I´m reading the bible for several months now.
Sometimes it makes me laugh, sometimes it makes me shake my head and sometimes it´s interessting and intelligent.
I´m also used of making fun of the book with one of my friends, how stupid their writers were and so on.
In school we learn we have to interpret the stuff with regard to the present situation and that the book´s messages could not be understood literally.
There are also many ethical discussions about it at very high intellectual levels how to understand the bible...

My question now is:

are you guys also interessted in the bible and what´s your opinion about it? Can a ´normal´human being even hope to understand the stuff and is it true that todays christians believe only in the new testament?

I don´t know if there were threads like this in the past, but as I´m new here I hope you´ll excuse it.

There are some useful things in the bible, but there is a lot of useless stuff, too. I think it'd be more productive to just read a book of fairy tales. The morals are usually pretty good and they don't have the excess crap the bible does.

Tap, Dont agree with that. The Bible is a good read if you can get past its other flaws, like its family trees and such, it allows you to think in ways that you wouldn't have before.

Zarthon, I couldn't get through it, it reads like stereo intructions.

Why do you not agree with me, especially considering you can't get through it? I bet you can get through Brothers Grimm.

so tell us, how's mother goose?

i used to be mildly interested in it, not so much in the history behind it but in the philosophy in it. i've never sat down to read it from cover to cover, but i have read most of it at different times.

to me it's a book of opinions and personal records. i don't see it as the word of god - my belief of god is debatable in itself. so therefore, i think that we could understand it. can you understand a diary? a really long collaborative one?

and i'm not too sure about the christain thing

Good fables, lacking pictures.Takes some further translation in places.

Like any book, you get what you put in. Your understanding depends on how much effort you expend making sense of it. The moral lessons within it are clear, though they are couched in stories. I don't believe you should take it literally. The style at the time was to explain and pass on knowledge in this story form.

I think it is a wonderful book. It has many things which are worth remembering in everyday life. I think it provides a beneficial perspective. That we are all united. That we can attain great heights if we work towards bettering ourselves. That a little kindness goes a long way.

Not bad, how's the god ordered, Moses led genocide?

@ all


thank you for your comments.


Some guys I know like to refer to the bible as a book which was written when you ran the risk of getting eaten by dinosaurs...but I think I will continue reading it and let you know when I´m through it...

As you know, Zarthon, I really LOVE the bible. Their aren't many things that are as funny as making mockery with the bible. But , as it's often said in school, the bible was written long ago and that's why we shouldn't take it literally. But why should we make our live dependent on something that was written 2000 years ago? Why not taking a new religion?

the bible may bear little relevance to this day in age...but as a work of literature it is quite a thing to study...the grammatics, history, the stories...the bible should be studied...I agree not as a factual guide to everyday living or used as propaganda, but everything teaches something...and some of the psalms are quite the pretty poem, and the song of solomon is quite...sensual

probably as exciting as the destruction of sodom and ghomora:p

@Zarathustra

As you know I never found access to any religion...

As for the bible you should read the parts that are about sacrificing animals for god´s pleasure. (3 Mose/Levitikus1-8)

@Jordyn

the events directly after the destruction of sodom and ghomora are much more exciting

Tap, Probably I could read through the brothers Grimm, I have read through an Edgar Alan Poe book, but I have also read a book called 'The bible book of stories'.
I just have trouble geting into the bible itself.

It may sound boring, but personally I found the travels Of Moses and the others in Exodus a great read...


*shrugs*


... then again, I was 14 then. Hrmph!

Mothergoosery (if that's a word).

mothergoosery???

*shudders *
"BACK AWAY FROM THE GOOSE....."