As regards the suggestion, that in spite of the Bible being an imperfect book, one should "...follow it anyway."; seems somewhat ill-advised considering that it contains endless contradictions, upon contradictions, upon contradictions (Plus hundreds of obscenities, absurdities, historical errors, etc.).

Would rational persons seriously advise anyone to follow the madman (Mk 3:21) Jesus's instruction "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."(Luke 14:26). Many are now aware that the Greek word 'miseo' translated 'hate' here, means 'despise', 'abhor', and 'detest'.

Or would rational persons advise anyone comply with the unbelievable (John 7:5) Jesus' invitation to "...All men cannot receive this saying...For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."(Matthew 19:11-12). The Greek word 'eunOUCHizio' translates as 'amputate the testes', 'physically castrate', 'emasculate', etc).

It don't mean '...remain single....' as your Christian 'trainers' and 'handlers' would have you believe!

As many probably are aware, the early church father Origen was one of many that did castrate themselves in compliance with the invitation of their crazed, demented, and deranged god, Jesus Christ.

Or would rational persons advise anyone follow the irrational and merciless command of the hate filled Jesus who insisted "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."(Luke 19:27). [NOTE: Please don't bore us here with tepid apologetics suggesting 'a quote within a quote'!].

As many are probably aware, many millions have been slain in the name of Christianity through the centuries (and right up to the present!).

Or would any rational person advise anyone today to follow the foul, obscene, despicable portions of the Bible that provide a divine mandate for human cannibalism, human sacrifice, slavery, incest, harlotry, homosexuality, killing of unborn babies, slaughter of women, boys, and girls, religious and ethnic hatreds, circumcision, cruelty towards children, intra-family hatreds, and etc, etc.

Surely no sane, rational, and honest person would recommend anyone follow these divinely revealed, tolerated, sanctioned, encouraged, and obligatory teachings found throughout the Bible.

It does seem too, that once we remove all the contradictions, violence, and obscenities from the hate filled Bible, we're left with just a pittance of useful and helpful advice.

Not enough to make the Bible worth saving, in any event. Instead it would be a blessing to all humanity to just trash-can the complete book: and be done with it once and for all.

Well, just consider Jesus' statement that "...for I (Jesus) am meek and lowly in heart..."(Matt 11:29, 21:5, 2 Cor 10:1).
Simple enough. But then recall that we can also read Him saying that "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. "(Matt 10:34).

BTW, that last part has Jesus putting himself before the 'Father'. And that's a violation of the 1st. Commandment!

Jesus was just such a 'dim-bulb', wasn't he!

The Bible reveals that he was considered by his intimate family members to be a 'lunatic' (Mk 3:21)

And, they never came around to actually 'believing' Him at all (Jn 7:5).

Even Jesus' cousin John the Baptist questioned whether Jesus was the 'messiah' right up until his death (Mt 11:2-4)

And we today are supposed to take Jesus seriously....?

Hah....!

but....the Bible then tells us that: "...it was impossible for God to lie..."(Hebrews 6:18)

And how does the X'ian God resolve this seeming paradox...?

Why, He just "...shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."(2 Thess 2:11).

Neat 'solution to that little 'difficulty', Huh!

After all, a "....strong delusion..." is not really a 'lie', is it?

Of course, it all reveals the biblical 'God' to be immoral, dishonest, unreliable, unbelievable, contemptable, shameless, unethical, ignoble, unprincipled, evil, despicable, detestable, pitiable, and odious on all counts.

Much like the ecclesiatical establishment which supports him.

And of course, there is the familiar fact of Jesus boasting and bragging that "I come not to bring peace but a sword..."(Mt 10:34, Lk 12:51, etc.)

And yet the Bible also rarely does portray a peace loving, forgiving, and meek Jesus Christ. Attestations to that effect are found in a few places in the NT Bible.

But, on balance.......one must go with the Biblical portrayal of a 'terror-weilding' warrior Jesus demanding vengence and revenge as in the typical Luke 19:27 "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me."

Almost none of Jesus' 'parables' portray him as a 'peace loving' humanitarian ready and willing to dispense 'mercy', 'leniency', 'pardon', 'forgiveness', 'clemency', 'human and civil rights', 'pity', 'charity', fairness, etc, etc, etc!

So, was the X'ians' Jesus Christ (an un-believable 'lunatic' per Mk 3:21 and Jn 7:5...!) merely a schizophrenic promoter of 'hatred' and 'fear' and 'destruction', and 'upheaval', and 'dispossion', and 'pain', and 'suffering', and etc, etc, etc!

Or was he just another sorry egomaniac and phony 'messiah' of the times?

Or was he just a sorry meglomanic and sociopath.

