The Skeptic's Annotated Bible

by Steve Wells (Annotator)

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible contains the entire text of the King James Version of the Bible presented from a skeptic's point of view.

"A stunning achievement ... I have an entire bookshelf of bibles and biblical commentaries, concordances, appendices, and the like, but the SAB is by far the best tool for biblical research I have ever come across."
—Dr. Michael Shermer, Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and Executive Director of the Skeptics Society

"I've been waiting for this book for my entire life! Finally, the Bible with organized notes and critique—pointing out the profane, the craziness, the tribalism, the murder, the incestuous episodes, and the beautiful and the sublime. All in one book!"
—Julia Sweeney, writer and performer of Letting Go of God and God Said Ha! and the book, If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother

"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible offers an invaluable presentation of the bible that doesn't hide the cruelties, contradictions, absurdities, misogyny, and everything else that makes the 'Good Book' bad. It is an indispensible resource and the only book I keep on my desk."
—Dr. Peter Boghossian, Dept. of Philosophy, Portland State University; author of A Manual for Creating Atheists

Genres: Religion, Atheism, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Reference, Christianity, Skepticism

1631 pages, Hardcover

First published February 15, 2013

Reviews

[Artur · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible by Steve Wells is an outstanding result of gargantuan effort. For a better transparency, the author divided his comments on The Bible into several categories (e.g. cruelty and violence, contradictions, conflicts with science and history, but also, good stuff), so the reader wouldn't get lost in this labyrinth of metaphors and repetitive, yet often contradictory, events and statements. At the very end of the book, Wells recapitulates what seem to be the crux of his work, namely contradictions and inconsistencies that are scattered throughout The Bible but are often overlooked due to its size. In a lively and highly engaging style, we are guided through The Bible's dry writing. To be honest, I think this book is for everyone, except, maybe, for those who believe our planet is, like, 6,000 years old.

I have long been aware of certain flaws that The Bible is said to have, but it wasn't until I got a hold on Wells' book and switched on my critical thinking that I realized their proportions. That's why, perhaps, a word certain seems like an understatement. But fear not, The Bible comes to my aid with an alternative: I am Legion, for we are many.

The Bible's repetitous and dull style is not compensated with, say, psychologically elaborate portraits of its characters; they, frankly speaking, strike me as shallow, with no logical background behind their actions. (In Genesis, God chooses to flood the Earth and kill all living things because humans are evil (6.5), and then promises not to do it again because humans are evil (8.21). What a sound mind!) Sometimes, however, in addition to these usual drawbacks, The Bible is just hysterically frightening. Consider, for example, a biblical story of Adam and Eve and their sons. In Gen. 4, the entire Earth's population is 4. When Cain kills his brother, Abel (4.8), he commits the biggest atrocity in mankind's history, killing exactly 25% of the population, which is now a striking number of 3. Then, he proclaims that he shall remain hidden from the face of God (4.14), raising a question whether God is really omniscient (other examples: Gen. 3.8, 18.19, 22.12, 32.27, Num. 22.9, Job 1.7, 2.2). Our "hero" embarks on a journey (4.16), during which he meets his wife (4.17) and... Wait, what?! Where did she come from? Cain didn't even have a sister to engage in an incestous relationship with. I guess, this is one of those situations, where you just have to shut your mind.

Considering how poorly written The Bible is, I wonder what makes other people believe in it. It cannot be its scientific accuracy, nor is it its moral compass, unless one deems moral impregnating your own daughters (Gen. 19.36), genocidal practices (Num. 21.2-3, 31.1-40, Josh. 6.21, 10.28-42, 11.6-20, 11.21-22, Judg. 1.8, 3.26-29, 4.1-16, 11.29-33, 21.1-23, 1 Sam. 15.2-3, 2 Kings 3.18-25, and so on), supporting terrorist attacks (Judg. 16.27-30), or objectifying women (1 Sam. 18.27), among many other things. One wonders, if there's an alternative, with, at the very least, a better writing style. The Lord of the Rings, perhaps? The two have got so much in common, anyway, that I imagine the transition wouldn't be so painful. There's a Jesus the Chosen One, who must save the world, namely, Frodo. There's also a Tolkiean St. Peter who ascends to power - Aragorn. There are the Others (in The Bible, the Philistines, the Moabites etc.), whom our heroes have to overpower - the Orcs, the Uruk-hai, and so on. And last, but not least, deep down in our hearts, we all know that it wasn't Jesus who established Christianity (brought the order). It was the most beloved St. Paul. Ekhm. Samwise Gamgee.

