The Bible (a discussion)

comic relief?

My take is that no other writings have influenced the world YOU live in !

I dont know, I am a keen reader of Enid Blytons works

I used to quite enjoy the Adventures of Mr Pinkwhistle

Didn't she write " Five go to the Stoning" and "The Epiphany of Adventure" ?

not sure Ive read those but they sound delightful

The best guess I can make about the Bible is that it is a rather self-serving history of the early Hebrew people...with a mythology interspersed.

For the modern Jews...it serves the purpose of a history.

For anyone using the mythology as a source for answers to fundmental questions about REALITY...about whether or not there are gods...I think it is about as useful as a book on the Myths and Legends of Greece and Rome.

As a source of inspiration...it has some value for people who want to be inspired.

Seriously though, most respondents here would maintain that the bible is a work of man, like all "holy books". (The rejoinder "...but Man was made in God's Image" is a paliative for believers) Most societies codify expedient social regulations and advocating a "deity" as the authority is a useful axiom. Animals are not saddled with the cognitive burden of "thinking of consequences" or " contemplating the possible meaninglessness of existence" and their social structures can be understood via Darwinism.

We (in the West) no longer live in the dark ages when life tended to "nasty, brutish and short" and when the carrot of a ticket to the next world could be obtained by following the (correct) rule book. Nor do we live in a world where the explanation of tendencies to charity and altruism are exclusively attribable to a divinity. Even these can be accounted for on Darwinian grounds.

And those who would reject the crudity and scientific travesty of the OT in favour of the NT seem to have forgotten that the contents of the latter were selectively censored by its Roman compilers.There is certainly nothing eternal about that resulting compendium.

As an apodictical existential pantheist, a mythical work nonetheless bearing significant allegoric injunction

…lacking however the relativistic implications of righteousness

I find Greek and Norse God myths more interesting than the Bible myths. But even they don't rank high on my list of things to waste my time on.

The Bible's only real claim to fame is that it happens to be one of the dominant myths still alive in the population today. A curiosity. Not nearly as interesting as the psychology of a humanity which still clings to such myths.

A few ideas that come to mind:

- Probably the most influential set of books ever written by men. Quite a loose bag though.
- A source for many Western and Mid-Oriental metaphors and values.
- Generally decent literature. Funny at times. Boring elsewhere...
- Some myths (genesis, deluge) borrowed from Babylon, other things taken from Egypt.
- Useful to understand the evolution of moral and religious ideas, e.g. from polytheism to monolatry to monotheism, at least in the Jewish tradition.
- Unfortunately justifies racism and genocide.
- Lots of it outdated.

inspiration . keen student of the Bible?

I find the old time children's fairy tales.. have a great deal more of the relativistic implications of righteousness, unfortunately, it's lessons seems to disappear once they reach adulthood and religion, as usual, distorts their comprehension.

I disagree about "the bible" being great literature. That's like reading the phone book in order to find a handful of interesting names. The King James translation was a conscientious effort to produce a literarily worthwhle text. Although most people don't understand this aspect of it, it was not written in the modern english of early 17th century England. The commission understood that most people in England did not speak what highly literate people considered modern English, and so it was written n the English of the early 16th century, so that it would be comprehensible to the widest audience. It was assumed that most people would not read it, but have it read to them. For that reason it was also written to be read aloud. Modern translations are as dull as dish water, and not at all necessarily more accurate translations--often they have been written to support the exegesis of those who have commissioned the translation.

Solely in the example of the King James version is "the bible" a work of any literary merit. Perhps this applies to translations into other languages. Largely, though, even the KJ version is dull reading. But it has flashes of true linguistic brilliance. For example, Job, 5:7 .. .

Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

I said "decent literature", not "great". Lots of gripping stories in there, and some prophecies (Eclesiast, Isaiah, Hosea...) pack a pretty strong punch.

Whatever stylistic merit any translation has goes to the translators. It's impossible to judge the real, original style if you don't read Hebrew (for the OT) and Greek (for the NT). I don't speak either so will skip that discussion.

The King James authors made a few mistakes, such as seeing "Lucifer" as a name for Satan in Isaiah, thus inventing a new name for the devil, when it was in the Vulgate and in Hebrew only a reference to the morning star ("bearer of light" in latin). Modern translators tends to emphasize precision over style. It's a difficult call to make in any translation, even more so in the case if the Bible.

I wasn't referring to anything you posted. In general, i don't see any use in reading your posts. Too bad if made an exception in this case.

I'm shocked.

Time to throw my hat into the ring.

I believe the Bible is a completly reliable explanation of the human condition and how God will restore the earth in harmony with his unchangeable purpose as he commissioned Adam and Eve.

I think the book Alice in wonderland is a completely reliable explanation of the condition in the world and father Christmas will restore it's harmony with his offsiders pulling the sledge and filling up stockings for mum and dad.

I think the bible is a perfectly adequate explanation or how the putative god blind-sided Adam and Eve and has been chumping the human race ever since.