Ken's Guide to the Bible

The book is very amusing, and reminds me of a list of Biblical contradictions I found on the Internet a while back. Contrary to what some of the negative reviews indicate, the author does make some respectful comments about Jesus' teachings. That being said, if you're not up for reading criticism of the Bible, then you should pass on this book.

Religious fanatics have been selectively quoting the Bible for two thousand years. It is about time this ambiguous book, written and promoted by zealots for so long is exposed for what it really is - an implausible, unverifiable explanation for what men couldn't and didn't understand about the workings of the universe. People who fantasized about a Supreme Being and later His "Son," deities who were somehow supposed to be in charge of all things - but for some reason had to permit mortal men to kill the Son to save mankind? Ken exposes the Bible as a collection of stories, many of which have nothing to do with one another, none of which can be verified independently and all of which have been translated and changed to suit the translator's version of events, many times over the centuries. Ken?s Guide to the Bible is excellent, accurate and easy to read.

Ken's Guide to the Bible is a very concise and yet fairly complete book-by-book summary of what's happening in the Bible - and also what's not happening.It is certainly not an interpretation or a theological analysis of the Bible. It focuses on highlighting passages that must seem bizarre, especially to people who insist on taking the Bible literally. It is thus a valuable source for arguments against fundamentalists. But even beyond that it is informational and a time- (and money-) efficient way of learning about the Bible's contents (but again, not its meaning - that wasn't the purpose of the book and it shouldn't be judged based on this as other reviewers have done).The symbols used to identify "weirdness", "the big picture", "bunk" etc. may seem like a gimmick at first, but they are actually a pretty good idea and allow the author to refrain from commenting a lot - he mostly lets the Bible speak for itself and marks his own opinion with the "two cents" symbol. In addition, the "bunk" paragraphs point out erroneous beliefs people hold about biblical events. For example, it is not said anywhere in Genesis that Eve ate an apple.Ken's Guide to the Bible is basically a (much) shorter version of Asimov's Guide to the Bible (and the author gives the latter as one of his sources). If you have enough time to read the whole Asimov guide, go for it - it's certainly "better" in the sense that it digs deeper and has a wealth of information. But if you want the 150-page summary, Ken's Guide is perfect.

I got this book in the summer of 1996, when I was already having doubts about the fundamentalism I had chosen. After a few days of reading it surreptitiously in the bookstore - and annoying the other patrons by laughing so hard - I bought it for myself.This is truly an inspired book. I already knew some of the "bad" parts of the Bible (I had written a RELI project about God's lost battle in 2 Kings 3); as a result, I had deliberately avoided reading much of it. This book opened my eyes; I was on the floor laughing at his descriptions of Isaiah's and Micah's writing styles.Now I'm a happy agnostic with a degree in Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations :^) God bless Ken Smith!I have only one problem with this book - it's not long enough! I would have loved to see him expose the Christian misquotations / misuse of the Psalms and Zeph. 1-8. In addition, I wouldn't have minded some more in-depth scholarship; for example, he should have treated Isaiah 40-55 differently from Isaiah 1-39.But for a questioning Christian, I couldn't recommend this book enough.

I can't understand those who refute this book when in at least one case a ney-sayer admits to never even hearing of it. This book is not a crack on the Bible, it simply exposes those things in it that may be considered unsavory by many of the people who live thier lives by it. Ken Smith used four different versons of the Bible when researching the book, and added nothing to it, save an occational, clearly marked commentary. While reading Ken's Guide, I dusted off my old tome to check his claims, and even resolved to reread it in the near future. Ken Smith has done something that no Evangelist or Priest has done. He has gotten people of all religons (including non judeo-christians) to read the Bible for what it really says, not what they want it to say or what they believe it says. That is truly a miracle of biblical proportions.