Why do atheists read the actual words in the bible instead of consulting the writing of bible scholars?

"You'll never understand the bible properly if you actually just read it."

I know that. The bible I keep in the bathroom isn't meant as reading material, however.

Are you serious? The bible is God's word or whatever and if you're saying "well don't just read that cause it won't make sense read the scholar's writing too" then you're saying the bible won't make sense and you shouldn't have to read any scholar's writing's to understand the bible. The bible is supposed to be the words to live by and if you need to further understand it with scholars writing's then you know in your heart the bible is pure crap.

lol

people here are arguing about how the bible should be read and the truth is, just like a poem, the bible was written in a way for you to find your own understanding. it doesnt have to be exactly like the others, it changes according to the feelings and view of the reader.

look at the creation story, some say its true, some say its a story with metaphors. but looking at it and saying "hey look its impossible, this book is crap" is a mistake.

also the bible is built by the 5 books of the torah (there is a theory there used to be 6 or 7) and the rest is history mixed with god related writings (it was written thousands of years ago when religion was a daily thing, like going to work).

leaving the torah out, you claim everything is crap but actually its 90%-100% true (without the god thing).

the point is, atheist and theist just jump in and saying crap without even realizing reality.

so... just stop doing that that...

(sorry for my grammar)

Even the bible scholars get off on tangents, and come up with some of the most confusing and preposterous non-logical concepts, especially where the sequence of last day events is concerned and how earth's history is going to wrap up.

You need to let the Bible define its own symbols. If you don't understand something in one part of the Bible, then look up the same key word somewhere else in the Bible. In fact, go to biblegateway.com and plug in the word you're looking for, and it will come up with every occurrence of that word in the Bible, in any translation you want to pick.

Recognize that Jesus taught in parables. The people he preached to were often living in an agrarian society, so the parables used situations that are commonly recognized in that society. Like lost sheep. The cultural practices are also helpful to know, like for the parable of the lost coin. But these parables also have a spiritual application. They teach about right and wrong attitudes, character change, and encourage people to seek to live a noble life, rather than gratifying their lusts and forgetting about the consequences.

The bible is nothing more than stories. What happens when 1st person in a line of 10 people tells a story to the second person, does the second person tell the story exactly the way it was to them. No, they add in what they think was told them. By the time it reaches the 10th person, it is blown way out of proportion. This is a proven fact. The bible written by the church that has been corrupt for century's. So why do humans write about a person they never met, talked to or listened to? Why was the bible only written by men and not women? Is this the true meaning of the bible. Write story's about a man or the Spirit of God that no one has met in the flesh or in spirit. Use what is real your spiritual instincts and what you know and see!!!

YOU will never understand it,(unless you have a change of heart towards God) because it was spiritually written, and must be spiritually discerned. I read it when I was 12 years old to 14 and had the greatest revelation of my life of the love of God - the indescribable love of God. This was revealed to me by the Holy Spirit. You don't have the Holy Spirit as you have eliminated him from your life, my banana friend. So, no we do not need scholars. Jesus said for us to become like little children or we would never see the Kingdom of Heaven. Scholars are good, but we need the Holy Spirit first and foremost.

EDIT I did watch the video but you can't say Jesus is unjust, and the God of the Old Testament Bible is Just - not unfair. And even the people who died were all redeemed, just for the asking and believing. Hope you will be one of them. Jesus died for ALL people.

You mean they actually read the Bible? We are all meant to read the Bible and understand it with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Obviously the words have meaning in should have been written to convey a real story. Which of course the Bible doesn t do, because it is mostly mythology and fairytales; also it was written for primitive peoples who didn t have the information and knowledge modern humans possess. But, 1000s of years of conditioning and brain-washing , People get stuck , not being able to understand life in its totality.

We don't have any of the original writings for the Bible. Scholars tell us that Moses, Noah, and Jesus didn't exist.

In my experience, Christians always argue using the bible and not the words of bible scholars, so it only makes sense that atheists' rebuttals also come from the bible.

Atheists don't care to understand the bible to answer the first question.