If reading the Bible really reduced Alcoholism by 42% then doctors would be writing prescriptions for it because that's a higher success rate than attending AA meetings.
The twelve steps is a scam. In many European countries, addiction specialists recommend other types of programs where patients meet and support each other. Secular programs work best.
I read the bible 4 days a week for quite awhile. As it slowly turned me into an atheist which reduced my anger, my loneliness, and my judgmental attitude.
It wasn't measured, but Sweetness was determined to drop by forty percent in the exit interviews. I hear Saltiness also increased substantially but again, those results went unreported
I read one chapter every day. Didn't do me any good. Then I began actively trying to learn about the Bible, its authors (such as we know it), and its flaws. My new mantra is "question everything".
Reading is great. One should read everyday. I don't think I'd be very healthy if i ate pizza breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday. And i love pizza. It's important to read a lot of different things, critically think about, and question what you read.
I read the news every day. I still feel like I learned more and internalized more from fiction. I used to worry about my culturally biblical hang-up s, but then I read Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and figured out how to be a good (or at least kind and decent) person. Small Gods and Hogfather are my recommendations for Dan's group.
I read comments every day. 😂 It’s incredible how many things I have learned over the years. Only problem they are bad for preserving or learning good English as instead good prose would.
This is a channel headed by a Bible scholar where many of us find the Bible fascinating. Not sure this is the right audience for a “the Bible is boring” argument :)
I was an evangelical x-tian for nearly 20 years with daily bible "study" and church meetings at least 3 times every week. When I left the church because of human corupution, I began a decade long deep dive into the bible (along with many, many other books) that was faarrrr deeper than anything I had done in the 20 years prior. I did this because I wanted desperately to find the real god, and only the real god, untouched by flawed human teachings, prejudices, and dogma. What did all that bible study do for me? Well, it lead me back to my natural, human state of atheism, thank goodness! BTW, still studying to this day (another 14 years after realizing I didn't believe in gods), and still an atheist.
You're not going to find an unflawed God searching through human resources. You can get some moments: playing music alone or with others, certain psychedelics, intense physical exertion, etc. but getting it from people is doubly flawed. First by their experiential limitations and second by the insufficiency of language to describe such experiences. FWIW, I believe we're all just as divine as Jesus and have as much claim on the creative force. Idk if I believe in a god, but I do believe I've witnessed and participated in miracles. I also believe anyone making claims about what God wants from you is the one who actually wants something from you. We are the sensory and cognitive organs of the universe, evolved so it could observe itself. I believe we have a responsibility to make what it sees something cool to look at. Beyond that it's all taste and style.
Hear, hear! Glad you didn't just give up on the book (or any book, for that matter) based on the religion that emerged from said-book. As a fellow atheist, I love reading the Bible and learning about it. And, ironically, the more I learn, the more I come to realize that the story of the Bible is so much more interesting than the story in the Bible (to echo the scholarly idea of differentiating between "the religion of Jesus" from "the religion about Jesus"). What so many Christians, in my opinion, miss out on is how the books were actually written, why, how, when, why they were chosen and not others, what other groups believed and how orthodoxy actually won. So, yes, the human truth of the Bible is so much more interesting than the divine fiction.
If you ever had moments of knowing the future you had proof of an entity existing outside of time and space, but all gods of religions are dead ancestors, spirits surviving inside the realm of time outside of space.. To understand the ALLKNOWING GOD you have to ask yourself how you know good and evil from inside your body, makes it feel good or bad or do you have no emotions?
• For every hour I spend reading the Bible, I’ve found that I view pornography one hour less. • Reading the Bible 4 days a week changed my life, but reading it 8 days a week changed it back.
I read the Bible, specifically the New Testament, 5 times per week, one chapter per day (note that you can make it through the Protestant New Testament in a year at this pace - starting Jan 1, 2024, I’m now in Philippians). No change in behavior, but at this point I’ve pretty thoroughly deconstructed. This was a group project for our entire church, and the 2nd time we’ve done this recently. I suspect my experience wasn’t what the church leaders were after. Oops.
After leaving Mormonism, I was a voracious Bible student. I don't believe these numbers. When I read it cover to cover 3 times, I saw the inconsistencies, which opened me up to scholarly insights, which ended my belief in evangelical beliefs.
Yeah when I started studying the historical Jesus and the New Testament, actually starting a masters in theology because I love the subject matter so much, I lost my faith. The church, at least it used to, teach things very literal. This was pre biblical scholarship. And before the internet you could just write things off as “anti”, not anymore…so now they’re going to a more symbolic stance.
@@Genesis-xd1id I had a professor (at Bob Jones no less) who opened syllabus day in Systematic Theology by saying, "This class has only two products: Men of God and atheists." He wasn't wrong. It took me a long time to finally leave completely but that was the first crack in the foundation. I walked out of there a lot less certain and a lot more humble.
@@eddieromanovjust because it's BS doesn't mean you can't use that degree to make a ton of money 😂. Pair it with communications, get yourself a teleministry! Help out God fearing people by taking 10% on the Lord's behalf.
One of the more scary takeaways from this “study” and its propagation is that it reinforces social insulation within those “believing” communities. So, they see how much alcoholism, bitterness, etc is in their own community (which in my experience is higher than average for the population at large) and assume that the outside world is worse. It keeps them from attempting to engage with others who are not in their community and so others different viewpoints or people.
Great point. You described the Jehovah witnesses. People who got out of the cult say that there’s high levels of alcoholism, mental health issues, abuse, etc. yet they present themselves and believe themselves to be better than the outside world. And keep separate from it.
......Not that there's anything wrong with that!"....as they say in Seinfield. I read my Bible every day. I don't smoke and I don't chew, and I don't go with the girls that do! I love Dan's point about costly signaling, confusing correlation and causation. Still I love my Bible and my other self-discipline habits.
