The Bible

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly

Is the Bible classified as factual work?

Also, is it worth a read?

BoJack Horseman

Some of the described events did occur, though obviously most of the old testament is allegory.
Noah probably did not die aged 950.

I read a kids version years ago.
It all seemed rather dull until the book of revelations.

Satriale

I've read it, turned me into an atheist, i see now why most Christians dont read it.

Birneybau

Best piece of fantasy until Lord Of The Rings came about. And then Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials'.

The Backwards Man

It's pretty good in fairness.

Jilly Cooper has riding and shagging, but the Bible has begatting and begetting.

pappyodaniel

I found it a tad far fetched. I'll give 2*s

Ken.

When I was about 15 I was staying in my grandparents for the summer. I got really bad flu and was in bed for a week with nothing to read so I read the bible. Whatever your view on religion you have to remember most versions are a 16th century reworking of a 2nd century text and the language reflects the time.

Imagine having all Shakespeare's writings in one book and reading it cover to cover. It gets quite tedious after a while.

me_irl

Factual? Doubt it.

But yes, if you want to argue your case convincingly.

racso1975

Thanks to the Gideon's I have loads!!! Dead handy as a door stop etc

me_irl

racso1975 wrote: »

Dead handy as a door stop etc

Been using my collection as sh*t tickets. Saves on the Andrex.

endacl

me_right_one

Yes and Yes.

You have to remember that the Bible is not one book. It is a volume of books, each telling a different story. The volume is split into 2 halves, the Old Testament, and the New Testament.

The Old Testament was basically the collection of books outlining Jewish law at the time, and the New Testament is everything from when Jesus was born (well just before, actually) up to about 400AD. AFAIK Jews still follow the OT, and Christians follow the NT.

Of all the books in the Bible, the 4 Gospels are taken to be factual. These are the books telling the story of Jesus's life. The main events, placenames, rulers of the time etc. can all be corroborated from other historical sources, so the Gospels are taken as fact. Hence the phrase, the Gospel truth.

And Yes, it is soooo worth a read. Its not nearly as hard or as word-y as people think. Each chapter is about one computer screen long, and the longest book I have come across yet was only 25 chapters. Yes, some parts are tedious, but overall, its a good read.

Jesus was a complete revolutionary. If he was around today, he would be disliked / liked the way Paul Murphy is. He didn't give a sh1t whose feathers he ruffled and in the end, it cost him his life. Its refreshing to see that life may have been less technological 2000 years ago, but people had the same problems as today. Jesus was the original hippie and he had the right attitude. The media today has the most completely wrong perception of Jesus / religion imaginable. Read the Bible for yourself and see.

Here's a link to the one I've read. Have a look, and make up your own mind:

http://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=47

BoJack Horseman

me_right_one wrote: »

If he was around today, he would be disliked / liked the way Paul Murphy is

Not even the Murph has that ego.

He didn't give a sh1t whose feathers he ruffled and in the end, it cost him his life.

By-election coming!

bazz26

Cannot wait for the sequel.

BoJack Horseman

bazz26 wrote: »

Cannot wait for the sequel.

The whole series has been out for a while now.

......

Bella chose Edward

murpho999

me_right_one wrote: »

Yes and Yes.

You have to remember that the Bible is not one book. It is a volume of books, each telling a different story. The volume is split into 2 halves, the Old Testament, and the New Testament.

The Old Testament was basically the collection of books outlining Jewish law at the time, and the New Testament is everything from when Jesus was born (well just before, actually) up to about 400AD. AFAIK Jews still follow the OT, and Christians follow the NT.

Of all the books in the Bible, the 4 Gospels are taken to be factual. These are the books telling the story of Jesus's life. The main events, placenames, rulers of the time etc. can all be corroborated from other historical sources, so the Gospels are taken as fact. Hence the phrase, the Gospel truth.

And Yes, it is soooo worth a read. Its not nearly as hard or as word-y as people think. Each chapter is about one computer screen long, and the longest book I have come across yet was only 25 chapters. Yes, some parts are tedious, but overall, its a good read.

Jesus was a complete revolutionary. If he was around today, he would be disliked / liked the way Paul Murphy is. He didn't give a sh1t whose feathers he ruffled and in the end, it cost him his life. Its refreshing to see that life may have been less technological 2000 years ago, but people had the same problems as today. Jesus was the original hippie and he had the right attitude. The media today has the most completely wrong perception of Jesus / religion imaginable. Read the Bible for yourself and see.

Here's a link to the one I've read. Have a look, and make up your own mind:

http://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=47

Oh right, so the whole story from immaculate conception to turninng water into wine, raising Lazurus and ressurection is all 100% factual.

