by Mike Gray

Recently in a comment on this weblog the Bible came under criticism from one of our readers named Ray:

Of course atheists know more about religion than believers. That’s why they’re atheists. I was raised in an ultra-religious family, and when I felt my faith starting to waver, I vowed to read the bible from cover to cover to strengthen it. I did – and never believed again, or missed my beliefs. Most believers simply have no idea of the barbarity and savagery which fills the book on which their religion is based. It was written by ignorant savages and if ever there was a candidate for book burning, the bible is it.

Here are some quotes from more eloquent people than me:

“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.” – Isaac Asimov

“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my own part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel.”
– Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

It’s interesting that the following not unintelligent people, several of whom were contemporaries of Thomas Paine, also read the same book and were notably less than horrified:

There never was found, in any age of the world, either religion or law that did so highly exalt the public good as the Bible.
– Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher

I have always said, I always will say, that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands.
– Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd President of the United States

The general diffusion of the Bible is the most effectual way to civilize and humanize mankind; to purify and exalt the general system of public morals; to give efficacy to the just precepts of international and municipal law; to enforce the observance of prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude; and to improve all the relations of social and domestic life.
– James Kent (1763-1847), American legal scholar

The Bible is the only source of all Christian truth; the only rule for the Christian life; the only book that unfolds to us the realities of eternity. There is no book like the Bible for excellent wisdom and use.
– Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676), Lord Chief Justice of England

So great is my veneration for the Bible, that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hopes that they will prove useful citizens to their country and respectable members of society.
– John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), 6th President of the United States

Never yet did there exist a full faith in the divine word which did not expand the intellect, while it purified the heart; which did not multiply and exalt the aims and objects of the understanding, while it fixed and simplified those of the desires and feelings.
– Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), English poet and philosopher

We account the Scriptures of God to be the most sublime philosophy. I find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatever.
– Isaac Newton (1643-1727), English physicist, mathematician, astronomer

There are no songs comparable to the songs of Zion; no orations equal to those of the prophets; and no politics like those which the Scriptures teach.
– John Milton (1608-1674), English poet

Philosophical argument, especially that drawn from the vastness of the universe, in comparison with the apparent insignificance of this globe, has sometimes shaken my reason for the faith that is in me; but my heart has always assured and reassured me that the gospel of Jesus Christ must be a divine reality.
– Daniel Webster (1782-1852), 14th United States Secretary of State

Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet-anchor of your liberties; write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide in the future.
– Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), 18th President of the United States

Thomas Paine’s detestation of cruelty is commendable, and he was right about one thing: “It [the Bible] is a history of wickedness.” However, all the wickedness originated in men, and all the cruelty that Paine might want to blame on God was self-inflicted—free will, don’t you know. Paine didn’t seem to understand—or, understanding it, rejected—the bedrock Biblical doctrine of original sin. His conception of the Almighty as depicted in the Bible was severely limited. A theologian recently explained just what the book is all about:

The Bible is a book about people who have a problem with God. They have a hard time seeing eye to eye with a God who says, “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

The Bible is also about a God who has a problem with people. The whole Bible is about a God who will not always protect those who refuse to trust Him. When God barred Adam and Eve from their garden home, when He sent a flood to destroy all but Noah and his family, when he allowed the Assyrians to defeat the Northern Tribes, and the Babylonians to defeat Judah, God made it clear that there is a limit to His patience.

God’s promises are not given to all, but to everyone who is willing to seek and trust Him. Isaiah reminds us that God is willing to be found by those who are willing to seek Him on His terms. The whole Bible makes it clear that God promises to be found only by those who are willing to surrender to Him.

God cannot be found by just anyone. Because He is Spirit, He is seen only by those to whom He chooses to reveal Himself. This is also true of the Bible. While the Scriptures have been given to lead us to God, they remain a closed book to those who are trying to find God on their own terms. God will be found in the pages of His book by those who desire to obey Him, or He will not be found at all.

Thomas Paine wanted to have God on his own terms—heaven but no hell, universal salvation without judgment, no need for obedience—but when he couldn’t have it his way he turned to atheism.

As for Asimov, if you, like him, completely ignore the plain meanings of words and the clearly expressed intentions of an author, you can come to believe—or disbelieve—anything at all about what you read.