Wait until you get to the part where the omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenelovent god instructs his human representative to have soldiers raid the neighboring territory and capture all the preteen girls to keep as sex slaves after murding the rest of their families. Heartwarming family entertainment.
In the OT once u get past the first two chapters, it gets dangerous because it is so boring that your brain gets bruised from ur head hitting the table when you go to sleep.
So in summary, people who claim to read the Bible every day are less likely to claim to be alcoholics. 2 "obvious" interpretations: -Religious people are less likely to admit to behaviors that might be perceived negatively -Religious people are more likely to have a supportive community, and are less likely to engage in negative behaviors Neither would surprise me. Neither have anything to do with the Bible, per se.
@@HalaMadrid-o1k I mean when Christians say things that they claim are biblical but are in reality untethered from the actual text of the Bible. For example, the idea that an unborn fetus has the same status as a breathing infant, or that their god does not condone human sacrifice yet required one for their whole soteriology to work.
@@HalaMadrid-o1k I know that there are some reasonable Christians, but most of the Christians I know are very unreasonable, no matter the institutional flavor of Christianity they ascribe to. In my view, those engaged in communal ritual practice tend to be more engaged in the business of maintaining cognitive dissonance.
@@HalaMadrid-o1k Probably also true. I haven't spoken much to Muslims, but it seems that their religion is going through what Christianity went through 400 years ago, which makes sense considering it is about 400 years younger.
@@HalaMadrid-o1kGood work making it so that both Islam and Christianity is nonsensical dogma, and both share the same origins of falsehood. You must have a huge cognitive dissonance
I'd love if someone actually conducted real research on this that compares the bible to other religious texts. I don't even need either side to "win", the data just seems fascinating.
I've been reading/studying the bible 5-6 days a week for decades and I haven't noticed any significant changes in my habits, morality or (un)happiness. I was a believer and deconverted back in late 1997 and I didn't deminish my readings and yet I'm basically the same person I was 27 years ago. in my humble opinion, that "study" is, pardon my Latin, stercus tauri.
I think they are also mixing it with some of the general templeton foundation studies on the effect of going to church or particpating in a religion and that is what explains the loneliness factor
Reading the Bible might change behavior the same way reading Harry Potter would. The difference being Harry Potter doesn’t have as “this guy begat this guy” or obscure dialogue.
@@definitivamenteno-malo7919 Yeah Narnia sucks not gonna lie, still Abrahamic Mythology is quite cool when is used in fiction especially in eastern pop culture
Reading the bible and really studying its history can absolutely change your life: It's how and why I became an atheist! One of the things that helped me understand how the bible we have today came into existence was "Misquoting Jesus" by Bart Erhman. Once you see how haphazardly the bible came together as we know it today you begin to understand that this is 100% the creation of human beings with their own agendas and biases.
Using young children in the study would really skew it. Don't know many 8,9, or 10 year-olds that have issues with drinking, smoking, gambling, or porn. I'd be in the 4 times or more a week category. I'm neurodivergent, so controlling my emotions has been a challenge. After many decades of reading my Bible, and growing closer to God. I feel it has helped me learn to be more in control. However, I'd have ta say a strong spiritual connection to God is the key. For that, one needs to actually practice what the Bible teaches. Reading alone won't do it. But even Paul said he was unable to stop himself from sinning, soooo....
I think the point is that this wasn’t an experiment where they took people who don’t normally read the Bible and had them read the Bible and checked for behavior changes. This was a survey of a group of behaviors that people were already doing and are correlated. Almost as if the institutions that would encourage studying the Bible daily also discourage “sinful” behavior. The cause is the institution or group that decides which behaviors to encourage/discourage, not any of the actual behaviors.
@@chadkent327 because it’s a survey, I think it’s more about “reporting behaviors” than actual behaviors. So it would be safer to say that people who “reported reading the Bible 4 days/week reported engaging in behavior-X fewer days/week”. It’s all about the signaling.
The last statistics I saw said that in excess of sixty percent of pastors and youth pastors admit to struggling with pornography. According to this video it would appear that most pastors must not read their bibles very often.
What does “struggling” even mean? Watching and feeling guilty afterwards? What do the remaining less than 40% do? Watch _without_ feeling guilty about it? 😅
A 2017 study (by Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry) found “higher percentages of evangelical Protestants, theists, and Biblical literalists in a state predict higher frequencies of searching for ‘porn’, as do higher church attendance rates.” The study found this seemingly ironic correlation, but it did not indicate causation.
2 things I think are worth noting: if you don’t have the time, energy or are subject to other conditions like depression or ADHD that make it hard to keep up with a reading habit, you aren’t likely to also have energy or time to work on what you may consider problem behaviors. There also may be an age factor to this. Older people may have more free than time than younger people, etc. And, if you’re the kind of person who reads the Bible regularly, I’d wager there’s a decent chance you’re less likely to admit to partaking in behaviors that other Christians think of as problematic, even if you do.
Sometimes costly signaling is directed at oneself. I read the Bible daily, but neither the secular nor the religious circles I move in would find that behavior particularly admirable.
To what end, then? Are you looking for something or proving something to yourself? Maybe honoring a dead relative? The costly signaling that I do for myself is to do what I believe is right despite personal sacrifice (show up for work, put others' needs before my comfort/convenience) and I do it purely for self-esteem (accomplishments are my best counter to negative inner dialog). I get no external strokes from it usually, I do it for counter-arguments to feelings of worthlessness. And so I ask: why are you reading the Bible daily? Have you finished it yet?
The funny thing to me is how trusting of the unknown authors of the book most of the faithful are , but the same people who can research the motives and biases of today's news anchors will then tell you that they don't trust much of anything they hear from some of these news anchors. Again They have no idea who these human beings were that wrote these words, what their motives were, and what their biases were , but they have been trained to have faith in the assertions made by these unknown humans.
