[jocon307]

"They choose a handful of quotes out of a book that takes a year to read if you pace yourself conservatively."

Yes, I've just decided to finally read the Bible, I'm a fast reader, so far I've just been reading it before bed (not ideal, admitedly) and I'm on page 2! I'm very much thinking I'll have to read it during a more awake time, as, even from the very start, it really makes one think.

"This is similar to the "Bible contradicts itself" crap."

Yes, the big subject for this one is slavery, I venture. I was listening to the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC (NPR) a few weeks ago, I think the subject MIGHT have been slave "reparations", whatever it was the subject of how the Bible talks about slavery came up. The guest that day was very lefty, but this excellent caller called in and said, if you look at it with allowances to the existing cultures, the Bible is pretty clear that slavery is a negative thing. Well, he was very eloquent on it, and I'm doing him a disservice with my paraphrasing here, but he really kind of shut the guest up, and that was really because he was so obviously a Bible believer, and he very much seemed to be (altho' on the phone, you can never be sure) an African-American. They didn't have the nerve to ask him, it was really pretty amusing to me. He had really studied his Bible, that always impresses me.

[milan]

Here is a link for a Bible in a year program...many translations:

http://bible1.crosswalk.com/BibleInAYear/

You are right though; best to do it in the day when you are awake. I usually read Bible in the morning (before work) and try to do extra studies in the evening hours. To finish in a year, you will have to read between 15-30 minutes a day with no study. Add study and you can increase that to 1-3 hours easily.

There are many blatant misinterpretations of the Bible. Best thing to do is ignore those misinterpreting. If God wants to soften their heart, he will.