Jokes aside, having read The Bible, I strengthened my convictions that if I were to believe, I'd like it to be a Kierkegaardian existantial faith that rejects any established institutionalization and generalization of faith. It's not anti-science, because it transcends it and operates in a different realm of human experience. It's open-minded. After all, Kierkegaard valued Ludwig Feuerbach, an outspoken atheist, and his critique of Christianity. His successors, Paul Tillich and Rudolf Bultmann were also very tolerant of other worldviews. Bultmann was a friend with Heidegger. Most of all, Kierkagaard's proposal was humane. He rejected what Christianity (and other religions, for that matter) couldn't: a mindless violence.

[Winston Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

True Biblical Education

I've been a fan of the SAB for over a decade. Not only does it point out subtle contradictions buried among thousands of verses, but it is an excellent tome of humour and honest, didactic revelations that no preacher would even think of uttering in their Sunday School classes.

Inside it you will find, among many other things:

- How much financial value the war deity of the ancient Israelites put on children, adults and newborns (it's not what you might expect, especially if you are pro-life).
- Just how much incest is in the bible and how much is condoned by god.
- How Onanism got its name.
- Actions by god that defy credulity (such as cursing a fig tree for doing what god created it to do, and punishing David for conducting a census which was ordered by god in the first place).
- Biblical concepts of justice and just how vastly they differ from our more measured, mature and compassionate punishments and rules today.
- How varied and interesting marriage and lovemaking was in the bible (Song of Solomon).
- Whether god values everyone as a unique human being (see the book of Job).
- How poorly the authors of the Bible understood population growth and basic mechanics.
- How poorly the authors of the Bible understood science and biology (rabbits do not chew their cud).
- How poorly the authors of the Bible understood astronomy (the firmament is a prime example).

I could go on, but I shall conclude simply by stating that everything mentioned in the SAB can be found by anyone willing to approach the Bible honestly, without any preconceptions from the result of brainwashing.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Technically, I've already read this, or at least large sections of it, as I've been a fan of the website for nearly five years.

Not an academic book, not even meant to be scholarly. An interesting insight to just how nutty, boring, or horrible the bible comes across to non believers. Mr. Wells' notes are no worse then the opinions of theists that read through their scripture (or don't) without bothering to dive into the scholarship.

For the skeptic wanting something fresh to add to their piles of dictionaries, concordances, and lexicons, or for the Christian who thinks their faith can handle a different perspective.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quickly found it's way on my favourites shelf.

The aesthetics are beautiful... the soft cover, the ribbon book mark, and the biblical thin pages are worth the money for this book alone. This literally is a King James version of the bible.

This Skeptics Bible combs through and highlights passages of the bible that display at least one of these fourteen categories:

→ Absurdity,
→ Injustice,
→ Cruelty and Violence,
→ Intolerance,
→ Good Stuff,
→ Contradictions,
→ Conflicts with Science and History,
→ Biblical Family Values,
→ Interpretation,
→ Misogyny and Insults to Women,
→ Sex,
→ False Prophecy and Misquotes,
→ Language,
→ and Homosexuality.

This is a good, strong reference to contradictions and general immoral behavior within the bible. I would recommend this to anyone who claims to have faith, people studying the bible, or those who wish to see some validation to people who value logic and reason for mysticism and faith.

[Pierre A Renaud]

Quran: http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com...
Bible: http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com...
Book of mormon: http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com...