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Health has plenty of studies showing that variables like regular church attendance, religious salience, intrinsic religiosity, and yes scripture study are correlated with better life outcomes. There are even a few prospective cohort studies and experimental studies in the latest edition. I don't think scripture study by itself is much of a factor though.
I would also like to add that reading the bible for a majority of the days each week takes away from the time you'd otherwise have to do those different things. It's basic logic surrounding time
Reading the Bible has been good for me because I used to not like reading the Bible is what’s made me kind of like reading I really should read more books
Ill say that engaging in any contempletive spiritual act for 4 days a week will almost certainly have positive results on mood and outlook - regardless of one's tradition. So yeah i couls see how someone reading and considering the bible four days a week could have benefits no issue there.
There's also a reasonable alternative explanation, which is that individuals who _claim_ to read the bible 4+ days a week could be _significantly less likely_ to admit to engaging in sinful behavior, whether or not they're actually engaging in it. Because it's self-reported, we can't know the actual data, only inferences the data reasonably allow us to draw.
The other thing I noticed from Dan's review is that people were self reporting, not being observed. Those collecting the data gave no idea how many of the reports are accurate.
I know you know all the following but I wish to say it here for any readers who might not think if it. Likely similar results would happen with reading in any material that a reader felt was important, not only the Bible. Sacred books in your tradition, sacred books in other traditions, philisophy that you can actually understand, novels, poetry, and more. To establish the desired effects for the Bible, reaearchers would have to show that the effects did not happen, or were much less, with other material. Research would have to show that these effects happened with readers who did not hold the Bible as their primary religious text. These effects might still happen. It would be fun to see the results of well-done research. But it would not be easy and would be full of chances to jump the gun and come to wrong conclusions in many ways. From a person who has read important texts in several religions. Not very deeply, but at least I tried. Thanks. Mike
I still read the Bible 7 days a week, and finding 2 or more contradictory answers to most major topics is what led me away from believing in it as God's word, which is what I was raised to believe.
And also looking at the data in the US, we find less religious states have lower social problems. So I guess being less religious causes fewer social problems, right???
That's a very interesting observation! Taken together, these various findings imply both (a) social or behavioral problems are worse (at the collective level) where more people are religious but also (b) behavioral problems are better at the individual level when someone is more religious. There's an obvious contradiction there, unless we say there's an inverse correlation between being religious versus reading the Bible, or that somehow aggregate statistics run in the opposite direction as the sum of the individual statistics (mathematically untrue).
Also they mentioned participants from age 8 to 80. One would hope that the minors they spoke to weren't smoking, drinking or watching corn in the first place!
Good thing all those people who self reported reading the Bible 4 times a week would never lie in their self reporting about alcohol or pornography. :)
I imagine if you spend more time reading anything it will take time from other activities and habits. The bible though is a horrifying book depending how you approach it and could even make one feel guilt and self hatred. Not to mention that God is a monster.
Maybe they should do a similar study on how reading Harry Potter (or anything else, really) - maybe just reading - has on these behaviours. Maybe people who read more just have less time for these other activities, or it takes their focus away from other activities.
The other day I answered a question on Quora in which the person asked why atheists get so angry when they are presented with the mountain of evidence that proves Christianity. I asked him for some of that evidence. He gave me three "recent scientific facts." The closest to being recent was the rock formation that someone claimed was Noah's ark. I debunked each of his claims, then asked him if bearing false witness to try and buttress his faith wasn't a problem. Wow, did he ever get angry! Although the story is a bit funny, I think that point is really important. Lies and false evidence should make people's faith weaker, not stronger.
If the poll went down to 8 years old, I'd like to see it broken down by age. If minors just read the Bible more days per week, that'd obviously skew the results. Also, being self-reported, it doesn't actually represent actual behavior. Could easily be that Bible reading makes one more inclined to be dishonest about such things
We can absolutely measure abstract concepts and behavioral changes in self-reported bible engagers! Cross my palm with silver, stranger, and I'll make you a better oerson.
If a study like this was actually done, it would be an observational study only, which proves nothing. It would need to be followed up with a randomized controlled trial, and even then, obtaining empirically significant data would be iffy.
Surveys of course always suffer from reporting bias: _e.g.,_ I'd wager that people who read the Bible more are more likely to lie about drinking, or watching pr0n or other things often considered objectionable by the Bible. I mean, take these creators as examples: willfully misrepresenting a study to try to support their purported faith ... or perhaps clout. But in general, it's very hard to design a good survey study on controversial or very personal matters.
I know a friend who is obsesed with the bible. He started with reading the bible 4 days a week. He is now listening all day long to chrsitian channels , bible audiobooks and reads from morning to night in the bible. He isnt working as he thinks everything you need you get from Jesus. Didnt work well the Chrsitian thing here.
I've never heard of a study on people "ages 8 to 80." Am now wondering what 8-year olds tell strangers on the telephone and how one discusses pornography, alcoholism, bitterness, and anger with random children. Lastly, how did they include study participants who read the Bible to avoid socializing or for its pornographic content?
If you weren’t reading the Bible 4 days a week before, and then you start reading the Bible 4 days a week, that is by definition a change in your life, or at least your routine. 😂
So, they used a cultural marker for fervent commitment to a group that strongly opposes drinking and porn and found that it correlated with less drinking and porn. Truly surprising. Also, this was a self-reported survey, so it wouldn't actually be surprising if more shame over such behaviors in those groups reduced reporting of them as well.
I read this CBE report a year or so ago after someone posted it, and I would have been much less nice about it than Dan was. I do see how Dan characterized their behaviors as identity markers. I would have said they seemed to be just correlating Bible reading with agreeing with conservative Christian views. There didn't seem to be any science going on. It was just a survey.
