Ok, so how do i read this thing so that I'm actually getting stuff out of it and not wasting my time...

Ok, so how do i read this thing so that I'm actually getting stuff out of it and not wasting my time? Are there any unnecessary parts that I can skip? Hoping to understand both Christianity better, and to understand the cultural/literary influences that this book has on the West. I'm not planning to convert, necesarily, but I'm not against entertaining the idea if it seems like the right thing to do.

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Start with Plato

Go from top to bottom, and left to right. It's a fucking book.

A priest told me to start with the New Testament and then read the Old through the lens of the new and through Jesus Christ's teachings. For instance there's all kinds of shit in Leviticus Chapter 20 about putting such-and-such a person to death or stoning such-and-such a person as a community for such-and-such a thing, but Jesus directly when against this when he said "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" so as a proper Christian (or even just a scholar of religion) there are parts of the Old Testament that you actually have to ignore or at least not accept in the way you live your day-to-day life. I think there's also a bit in Deuteronomy that says if a woman is not a virgin upon marriage then she should be whipped or killed or something like that, but again, Old Testament. Christians obviously do not follow this.

So yeah, first read the New Testament, because the Priest blatantly said that the Old Testament can be pretty hard to read at times. I first tried to read the Old Testament first and just couldn't stick with it. I hope this helps, OP. Good luck on your journey, whether or not you convert. Personally I also intend to read the Quran too. There's a whole lot of fucked up shit in that, and you can see it in how Middle Eastern culture and Sharia Law is doing. Western/Christian culture is clearly far superior in most if not all ways, particularly in terms of gender equality, even if modern feminists would have us believe that the world hates women and that women are unimaginably oppressed by the fictional invisible 'patriarchy' boogieman. I'd LOVE to see some women take a trip to the Middle East to see what real oppression is. One woman tried to hitchhike across the Middle East... she was raped and murdered. Surely Allah is all-knowing and merciful, as well as his Prophet Muhammad who enjoys fucking 9 year old girls...

>Hoping to understand the cultural/literary influences

dont do this


>reading psalms
>something about being the apple of gods eye
>whoa...so thats where it comes from!!

John 8 is not a repudiation of the Old Testament law. The reason we don't stone people today is because the command, like most in Leviticus, was context sensitive. They are rules and laws that dealt specifically with the life and worship within the kingdom and the temple. Well we don't live in the kingdom or the temple so those laws don't apply.

The purpose of the law was to prepare mankind for the new covenant, which is was brought into effect by Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection marked a turning point in salvation history and the fulfillment of Gods plan. See Matthew 5:17, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them."

Speaking of which I believe there's another part in Matthew, and it has actually some words from Jesus Himself where he says something like "I come not to bring peace to the world; I come with a sword. Let a son forsake his father, let a daughter in law forsake her mother in law, if they do not follow me." Or something like that. Basically, if some people in a family is Christian and some are not, then the Christians should get away from the non-Christians, which is highly unfortunate. It's actually similar to something in the Quran that says "If your family are non-believers (non-Muslims) then do not take them as allies even if they're your father or brothers." I am Christian, but I don't believe any of that, and that is a part of the New Testament that I will not be partaking in, but on the whole the affect Christianity made in laying the foundation for modern western culture which is the greatest civilization ever seen in human history, it's beyond question.

Anyone who lives in the luxury that is western society to a large extent have Christianity to thank, and it is indeed luxury we live in. By the world's standards, we are the 1%, even those who might live in homeless shelters or live on welfare, or those who work shitty jobs like fast food and/or cashier. Heat at the turn of a dial, you can purchase air conditioning or at least a fan to provide an artificial breeze, there's healthcare if you're hurt, there's police if someone is trying to break into your home (though ideally you'd have laws saying you can take your protection into your own hands as a gun-owner), there's bus services or taxi to bring you around, and there is equal opportunity for all. Black man as US President for 2 terms, nearly had a woman President even though she was probably the worst candidate in US history, female Prime Minister in the UK, female Prime Minister in Canada, presently a dickless cock-sucking cuck PM in Canada (fucking Trudeau j.r....), and so on and so forth. Women have just as much opportunity, and if they make the same decisions as men then they will make just as much money as men.

To me it seemed the people just loved jesus because he could heal everyone, resurrect people and feed huge masses with basically no food.
But then all his support dissapeared when he was betrayed.
Why is that?

You know why.

Matthew 10:34 is not a command to abandon your family because that would directly contradict the ten commandments. In Chapter 10, Jesus is preaching to his disciples. You have to consider the context, these men are Jews and Jesus is beginning to radically alter the religion they've known all their lives. He's making a statement that what he has to say his so radical that it will divide family and friends, that not everybody will believe and this will cause conflict--which it has.

Most people probably just thought he was a prophet.

Ah, fair enough.

that's not what I mean. I said influences, not references. I know that the Bible was a massive influence among many of the greatest writers, and so it must have literary qualities of its own, that can be understood only if you read the damn thing. Melville, Joyce, Dante, Whitman, etc. all were influenced by the Bible

thanks man, appreciate it

>Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Matthew 26:33

People were not yet willing to accept and give themselves over to Jesus, and he knew this. The apostles were special for a reason: they believed and had faith while others stepped aside.