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Skeptics Annotated Bible might be said, if one would forgive so ironic a phrase, to be a godsend for atheists everywhere. It began its existence online, and this is still the best place to use it. However, its compiler, Steve Wells, decided to take things further and have it made available in book form.

The idea is quite simple. The work comprises the entire text of the Bible. Along the side of it, Well has provided annotations identifying everything that might be considered wrong with the Bible. These include contradictions, absurdities, failed prophesies and historical or scientific inaccuracies, as well as examples of intolerance, injustice, violence and cruelty, and passages that attack women and homosexuals.

I approached the idea of a written form of the text with some trepidation, as inevitably no book form could capture the full beauty of the original Internet version. Here we have no links to other pages, including Wells' own entertaining blog, Dwindling in Unbelief, and the delightful Brick Testament, a partial version of the Bible produced in Lego form.

Other omissions include the section 'What the Bible says about', which gives us the lowdown on certain key subjects mentioned in the Bible - everything from clothing to children. We also do not have in the book version the full list of all absurdities, intolerance etc, although Wells offers us a brief summary of contradictions and god's killings in the Bible.

We are also deprived of the ability to quickly follow internet links that will take us to any passage or theme that we like, as well as using the search function on the computer to locate key words.

So what, it may be asked, is the point in having a book form that is inevitably going to be inferior to the Internet version? True, much of Wells' loving work has been recaptured here, occasionally a little toned down, but essentially following the form established by the online version. Nonetheless, it is a version that has much missing.

The arguments in favour of possessing the Skeptic's Annotated Bible in book form are as follows. It is more reliably durable than an internet page which can be taken down It can be read with more ease and without the need to stare at a computer screen for hours. It is portable, albeit quite heavy, and does not require any technology to read.

Of course, the book has come in for some criticism, mainly from Bible apologists, including an abortive attempt to produce a Skeptic's Annotated version of the Skeptic's Annotated Bible. It is true that we can frequently question Wells' negative interpretations. He can be very literal-minded in his criticisms of text that is dated or ambiguously worded, and the criticisms also take in a literal interpretation of passages that some would view as metaphorical stories or fables.

However, Wells does not have to present these criticisms as established fact - merely as possible criticisms that people have found in the book. In any case, Bible apologists have to explain why their god has allowed his word to be presented in a form that is open to overly-literal interpretations and ambiguous and unflattering translations.

In any case, even if 10% of the faults that Wells found were untrue, this would still leave a massive collection of absurd or appalling Bible passages that need quite some explaining away. Only the most fundamentalist or brainwashed believer could possibly think that every one of these flaws, running into their thousands, could be explained away. There is not a single book in the Bible, and very few chapters that Wells has not found some fault with.

Of course, Wells also tries to identify good passages in the Bible, and these are surprisingly few and far between. The end result is a summary that should cause all right-minded people to lose respect for this work and for the belief system that it inspires.

Wells has also produced an annotated version of the Qu'ran and the Book of Mormon, but for all his efforts it's clear that his heart lies with the Bible. He is simply fascinated with its many bizarre and unpleasant passages, and often bored by its many tedious genealogies and lists. It is hard not to read the book and feel some of his fascinated outrage and cynical amusement as he deconstructs one of the most influential works ever made.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've never read this I highly recommend it. "What is it?" Well I'm glad you asked! This, boys and girls, is a collection of stories passed down by word of mouth from a time when we knew nothing about our universe. Generation after generation passed these stories along until we came up with what we have in present-day: hundreds of versions of this book.

"Why is this book important?" Another great question! Some find it important to study the ancient Israelites superstitious background. Others are more interested in the origins of the three Abrahamic religions -- Islam, Christianity, and Judiasm. Initially these stories were used to explain the workings and origins of our universe through imagination. A word of caution if you plan to take these stories literally, they did their best to fill in what gaps they could but those of us living in modern times refer to this as make-believe.

