(Just a small note: besides just talking about the substance of his claims, I’m also hoping for some analysis of his logic and also fallacious reasoning, so that way this isn’t just another Christian question but also has some interesting knowledge involved to. For example, he uses conflation to try and compare the Bible to Harry Potter).
I’ve previously asked this forum for help regarding a Medium writer who seemed to have an axe to grind against the Christian faith:
https://discourse.biologos.org/t/last-post-for-a-bit-criticisms-of-an-angry-spanish-guy/57956/105
For some reason, this writer came back into my mind and a friend of mine recommended that, to finally close this chapter of my old faith problems, I need to look at his major arguments in his literature. He has several books available on Amazon:
The one I’m currently trying to look at is “Gibíblia, A fábrica de absurdos: A História de Jesus Sob uma Lente Ateísta (Estudos Bíblicos para ateus Livro 1) (Portuguese Edition).”
Although I haven’t been able to acquire the book (hopefully on Kindle or some PDF), I do have this excerpt that I would like to share and see what you guys take away from it:
Page 1
At the launch of his book Cain, a biblical character, José Saramago, an atheist, commented on the constant question:
“If you’re an atheist, why do you care so much about the Bible?”
This question may seem serious or innocent, but it hides the idea that only Christians can read the Bible.
Leandro Karnal is an atheist who has very complete and lengthy courses on the Bible. Despite being an atheist, he is clearly respectful of the biblical texts.
I have never seen an intelligent analysis of the Bible coming from religious people.
Richard Carrier, an atheist, is one of the best-known historians when we talk about the history of Jesus and biblical texts.
Francesca Stavrakopoulou is one of the best-known scholars of the Bible.
Page 2
I cannot speak for all atheists who are interested in the Bible, but I am interested in various questions:
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as a literary text,
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as a text widely accepted as the Word of God,
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as a text that I am forced to encounter everywhere.
My interest in the Bible is no different from my interest in, say, Dom Casmurro if it were widely discussed and people hated each other because someone dared to say that Capitu never cheated on Bentinho.
If there were churches and institutions whose goal was to make Dom Casmurro required reading, with prison for those who do not read it and prison for those who do not “read it correctly,” I would have the same interest.
(Dom Casmurro is a famous Brazilian novel. The Capitu/Bentinho issue is a long-standing literary debate.)
Page 3
Imagine if I said that the condition for reading Harry Potter was being a fan.
That would be absurd.
A person can read Harry Potter out of curiosity, for research purposes, or to learn how to write fiction.
The idea that reading a book must be conditioned by certain views and beliefs is absurd.
A person can read a book and dislike it, or become a fan of it.
In other words, reading cannot be conditioned on the final outcome.
I am reading The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago.
I became curious because of why a book would lead the Portuguese state to persecute someone.
I am curious to know why people talk so much about José Saramago.
Page 4
As we will explore in this work, this was not by chance—the way the Bible is treated.
Among the gospels that never made it into the Bible, we have Thomas.
Thomas is portrayed negatively in John (John 20:29).
However, Thomas has his own gospel, discovered in 1945.
In this war of gospel narratives, as we will learn, John defeated Thomas.
If Thomas had won, chances are atheists would be welcomed with open arms when criticizing the texts.
John won because without John there would be no Church; there would be no hierarchy.
With Thomas, salvation would be internal, and Jesus would not be the only way, as John says (John 14:6).