As for Paul Murphy, what a comparison.
I suppose he has been successful in turning Irish Water into Irish Whine.

uch

Ah Sure have a Read, They tell you about Bread and Fish, but Cake is better

me_right_one

murpho999 wrote: »

Oh right, so the whole story from immaculate conception to turninng water into wine, raising Lazurus and ressurection is all 100% factual.

As for Paul Murphy, what a comparison.
I suppose he has been succesful in turning Irish Water into Irish Whine.

Read it and see for yourself. Then come back on here and make a judgement.

Arghus

It's an alright read but a bit preachy in places.

bazz26

Still a better story than Twilight.

Arghus

bazz26 wrote: »

Still a better story than Twilight.

Sure, it's the greatest story ever told.

Steve

Arghus wrote: »

Sure, it's the greatest story ever told.

Lord of the rings was better..

murpho999

me_right_one wrote: »

Read it and see for yourself. Then come back on here and make a judgement.

How do you know if I haven't done that already?

Either way, how can people think that everything in the bible is true.

It's full of allegories and parables.

CPTM

I would say no.. but saying as there's some good discussion here..

Saying as we're the first generations in a long long time to challenge the church and the connection it has with our law-makers, is it worth the read to understand the source of some of our crazy laws? Better the enemy you know (in detail) rather than the enemy you don't etc...?

me_right_one

murpho999 wrote: »

How do you no if I haven't done that already?

Either way, how can people think that everything in the bible is true.

It's full of allegories and parables.

You've answered your own question there. If you really read it, then you'd know that parables are not meant to be true. They never were! They are just stories to illustrate a point, which Jesus used 2000 years ago to explain things to people who couldn't actually read the Bible. Of course, you have that luxury now. Go and use it.

me_right_one

CPTM wrote: »

I would say no.. but saying as there's some good discussion here..

Saying as we're the first generations in a long long time to challenge the church and the connection it has with our law-makers, is it worth the read to understand the source of some of our crazy laws? Better the enemy you know (in detail) rather than the enemy you don't etc...?

PAH!! You don't even realise......... That's basically what got Jesus killed! The irony.

And if you think our laws need changing, would you not go to the bother of reading up on what they actually are first? Wouldn't that be worth doing? Wouldn't that be the logical starting point? I challenge you to find one single Irish law in the Bible.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

me_right_one wrote: »

Yes and Yes.

You have to remember that the Bible is not one book. It is a volume of books, each telling a different story. The volume is split into 2 halves, the Old Testament, and the New Testament.

The Old Testament was basically the collection of books outlining Jewish law at the time, and the New Testament is everything from when Jesus was born (well just before, actually) up to about 400AD. AFAIK Jews still follow the OT, and Christians follow the NT.

Of all the books in the Bible, the 4 Gospels are taken to be factual. These are the books telling the story of Jesus's life. The main events, placenames, rulers of the time etc. can all be corroborated from other historical sources, so the Gospels are taken as fact. Hence the phrase, the Gospel truth.

And Yes, it is soooo worth a read. Its not nearly as hard or as word-y as people think. Each chapter is about one computer screen long, and the longest book I have come across yet was only 25 chapters. Yes, some parts are tedious, but overall, its a good read.

Jesus was a complete revolutionary. If he was around today, he would be disliked / liked the way Paul Murphy is. He didn't give a sh1t whose feathers he ruffled and in the end, it cost him his life. Its refreshing to see that life may have been less technological 2000 years ago, but people had the same problems as today. Jesus was the original hippie and he had the right attitude. The media today has the most completely wrong perception of Jesus / religion imaginable. Read the Bible for yourself and see.

Here's a link to the one I've read. Have a look, and make up your own mind:

http://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=47

I hate these Jesus Fanboys.

So tell me this... If there was a big flood and Noah and his family all boarded the ark and were the only survivors of an apocalypse...well how did they reproduce? Did one lad shag his sister? Was she Chinese? Was one of em black? Was one aboriginal? How do you explain the races in the world...ya know considering the world is only a few thousand years old and all that? How did elephants and tigers and shìt get go the ark, did they swim? Did they all go vegetarian while on the ark?

I've so many questions, please convert me to your way of teaching?

kneemos

The Honey Monster wrote: »

I hate these Jesus Fanboys.

So tell me this... If there was a big flood and Noah and his family all boarded the ark and were the only survivors of an apocalypse...well how did they reproduce? Did one lad shag his sister? Was she Chinese? Was one of em black? Was one aboriginal? How do you explain the races in the world...ya know considering the world is only a few thousand years old and all that? How did elephants and tigers and shìt get go the ark, did they swim? Did they all go vegetarian while on the ark?

I've so many questions, please convert me to your way of teaching?

Parables dude. Atheists are embarrassingly simplistic,either deliberately or for real.

me_right_one

The Honey Monster wrote: »

I hate these Jesus Fanboys.