Not interested in superstition or religious origin stories? Well, this book also contains fantastic stories of giants, genocide of those who feel differently than you, sacrifice, sin, unicorns, and don't forget the most important part.. you can murder, rape, and enslave fellow humans so long as you ask for forgiveness!

This particular version, 'The Skeptics Annotated Version', goes one step further than all the other versions of the Bible by comparing and contrasting the errors of scripture with that of current 3rd grade-level knowledge of objective reality, all while leaving the "original" interpretation intact. For example, the Earth was not created before the stars (universe) as the book claims. The nature of the universe was much less understood at the time these stories were written but we should be careful not to take things like this seriously.

Sadly though, the book comes with an origin story that traces back to roughly 4200bc -- coincidentally about 1000 years after Sumerians invented glue and 4.54 BILLION years after what we now know is Earth's age. This book will not be helpful if you're looking to find answers as to why we're here and how we came to be the species we are today but it's still a good try considering the lack of tools and knowledge!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must have for every household and hotel room

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

First of all I want to confess I didn't read the whole book but I did get to Psalms, which is about the halfway point with the book. At this point I have read the whole Bible so to me it counts plus what this guy has to say is so repetitive and/or just repeated from the Bible although usually out of context that I am counting it.

And for me to quit now when I was trying so hard is more for concerns about this book's structural integrity, which I just noticed isn't worthy of its seemingly leather cover. After reading this book for 24 days both the front and back cover are showing cracking along the spine's joining to both the front and back cover, which means I can basically see the spine of the book. So for it to be such a great book to read and one to use as a reference it is a proceed with caution since the book isn't made for wear-and-tear unless you don't mind one crumbling in your hand and looking like you abused it after one read.

Steve Wells clearly states what he plans for this book to be: The SAB will help those who believe in the Bible to honestly reconsider that belief. It will help those who are unfamiliar with the Bible to resist the temptation to believe. And it will help those who have already rejected the Bible to defend their position. It's rather a tall order to make such statements for one's version of this book but especially more so given the fact that the book is so hard to get a hold of in the first sense. In the second sense I don't think someone looking to learn about the Bible would ever trip across it while choosing this would be the book for them to help them get started on this biblical journey so if it is your job Steve to convince more people about its worthlessness to you than maybe you should make it more accessible.

Another complaint of the annotator in his introduction was the fact the Bible is such a wordy and dense book. His own response to me is classic since instead of just printing a smaller book with only the stuff he finds fault or good with and one that is so clumsy for on-the-go readers he chose to reproduce the whole Bible instead including pages where he has no such annotations. Furthermore this is packed with even more pages to help readers find all his supposed contradictions in the back, God's kill list and a section for notes if you should have any after his wise words have led you down your path of exploration.

Going from the introduction there were suppose to be even more annotations but they were left out since there wasn't enough room for all of them. May I suggest a few things? Perhaps you could have left out a few of those really repetitive annotations that just basically repeated the same info and mockery over and over again. At one point with the exception of the verse being different you had the same annotation on a lead page and the opposite page - why do I need to read this back-to-back? Another thing that may have helped to give you some more room is leave the verses out of the annotation section as there is no need for it. Don't you already have the Bible copied on the inside of your page, the verse you're emphasizing in bold format and the verse number in your annotation notes?

There is also a clear show that an editor couldn't be convinced to read over these notes due to the misspellings, the grammatical problems and just the wrong information. One annotation taken from the book word for word is: Absurdity icon (2:7-9) Elijah smacked the the Joradan River with his magic mantle so that he and Elisha could cross on dry land. etc. Yes there are two the's and the Jordan is misspelled and I thought Jordan was an easy spelling.

Another part is the annotations clearly shows the guy wasn't reading the Bible himself. A note in Genesis states that Abraham saw a goat caught in the bushes to sacrifice in place of Isaiah but it clearly states if you look at the Bible verse included that it was a ram, which is a male sheep. So Mr. Modern you mock the Bible for incorrect factual information but cannot get the right creature from a verse looking you in the face or in fact the right domestic species. And this isn't a once up for in the same section as the previously mentioned verse of Elijah his annotations says that Elijah ascended into heaven in a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire. Well sad for you Steve Wells that is one verse you actually put in your annotation section which proves you are wrong since it states (2.11) There appeared a chariot of fire, and horses, and... Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven .

