Ecclesiastes

OP here. While Ecclesiastes remains my current favorite, I was only so bold in my claim to attract relevant discussion of relevant thinkers (e.g. Kiekegaard) and to attract detailed counterpoints. If you feel that another book is better, please explain why.

underrated post (he's trolling)

im the only one who posted a meme about it, so regard my opinion higher than the others ok

> the thread has been going for 40+ minutes and nobody has mentioned Psalms

Pentateuch
>These are perpetual rules

Paul
>lol just kidding

Why can't God make up his mind?

>he thinks I'm trolling

judges

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>Jesus is the end purpose and reason for the Bible being written.
Except for all the books that were written before he was born.

No this all progressed towards Jesus as well, look at all of the OT prophecies if the Messiah. It was always about Jesus, ever since the exit from Eden.

Its the best literature, importance is a matter of opinion

that doesnt even sound like it 'could' be in ecclesiastes, try harder

Umm sweetie they were only ever binding rules for circumstanced Jews. Paul specifically mentions this as a reason not to circumcise converts. Circumscison is man's consideration, in the sense of contract law, for the convent. God then used the Romans to fix the problem of leftovers who choose to live outside his hen's wing.

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>leftovers
the Jews are the one’s set aside in the last days to preach the true gospel while HUWHYTES try to genocide their diaspora concentrated in the Beast’s Israel

Well the Christians had to find a way to rationalize believing in a God who repeatedly refers to himself as the King of the Jews

It's a false quote from Simulacra and Simulation, dumbie. The point is that Simulacra are copies of cultural stories or values that lose their meaning to the point of being recognisable.

Wisdom of Solomon chapter two is superior.

Our life is short and full of sorrow, and when its end comes, there is no escape. No one has ever been known to come back from the world of the dead.
We were born by chance, and after life is over we will be as if we had never been born at all. Our breath is no more than a puff of smoke; our mind is nothing more than a spark thrown off by the beating of our hearts.
When that spark dies, our body will crumble into ashes, and our breath will become part of the empty air.
In time, no one will remember anything we ever did, and even our names will be forgotten. Our lives will pass away like the traces of clouds and vanish like fog in the heat of the sun.
Our time on earth is like a passing shadow.
Come on, then, let's enjoy the good things of life, and live in this world the way we did when we were young and free of care!
Let's drink the most expensive wines and use the finest perfumes. Let's not miss a single flower in the springtime!
Before the roses wither, let's pick them and wear them in our hair!
Let's all join in and leave signs everywhere of our carefree revelry! Life owes us that much!
We'll oppress the poor, even if they are righteous. We'll show no respect for the widows or old people.
We'll call ourselves right if we are strong enough to get what we want. No one ever got anywhere by being weak!
Righteous people are nothing but a nuisance, so let's look for chances to get rid of them.

*unrecognisable. Sorry, i'm the dumbie here

yeh at least post a version that isnt aimed at 8 yr olds

ok but whats that got to do with the price of fish

Extremely top tier taste.
Less good but still great taste.

Can somone please power rank the new testament for me?

1. Pauline epistles
2. Luke-Acts, they used to be one book
3. John
4. Mark
5. Matthew
6.Other epistles
7. Apocalypse of St. John

John, Genesis and Job are the most important desu.

in literary terms
1. St John

Thats it really; revelations is a bit of a mad fantastical book that is oft referenced, but its not very polished. The KJV is superior to the Greek in every way.

Whats so bad about revelations?

>not realizing the Gospel of Thomas is the most superior

Revelation
(power gap)
Luke-Acts
John
Mark
Matthew
Non-Pauline epistles
Pauline epistles

>translation is superior
When will the Anglo menace be stopped?

>attract relevant literary figures
that would be the book of Job

>everything is wearisome, futile and meaningless
>lmao now just believe in god

So this is the power of Judeo-Christian philosophy...

Ecclesiastes is just a reddit Job

I can see that. I'm also biased in favor of Ecclesiates because I'm not Christian so I don't try to frame everything in terms of Jesus.

Why Mark above Matthew?

I know user but don't tell anyone

>whenever I focus on earthly things, this things eventually fade away, and therefore my happiness in them fades too
>if I want to be happy forever, maybe I should focus on things that don't fade away

> Not the book of acts

the only biblical book that chronicles the history of the church immediately after Jesus’s ascension.

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Only of the old testament imo

Can you not read?

Hey user, wanna buy my bridge?

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>implying there weren't countless Jewish messiahs before Jesus
History is written by the winning side.

unironically this. It condenses the entire theological content of the new testament (excluding revelations) into a single book. the other writings of Paul are and the new testament authors (whoever the fuck they are) are redundant and only serve to turn the Bible into an even bigger theological mess than it already is

I just read Ecclesiastes (KJV) for the first time. The premise had me hooked, yet I'm having trouble with the conclusions drawn.

>Eccl 5:8 KJV If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.

