Should I read the Holy Bible?

if you don't go to church every Sunday then frankly you need to get your life together

That is one of the most inaccurate summeries ever
>Just cherry pick the good stuff
every "modern" religious person ever. you can follow selectively

There's nothing "Holy" about The Bible. It's an old collection of desert superstition and barbarism. The only thing that Testaments are a "testament" to is the unenlightened man's incorrigible gullibility.

can I just read chick tract?

The jews settle next to the Mediterranean Sea, I forget where, and they expand. Then Jewish kings and all of the good stories of the Old Testament happen, but they get arrogant and forget god.
Then god gets mad again and gets Muslims to conquer them.
Then the Jewish people cry in their enslavement and god pities and frees them.
Then a generation later they forget about god and get enslaved again. Repeat this process for a few hundred years.
At the very end of the Old Testament god meets up with Lucifer and they talk about how stubborn the Jewish people, god's people, are.
So god had enough and leaves. Leaving Lucifer to roam the earth until Judgement day.

The old Testament is about 2 weeks of solid reading. It's repetitive and tideious. This book made me hate Jews.

from 1 point of view there is nothing holy about any religious text. from another point of view all divinity is in the eye of the beholder so if it is holy to them, it is holy.

New Testament:
Jesus didn't like how Lucifer won and came to earth to teach the Jewish people right from wrong. Jesus made some people change but Lucifer made great effords to stop him. In the end Lucifer won, by corrupting the Jewish priests into crucifing Jesus.
Jesus didn't stand a chance on earth. His only powers were healing and walking on water. His last sentence is "God, why have you forsaken me?".
It was because Jesus meddled into the bet of God and his angel Lucifer. He had good intensions, but he died a pagan death in the end.
The Jews of today still hate Jesus. They claim that he was just another prophet. The Muslims do too.

Either way, this story of god and creation was used by later nations to expand and conquer the known world under the pretence of "expanding Christianity". Also, it doesn't even include all of the stories written by Jesus' apostles. It was cherry picked by later priests with their old world views.

>Should I read the Holy Bible?
Yes, but ONLY in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic.

Reading it in English will cause you to end up like these autists:

Am I the only one in here who read the bible (front to back) and went from agnostic to theist?

In high school I was atheist, militantly even, and this last year, getting into serious literature, The Bible (especially The Book of Job and the transition from Old to New Testament, Gospels), along with Brothers K, Meditations, Moby Dick, Mere Christianity, Everlasting Man, East of Eden...

I'd argue believing in God is more logical than not believing.

>muslims
>before jesus
wut

>the old testament is not worth reading in translation anyway.
>not worth reading in translation

so you speak aramaic then, and have a copy of the Q evengelion?

I actually came here to ask this very same question. Is it actually a good book or is it just designed as a collection of anecdotes and witty quotes to reference.

>>Should I read the Holy Bible?
>Yes, but ONLY in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic.

Adorable.

read the gospel of john, Luke and Acts of the apostles together in that order as if they were one single book (first uke, then acts), and every epistle supposedly written by paul, the onles really written by him and the ones he probably didnt.

>using spoilers to tell the story of a religious text
>using shit from Paradise Lost and the Muslim story of Satan refusing to bow down to Adam to explain Genesis and the bet from Par. Lost to say Jesus "meddled into the bet of God and his angel Lucifer"
>Lucifer only used once by Isaiah to describe the falling morningstar and conflated with Satan later on, and you using Lucifer to name Satan
>Satan (ha-Satan, the accuser/adversary in Hebrew) not even being a concrete figure who stays the same all the time in the Bible and yet you assuming he's just one literal character instead of an allegorical representation of the evil that opposes God
>assuming the snake was "Lucifer" or even Satan, which is never implied in Genesis and was grafted onto popular consciousness by Milton's Paradise Lost
>become an atheist just because you don't like the book of one monotheistic religion

Jesus Christ, 10/10 troll post, would read again

Illiterate people will whine about contradictory and repetitive parts without understanding. There's a bit at the end of Exodus that looks awful in English no matter how well translated. That's because the original letters were meant to be laid out in a 49X49 square so as to reveal the broken names of god. The Shemhamphoresch.
Other Old Testament sentences ask questions that are answered by a word made up from every first letter of the words in the question. I'm talking about in the original Aramaic. That's all the tricky nonsense in the Old Testament written by people in awe of the Egyptians and trying to give the impression the words have been handed down by a hyperdimensional being. The picture you get is of a people who started with maths, made an alphabet with mathematical values then worked up a language from there, which is the opposite of how all other cultures have ever done these things. Also why it's seen as a work of art and an impenetrable mystery. Literal resadings are going to come out stupid.
Then there's the New Testament, with all the supernatural stuff taken out, the propaganda and nasty threats removed, we're left with a view of a man who clearly new a lot about human nature, but told us nothing of himself.
Then we get to Revelations, which was obviously written by a high level maniac, purportedly by a man who was proud that he'd never touched a woman, so the ultimate wizard. Keep this in mind when he waffles.
It's an enduring work of art that has something for whoever comes to it, from earnest spiritual seeker to mindless literal believer in need of orders and direction, from high-minded altruist to slack-jawed, gibbering sex monster.