Finally the last part of the annotation writing that really bothered me besides his lack of editor and incorrect information was he was really hoping his readers would be gullible sheeple. For those who are comparing his annotations to the actual verses they will find some of the information is given out of context in the hope that his readers won't go into more in-depth personal study and thus allow him to make remarks about how bad something is when the original material shows it isn't as bad it seems.

Leaving the body of the annotation writing now it is time to tackle the contradictions. I am not going to go through step-by-step since there are so many while this is already long enough. I do want to point out a few I saw. These really struck me since again it seems that the annotator only skimmed the Bible, avoided the factual and/or is hoping his readers would take his word instead of doing their own research.

First of all Steve chose to point out a contradictions about drinking alcohol and guys having long hair while talking about Samson. Samson was part of the Nazarite group while it states in Numbers 6:1-2

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD: 3He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. 4All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.

5All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no rasor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

Doesn't seem really a contradiction now does it? Or what about all these contradictions he likes to point out about how many gods there are? Although the Bible is about the one true God there are multiple gods that other people make up such as Baal, Ashteroth and the whole Egyptian pantheon just to name a few. When God states He is going after these gods it was to show that they were really made by human hands and powerless when compared to the actual true Living God.

And the last contradiction I would love to point out, which was another annotator fan favorite was the one about seeing God face-to-face. Most people and biblical material states that man hasn't seen God face-to-face, which is true for all the interactions in the Old Testament were through Jesus before he took upon the name. As a result even though Jesus is part of the Trinity, God the Supreme has still not been seen by sinful man.

So to return to the beginning where Steve Wells stated The SAB will help those who believe in the Bible to honestly reconsider that belief. I can say this is also a debunked fact when it comes to me for hearing the popular culture references, seeing information provided out of context and the incorrect facts provided by supposedly a scholarly source just proves this man has a chip on his shoulder.

His clear emphasis on the cruelties of the Bible and why they are included show that he doesn't understand the verse in Genesis 50:20:But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. The Bible may be a hard book to handle with its violence, its people-based sins such as the rape of Tamar along with her brothers' response, etc. but God meant to include those episodes to show that although the path to redemption and grace is darkly sin-filled there is hope for the rest of us due to Christ's arrival. Without those too human parts there would be no story to end....

So this clunky, shoddily attired vitriolic book has no place on the shelf for anyone who really wants to learn about God whether for good or bad. If you must doubt God read the Bible yourself, note what bothers you, learn about the culture, learn about the history and then take your stand. Remember you don't need anyone to tell your feelings about God, especially one who finds humor at the animal abuse cases he is so supposedly shocked at reading in the Bible.

Adding On: Due to some of those may argue that isn't taken out of context here is a classic example to see for yourself. Steve Wells' annotation for Numbers 1:51: The stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. (v.51) How should strangers be treated?

Numbers 1:51: And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

[Robert Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked to give it a higher rating on account of Wells' tremendous work in making the Bible slightly more palatable. At the end of the day though, it's still the Bible.

[Derek Head · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible scholarly from this poorly researched book which deliberately quotes out of context. The author even admitted that he is no Biblical scholar but goes on to proclaim that he doesn't need a scholarship. Well yes, I think he does especially when he takes metaphorical verses ,such as the verses from the Book of Job, to be literal. Here is one part of the commentary from this book:

""Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble."
The earth rests upon pillars and doesn't move (unless God gets angry or something)"

"Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not."
The earth is fixed and the sun travels about it.

And then Psalms:

"The foundations of the world were discovered ... at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils." (The earth is set on firm foundations and does not move -- unless God blows his nose.)

Both Job and Psalms are metaphorical books. Job is poetic and is mostly Job speaking about God and his vision of him. Meanwhile the Psalms are songs and poems sung by King David and others and were symbolic and metaphorical of God and his glory.

