversion! So what does the bible look like to me now? If I found so many flaws when I was still trying to be a good Christian, what might I notice now that I've accepted my skepticism? I'm excited to find out, and I hope you are too!

Before we begin, a brief about me. I'm 22 years old, a recent Naval Academy graduate. I majored in physics (specifically astrophysics) and minored in Spanish. I was born in Wisconsin and raised in Iowa, and I now live in San Diego with my wonderful husband. That's about it, really. I'm not terribly exciting!

My plan is to work my way through the entire bible. It's a daunting task, but I'm confident we can make it. After all, there's no deadline on this! I hope to post daily, but of course the demands of my life may not allow that. But as of now my (perhaps optimistic) plan is to do one chapter per post, and possibly several posts a day. This may be tweaked for especially long or short chapters. I will be starting with Genesis. It's part of the bible! Old and New Testament, we won't be cherry picking on this bible study! As far as what translation to use, I haven't quite decided. I think when I moved I threw out my easier-to-read bibles and only kept one that is KJV, not my favorite. So I have to poke around and see if I did keep a different one, or possibly go out and get a new one (although I hate to support this book with my dollar). I'm a fan of NIV, so that's what I'm hoping for. I'll mention for sure on my first post of the study!

Thanks for reading, I hope you stick around!