Day three: Hair started growing on the bottoms of my feet.Day four: Paper cuts became a problem, and I almost bled to death. Day five: So this is what a lobotomy feels like.
i never read the Bible +2 times per week until some weeks ago, but also i never ingested beer or something like or smoked (i have some minor anger issues, but isn't something harmful. About P*rn... Well... I'm never was so much a fan of fully naked persons in sexual intercourse, but i still have some preferences). nowadays i read the Bible 3/4 a week, and y'know... Nothing happened except some usual gasps about some Bible verses 😂
Hey Dan, what’s with the number 40 in the Bible? Raining forty days and nights, spying out Canaan for forty days then wandering in the wilderness forty years, Jesus fasting for forty days, etc. When I read most of the Old Testament, I saw the number forty in other places, if I remember correctly. Was forty just a big round number? Was that just their term for “a lot”? Love your videos.
That's what is called a "clue." As in a clue that you are not reading a factual-literal account of historical events as if it was reportage of what the surveillance cameras would have seen but instead are seeing metaphor and allegory. Numbers like that often have a symbolic meaning. In this case, the number 40 refers to a time of cleansing or trial. Every time you see patterns repeated those are signposts that there is something else going on than what is on the surface.
Just musing while I munch on some popcorn: I suppose it largely depends on how you... wait for it... negotiate with the text. If you are quote-mining, looking for prooftexts to support divisive, misogynist or destructive dogmas, then no. If you are raping and pillaging it looking for verses to rip out of context, with no regard for literary and rhetorical devices or sociohistorical context, to use as a weapon to bludgeon religion with, then no. If you are interpreting it in such a manner as to support the idea of treating everyone with kindness, respect and dignity, then yes. Your choice. And that choice says more about you than it does about the Bible itself.
What I got from this study: If 60% of people who read the Bible 4x a week watch less p0rN, that means there are 40% of them who watch a heck of a lot of p0rN!
How could a study of people who read the bible 4 days a week or more start showing results on day 3? On day 3, you don't know if that person is going to read the bible 4 days a week. One person could stop after day 3, another person could start after day 3 and still get 4 days in that week.
Reading some parts of the Bible may give the reader comfort or encouragement to change their behavior -or it might only be a distraction from some bad habit. But it is so naive to actually believe that reading the Bible 4 days a week would cause the huge changes they mentioned. If that were true, churches would be filled with people with no bad habits nor behavioral problems. In my experience, that hasn’t been true, at all.
The majority of Americans would benefit from reading any book four days a week.
Same if reading and investment book, or any other helpful informational book
or EVER Many surveys find the average american doesn't read a book in a year.
@@Boxerr54 Saw a late night bit asking americans to just name a book, any book.
@@Merrick The interviewer might have more luck asking people which book they'd liked banned. ;-)
Text books would be better
If reading the Bible really reduced Alcoholism by 42% then doctors would be writing prescriptions for it because that's a higher success rate than attending AA meetings.
The twelve steps is a scam. In many European countries, addiction specialists recommend other types of programs where patients meet and support each other. Secular programs work best.
AA has seen the most success though and it comes from the church.
@@cman04 Weird! Don't work in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy .... It's true that the worst program is the one run by Scientology.
@@cman04The most successful in America because it is the most used, it still has a high fail rate.
@@cman04Do you have a source for that claim?
I read the bible 4 days a week for quite awhile. As it slowly turned me into an atheist which reduced my anger, my loneliness, and my judgmental attitude.
Bitterness was down 15%, but Umami was up 35%!
Those are results you can really savor.
It wasn't measured, but Sweetness was determined to drop by forty percent in the exit interviews. I hear Saltiness also increased substantially but again, those results went unreported
@@WDRhine And they say there’s no accounting for taste!
Only enough, no data on emesis.
Everybody’s a comedian!
I rejected the bible and Xtianity after seriously studying the bible and it changed my life to the better
👆
Amen! Thank god I'm an atheist!
You and I both know there’s a hole somewhere, left void, that can only be satiated by the eternal
@@gonsalomachado6626 That's the equivalent of saying deep down everyone knows there is no god. It's just not true.
@@lavieestlenfer for sure not someone who sacrifices his human son and who "authored" the bibles.
I read one chapter every day. Didn't do me any good. Then I began actively trying to learn about the Bible, its authors (such as we know it), and its flaws. My new mantra is "question everything".
I started reading the bible and it reinforced my deconversion.
Me too.
Did your self-reported alcoholism go down by 42% tho?
@@creamwobbly No Way
I celebrate mass be drinking every day now
Not just on Sunday
@@creamwobbly My bad, missed the 42..
As a psych major, one of the very first things we learn is; correlation does not automatically mean causation.
I hope that is one of the first things taught in almost every field of study.
I hope you've seen XKCD 552 ("correlation").
Reading is great. One should read everyday.
I don't think I'd be very healthy if i ate pizza breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday. And i love pizza.
It's important to read a lot of different things, critically think about, and question what you read.
Well said my brother 🤝🏻
I read the news every day. I still feel like I learned more and internalized more from fiction. I used to worry about my culturally biblical hang-up s, but then I read Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and figured out how to be a good (or at least kind and decent) person. Small Gods and Hogfather are my recommendations for Dan's group.
I read comments every day. 😂 It’s incredible how many things I have learned over the years.
Only problem they are bad for preserving or learning good English as instead good prose would.
I don't know that it is important for the species; but for those that are willing it certainly improves their quality of life.
I read pizza boxes every day
Boredom went up 1500%
80% of Bible readers tap out at Deuteronomy.
-Source: I made it up 😅
@@digitaljanus78.6% of all facts are made up on the spot, according to statisticians.
@@digitaljanus Exactly what I was gonna say! It's a shame though, since the main course isn't served until Joshua judges Ruth.
