Thank you for starting the instance!

I recently got myself a set of Robert Atler's translation of the Hebrew bible. I'm an atheist, but I thought his footnotes would be my best chance at appreciating the old testament in the way people talk about it. So far there's some pretty interesting tidbits!

Oh wow, /r/AskBibleScholars (and /r/AcademicBiblical) were instrumental to me years ago when I began to lose my faith, and helped me arrive to the much healthier place I am now. I had no idea the same person was, in part, responsible for Beehaw. Hopefully we can bring some of those communities here in due time - they do too much good to be lost.

Thank you, Chris. I am so thankful that you're here right now, and it's a pleasure to be here with you.

Hello !! Glad and thankful that you're here too ! 💕✨

There were so many turns to this journey ~ so beehaw spawned from a Bible scholar community? Wild ~~

I grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist church, which is kind of a closed community like Mormonism , but more biblically like the Baptist church , also folowing kosher and Jewish traditions and a hint of doomsday conspiracy theories~ but after all of that I feel they are very obsessed with scholarship - every week ½ of the Sabbath is the sermon/service, and thres a "Sabbath-School" where everyone in the world follows a Bible study guide following either a topic all through the bible or one character / book of the bible ~ very uni-vibes but for church ~ (also there's a prophet ~ )

Alas I have no faith as of 2012 .. 😵🫨

Thanks for the post and for kickstarting all of this!

Thank you for sharing your story ❤️ I was in the same boat as you growing up, and I like to think by being able to show up in the world the best way you can in the present is the best way to honour those struggles and use it for good.

And look, it’s brought random strangers all around the world together - what can be more serendipitous than that?!

Thank you for sharing your story and thank you for running this community.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

This community has that unity and I pray never loses such.

Thanks for sharing with us and your work on everything. Don't burn that candle at both ends friend.

Great to have you here Chris. And thanks for creating this wonderful community. Feels like the old web again in some way, which is a good thing.