Back in the mists of antiquity when I was an English major at the University of Washington, I took a course called "The Bible as Literature." No religion was discussed in the class; that was left up to each individual student's beliefs. The prof discussed the literary form being used (poem, short story, essay, etc.) and we read the assigned sections as such, reading a short story as a short story, not as a loosely connected collection of verses. The only thing that may have touched on religion -- actually, it did, pretty heavily in my mind at least -- was that the prof put things into historical context. Anyway, this stood me in good stead for what was to come later.

I spent a year in a hospital in Denver, undergoing some extensive physical therapy, and during that time, one of my roommates was a Fundamentalist minister. He tried to save the souls of everyone in the hospital, me included. And I couldn't get away from him because we slept in the same room! We had several extensive discussions, and it soon became evident that I knew more about the Bible than he did!. When he quoted a verse or two out of context in an effort to prove a point, I was able to respond, "No, Reverend, that's not what that means." and then I explained it to him! I suggested to him several times that he really needed to read the Bible more carefully, because he was making a mess of it. He soon left me alone and went to work on a Mormon down the hall (no luck there, either).

I've always heard that faith is a gift from God. Even if you have the gift, I don't think you can give it to somebody else by trying to cram it down their throat.

I heard an interesting quote a few months ago: "Reading the Bible doesn't make you a Christian any more than reading Louis L'Amour makes you a cowboy."

Don Firth