the bible: Demystifying the Divine. It is my intention here is to explore biblical views, admittedly from the perspective of atheism, in a series of essays. I invite readers to discuss, support, counter, and even condemn the views expressed here in this book.

But read them first. After all, to write this book, I had to read The King James Bible from cover to cover, which means that I have now read it more times than many Christians have. All I ask is that you read the bible before you comment on my views.

The essays in the bible are based on stories, from The King James Bible, on many of the characters who populate the good book, and on my fundamentalist Pentecostal upbringing.

There are 66 books in The Bible: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. I wanted to produce 66 chapters in this book, each one named after a book in The Bible, but the need to write about various aspects of The Bible, the Christian religion, other religions, spiritually, other topics, and my personal religious upbringing got in the way.- Paul Lima