Read the Bible as if it were a diary of humanity’s teenage years

To the editor: Carel van Schaik and Kai Michel have an interesting premise, but they miss a major point. (“Atheists and believers are reading the Bible the wrong way,” Opinion, June 10)

Yes, the Bible is a series of stories written to explain the natural world and the culture of the time, and it was changed or modified to fit new religious dogma (although comparing this to doing “what good scientists today would do” is a bit puzzling).

So we have a diary that was written in the youth or perhaps adolescence of human existence, and then set in stone. Thus we should read the book as the fascinating diary of a young teenager and not literal wisdom for the ages.

John Clement, Arleta

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To the editor: As a person who has attended church regularly my whole life, I was delighted to see this opinion piece about the Bible. The ideas expressed in it are not new, but I don’t see them expressed in most forums.

I don’t have to see how many impossible things I can believe in my church, which voted to call ourselves progressive. The Bible was never meant to be seen as literal.

The Bible is an important piece of Western culture. But belief in God is not dependent on belief that the Bible is a literal history.

Lake Nofer, Woodland Hills

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