It seems that Steve Wells cannot differentiate between literal meaning and symbolic meaning. His commentary comes off as juvenile (as displayed so perfectly above) and makes him seem as someone who doesn't understand the metaphorical verses of The Bible and makes a mockery of them for that reason.

Another example with this stupidity below...

"Thou has set all the borders of the earth"
A spherical earth has no borders.

Although the actual earth as in the soil does have "borders" technically where the land ends at water.

Is any more proof needed that Steve Wells deliberately quotes out of context with common atheist fallacies of The Bible and misunderstanding of the narrative? I couldn't be bothered trudging through the rest of this garbage but dishonesty isn't going to help the cause of atheism.

For real apologetics and Bible study, visit Tektonics.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended for believers and skeptics alike! Points out some very interesting concepts as well as discrepancies.

[Yordan Zhelyazkov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read, even if you've read the Bible before. It's amazing how many contradictions I've missed the first time, especially all the intentional ones in the NT! It goes straight to my Favourites shelf even just for all the statistics in it. A must-read for any atheist and theist alike.

I was a bit disappointed by the author's lack of philosophy knowledge, tho. Truly, Wells admits that he's no theologian in the beginning of the book, but it doesn't take a theologian to notice some of the metaphors since they're quite simple and obvious. I, personally, didn't mind that cause I've read it before and didn't miss them but I can see how this can be off-putting for the theists out there and therefore it works against the book's objective to reach a wider audience.

Also - while I did appreciate the humour (wouldn't have had the nerve to go through this monstrosity again without it), it too is surely off-putting for many theists and goes against the purpose of the book. Also - some of the things that Wells did give a "thumbs-up" for, were quite debatable imho, so maybe they deserve a second look too.

I would very much like it if in the next few years Wells teams up with a philosopher and write and publish an upgraded edition to the SAB. The Western world needs a book like that badly and the better it's done, the more beneficial it'll be. Even in it's current state however I really liked it, so 4 stars from me. Great job!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

An outstanding piece of work. I encourage indoctrinated Christians (that's all Christians) to read and begin to think for themselves and question. Take it to your church, stop the preacher with questions " But hang on, …"
Personally The Skeptic's Annotated Bible could have been a lot harder on bible nonsense (of which there is a lot) but by being lighter on criticism it may at least help in The Skeptic's Annotated Bible being investigated by the indoctrinated. Here's hoping :)

[Juan Jacobo Bernal · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me 73 agonizing days to crawl my way through this tome. I bought it following Sam Harris’ recommendation. I was left with a deepened understanding of just how deeply these narratives have shaped the Judeo-Christian world and its aesthetics. Some of the books are torturously tiresome and I required frequent breaks to stomach them—all in all, though, I believe that this was a worthy exercise to better understand the culture that I am immersed in.

[Ralph L. Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent commentary and indication of the amount of sheer nonsense and otherwise falsity to be found in the Foul Book, the Bible. The author has done a great job of indicating the type of errors and downright foolishness in the Bible. It should wake up any whacko evangelicals and dimwit fundamentalists!!!

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, and a good source. There are plenty of weird things that I never noticed until I read this one.
Certainly not definitive. Or scholarly.

[Dustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best version of the Bible I've read yet!

[Richard Bruning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually it's not the kind of book you read. You just kind of dip into it and out. It annotates the whole damn Bible so…

[Jacob Bush · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to give five stars to something with “Bible” in the title, but the annotations made it ALMOST bearable to read. Almost.

[Notael Elrein · Rating 4 out of 5]

(The rating is for the annotations, I do think their writer sometimes took the book too literally)

Open up goat's matrix, so we can spray a little blood around the altar, do not boil the kid in it's own mother's milk.

Might have turned me into carnist with all the sweet recipes onto God.

I see the light after God caused so many plagues, gaslighted, gatekeeped, girlbossed way too many people. The biggest manchild, you can sense he enjoys it, chaotic boy.