Doesn't this seem to advocate an passive/inactive lifestyle? I've been witnessing some unjust shit lately, and it doesn't make me feel any better thinking "oh it's okay because God will judge them in due time."

I can relate to the problems addressed, yet it doesn't satisfy me. It's like the whole thing merely aggravated my feelings.

in terms of theological significance it's all equal

No matter how good an apocryphal text is, it isn't part of the Bible

Job is just a reddit Ecclesiastes

I wouldn't take any specific proposition as fact; the speaker repeatedly contradicts himself throughout. I feel that it reflects the uncertainty and existential angst of life. In the end, all that he clearly advocates while living is enjoyment of food, drink, mirth, and the labor which is set out for us. The material rewards of labor are seen to be insufficient, but the activity of labor appears to be its own reward.

But that's just me.

>uncertainty and existential angst of life

After sitting with it more, I have to agree. The work’s flaws represent the product of time’s very undoing itself. With that in mind, the idea of his work as a “work”—labour—is chillingly pertinent.

>Implying that's not addressed in the Bible
Acts 5:34-42:
>Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;
>And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.
>For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
>After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
>And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
>But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
>And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
>And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
>And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
The fact that Christianity still exists proves that something went down in first century Judea. People abandoned these other Jewish messiahs before Jesus because they were proven false

bruh life is shit yahhh fear god loll dust and shit bruhjhhh

That is the dumbest thing...

The Epistle of James. 5 chapters in 4 pages. The entire teachings in one book of the bible. If you live your life according to this, you're doing pretty good.

this is good, Matthew should be hire for (((reasons)))

1 cor 13 should be top as it provides the earliest account of the resurrection

It means simply to not worry beyond your station and ability. Look at what's said a little later in chapter 7

>7 Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.
>8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
>9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
>10 Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.
>11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.
>12 For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.
>13 Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?
>14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.
>15 All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.
>16 Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself ?
>17 Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?
>18 It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.

I have an interlinear Greek Septuagint and the Berean interlinear New Testament, but they're over the file size. What do?

>The fact that Christianity still exists proves that something went down in first century Judea
Nope, it's just the that Christians were the first messianic sect to establish a presence in Rome. This was an event waiting to happen, ever since the Romans conquered Judea. Any imperial capital becomes a cosmopolitan mish-mash of cultures and beliefs from conquered peoples.

Once established, it was Roman force and influence that spread Christianity. It could just as easily have been Mithraism, or any of the other trendy cults that were active in Rome at the time.

>if I want to be happy forever, maybe I should focus on things that don't fade away
such as some guy's conception of a skydaddy
really makes me ponder

>It could just as easily have been Mithraism
No it couldn't, because it wasn't.

What a huge, ridiculous pile of straw.

The last messiah was Mohammad.

This.

If you look at the Bible with neutral eyes, without Jewish or Christian faith, then you can better judge the artistic and philosophical value of the books that compose it. In the end, however, it will be just a matter of opinion.

To me the wisest book of all is the Eclesiastes: the author is some sort of kindred spirit with Buddha and the Zen masters, but capable of writing with the marble-like elegance and limpidity of a Sophocles.

As for the greatest book in the Bible in termos of poetic beauty, it has to be Job. The final speech of god, that torrent of pride and deluge of cosmic-arrogance that he vomits from out of the hurricane, with silables of thunder and lightning, is one of the few poems that can rival Shakespeare’s metaphorical creativity at his best.

Job is also some sort of anomaly - a brave anomaly - for its portrayal of Divinity as a force that doesn’t need tonexplain itself to any human life, and to whom the suffering of his creations is irrelevant. And the beauty of it is that he mostly bases his freedom and lack of responsibility in his creative powers; it is as if he were saying: “look at all that I can do; I don’t need to explain myself to any creature, I who am so creative that time and space themselves are part of my poetry, characters in my epic”.

There’s hardly any book in the Bible to match Job.

I think its time I read the good book. Which version of the bible is best Veeky Forums?

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>It could just as easily have been Mithraism, or any of the other trendy cults that were active in Rome at the time.
It would have been more likely for another cult to have been picked up by the Romans than Christianity, the fact that Christianity was chosen by Constantine is a bit of an anomaly. And at the time it started gaining traction in the Roman hierarchy it wasn't just a trendy cult, it had endured for a few hundred years to get there.

Fuck my ass

> Being retarded.

>something didn't happen, therefore it was impossible
This is your brain on Christianity.

Mo never claimed to be messiah, neither do Muslims believe that

Poor lamb, did somebody put down your favourite fairy story?

I bet you feel the same when they're rude about Star Wars too.

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Yes, not a messiah, just a messenger, yet the last of al messengers of God (Jesus being one of them: simply a messenger, but he too not a part of God, God being unique and non-divisible).

A false messenger

Thoughts on Bahá'í Faith?

They're all false messengers, retard.

Wtf I love Christianity now