This is a channel headed by a Bible scholar where many of us find the Bible fascinating. Not sure this is the right audience for a “the Bible is boring” argument :)
Best cure for insomnia: 1 Chronicles
I was an evangelical x-tian for nearly 20 years with daily bible "study" and church meetings at least 3 times every week. When I left the church because of human corupution, I began a decade long deep dive into the bible (along with many, many other books) that was faarrrr deeper than anything I had done in the 20 years prior. I did this because I wanted desperately to find the real god, and only the real god, untouched by flawed human teachings, prejudices, and dogma.
What did all that bible study do for me? Well, it lead me back to my natural, human state of atheism, thank goodness! BTW, still studying to this day (another 14 years after realizing I didn't believe in gods), and still an atheist.
You're not going to find an unflawed God searching through human resources. You can get some moments: playing music alone or with others, certain psychedelics, intense physical exertion, etc. but getting it from people is doubly flawed. First by their experiential limitations and second by the insufficiency of language to describe such experiences. FWIW, I believe we're all just as divine as Jesus and have as much claim on the creative force. Idk if I believe in a god, but I do believe I've witnessed and participated in miracles. I also believe anyone making claims about what God wants from you is the one who actually wants something from you.
We are the sensory and cognitive organs of the universe, evolved so it could observe itself. I believe we have a responsibility to make what it sees something cool to look at. Beyond that it's all taste and style.
Hear, hear! Glad you didn't just give up on the book (or any book, for that matter) based on the religion that emerged from said-book. As a fellow atheist, I love reading the Bible and learning about it. And, ironically, the more I learn, the more I come to realize that the story of the Bible is so much more interesting than the story in the Bible (to echo the scholarly idea of differentiating between "the religion of Jesus" from "the religion about Jesus"). What so many Christians, in my opinion, miss out on is how the books were actually written, why, how, when, why they were chosen and not others, what other groups believed and how orthodoxy actually won. So, yes, the human truth of the Bible is so much more interesting than the divine fiction.
@@nilssturman5258, yes!! I’ve been focusing on the history of the bible for the last few years. Fascinating!
I can relate to your story in many ways. Being an atheist for 15 years, after studying the bible, and still doing it.
If you ever had moments of knowing the future you had proof of an entity existing outside of time and space, but all gods of religions are dead ancestors, spirits surviving inside the realm of time outside of space..
To understand the ALLKNOWING GOD you have to ask yourself how you know good and evil from inside your body, makes it feel good or bad or do you have no emotions?
Reading a history or science book 4 times a week would do this country a world of benefit.
• For every hour I spend reading the Bible, I’ve found that I view pornography one hour less.
• Reading the Bible 4 days a week changed my life, but reading it 8 days a week changed it back.
What if you read the "spicier" content of the Bible, does it still counts?
@@epronovost6539 it depends on if you’re trying to support your dogma.
@@epronovost6539Only if you rub one out 😂
I read the Bible, specifically the New Testament, 5 times per week, one chapter per day (note that you can make it through the Protestant New Testament in a year at this pace - starting Jan 1, 2024, I’m now in Philippians). No change in behavior, but at this point I’ve pretty thoroughly deconstructed. This was a group project for our entire church, and the 2nd time we’ve done this recently. I suspect my experience wasn’t what the church leaders were after. Oops.
What made you deconstruct?
After leaving Mormonism, I was a voracious Bible student. I don't believe these numbers. When I read it cover to cover 3 times, I saw the inconsistencies, which opened me up to scholarly insights, which ended my belief in evangelical beliefs.
The thing that killed my faith was going off to Bible College to study it seriously. It's really pretty common.
Same. Except the Mormonism. Baptists Church.
Yeah when I started studying the historical Jesus and the New Testament, actually starting a masters in theology because I love the subject matter so much, I lost my faith. The church, at least it used to, teach things very literal. This was pre biblical scholarship. And before the internet you could just write things off as “anti”, not anymore…so now they’re going to a more symbolic stance.
@@Genesis-xd1id I had a professor (at Bob Jones no less) who opened syllabus day in Systematic Theology by saying, "This class has only two products: Men of God and atheists." He wasn't wrong.
It took me a long time to finally leave completely but that was the first crack in the foundation. I walked out of there a lot less certain and a lot more humble.
@@eddieromanovjust because it's BS doesn't mean you can't use that degree to make a ton of money 😂. Pair it with communications, get yourself a teleministry! Help out God fearing people by taking 10% on the Lord's behalf.
Reading it probably won't do any appreciable harm...Believing it will mess you up...
Reading my Bible cover to cover was instrumental in my becoming an atheist. I highly recommend it. =)
I've been reading it the last few weeks as a goal I've set for myself and, honestly, it makes me want a drink.
Obey your thirst.
One of the more scary takeaways from this “study” and its propagation is that it reinforces social insulation within those “believing” communities.
So, they see how much alcoholism, bitterness, etc is in their own community (which in my experience is higher than average for the population at large) and assume that the outside world is worse. It keeps them from attempting to engage with others who are not in their community and so others different viewpoints or people.
Great point. You described the Jehovah witnesses. People who got out of the cult say that there’s high levels of alcoholism, mental health issues, abuse, etc. yet they present themselves and believe themselves to be better than the outside world. And keep separate from it.
I would also love to see a similar study about books generally.
My spiritual core was formed by Terry Pratchett and Elmore Leonard. The Bible never had a chance.
......Not that there's anything wrong with that!"....as they say in Seinfield. I read my Bible every day. I don't smoke and I don't chew, and I don't go with the girls that do!
I love Dan's point about costly signaling, confusing correlation and causation. Still I love my Bible and my other self-discipline habits.
I studied the Bible and went to seminary and it turned me atheist So I guess you can say that's a potential positive impact.
Just got to the part where Moses goes around doing a genocide. Wow, life changing.
