If we FEE LIKE finding out what Bibles say, it's not enough to just read a bible.

Gavin Knight
Have you ever even read the Bible even once.

---- Me: Many times. Many versions.

But it's not enough to pick one up and read it.

To come ~as close as we can get~ to understanding what's written there,
we must take certain steps first.

Acquire advanced:

a.) "reading comprehension" skills; for whatever language you'll be reading it in.

b.) understanding of human psychology and sociology.

c.) enough self-awareness to identify our personal biases.

d.) enough integrity to then set aside those biases.

We must also:

e.) make sure no part of our ego is attached to our conclusions about what it says.
This means we can't let ANY of our sense of "self" (identity, character, and worth) be tied to our conclusions about what any of it means, who the real author(s) were, etc..

f.) 100% reject any sense of personal loyalty (or moral obligation) to any expectation, commitment, or outcome ... about what any of it means, and about what any of it is worth.

g.) apply the same critical analyses that we would to any other religion's writings.

h.) be very good at fact checking.
This requires that we don't allow logical fallacies (such as confirmation bias, or special pleading) in our review of the materials.

I.) give LESS weight to our own review,
but more weight to the leading scholars and overwhelming academic consensus about who wrote each part, why they wrote it, what they probably meant, who it was intended for, what errors and contradictions may be present, etc..

Also, give exactly ZERO weight to religious apologists; who aren't real scholars. None of them are.
They are basically "used god salesmen". And they come fully prepared to lie in order to make a sale.