>believing in God
>Logic

pick one

Oh, man. Are you 16? Do you wear a fedora? Just fuckoff. Enough with this illiterate pseudo-atheistic non-sense, looks at were we are today after two century of that, you mentally handicapped.

Christians invented the scientific method in a world of superstitions and fear.

Don't be that nerd who thinks of Logic as a blunt instrument that reveals truth or something.
The number of ways logic can be perfect and wrong is where people usually start with the study of logic.
Where i live cigarette packets have different pictures of horrible diseases on them with warnings that match: cigarettes harm your baby, cause lung cancer, cause heart disease.
It was a big laugh when an Aboriginal woman asked in a shop for the cigarettes that harm your baby,because she knew she wasn't pregnant. Now her logic was perfect, there's even a latin phrase used to describe the logical fallacy she'd fallen into, but imagine an average joe trying to explain her error to her.
So don't get drawn into opposing religious belief against logic or reason, there's much in human life that is irrational, and non-rational, but still extremely important. That's why fedora lords arguing against altruism look like such steaming turds, when all social life involves considering others despite logic, not because of it.

Remember when the Taliban destroyed those centuries old statues of Buddhas with rockets? Remember the outcry and the screaming from the Buddhists in the world?
Of course not, you are a sacred mandala of light, there are no holy places or things outside of your body. Statues will be sand again, all of them.

A summary of the New Testament with no mention of the incarnation and resurrection is missing the whole point.

But yes, you should read it. I'd start with Matthew and John's gospels. Then read some of the epistles. Highlights of the Old Testament include (in no order) Genesis, Exodus, Job, Jonah, Ecclesiastes, Daniel, and Tobit.

How are Robert Alter's translations of the OT books?

Yeah same with me. I was a pretty hardcore fedora until pretty recently. I eventually came around after realizing that religion is pretty much a necessity for a cohesive society, and that Christianity's influence on western culture played a significant role in the west's historical prosperity. Starting looking into the theology more seriously and found it pretty appealing.

>Altruism
>Not rational

Altruism can be explained by evolution, you should try The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins. I know he has become a meme, but this book was written 40 years ago and is considered one of the most important books in Biology.

We dont need the bible to understand altruism or how species seems to be perfectly designed to their enviroments.

Im not saying believing in God makes you stupid, but it is certainly not logical.

not him outside the united states (and I know you're American because you're this fucking stupid) there's nothing "16" or "fedora" about not believing in god. only crazy people believe in god. regular folk might value christianity and believe it's full of good lessons but nobody actually thinks god exists.

Why is it that atheist has become this meme for nerds and betalords wearing fedoras? Western countries has become more secular as the population got more educated.

The reason why someone is religious is almost always because their parents raised them to be. If people weren´t introduced to the idea of God, or no God, before they were adults the amount of religious people would shrink dramatically. I think everyone knows why.

A board without americans would be so nice. Its like talking to a 5-year old.

>Why is it that atheist has become this meme for nerds and betalords wearing fedoras?
Because in the US of A they're seen as outcasts and to be fair a large part of them do act out in cringy teenage rebellion because they are outcasts. In the civilized world this correlation does not exist and therefore there is no meme. No one rebels by declaring themselves atheist because everyone's reaction to it is just "oh ok".

If people weren't introduced to the idea of Algebra, or no algebra, before they were adults the amount of people who knew algebra would shrink dramatically. I think everyone knows why.

...

top juj

You missed the point.
In this hypothetical world everyone would be properly introduced to christianity (or any other religion) and the scientific approach to understanding the world.

Didnt think I had to explain that but okey

Religious belief doesn't have to be logical to act as the social glue it has been for millennia.
I read Dawkins in the 70s, he's like one of those self-help authors: he speaks to those who need to hear him, the ones not listening cannot be convinced.
The Selfish Gene is pop-science, not an important book in the science of Biology.
>only crazy people believe in god.
bullshit, you need to get out more. World wide, religious belief is normal, even if it's just a superficial observance of local nonsense.
Me i'm spiritual but not religious.

>Why is it that atheist has become this meme for nerds and betalords wearing fedoras?
I think it was a meme started by angry devout Christians of the USA Churchy Taliban type.
It ignores the fact that belief in something absurd is a powerful bonding agent. It's a higher level normalisation that marks you as one of us, and all the rest as them.
Scientism, as opposed to science, has offered nothing as strong. Rebellious adolescents pointing out what's bullshit and what isn't are working through their autism, a grown person understands the falseness and low level lying needed to stop the world going up in bloody chunks.

