Even though I grew up in a Christian home in a small town Christian community and was dragged away to church every Sunday whether I wanted to go or not, about the only time I ever read any of the bible was when I was required to read a passage or two during Sunday school. Therefore, pretty much anything and everything I ever learned about the bible/God/Jesus/Satan/heaven/hell was from whatever the preacher decided to tell us about selected bible verses during his sermons. And, of course, from whatever cute little popular bible stories that were taught to us in Sunday school class. And as I have said on here dozens of times already, even as a little kid I detected so many contradictions and inconsistencies in all of it that I could never fully allow myself to accept it. And don't even get me started on all the confusion I had due to the blatant hypocrisy of the "venerated" Christian adults in my life.... *rolling eyes*...Unfortunately, despite all my doubts and reservations, the concept of Satan and hell got firmly implanted into my tiny impressionable brain because I was raised to obey, trust, and respect my elders who loved me and cared about me.

As a result, it took me over forty agonizing years of my life to finally break away from my religious indoctrination. And it was only then that I finally started reading more and more of the bible a little at a time. And, to be perfectly honest, I barely got halfway through Genesis before I decided, "This is a bunch of bullshit. How can any sane, educated, rational adult read this stuff and decide it is the work of an omnipotent/omniscient god???" And, quite frankly, I really don't care which version of the bible it is, because the very foundation of most all of the Christian sects are practically identical. And that foundation is about as stable/solid as a bowl of warm clam chowder. Speaking of different versions of the bible - hell! - that fact ALONE should be a glaring clue. This "Perfect Word" of an omnipotent/omniscient "all-loving" god (who wants ALL of humanity to know him and love him, by the way) has been (mis)translated, (mis)interpreted, and edited countless times over many centuries such that it has multiple conflicting versions and has spawned thousands of denominations/sects (many of them violently opposed to one another) and has been the primary cause of some of the most atrocious barbaric torture crusades and epic wars throughout history from the time of its inception on into our modern day society. Yet, the all-powerful/all-knowing/ALL-LOVING PERFECT "author" of the bible does absolutely NOTHING to correct its PERFECT, most precious, and vitally important message to its beloved human pets? What a crock of shit.... *waving hand in dismissal*...