Hey, there's 6,000 years of wisdom/bullshit in that book... it better be epic. You read the OT or NT? What books in the OT do you consider epic? Anyone want to recommend any of the more entertaining books/stories in the OT?
People fail you realize^^^^^ that the bible was never meant to be taken litteral. It is just a guide to live a good life. Thats all. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I've learned the the OT backwards and forwards (grew up religious jew) and I think my favorite thing I learned about is the REAL story of the Tower of Babel. Its a very simple story, only 9 lines long. Go ahead and read it word for word, Genesis Chapter 11. Most people know the story as this: The people living in the city of Babel were bad and thought they were equal to god. Because of this, they built a tower so high that they thought it would reach the heavens and they would see god. God got angry at them for this sin and as punishment, made them all speak diferent languages so no one could understand each other. Now after reading the actual 9 lines, where the heck does this childish version of the story come from? Now for the real story according to the text: Not long after the flood, all of the people of the world were speaking the same language and living in the same city in the valley of Shinar (now depending on the translation you may be reading, it might say the flat land of Shinar, but in hebrew the word from the Torah is "Kiah" which litteraly translates to "valley", the importance of this will come later). The people then say "let us come together and build a city with a tower that reaches the heavens, lest we be dispersed." No where do they say they want to build a tower to reach god. Look at what they're doing with that tower. The people are uniting and wanting to stay together. The "tower the reaches the heavens" is a symbol of their unity and "reaches the heavens" is most likely just a metaphor for a really high tower. And just to add to that, if they really were trying to reach god, why build it in a valley? Now, what was the point of god changing their languages? Lets go back to Genesis chapter 9. When Noah and his sons get off the ark, god blesses them and says "be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth." The "and fill the Earth" is the key here. God's intent in humanity was to disperse among the land, not to stick together in one city. The people weren't sinning per se, but more just not fulfilling god's intent. So what's the smart thing for god to do to change this? Just change around their languages so they DO disperse and fill the Earth. There was no sin or punishment, just god "fixing" humantiy.
i read the bible a lot. and im very anti-religious. I kind of read it like im reading the national inquirer... not quite the same, but you get what i mean. i take a lot of it in stride, but there is still much to be learnt from the bible. If i want something spiritual, hell yea im reading doors of perception or something like plato or aristotle, but through all the crazyness there is still a lot of good to be learnt from the bible
I read all of Genesis last weekend, and now I'm reading Romans and Corinthians. I read Genesis just for the trippy stories but Romans and Corinthians actually have meaning to me. They're all about love and acceptance. Pretty rad.
I am not a member of any religion but I like to read some storys from the Qur'an. They too teach you how to live a good life. They don't tell you to blow up buildings and shit like people say it does.
I was tripping on shrooms by myself the other night and I really wanted to read the bible I thought it would enhace my trip tenfold
The Bible is great to read stoned. I highly recommend reading The Story Bible by Pearl S. Buck, if you find the real bible format boring. P.S. Buck turns the Bible into a modern novel... great read!
I couldn't make it through reading the KJV Bible the 4th time. I stopped and Time of Change is the great digestion system at work discerning myth, history, truth...this is Man. The process of struggling with a little myth or exaggeration and reality, the lies and truths of history, seeking the truth, is in itself a process of gaining great wisdom. To understand any realistic meaning requires a Man to stretch and exercise his Mind and powers of Reasoning. The power to discern truth from lies, fantasy from reality, and the genius of the madness is a result of the experience...unless you accept the Blanket of Big Faith over Reason at the start. A little faith is all you ever need. And keeps a lot of evil intent in check for those of little reasoning powers. But in the end, if you think you really "Know," you have learned nothing. Man still needs a little faith. You only think you know, that which is constantly changing degree by degree, inch by inch, and a little faith enough to behold the effect Change brings in this Space called Time. It's a GREAT BOOK! Well worth the read if you "Struggle" for understanding in all the madness of it. The purpose of the Bible is that Man should know the Idea of God, that that it is and all that it is, not to go establish many Religions of Man as had been done. You are here, in Life, you came, you are! without a your own doing, you came from where? You came from someplace to be here. Let us ponder the idea of God, for you have a Mind, and much unknown exists. --- I suggest this for anyone studying the scriptures. Seek the Truth of it all. And Truth is as you find it, some people invest a lot of time trying to make Truth into what they want it to be...and most obviously, establishing a religion is a big help in doing that.
It's not called the greatest book ever written for nothing... The bible has served as the foundation for dozens of allegories found throughout the core works of western literature.
I too enjoy a good work of fiction with my weed. but all these religious people spoiled the ending for me, im sure thats why nobody reads it much anymore they already know what happens!