So tell me this... If there was a big flood and Noah and his family all boarded the ark and were the only survivors of an apocalypse...well how did they reproduce? Did one lad shag his sister? Was she Chinese? Was one of em black? Was one aboriginal? How do you explain the races in the world...ya know considering the world is only a few thousand years old and all that? How did elephants and tigers and shìt get go the ark, did they swim? Did they all go vegetarian while on the ark?

I've so many questions, please convert me to your way of teaching?

I'm not converting you, you can do that yourself. Every question you asked there, the answer is in the Bible. Before you bash it, go and read it. You wouldn't do that to B-list a movie, nevermind the worlds longest surviving book! I say this to all of you who have questions / want to criticize, GO AND READ IT FIRST! And if you claim you have, but still don't know the basics, then you haven't understood it - read again!

Anyway, bed. Goodnight Ireland.

Steve

The Honey Monster wrote: »

I've so many questions, please convert me to your way of teaching?

If you are accused of / witness to a crime and have to give evidence, the law of this land demands that you swear on the catholic sky fairy. If you do not believe in that sky fairy, you can choose a different one but you must have a fairy in order to be in court.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

me_right_one wrote: »

I'm not converting you, you can do that yourself. Every question you asked there, the answer is in the Bible. Before you bash it, go and read it. You wouldn't do that to B-list a movie, nevermind the worlds longest surviving book! I say this to all of you who have questions / want to criticize, GO AND READ IT FIRST! And if you claim you have, but still don't know the basics, then you haven't understood it - read again!

Anyway, bed. Goodnight Ireland.

The Bible is something that was beaten into me as a child. I know it very very well.

kneemos

Steve wrote: »

If you are accused of / witness to a crime and have to give evidence, the law of this land demands that you swear on the catholic sky fairy. If you do not believe in that sky fairy, you can choose a different one but you must have a fairy in order to be in court.

Certainly don't,you can just affirm you will tell the truth.

The_Valeyard

Steve wrote: »

If you are accused of / witness to a crime and have to give evidence, the law of this land demands that you swear on the catholic sky fairy. If you do not believe in that sky fairy, you can choose a different one but you must have a fairy in order to be in court.

You know, when you try to be smart and funny by using terms like 'Sky Fairy' it really shoots down any chance of debate and talk about the topic.

darkpagandeath

Who was the woman with 9 heads ?

getzls

Still better than the Koran.
Jesus said let the children come onto me to be blessed not to be raped.

RustyNut

I taught god liked little children to suffer.

Grayson

getzls wrote: »

Still better than the Koran.
Jesus said let the children come onto me to be blessed not to be raped.

Had to bang that drum didn't you. I bet when you're in the pub and a coworker asks what you want to drink you say "You know they don't allow drink in islam and they are going to take us over so enjoy it whilst you can" and your coworkers look into their drink silently avoiding eye contact.

chillin117

Walking on water then turning it into gargle but not before removing 2 fishes ?
It's the biggest lie/hoax ever committed or ever likely to be matched again and we bought it ?

Grayson

RustyNut wrote: »

I taught god liked little children to suffer.

He does. There's one point where god orders someone to commit genocide so the guy kills the men and sells the women and children into slavery. God gets angry qand says "I told you to kill them all" So the bloke has to go and kill the women and children.

There's another bit where a group of kids tease a prophet calling him Baldy. So the prophet prays and God sends a load of bears to maim and kill the kids. That'll teach them to take the piss of the folicly challenged.

gctest50

The_Valeyard wrote: »

You know, when you try to be smart and funny by using terms like 'Sky Fairy' it really shoots down any chance of debate and talk about the topic.

Some prefer 'Sexist, racist, murderous c*nt'

i spose you can see why :

Grayson wrote: »

He does. There's one point where god orders someone to commit genocide so the guy kills the men and sells the women and children into slavery. God gets angry qand says "I told you to kill them all" So the bloke has to go and kill the women and children.

There's another bit where a group of kids tease a prophet calling him Baldy. So the prophet prays and God sends a load of bears to maim and kill the kids. That'll teach them to take the piss of the folicly challenged.

Pawwed Rig

There are some good stories with a basis in history however the rest varies between tedious to the bizaare. The church doesn't really encourage reading it as their literature (catechism) is deemed more appropriate (and cuts out the strangeness such as talking donkeys and the joy of smashing babies against rocks).
It would be very inconsistant with the message it is giving.

aaronjumper

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly wrote: »

Is the Bible classified as factual work?

Also, is it worth a read?

It is by some yes.

Couldn't tell you, I've only read the parts I was forced to in school.
By the time I developed an interest in reading recreationally I'd lost my faith so I never started it.

Everything I know about it has been told to me by others or gleamed from the masses I was made attend/television/films etc.