Wait until you get to the part where the omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenelovent god instructs his human representative to have soldiers raid the neighboring territory and capture all the preteen girls to keep as sex slaves after murding the rest of their families. Heartwarming family entertainment.
Certain Austrian failed painter be like: "My favourite book of the Bible is Exodus".
In the OT once u get past the first two chapters, it gets dangerous because it is so boring that your brain gets bruised from ur head hitting the table when you go to sleep.
So in summary, people who claim to read the Bible every day are less likely to claim to be alcoholics. 2 "obvious" interpretations:
-Religious people are less likely to admit to behaviors that might be perceived negatively
-Religious people are more likely to have a supportive community, and are less likely to engage in negative behaviors
Neither would surprise me. Neither have anything to do with the Bible, per se.
I'm sure there's an inverse correlation between how often a person reads the Bible and how likely they are to be invited down the pub!
@@NataliePinedepends on if drinking is considered wrong
Its ok according to the bible and many Christians.
But other Christians think it is sinful.
The more people who read the Bible, the more atheists, agnostics, and skeptics we'll have.
Specially if it's not with a sacerdot grooming their ears
The more I read of the Bible, the less Christian nonsense affects me.
@@HalaMadrid-o1k I mean when Christians say things that they claim are biblical but are in reality untethered from the actual text of the Bible. For example, the idea that an unborn fetus has the same status as a breathing infant, or that their god does not condone human sacrifice yet required one for their whole soteriology to work.
@@HalaMadrid-o1k I know that there are some reasonable Christians, but most of the Christians I know are very unreasonable, no matter the institutional flavor of Christianity they ascribe to. In my view, those engaged in communal ritual practice tend to be more engaged in the business of maintaining cognitive dissonance.
@@HalaMadrid-o1kWhy are you here?
@@HalaMadrid-o1k Probably also true. I haven't spoken much to Muslims, but it seems that their religion is going through what Christianity went through 400 years ago, which makes sense considering it is about 400 years younger.
@@HalaMadrid-o1kGood work making it so that both Islam and Christianity is nonsensical dogma, and both share the same origins of falsehood.
You must have a huge cognitive dissonance
The paper may not mention causation, but the OP is making a correlation causation fallacy. Both could be due to a common root.
I'd love if someone actually conducted real research on this that compares the bible to other religious texts. I don't even need either side to "win", the data just seems fascinating.
Intellectual honesty went down 82.9%
Only when people join the Christian cult…..
I've been reading/studying the bible 5-6 days a week for decades and I haven't noticed any significant changes in my habits, morality or (un)happiness. I was a believer and deconverted back in late 1997 and I didn't deminish my readings and yet I'm basically the same person I was 27 years ago. in my humble opinion, that "study" is, pardon my Latin, stercus tauri.
I think they are also mixing it with some of the general templeton foundation studies on the effect of going to church or particpating in a religion and that is what explains the loneliness factor
Reading the Bible might change behavior the same way reading Harry Potter would. The difference being Harry Potter doesn’t have as “this guy begat this guy” or obscure dialogue.
Meh, the Bible is a better story that Harry Potter because doesn’t have that Harry Potter cringe
@@gilgamesh7652I mean... they're both very cringe
@@definitivamenteno-malo7919 I mean at least the Bible inspired Lord of the Rings
@@gilgamesh7652 only good thing. But also inspired Narnia, so good thing revoked
@@definitivamenteno-malo7919 Yeah Narnia sucks not gonna lie, still Abrahamic Mythology is quite cool when is used in fiction especially in eastern pop culture
Reading the bible and really studying its history can absolutely change your life: It's how and why I became an atheist! One of the things that helped me understand how the bible we have today came into existence was "Misquoting Jesus" by Bart Erhman. Once you see how haphazardly the bible came together as we know it today you begin to understand that this is 100% the creation of human beings with their own agendas and biases.
Using young children in the study would really skew it. Don't know many 8,9, or 10 year-olds that have issues with drinking, smoking, gambling, or porn. I'd be in the 4 times or more a week category. I'm neurodivergent, so controlling my emotions has been a challenge. After many decades of reading my Bible, and growing closer to God. I feel it has helped me learn to be more in control. However, I'd have ta say a strong spiritual connection to God is the key. For that, one needs to actually practice what the Bible teaches. Reading alone won't do it. But even Paul said he was unable to stop himself from sinning, soooo....
I read the bible and my boredom rose 500%!!!!
I have read the bible before. I can confirm literally nothing happened
I think the point is that this wasn’t an experiment where they took people who don’t normally read the Bible and had them read the Bible and checked for behavior changes. This was a survey of a group of behaviors that people were already doing and are correlated. Almost as if the institutions that would encourage studying the Bible daily also discourage “sinful” behavior. The cause is the institution or group that decides which behaviors to encourage/discourage, not any of the actual behaviors.
Some says it’s the lack of faith.
Literally literally or figuratively literally?
@@chadkent327 because it’s a survey, I think it’s more about “reporting behaviors” than actual behaviors. So it would be safer to say that people who “reported reading the Bible 4 days/week reported engaging in behavior-X fewer days/week”. It’s all about the signaling.
@@MarcosElMalo2 agree
The last statistics I saw said that in excess of sixty percent of pastors and youth pastors admit to struggling with pornography. According to this video it would appear that most pastors must not read their bibles very often.
What does “struggling” even mean? Watching and feeling guilty afterwards?
What do the remaining less than 40% do? Watch _without_ feeling guilty about it? 😅
A 2017 study (by Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry) found “higher percentages of evangelical Protestants, theists, and Biblical literalists in a state predict higher frequencies of searching for ‘porn’, as do higher church attendance rates.”
The study found this seemingly ironic correlation, but it did not indicate causation.
2 things I think are worth noting: if you don’t have the time, energy or are subject to other conditions like depression or ADHD that make it hard to keep up with a reading habit, you aren’t likely to also have energy or time to work on what you may consider problem behaviors. There also may be an age factor to this. Older people may have more free than time than younger people, etc.
