As an aethist who had to study the Bible, I noticed that both believers and non-believers miss the whole point of the Bible when they take verses word-per-word. So I wanted to share some of my thoughts and learnings from theology class. Our professor always tells us not to take the Bible literally. Take for example in Malachi 3:8, it reads "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. 'But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' In tithes and offerings." On the surface, it sounds dumb to think that the Israelites were robbing God. On a deeper level, "God" is warning them for being selfish with offerings. Instead of sharing gifts to all people, they chose to indulge in their excessive wealth. This goes back to the question: what does it mean to be good? To be good is to treat others as you would treat yourself. Although I don't believe in God and the act of praying, I can learn from the lesson of this verse: that the obsessive desire for more than what you have harms people who cannot afford basic necessities.