>bullshit, you need to get out more. World wide, religious belief is normal
yes but all around europe "religious" refers to people who believe and respect the teachings of the bible or their respective religion. actual belief in god is reserved for the raving lunatics. religious is distinctly different from fundamentalist. a typical devout christian for example is someone who closely follows advice from the bible such as the 10 commandments or the "treat others as you would want to be treated" bit. they understand that stories such as god or the floods or creation of the earth etc. were just included for the purpose of metaphors and to explain the world around us in a time when we thought lightning or drought and such were supernatural phenomena. modern man doesn't need a god figure to follow a religion's teachings.

now africa or the middle east or india etc are a whole other deal but who cares about them tbqh

Sorry, I guess I wasn´t precise :) The Selfish Gene is actually considered one of the most important books in Science, not just biology.

discovermagazine.com/2006/dec/25-greatest-science-books.

"Not an important book in the science of Biology"

Now, Im just taking a guess here. But I, unlike you, actually study Biology, so dont just say shit that fits with your way of thinking when you dont know if its true or not.

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."
-Bertrand Russel

>not being able to read between the lines
>not being able to see the bigger picture
>having to need to have everything easily explained to him

Read genesis again. But this time read it out loud.

I was a christian and I always had a really good experience at my original church. I started interacting with a wider variety of christians and some had some pretty fucked up beliefs. Their method of interpreting the bible was the same as mine though, you just pick the stuff that supports what you already believed. I wanted to tell them they were wrong but I had no ground to stand on. I read the entire bible with it in my mind that any of this was up for any interpretation, and I was an anti-theist by the book of Numbers.

Yes, you should. If not for the literary value, for the historical value, if not for the historical value, for the cultural and moral values.

The moral values are often disgusting tho

>His most beloved angel, Lucifer, wouldn't bow to Adam because he loved God more.
>God got mad at him and send him to live in earth with Adam.

What the fuck are you talking about

Jesus christ you are fucking stupid you cannot extrapolate a bet between Lucifer and God from the creation story

>moral values
clearly you haven't read it

thanks for writing this for me, I'm just about to get off here and would've been too lazy to do it. seeya guys later.

He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. (Matthew 15:4-7)

Thanks Jesus, thats some great advice!

I read the Oxford KJV and hated it. I tried to read it cover to cover. Never do something like that. It sucks absolutely.

I'm thinking of getting that annotated Orthodox Study Bible. I also don't feel that I'm any better off culturally for reading the KJV. I'd rather read a modern translation.

Are you implying that the moral values that we have today didn't come from The Bible?? I am not saying we follow EVERYTHING the Bible says exactly, but if you think the that what we know for 'right' and 'wrong' didn't come from the Bible you need to study.

Does it really matter? Morality should obviously not be decided from the Bible. Our morality should be discussed, thought through and debated.

If you think human beings didnt follow rules or knew right from wrong before the Bible you really need to study. Humans have existed for more than 100 000 years, every society had its own set of rules, not killing your neighbor was pretty standard. Your holy book really isnt the big game changer that you think.

The morality in the bible is repulsive. Killing children because they cursed at their parents? Stoning people because they follow another god? Demanding that you love God more than your own family or you will burn in hell?

Yeah, have fun with that.

Depends on how familiar you are with religious texts. If you're not familiar with the cultural and historical context of the major chapters, then yes I would advise reading it.

I was really undecided either way until i actually read the bible, but its basically a collection of times jewish leaders used their god as a scapegoat. Most of the old testament is god either telling the jews to go kill X cultural group or god getting mad and throwing his toys out of the pram. Oh, and he also cant kill people who have chariots. He can create a universe, but chariots? Fuck that.

>implying reading the bible wouldn't make him less inclined

believing in god is the ultimate manchild thing.
>Christians invented the scientific method in a world of superstitions and fear.
wrong. also being a genius in one area does not exclude one from being a retard in another.

You left your fedora at Red Robin, my good man.

no but I do recall a lot of stories about Buddhists kicking muslim ass. For example
bbc.com/news/magazine-22356306
are you going to follow up with "no true Buddhist"?

>altruism
Altruism has nothing to do with religion and is often a key to good PR. a lot of morally correct actions can also bring you benefits so you don't really need fear to enforce morality or altruism

>moral values
>bible
yes let your female slave get gang raped to death. offer up your daughters to thugs. trick people into thinking your wife is your sister and then blackmail them for trying to sleep with your wife, etc ,etc God is no better
>a guy tries to catch the arch of the covenant so it does not fall the to the ground
punish him for touching a holy object.

>fedora
you are a one trick pony

I read the Tanakh in Hebrew. Is it not what you consider the "Old Testament"?
Sorry if I confused with the terms.
Anyway, only reason I like it is the prose, dumb stories for people who believe in talking snakes and masochists who like to think "muh god is always right I'm too stupid to understand him and deserve to suffer". Literally the conclusion every fucking time.

That's some sweet righteous indignation you got goin on there, senpai.

Did you actually quote mine the Bible to get those gems, or just read a "OMG! 5 ways God is Totally Sexist!" article on Salon?

Hey whatever though, I mean why bother engaging honestly, clearly it's all just sexist garbage, I bet God is voting for Drumpf amirite?

only in French

/thread