Start in the New testament. The old testament (aside from a few books) are absolutely wack or just straight boring (i.e Leviticus)

If you're going into it looking for literary references and looking for parts to skip over you'll not get much from reading it. It is really meant to be a tool for the faithful, but there are other reasons to read that can be valuable.

>reading the biblel

Don't listen to this user, don't you want to know how to diagnose the plague? Refer to Leviticus.

Old Testament is awesome.
>Cosmogony
>War
>Death
>Romance
>Philosophy
>Poetry
>Animal sacrifice
>Whoring
>Incest
>A prophet blowing up a dragon
>More whoring

New Testament is just
>Muh Jesus
>Muh Jesus
>Muh Jesus
>Muh Jesus

Now a Christfag will reply to me with a picture of a crusader or christ-chan and tell me the OT is just some background for their gay-ass messiah.

You're a weird ass dude

No problem at all, approach it with an open but critical mind. Be unbiased, and see if Christianity is for you, and remember that the Old Testament was literally around hundreds of years BEFORE Jesus Christ. The book of Leviticus? Written between 530BC-330BC, so its beginnings predate the Roman Empire. Leviticus 20:13 says that if a man should lay with another man as he would with a woman then they should be put to death, so y'know, there ARE barbaric aspects in the Old Testament (which by the way is as much in the foundation for Judaism as it is for Christianity, fun fact) but as I mentioned Jesus Christ preaches peace, love, and acceptance.

The closest I could find in the Bible thus far that promotes killing (which is actively promoted in the Quran) is a passage, can't remember where it is in the Bible, but it says if a thieve breaks into your house at night and you strike him with a fatal blow, then it is not manslaughter, or something like that. Meaning the owner of the house is not at fault for having taken the life. However in the very next passage it says if the sun has risen then it's murder or something like that, so that's a bit odd but I do like that the Bible says it's ok to defend one's self, even with lethal force, if someone breaks into your home at night.

Old Testament actually says that people who partake in incest should be put to death, and are actually EXTREMELY specific too. Lots of Leviticus Chapter 20, stuff like "if a nephew should lie with an aunt", "if an uncle should lie with a niece", "if a son-in-law should lie with a mother-in-law", etc. etc. etc. Several passages in Chapter 20, all mentioning things like this, including bestiality. Kind of funny; if a woman lie with a beast to mate, then both she and the beast should be put to death. Same if a man does so with a beast. As mentioned though, Jesus preaches love and tolerance and all that hippy kind of stuff, but ultimately I think good stuff. Western culture wouldn't be what it is if we still killed gays, people who commit incest, and goat-fuckers. Though some States might still kill goat-fuckers, I dunno.

As for the Crusades, they were in response to hundreds of years of the Muslims waging war, enslaving Christians/Europeans, taking European land (Iberian peninsula mostly), desecrating the tombs of St. Paul and St.Peter, etc. They wanted Jerusalem BACK, because the Muslims had taken it from the Christians. Seriously, 600s-1000s, the Muslims were fucking BRUTAL. North Africa once had a huge Christian population, not anymore. Slavery, murder, rape, Jizyah tax (special non-Muslim tax sometimes so high that it caused starvation), etc. Also the Byzantine Empire, a Christian Empire, was ultimately destroyed by the Muslims and is now Turkey. Gobble-gobble, roaches!

Oh to be 16 again

I never said it endorses those things, it just features them. The OT is amazing because it covers the breadth of human experience, warts and all. The NT is very focused and written over a much shorter time span, there just isn't the same depth of accumulated writings spanning different eras, beliefs, and subjects.

Start with the Greeks before reading New Testament. Bible stole "logos" from stoics.

I can understand that. Fair enough. I'll get to reading the books someday, and I think I'll be a prouder Christian for it. Speaking of prouder, who watches Louder with Crowder?

Quran Challenge I
youtube.com/watch?v=YuG0ifhPxRc

Quran Challenge II Jesus vs Muhammad
youtube.com/watch?v=RwluC6GoKLE

A Rebuttal to Islam (A Muslim critiques the vids, he critiques the critique)
youtube.com/watch?v=azNDCQsjSoQ

These are fucking hilarious, has some great acting, features an actual 9 year old at one point (which is reportedly the age of Aisha when the marriage was consumated, though the marriage reportedly happened when she was 6) and includes A LOT of passages from the Quran.

Fucking this

Start with Mark then John then Acts then Romans and after that you can read some Old Testament such as Genesis and Exodus. Also you can read one Psalm each day.

Once you’ve come this far, you will have read one book from each of several shelves in the library—the Gospels, Old Testament history, the Epistles, New Testament history and the wisdom literature.

>t. Bob Grahmann

>le Old Testament laws don't count and were just for Jews
>Matthew 10:34 is not a command to abandon your family because that would directly contradict the ten commandments.
Pick one.

