Why read the Bible?

[BurtWorm]

Poll question: Why read the Bible?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. what? no humor or hypocrisy option?

damn.

[BurtWorm]

3. Call it "other."

;)

[BurtWorm]

2. oops

[Iwasthere]

4. Bible Scmible....

The Bible is BS...... Jesus was a good man, but if he were here he wouldn't tolerate all the so called christians and all their BS lately. Also, where do RW christian nuts get off thinking that their particular (and specific) religion is the correct one?

[Evoman]

7. If the bible is BS, then why believe in Jesus?

your not christian, are you?

[Book Lover]

5. Other: Not enough people read ancient literature

I suggest reading it in that context.

[TRYPHO]

6. Its a history of my tribe/gene-pool and a good metaphor for life...

Plus some real historical facts of interest, some sauciness (Lot, you dirty old drunk), some battles, some blunders (40 fucking years, my wife directs better than that) and some laughs (she cut my hair, she cut my hair).

But overall, its only half a story, the other half - the Talmud - being more current and having more relevance to todays Jew.

TRYPHO

[msongs]

8. good fiction stretches the mind....and sometimes the body on the rack nt

[Parche]

9. journey to bible

Because we all need a little humour in our lives..............

[Crunchy Frog]

10. Same reason one would read Homer.

Myths and legends that go back to the Bronze Age that, for better or for worse, for part of the core of our own culture and identity.

I've read some of the Old Testament, and found much of it to be really quite engaging and interesting.

As far as the New Testament goes, I consider Jesus (or whoever put together the words attributed to him) to be one of the great moral philosopers of human history.

Basically, the Bible is part of our heritage as humans, and I appreciate it as such.

[yellowdogintexas]

14. good comment. One can speculate endlessly on the

ultimate influences which produced the Old Testament as we now know it.

Consider this: the actual writing down of the OT did not begin until the Babylonian Captivity period. It was all oral legend prior to that. The Hebrews were out there in Babylon for a long enough period to have their oral history combined with the local oral history, plus being in the middle of the cross roads of civilization would have been influenced by all the surrounding powers (Egypt, Babylon, traders from the East, etc)


a good example is the Flood Story, which occurs in all the ancient mythologies of that area. Undoubtedly there was a flood; the Assyrian legend of Marduk and Tiamat is an amazing story. The Hebrews had Noah, and the interpretation of the flood events supports the power of the Almighty, rather than a battle between two warring dieties.

Not very technical description, but I hope you get my drift.

The Bible is an accumulation of the history of a particular civilization, its struggles to stay intact, and the development of a moral philosophy and the power to enforce it. As man became less primitive and more civilized, the need for order is most important and a powerful diety or pantheon of dieties is essential to maintain a moral order.

someone once said if God did not exist, man would have had to invent him. My Old Testament Prof in college referred to Genesis as the Mythology of the Hebrews, and mythology as the attempts of ancient peoples to explain naturally occurring events which they do not understand.

[MistressOverdone]

11. It can be horribly boring

or wonderfully comforting. All those begets and begats to put you to sleep, and then the wonderful poetry of the psalms and the spicy Song of Solomon. Good stuff. And for a Christian, the Gospels are quite compelling.

Every time I read it (and I don't read it very often, I admit) I find something different to ponder. But I also find something different to ponder every time I read Anne of Green Gables. That's the way literature is, I guess.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. I think that the Bible

should be required reading for anyone who wishes to better understand world history in the last 2000 years. That book has been used-and misused-by people for quite a while-and one must have some notion of what it is about to get a fuller understanding of why people have acted the way that they do.

For contrast, I would suggest that people in the West read the Upanishads--a different take on religion, God, and humankind.

[varkam]

13. Credibility eom

:D