And, if you’re the kind of person who reads the Bible regularly, I’d wager there’s a decent chance you’re less likely to admit to partaking in behaviors that other Christians think of as problematic, even if you do.
Its depression and ADHD that keep me reading instead of taking care of my life.
Sometimes costly signaling is directed at oneself. I read the Bible daily, but neither the secular nor the religious circles I move in would find that behavior particularly admirable.
It's also okay to enjoy reading a book!
To what end, then? Are you looking for something or proving something to yourself? Maybe honoring a dead relative? The costly signaling that I do for myself is to do what I believe is right despite personal sacrifice (show up for work, put others' needs before my comfort/convenience) and I do it purely for self-esteem (accomplishments are my best counter to negative inner dialog). I get no external strokes from it usually, I do it for counter-arguments to feelings of worthlessness. And so I ask: why are you reading the Bible daily? Have you finished it yet?
The embodiment of *citation needed.
Pretty sure people that read the Koran daily don’t drink and don’t smoke.
And the average reader falls asleep on those 4 days 63.26% faster than on the other 3.
The funny thing to me is how trusting of the unknown authors of the book most of the faithful are , but the same people who can research the motives and biases of today's news anchors will then tell you that they don't trust much of anything they hear from some of these news anchors.
Again They have no idea who these human beings were that wrote these words, what their motives were, and what their biases were , but they have been trained to have faith in the assertions made by these unknown humans.
am only puzzeld why the GOD in the bible has never cooled down the anger
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Health has plenty of studies showing that variables like regular church attendance, religious salience, intrinsic religiosity, and yes scripture study are correlated with better life outcomes. There are even a few prospective cohort studies and experimental studies in the latest edition. I don't think scripture study by itself is much of a factor though.
All I heard was "...there's obviously interesting data associated with this...and I would love to see the outcome of further research like this..."
I would also like to add that reading the bible for a majority of the days each week takes away from the time you'd otherwise have to do those different things. It's basic logic surrounding time
Might as well conclude that not feeling lonely cause people to read the Bible more.
Yes, or that feeling lonely or getting drunk causes people to read the Bible less. Might cause them to read other books less too.
Apologist TikTok is amazing
Reading the Bible has been good for me because I used to not like reading the Bible is what’s made me kind of like reading I really should read more books
Ill say that engaging in any contempletive spiritual act for 4 days a week will almost certainly have positive results on mood and outlook - regardless of one's tradition. So yeah i couls see how someone reading and considering the bible four days a week could have benefits no issue there.
There's also a reasonable alternative explanation, which is that individuals who _claim_ to read the bible 4+ days a week could be _significantly less likely_ to admit to engaging in sinful behavior, whether or not they're actually engaging in it. Because it's self-reported, we can't know the actual data, only inferences the data reasonably allow us to draw.
❤❤❤❤❤❤ thanks Dan!!!
The other thing I noticed from Dan's review is that people were self reporting, not being observed. Those collecting the data gave no idea how many of the reports are accurate.
Atheist went up 42.8%
Superstition declined byb 53.4%
I know you know all the following but I wish to say it here for any readers who might not think if it.
Likely similar results would happen with reading in any material that a reader felt was important, not only the Bible. Sacred books in your tradition, sacred books in other traditions, philisophy that you can actually understand, novels, poetry, and more. To establish the desired effects for the Bible, reaearchers would have to show that the effects did not happen, or were much less, with other material. Research would have to show that these effects happened with readers who did not hold the Bible as their primary religious text. These effects might still happen. It would be fun to see the results of well-done research. But it would not be easy and would be full of chances to jump the gun and come to wrong conclusions in many ways.
From a person who has read important texts in several religions. Not very deeply, but at least I tried.
Thanks. Mike
I still read the Bible 7 days a week, and finding 2 or more contradictory answers to most major topics is what led me away from believing in it as God's word, which is what I was raised to believe.
Notice they didn’t measure violence, losing one’s temper, angry, degrading speech, etc.
And also looking at the data in the US, we find less religious states have lower social problems. So I guess being less religious causes fewer social problems, right???
That's a very interesting observation! Taken together, these various findings imply both (a) social or behavioral problems are worse (at the collective level) where more people are religious but also (b) behavioral problems are better at the individual level when someone is more religious. There's an obvious contradiction there, unless we say there's an inverse correlation between being religious versus reading the Bible, or that somehow aggregate statistics run in the opposite direction as the sum of the individual statistics (mathematically untrue).
Also they mentioned participants from age 8 to 80. One would hope that the minors they spoke to weren't smoking, drinking or watching corn in the first place!
Good thing all those people who self reported reading the Bible 4 times a week would never lie in their self reporting about alcohol or pornography. :)
Where would they even get these numbers?
I also wonder how your scientifically put a number on abstract concepts like “loneliness” and “bitterness”
The book of numbers
@@chadkent327 Exactly. How did they measure loneliness or bitterness? "On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is bad and 10 is good, how bitter do you feel?"
@@jsmoothd654 🥴🙃🤣
I imagine if you spend more time reading anything it will take time from other activities and habits. The bible though is a horrifying book depending how you approach it and could even make one feel guilt and self hatred. Not to mention that God is a monster.
Maybe they should do a similar study on how reading Harry Potter (or anything else, really) - maybe just reading - has on these behaviours. Maybe people who read more just have less time for these other activities, or it takes their focus away from other activities.
The bible loves the number 3 as well
Not to mention all the various versions and translations.❤
The other day I answered a question on Quora in which the person asked why atheists get so angry when they are presented with the mountain of evidence that proves Christianity. I asked him for some of that evidence. He gave me three "recent scientific facts." The closest to being recent was the rock formation that someone claimed was Noah's ark. I debunked each of his claims, then asked him if bearing false witness to try and buttress his faith wasn't a problem. Wow, did he ever get angry!