Samaris

There's some great stories in it. I do tend to approach it much as I read the old Greek/Norse/Irish/whatever legends, it's a story of its time, meant to impart some sort of message. I keep meaning to give bits of it another shot, especially the Old Testament. Wouldn't say I've read it from cover to cover, Kings, Numbers and other lists of begatting gets boring after a very short while, and I never had much time for the acid-trip that is Revelations.

It's interesting to see how mores have changed in storytelling too. We tend to attach to some characters and feel either schadenfruede when bad guys get their come-uppances or happy for a good guy when things work out. There's a lot of stories in the OT where one ends up feeling sorry for someone who didn't really deserve what happened to them (always felt bad for Leah - the older sister of Rachel who ..er..some guy wanted to marry, and worked seven years for, only for the father to renege on the deal and hand over Leah rather than Rachel, so he worked longer to get Rachel too. Leah was the permanent ugly duckling in that story and despite bearing him a raft of sons, never got to swan.)

If I remember it rightly, her raft of sons were the elder sons in the Joseph and Benjamin tale.

Sure, it's misogynistic, genocidal, bigoted, quite alarming at times, and the God of the OT is a bit of an asshole, but I can enjoy them as stories and as an interesting view of how people thought at the time.

By the way people, this is AH, and no-one really expects a deeply respectful and whatsit conversation, but if we could all steer off the "Jesus fanboys" and "sky fairy" comments (and on the other side, too much giving out), the discussion would be generally a lot more enjoyable. There's Christianity and Atheist & Agnostics forums if people want to talk srs bsns.

Pherekydes

Some bizarre stuff in it all right, and not all in the OT. Consider Matthew 9:9.

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

So who wrote Matthew chapters 1-8?

How did he know of the events of Matthew 2:13, for instance?

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

Why did the angel only warn Joseph? Not warning the others led to the slaughter of the innocents, a crime against humanity, if ever there was one.

Of course, Jesus himself is reputed to have said (John 14:6):

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Which instantly condemned millions who had lived prior to Jesus to hell for all eternity.

He's also reputed to have said "I'll be (right) back".





Billions have died in the meantime.

lazybones32

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly wrote: »

Is the Bible classified as factual work?

Also, is it worth a read?

Yes, it is well worth a read for many reasons. I quite like the wisdom books - some good advice in there.
The New Testament is probably the most important 'book' I've ever read and asked questions that made me think in a new way.
Yes, well worth a read.

HensVassal

me_right_one wrote: »

Read it and see for yourself. Then come back on here and make a judgement.

Whoa....reading it 1000 times still won't convince anyone that you can get pregnant without sexual intercourse or IVF treatment. Water cannot be turned into alcohol. H2O cannot morph into an organic chemical compound. You can't bring a dead man back to life unless you have a defribillator or advanced CPR techniques but I suspect that if Lazarus was dead long enough to be braindead so if Jesus kickstarted his heart, the boy would still have been a cabbage. As for rubbing mud on a blind man's eyelids and then he is cured of his disability....all I can say is if and when you develop cataracts or glaucoma will you opt for a medical procedure or for some shaman to smear a mixture of bog water and wattle all over your face?

And I don't care how light you are, you will always break the surface tension of water so forget about walking on it.

valoren

Better off reading a compilation of Aesop's fables.

HensVassal

kneemos wrote: »

Parables dude. Atheists are embarrassingly simplistic,either deliberately or for real.

I don't think the Great Flood or the story of the garden of Eden were parables, dude. And besides if all this myth is just "parables" then why is MRM stating that it's factual?

RiderOnTheStorm

The bible will always have its staunch supporters & distractors. I think it's a great book, and it makes a bold statement that you should not believe what anyone else says about it (pro or con) but read it for yourself and make up your own mind.

kneemos

HensVassal wrote: »

I don't think the Great Flood or the story of the garden of Eden were parables, dude. And besides if all this myth is just "parables" then why is MRM stating that it's factual?

Both symbolic stories I'd have thought.
Don't know what MRM is but presumably the message is true rather than the stories

byronbay2

HensVassal wrote: »

Whoa....reading it 1000 times still won't convince anyone that you can get pregnant without sexual intercourse or IVF treatment. Water cannot be turned into alcohol. H2O cannot morph into an organic chemical compound. You can't bring a dead man back to life unless you have a defribillator or advanced CPR techniques but I suspect that if Lazarus was dead long enough to be braindead so if Jesus kickstarted his heart, the boy would still have been a cabbage. As for rubbing mud on a blind man's eyelids and then he is cured of his disability....all I can say is if and when you develop cataracts or glaucoma will you opt for a medical procedure or for some shaman to smear a mixture of bog water and wattle all over your face?

And I don't care how light you are, you will always break the surface tension of water so forget about walking on it.

That's why these episodes are called "miracles" and you need what they call "faith" to believe them!