You decide, was Jesus Christ just a: egomaniac, meglomanic, or sociopath?

They're 'LYING' again!

Why, even your "lunatic' God-man Jesus Christ (See Mk 3:21 and Jn 7:5) boldly announces and insists that "...he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."(John 12:25) and "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."(Luke 14:26).

In both these instances, the Greek 'miseo' translated 'hate', means 'detest', 'despise', 'abhor', etc.

Yep.....crazee' ole' Jesus wants His devotees to hate everyone alive (near and dear to themselves!).

And if that ain't enough, consider the "evil & corrupt" St. Paul's notions about the value of human life in the following:

Paul actually wrote "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain...(I have) a desire to depart, and to be with Christ..."(Phil 1:21-26).

Parallel death-wishes are found in "...We are...willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."(2 Cor 5:2-8).

Paul cannot make it any clearer when he writes, maligning of his own life, "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto my- self..."(Acts 20:24).

Throwing discretion to the wind, Paul pleads "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"(Romans 7:24), etc., etc..

O.K. now, consider carefully........we have the "evil & corrupt" St. Paul claiming "..to die is gain..", and "..a desire to depart..", and "..willing to be absent from the body..", and "..neither count I my life dear..", and "..who shall deliver me..".

And we have the 'lunatic' Jesus Christ preaching "hatred" of 'life' and 'loved ones'

And you X'ians want others here to somehow imagine that you somehow might possibly value human life..."!!

Have you no truth inside you! What must your 'hate filled' St. Paul and Jesus be thinking about your radical departure from their NT Bible teachings that hatred of human existance is practily a 'sacrament'!

There are hundreds of incidents of both....perhaps the best known would be "...Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign..."(Isaiah 20:3). Besides the pervert Isaiah, there are uncounted additional incidents throughout the King James Bible.

Here, we'll just sample a few New Testament passages.

Nakedness widely appears in the New Testament portion of the King James Bible. For example, the apostle Peter went fishing naked! And "...when Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fishers coat unto him, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea." (John 21:7). We should only be perhaps thankful that he didn't drown after putting on his clothes and then jumping into the water!

Recognising Jesus, and apparently knowing what was expected of him, the blind beggar Bartimaeus "...cast away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus... and followed Jesus in the way."(Mark 10:50-52-- --the Greek 'himation' means 'clothes', it does not represent a single 'garment' per se.). It is interesting that the chapter closes without Bartimaeus putting his 'clothes' back on.

An apparent frenzy of undressing in Jesus' presence occurs in the very next chapter when "...they cast their garments upon the colt...and many spread their garments in the path..."(Mark 11:7-8----the Greek 'himation' means 'clothes' here too.).

Jesus is again pestered by a naked man when "...there met him out of the city a certain man possessed, and wore no clothes..."(Luke 8:27).

Jesus bathed the apostles feet in the nude when "He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments(Greek 'himation' means inner and outer 'clothes'); and took a towel (Greek 'lention' means 'apron' or 'cloth'), and girded himself." (John 13:4). Peter becomes so excited and aroused that he begs "...not my feet only, but also my hands and my head."(John 13:9).

We also have the intriguing incident whereby Jesus, after spending the night in the garden of Gethsemane, comes out to be arrested. "And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the men laid hold of him: and he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked."(Mark 14:52).

Those that accept the Messianic prophesies as foretelling Jesus, are burdened with "And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord."(Amos 2:16-- --the Hebrew 'labab' for 'courageous' actually means 'transported with love' and 'ravished'). This sensuous passage drips and oozes the homosexual connection between Jesus and his "...naked young men...".

During Jesus' trial the "...high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy..." (Matt 26:65, Mark 14:63). The Greek 'diarrhesso' for 'rent', means 'remove' and 'destroy".

The above small sampling is taken from hundreds of 'nakedness' passages. And Jesus usually seemed to be right in the middle of it!

Typical are "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."(Matthew 5:29-30). He is clearly not speaking figuratively here.

He repeats in "Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire." (Matthew 18:8-9).

And again in "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell...And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched... And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire..."(Mark 9:43-47).

Jesus reaches new heights in self inflicted impairment and self-mutilation when he offers "...there be eunuches, which have made themselves eunuches for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."(Matthew 19:12). The Greek 'eunOUCHizio' translates to 'a castrated male', 'amputate the male testes', and to 'physically emasculate someone'.

Among Jesus' followers, none of these remedies have proven overly popular. In fact, they go largely and thankfully ignored as do most of his other daft and demented teachings(Please recall that the bible has identified Jesus as a 'lunatic' on several ocassions as in Mk 3:21 and Jn 10:20, etc).

Among the World's 26 different holy books, the Bible's gotta be among the greatest!!