Suggested by several posts in the thread “What books have you lied about reading?”
I do. It’s all fairy tales, of course, but there are vast stretches of it that are good reading. The David cycle stands out; it’s an interesting story even if you think the son of Jesse is as mythical as the son of Odin.
Anybody else?
My family is not especially religious, but we do have a tradition of sitting around the tree on Christmas Eve while my father reads aloud the story of the birth of Jesus. I enjoy that.
I very much enjoy Ecclesiastes. It’s my favorite book.
Just out of idle curiosity, do y’all read the version in Luke or that in Matthew?
I love the language, particularly of the King James version, myself.
Not really. I read most of it in my youth, and didn’t find it all that enthralling.
I did enjoy reading “Don’t know much about the Bible” by Kenneth Davis, though. A great expository on how the various books came to be in the Bible, and when and how they may have been written.
I was raised Lutheran but leaning agnostic in my old age, and I still haven’t gotten around to reading the entire Bible…many parts, especially at the beginning, are very dull.
But I really do enjoy Bible study, on an explanatory level, because for one thing it helps me figure out what I am thinking might be bullshit. I can’t go around just assuming I think the Bible is bullshit unless I have actually read it and comprehended it. I also really dig the history, like Qadgop.
On the other hand, the more I read the more I am comfortable with the idea of the Bible as a nice book of parables and life lessons - not some set of un-breakable rules. Heck, I like one verse so much that I had it tattooed on my leg! It’s great as a nice big book of Quotable Quotes 
The story of David and Jonathan is dear to my heart. Actually, I love the entire story of David / Saul.
‘Jesus’ was a philosopher. He was deep. Till this day I have yet to meet a Christian that seemed to understand Jesus in the same way that I thought he was laying himself down in the bible.
Full disclosure, I guess I am more pantheist than atheist.
My entire interest in the Bible and ancient history began with being enthralled by Bible stories in sunday school.
I still find much of the Bible very interesting as a window into a specific ancient culture, but a lot of it is dead boring as well.
Another vote for David as my favorite Biblical cycle. Also the story of Abraham in Genesis. Both have such raw human believable emotions.
Sure. I find the Sermon on the Mount a compelling and radically moving account of an ethical position. And I love First Corinthians 13, especially in the New International Version- pure poetry.
I always imagine reading the bible to be like reading LOTR but worse. Tedious. Long-winded. Dull.
It’s not like I pull it down from the shelf for fun, but parts of the Bible are very entertaining to read. Of course, I discovered all these parts back when I was a believer; otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered to read it in the first place.
My list of cool Bible stories:
Elijah and the priests of Baal’s altar contest
Elisha and the mocking children eaten by bears
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
Jael and driving the stake through the guy’s head
Job (just to see how fucked up God can be)
Samson (I was shocked that someone on the Dope was unfamiliar with Samson)
Revelation
Like Zsofia, I only read the King James Version. Since I don’t care about “accuracy” anymore, why not pick the version with the coolest language? Plus, most of the references in English literature also use the KJV, so it just makes sense.
I love the Bible, especially the KJV, which has some of the most beautiful English ever written. The OT contains a lot of boring bits, but these can be skipped unless you have a real fascination with ancient Jewish law. I also find it quite moving, though I don’t believe that it’s actually true.
If you can get your hands on this edited and abriged version of the KJV it makes the thing really readable by cutting out the genealogies and laws, and reformatting the text for readability.
Some of the most famous ones (Jonah in the whale, Danielle in the lion’s den) bored me to tears as a kid. But Job was my joint! Erdosain, thanks for reminding me of him.
And like Larry, I should have stressed the King James Version.
Not the least bit interested. I remember that as a child my favorite parts of the bible were the sheets of vellum that were placed so as to protect the illustrations. I don’t have any particular hatred of the bible; I just don’t have any interest in it, the same way I don’t have a desire to read automotive manuals or economics textbooks.
Interestingly, I usually do fairly well in the biblical categories on Jeopardy :D.
I can’t enjoy anything as an adult that i was forced to do as a child. This goes for eating vegetables and reading the bible.
Oh, yes. The Judeo-Christian scriptures are among the great wisdom literature of the world canon. I’ve never had a real problem with them as a corpus. I only deny their authority.
I like the parables and stories, and I really love to read the rules in Leviticus and think about what ancient practical reason there might have been for each rule.
Genesis, Exodus, The Evangelists. and, of course, Ecclesiastes. I’m not fond of the Psalms or the Proverbs, which I find tedious. But Genesis, Exodus, and the New Testament, besides having read many times, I also have on audio, and have listened to many times.