I stan suffering for I was born and now I will have to deal with old age, and one day die, maybe sooner than I think, aka no choice, but to slay or I am uncool and petty. I stan God's decision to limit our livespans. He slays. Too much.

Tbh seeing what a mess of a story this is and how religion lessions in school have distorted it beyond "the firmament that devides the waters" is kinda... What.

John birthed Tom birthed Simon birthed Peter birthed Jerry, etc...

No recap episodes to be found, but we have some recap books!

This book feels like such an april fools joke on it's own followers, and the respect of anyone reading it. At some point its just all about getting to the next slay because everything else is too boring.

I read this out of a masochistic urge.

Whenever something goes wrong God goes like:

Plague snap Plague snap Plague snap

Guys this is such a simbolic read! I finally get it, all the murders, rape, slavery is just lovingkindness! Spread the message of the one and only Lord, this book is correct and full of meaning because its so widely distributed! Our society is very peaceful and without any flaw, quoting the bible is truly the best way to show it!

Only christians get to experience all the VIP benefits of the apocalipse, and even then there is much strife between them. Jesus is kinda like an android killing machine and I did not know that Satan was a dragon. Would have loved to hear more about the wh0re of babylon, she seems kinda cool.

[Matthew Mashek · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is based on this version.

Rated down for two reasons:

1) It uses the KJV which is not the greatest version format/grammer/word usage. Makes reading it, and to whatever extent enjoying it, near impossible. If a better format leaves somthing important out, then that's what annotations are for...

2) The annotations were not quite what I was expecting. I was hoping for more real information, like a study bible, than was given. More historical context than a Christian-oriented bible would give. Most annotations were not useful or interesting. Highlighting an entire section and then just reprinting it in the margins isn't and "annotation". Also, leave the modern political waxing out as well. It was unprofessional to say the least. No one cares what the author's political leanings are.

I gave it three stars instead of two because the Bible is a bear of a read so I give props to the author for making an effort. Just wasn't my style or what I was hoping for.

[Zach Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read through the websites so I know everything about this book, obviously, but tbh, this book was written by someone who read the words of the bible without taking any time to actually read the Bible. I mean, if us Christians did that with atheistic documents, we'd be considered stupid! But anyways, a lot of my problems come up in the contradictions which are clearly just added for people who have spent thirty minutes reading the bible while they were in their religous parent's chuch sunday school, because these are the most out of context contradictions I have ever seen. For example, on the idea of curcumcision, where he starts by citing old testement verses then proceeds to quote Corinthians, which is talking about how the law is no longer required for salvation: this isn't a contradiction, but instead a completely new idea. Anyway I have more thoughts but I do not have time so final thoughts: it sucked, but yk.

[Authentikate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book one reads front to back. I suppose one could. That’s not my process.

When I have a question, I dip in to this text. Read. Think. Dip out and look in to other texts, videos, podcasts etc.

This is a reference source I will refer to—I’m sure—many times with many questions.

This particular rating comes from the handful of questions I posed myself and this texts ability to address them skeptically and honestly.

[Fabian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best and only Bible version you will need to read in order to study it and realize what a load of bs it all really is. Helped me shed away the last fears of "eternal hellfire and damnation" and the traumas of "jesus is coming, the apocalypse is near, you will be damned" that society put in me early on. This guy is a legend for having taken his time to make this book. Thanks Steve.

[Amanda Lucero · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has excellent binding and the author included a nice little note. However there are a lot of snarky comments in the notes that are in the book. Personally, I'm not at that point in my faith journey anymore so I just wanted to put it out there. But I think that this book is a great resource. It's a great flower presser.

[Jeffrey Yu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think all Christians should read this book to see other people's point of view and realize how ridiculous the bible is

[Scott Holstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superior!

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been using this as a reference for years. Informative and funny.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

So of course my rating is only for the Skeptics part of this, not the bible. Man, what a wicked, wicked book. People need to read their book...this is so sad.