Product Description

The Bible examined from a freethought perspective. Combined with autobiographical "The Book of Ruth."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #284812 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 440 pages

Customer Reviews

A real eye opener
If you read the Bible and aren't a thumper you may be intrigued by this book. It analyzes what the Bible says from the point of view of the skeptic. A very satisfying read.

Ruth is gone, but the Bible's still here
In the prologue to The Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible, Green states that she is not a Bible scholar--and she spends the next 300 pages proving it.

There are some scholarly, well written books by skeptics who present a thoughtful argument against the Bible, but this is not one of them.

It is apparent, however, that Green did spend many hours studying the Bible in her research. The question it, did she read the Bible with an open mind, willing to learn something, or did she open it with preconceived notions, which she then set out to prove by twisting Scripture, taking Bible verses out of context, and treating the Bible in a shallow manner, without objectively looking for the true meaning of the text?

Her arguments against the Bible might have been more believable if she had treated the Book, and those who live by it, with more respect instead of taking every opportunity to ridicule and mock the Bible and Christians. The Bible is the most widely printed book since Gutenberg, and the most widely quoted book, but Ms. Green could find virtually nothing positive to say about it.

Green does, to be sure, bring up a lot of difficulties found in the Bible, including the fact that the God of the Old Testament seems to be cruel and violent, contrasting with the compassionate God of the New Testament. If she had bothered to look, though, she would have found that this, as well as the other Bible difficulties she mentions, have been addressed and resolved by real Bible scholars.

And am I the only reader who found her sense of humor lame and unfunny?

Another thing that I found annoying about Green is that she's constantly instructing the reader on how they should react, what they should conclude, and what they should believe. This reader, Ms Green, is quite capable of making those decisions for himself.

After reading the book, I had to ask myself why she wrote it in the first place. Here is a woman who doesn't believe in God, any God, and she's writing a book about another book that claims to be the inspired word of a being she doesn't even believe in. She tells us what's wrong with the book, and how she would have written it if she'd been the Almighty. Wouldn't it have made more sense if she'd written a book explaining why she doesn't believe God exists?

I as a Christian did not find her book offensive, as other critics have said. I did, however, find it poorly written, biased, sarcastic, unpersuasive and humorless (but trying very hard to be funny).

There is no part of the Bible that I would avoid discussing with skeptics and critics. If I were to discuss a particular Bible topic, I would not, however, gloss over the subject and quote Bible verses out of context in order to prove my preconceived ideas.

But I must say, thank you, Ms Green, wherever your soul is resting, for writing your book. It has given me a better appreciation for that Book you so hated.

Junk Writing
This book does not deserve more than one star, maybe this rating will upset may people especially who review it and give it 5 star, all the author points Criticizing some parts from the bible Christians fundaments have more convincing idea than his, it is true that I'm Christian but I'm a reader too, and I'm not convince with his thoughts and his ideas, my advice to him before you attack and criticize the bible go deeply study it first.