Although the story is a bit funny, I think that point is really important. Lies and false evidence should make people's faith weaker, not stronger.
If the poll went down to 8 years old, I'd like to see it broken down by age. If minors just read the Bible more days per week, that'd obviously skew the results.
Also, being self-reported, it doesn't actually represent actual behavior. Could easily be that Bible reading makes one more inclined to be dishonest about such things
We can absolutely measure abstract concepts and behavioral changes in self-reported bible engagers! Cross my palm with silver, stranger, and I'll make you a better oerson.
Reading the Bible led me to atheism 🤷🏻
I wouldnt take any deities seriously that write their messages on scrolls while im texting on a tablet.
That's not a scientific experiment. It's just like a poll.
Reading the Song of Solomon reduced my external pornography consumption!
I am Christian and I agree Christianity makes too many promises.
It had an effect on me. I became an Atheist.
Sounds pretty scientific.
In my case, knowledge of ancient Israelite history (as opposed to "dogma") went up 80%. (But no effect upon my lonely, bitter and angry life ... lol!)
If a study like this was actually done, it would be an observational study only, which proves nothing. It would need to be followed up with a randomized controlled trial, and even then, obtaining empirically significant data would be iffy.
I dare anyone to actually read Leviticus.
Surveys of course always suffer from reporting bias: _e.g.,_ I'd wager that people who read the Bible more are more likely to lie about drinking, or watching pr0n or other things often considered objectionable by the Bible.
I mean, take these creators as examples: willfully misrepresenting a study to try to support their purported faith ... or perhaps clout.
But in general, it's very hard to design a good survey study on controversial or very personal matters.
I know a friend who is obsesed with the bible.
He started with reading the bible 4 days a week.
He is now listening all day long to chrsitian channels , bible audiobooks and reads from morning to night in the bible.
He isnt working as he thinks everything you need you get from Jesus.
Didnt work well the Chrsitian thing here.
Religiosity went down 99%.
I've never heard of a study on people "ages 8 to 80."
Am now wondering what 8-year olds tell strangers on the telephone and how one discusses pornography, alcoholism, bitterness, and anger with random children.
Lastly, how did they include study participants who read the Bible to avoid socializing or for its pornographic content?
If you weren’t reading the Bible 4 days a week before, and then you start reading the Bible 4 days a week, that is by definition a change in your life, or at least your routine. 😂
"...by day three, conversions to atheism went up by 25%"
So, they used a cultural marker for fervent commitment to a group that strongly opposes drinking and porn and found that it correlated with less drinking and porn. Truly surprising.
Also, this was a self-reported survey, so it wouldn't actually be surprising if more shame over such behaviors in those groups reduced reporting of them as well.
The bitter-ometer was turned from 10 down to 6!!!
If these people can’t be honest when sharing their “truth,” why should we listen to them at all?
I read this CBE report a year or so ago after someone posted it, and I would have been much less nice about it than Dan was. I do see how Dan characterized their behaviors as identity markers. I would have said they seemed to be just correlating Bible reading with agreeing with conservative Christian views. There didn't seem to be any science going on. It was just a survey.
Day three: Hair started growing on the bottoms of my feet.Day four: Paper cuts became a problem, and I almost bled to death. Day five: So this is what a lobotomy feels like.
i never read the Bible +2 times per week until some weeks ago, but also i never ingested beer or something like or smoked (i have some minor anger issues, but isn't something harmful. About P*rn... Well... I'm never was so much a fan of fully naked persons in sexual intercourse, but i still have some preferences).
nowadays i read the Bible 3/4 a week, and y'know... Nothing happened except some usual gasps about some Bible verses 😂
Hey Dan, what’s with the number 40 in the Bible? Raining forty days and nights, spying out Canaan for forty days then wandering in the wilderness forty years, Jesus fasting for forty days, etc. When I read most of the Old Testament, I saw the number forty in other places, if I remember correctly. Was forty just a big round number? Was that just their term for “a lot”? Love your videos.
That's what is called a "clue." As in a clue that you are not reading a factual-literal account of historical events as if it was reportage of what the surveillance cameras would have seen but instead are seeing metaphor and allegory.
Numbers like that often have a symbolic meaning. In this case, the number 40 refers to a time of cleansing or trial.
Every time you see patterns repeated those are signposts that there is something else going on than what is on the surface.
Just musing while I munch on some popcorn:
I suppose it largely depends on how you...
wait for it...
negotiate with the text.
If you are quote-mining, looking for prooftexts to support divisive, misogynist or destructive dogmas, then no.
If you are raping and pillaging it looking for verses to rip out of context, with no regard for literary and rhetorical devices or sociohistorical context, to use as a weapon to bludgeon religion with, then no.
If you are interpreting it in such a manner as to support the idea of treating everyone with kindness, respect and dignity, then yes.
Your choice. And that choice says more about you than it does about the Bible itself.
I am curious as to how many people who read the bible 4 times a week or more would confess on a survey that they watch pornography.
What I got from this study: If 60% of people who read the Bible 4x a week watch less p0rN, that means there are 40% of them who watch a heck of a lot of p0rN!
Credulity went up 1,078,295%
How could a study of people who read the bible 4 days a week or more start showing results on day 3?
On day 3, you don't know if that person is going to read the bible 4 days a week.
One person could stop after day 3, another person could start after day 3 and still get 4 days in that week.
Reading some parts of the Bible may give the reader comfort or encouragement to change their behavior -or it might only be a distraction from some bad habit.
But it is so naive to actually believe that reading the Bible 4 days a week would cause the huge changes they mentioned. If that were true, churches would be filled with people with no bad habits nor behavioral problems. In my experience, that hasn’t been true, at all.
Citation needed! :p