Old Testament is about God
You will feel God's love and wrath, his untouchable perfection by how he creates as much as he punishes
Most part were written by old men, so their concepts are really rusty and need a lot of interpretation if you take things literally you will fool yourself

New Testament is about The Son of God, Jesus
How he is the only way to the next realm since this one is faded to destruction
Here you will learn why Jesus was the most courageous, intelligent and kind human to ever live, you will understand why even after all those years with all this cultural Marxism his words still touch the very human soul in its core for those who accept him in his life

Both great but difficult reads, depends on your own goals how you wanna approach them, the new testament is easier to understand specially because God himself is more complex by narture and Jesus job is to simplify him for humanity

>Start to read Genesis after the NT
>Here's a middle eastern creation myth
>God made people but doesn't want them to do THING
>They do thing
>God is angry
>Okay, Cain get me some meat
>Gives god vegetables
>NO
>Murder
>Okay Cain is going to banished now
>Don't banish me all the other people out there who don't exist yet (if like all major branches of Christianity you think Adam and Eve were the only humans created) will kill me
>Nah I'll just mark you
>BEGATBEGATBEGATBEGATBEGATBEGAT
>"Humans were a fucking mistake" t. God
>But Noah's alright
>BEGATBEGATBEGATBEGATBEGATBEGAT
>Hey Pharoah this is my sister
>Oh wow I would really like to bang her is that OK?
>YEAH SURE BUDDY
>PLAGUE
>OH FUCK why didn't you just say she was your wife and avoid this bull shit
>This happens more than once
>Rape
>Victims brothers avenge their sister by committing genocide
>Jealousy
>God appears in human form several times
>Jacob even beats his ass

So after this my question is, are the Gnostics right?

The bible has always been and will always be the most polarizing literary work in history. How people feel about it isn't really new, some believe it to be what it claims to be and others don't.

If you are interested in finding out for yourself I would recommend reading it, less obvious however, I would recommend reading it in ISV. Most readable and accurate version IMO. If you wanted to add to your readings you could find a decent study bible that dissects certain passages that are metaphorical, disputed, prophetical, or in any other way particular. Further still you can begin listening to preachers, john MacArthur being a great start. You may also want to begin debating and conversating with Christians and people of other faiths. Finally, and most importantly, I would recommend prayer. The bible teaches that people cannot really ascertain the knowledge of God unless God gives it to them in the first place, but it also teaches that those who truly seek salvation will find it. God bless

>Judging a omnipotent being full of light who transcends time, space and matter with his limited human logic which is even more limited by his body and time spent on earth
>Taking stuff literally like the Jacob part for example, when its clearly a metaphor by when mankind does something against God's will it just hurts God but doesn't actually harm him in any kind of lethal danger

Yes. Mostly.

I'm just piling on to agree with you, user. Reading the Old Testament just to pick up the parts that the New Testament retconned is Protestant-tier nonsense. OT is full of wonderful poetry, history, and political philosophy. It doesn't get the attention it deserves, honestly, because it's either read by 1) Jews for ritual purposes, or 2) Christians looking for typological references to Jesus (Oh shit! Isaiah says "a son is born!" This is obviously Christ!).

I've been reading through it all year, start to finish. I'm halfway through Isaiah now. First thing that surprised me about it is how much it's concerned with how to form a just political community (the Pentateuch partly, but the political philosophy really kicks into high gear after Joshua, from Judges onwards); looks like the Hebrews done fuck it up again and again and again even though God told them how to do it. Honestly, the writer it most puts me in mind of is Hobbes. I'm going to do the New Testament once I'm done with the Old, but I'm worried it won't live up to just how rich at every level the OT is.

I disagree and my personal taste is the opposite.

I read the opening of the gospel of John and I was sold on Christ. I read Genesis and now I'm not so sure.

Genesis is the Old Testament, and the Old testament was written before Jesus Christ. The book of Leviticus specifically was written between 530-330 BC, roughly. To put that in perspective, the Declaration of Independence is less than 250 years old, so Leviticus even when it was completed was older by Jesus' perspective than the US Declaration of Independence is to us. As for when Leviticus started being written, from our perspective we'd be looking to a time that essentially pre-dated muskets, when the VAST majority of warfare took place with spears, swords, shields, and bows. In fact 530 years ago today, Europeans didn't even know about the Americas yet... so yeah... you need to read the Old Testament through the lens of the New and through Jesus Christ's teachings, because Christ Himself disregarded several parts of the Old Testament the day he said "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

To let the Old Testament question your faith in Jesus Christ is like allowing the start of European slavery of Africans question your respect for Abe Lincoln who eventually abolished slavery in America. Just to help put it into perspective.

The fact that they're laws aren't nearly as important as the context behind them. Some laws deal specifically with the life and worship in the kingdom and temple. We don't follow those laws because the kingdom and temple don't exist. Other laws, like the ten commandments are for all times and all places and are meant for all people. We follow these laws. It's not an "all or nothing" thing.