Lifehacker has a list of books that changed your lives, as voted on by its readers. Overall, the list is pretty good; in order:
- The Bible
- The Works of Ayn Rand
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, by Robert M. Pirsig
- The Stranger, by Albert Camus
- The Works of George Orwell
- The Works of Richard Dawkins
- The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
- Dune, by Frank Herbert
But wait, you say, one of these things is not like the others! The works of Richard Dawkins don't belong on a list of life-changing books! Because they are insipid and vacuous? No, but simply because they don't meet the fundamental criteria of the list: changing lives. Anyone who considers Dawkins' stunted philosophy to be profound was a bitter atheist long before reading The God Delusion.
(HT: RD.)
I've only read a few of these, and only one of Dawkin's books, but surely eg. Hitch Hikers is even less life transforming? Dawkins could conceivably change the way you think about a lot of things. For my part, I didn't drop christianity until quite a while after reading the blind watch maker. On the other hand, my faith didn't make it all the way through reading the bible.
Re: HGttG, I'd say the genre of sarcastic, comedic science fiction was transformative, and this book is just the best example from the genre.
As for the Bible, your position is interesting to me because I know so many people who were very skeptical but became convinced of Christianity through their study, including the Bible. Was it the Bible itself that dissuaded you from your faith, or other factors?
I can't really be certain of what dissuaded me, since I wasn't reading it in isolation, obviously I was living and doing things at the time. Strict Calvanists, of course, would insist that God himself hardened my heart.
I do remember reading the ten commandments, which were up on the wall in a cathedral I was visiting; I was sort of expecting to be moved by the text but instead I was shocked and disgusted at the idea of God punishing the great grand-children of idolaters. Prior to this I'd been much more interested in later books, so I hadn't paid much attention to the pentateuch, which turned out to be full of stuff that I find offensive.
Then, I found myself more and more annoyed by the Pauline scriptures, I remember Romans 1:20 as a good example of what I'm talking about. As I was starting to have trouble maintaining faith, him saying that the "invisible" god is "clearly seen" leaving me "without excuse" probably shortened my patience with the whole thing. Because I couldn't clearly see it, and I was really trying.
Regarding punishment for the decedents of idolaters, I think it's pretty clear that in a spiritual sense anyway children suffer when their parents forget or ignore God. When parents forget about God, their children grow up spiritually ignorant and have a much harder time coming to know him.
Anyway, rather than argue about specific points, it seems that you decided against Christianity because you didn't approve of the teachings in the Bible? And/or, you figured that if God was the really the way the Bible portrays, you don't want anything to do with him?
I know, it sounds better in the passive voice than with God cast as a punisher. And it illustrates the important principle that a man can deserve more possible than he could personally take. I can see it from different points of view, but it takes an effort and feels like I'm imposing the arguments on the text.
I was at a party the other day talking to someone whose voice sounded completely neutral, until I noticed her west-country accent; once I noticed it, I couldn't ignore it. Her accent didn't change, but my perception of it was binary: either I noticed her accent completely, or not at all.
It was a bit like that with the bible. Fairly suddenly I noticed a lot of things that I disapproved of, and more to the point didn't believe. (My beliefs were probably drifting anyway, exacerbating this effect).
Regarding the passive voice, I think it's something that people have many different opinions on, even Christians (as I'm sure you know, since you mentioned Calvinism). Some people think that because God is all-powerful that he MUST be using that power to control everything. I however think it makes more sense within the context of the free will he gave us to believe that despite God's omnipotence, he restrains himself and allows us to use our free will. If God were constantly exerting all his power, the concept of free will would be pointless.
You say your beliefs were drifting anyway, even aside from what you read in the Bible. Why?
Just age, meeting more people. I wasn't really monitoring it so again my experience of it all was quite binary. I was moving about a bit as a student, so I was trying out different churches trying to find one I liked, that kind of thing.