The Verses That Sermons Rarely Quote

The Times article concerning the upsurge in Bible reading (“Hitting the Book,” Dec. 22) prompted me to list for the new readers a partial selection of Bible verses seldom mentioned in sermons.

II Kings 19:35: God sends an angel to slaughter 185,000 human beings in one night.

II Kings 2:23-24: God sends two bears out of the forest to kill 42 children.

Numbers 16:27-35: God buries alive mothers and their children and then burns up the fathers.

Numbers 31:17-18: Moses tells an army to kill all male children and all non-virgins and to keep all the virgins and girl children for themselves.

Luke 12:47-48: Jesus advises that the proper way to punish slaves is with a severe beating.

I Corinthians 11:7: A man is the image and glory of God, but a woman is only the glory of man.

GEORGE WOOD

Malibu

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Atheists, of whom I am one, recommend wholeheartedly that people read the Bible. It is an important factor in the history of the United States and some familiarity with it is necessary to understand much of what goes on in our lives.

But what is offered in Bible study classes is intended to support those religions that use the Bible in its various versions. There is no critical inquiry into what is being studied, because the Bible is taken as ultimate authority, not to be questioned. What is learned is the doctrinal bias of the study leader.

Yes, read and study the Bible, but don’t let someone else tell you what he thinks it says.

KENNETH H. BONNELL

President, Atheists United

Sherman Oaks