5 Simple Questions about the Bible

1. A selective compendium of stories and suggested codifications about human social activity.
2. The bible should be read in order to understand Western culture, but not as recipe for human relationships.
3. Don't know....taking the bible literally ?
4. If taken literally, it could result in a prostitution of the intellect.
5. With tongue in cheek.

1. What is the Bible?
A collection of books, written from a superstitious point of view.
2. Should the Bible be read? Why/why not?
It should be read with a grain of salt.
3. What is Bible doctrine?
That would depend which portions you are reading and whether your mind is locked into fundamentalist armor or has a progressive bent.
4. How could the Bible affect someone's life?
A. By having it crammed down your throat by vindictive or even well meaning Christians
B. By giving a motive to join like minded individuals and pray together and do good works together
C. By giving a smokescreen to mask fleecing of the true believers
D. By giving one perpetual doubt and guilt
5. How is the Bible to be applied?
A. Not at all
B. As a lesson in superstitious thinking
C. By ignoring the contradictory, negative, aspects and believing in the positive passages.

1. An ancient book full of tales
2. Yes! How can you argue about something if you have no knowledge about it.
3. The teaching and interpretation of a religious belief.
4. It can be very restrictive and irresponsible to live by the bible, not to say completely wrong.
5. Only to be read as an ancient fairy tale that has no (should not have) merit in anyone's life.

1. The Bible is a collection of Near Eastern, mainly Semitic, folklore and mythology, laced with a not too generous portion of actual history.
2. Of course the Bible should be read. Historically it has been one of the most important tracts of the human race. More wars have been waged and more atrocities committed in the name of the God of this book than for any other motive. We owe it to ourselves to know what it's all about.
3. Bible doctrine? Well, beyond the so-called Golden Rule there really is no clear-cut doctrine. The wording in the book leaves doctrine open to individual interpretation.
4. How could the Bible affect someone's life? Good question. I have no idea how other people may react to a study of ancient myths. For myself, it has affected my life in that it has caused me to think rationally about things I might otherwise not have given much notice to. It's always good to have a focus for the exercise of one's mental faculties.
5. Not sure how to understand the question. How do you apply something like that to real-life situations? I don't know.

Btw, in the interests of full disclosure, I do not consider myself an atheist. However, I certainly do not believe in the so-called God that's at the center of this Bible any more than I believe in Zeus or Jupiter or Odin. I also have no use whatever for organized religion of any stripe. So, perhaps, my answers are acceptable for your project even though I reject the 'atheist' label