04.17
As someone who has never read the Bible, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to read through the highlights and give brief impressions of the passages I find most interesting. To make this more entertaining, I am using The Brick Testament as my primary source with the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible being used for context. I just want to get a high level overview of this tome, so my review will be nowhere near complete.
I started this as a series of micro-blog posts, but have decided to relocate the endeavor to my blog, so not to annoy my followers too much. I shall replicate my initial posts here and continue on.
Genesis
3:11
Why is god asking questions? Isn’t it all knowing?
3:16
Shouldn’t god punish itself for its own flawed creations?
3:22-23
What is wrong w/ knowing good and evil? Sounds better than being an ignorant stooge.
4:9
Again with the questions. It’s not very knowledgeable for an all-knowing being.
4:13-14
Who is going to find him? There seem to be only two other people in existence.
6:7
If god is all-powerful, why doesn’t it just fix us? Genocide seems a bit extreme. What did the animals do anyway?
8:18-19
How are giraffes and elephants supposed to climb down a frakking mountain?
8:20
What was point of saving the animals if they were going to sacrifice them? Yahweh’s not big on forethought I guess.
9:24-27
What did Ham do and why is Canaan being punished for it? Also, I guess slavery is A-OK.
11:7
This Yahweh dude sure is a party pooper.
12:17
Oh that Yahweh. Always punishing the wrong people.
19:31-32
Offering of daughters for gang rape and drunken incestuous cave rape. I’m sensing a theme.
20:17
Yahweh corrected the situation, but what is with punishing the wrong people? Sucks to be anybody other than Abraham.
22:12
It was only a test. I am so relieved. That makes it all better. Wait. No it doesn’t. Yahweh & Abraham are both horrible.
26:7
Are we really doing this again?
27:41
What is with all the familial strife. Can’t they all just get along and be equals.
29:25
Deception and incest. This book is full of good moral principles.
29:30
More incest. These people are freaks!
29:34
Leah is a seriously deluded individual.
30:3
Yeah, because this same plan worked out so well for Abraham.
30:9
This is getting ridiculous. Jacob must be exhausted.
32:28
Jacob wrestles god and emerges victorious? This god is seriously un-godlike. Why are we supposed to worship him again?
34:3
More rape. Why am I not surprised?
34:8-9
So women are basically slaves and they have slaves themselves. This seems like a fair and equitable society.
34:13-14
Let me get this straight. Selling your sister to someone who is uncircumcised is the disgraceful part. Riiight. This whole book is disgraceful.
34:25
Mass murder is an appropriate response to your sister being raped. Noted.
38:7 38:10
Old Yahweh is back to his murderous ways. Shocking!
I commend you for beginning the epic journey of reading for what my take you more than a year if you read every last phrase of it. But I’m a bit confused on the purpose. Pure amusement perhaps? If so Im sure the lego bible will not disappoint. If its to find out what we crazed people believe, than for sure use the sources that you have listed as a “resource” which clearly contain their own agenda.
If the purpose however is to really learn what Christianity is (not to find answers but just for pure learning) by all means don’t use any source but the good old Bible itself. There are annotated Bibles for believers as well, but I’ve never used them. I simply read, questioned, and studied. That way I know I’m not being influenced by someone’s agenda. Just by the story itself (and yes it is a story, but not a story tale). Just a thought!
I do think that if one is trying to strengthen their beliefs, then it only makes sense that we read about others’ arguments and observations so we know where each other is coming from. That’s the only way people can have an intelligent conversation if we know what the heck the other person is talking about.
Honestly, I’m a bit surprised that you haven’t read the Bible considering you seem pretty opposed to it. I know there can be a huge disconnect in what people say and do. Unfortunately there are really messed up people and really messed up ideas out there that people attach to Christianity. Like the VBS story that you posted on FB. Totally wrong and unbiblical, yet they do it as “Christians.” This completely foreign as we got a good dose of someone doing a horrid act on 9/11 in the name of Islam and Allah. Get my drift? Just because someone says they are this or that, or use this book or that book to justify their actions doesn’t make that religion or book wrong. We are all human: fallible, selfish beings at best and yes we do make poor interpretations sometimes and sometimes even believe lies that we are told. Interestingly enough, most people who call themselves Christians or say they believe in God have not read the Bible either. Catholics are especially notorious for this as it is the priest’s job to tell them all they need to know. Yeah right! Don’t even get me started on the so-called Catholic church! So if you follow through you will probably know more about the Bible than the crazy protesters we see on t.v. (see Fred Phelps and his “church”).
Let me know how the project goes and feel free to take me up on my challenge: no annotations, and no lego Bible
Just Nick and his observations. But…. if it is for pure amusement or whatever, no hard feelings between us. You know me, we can always get along no matter what our differences are. This post just made me super curious is all.
If school doesn’t kick my butt too much I hope to see you again when we get down there for an extended stay (realistically sometime during winter break). Until then, stay cool! (both literally and figuratively).
This endeavor started as way to avoid trudging though the entire Bible. I was only interested in hitting the high points which The Brick Testament seemed to do adequately (with amusing dioramas to boot). As far as the Skeptics Annotated Bible is concerned, I was simply using it as context for the passages from the The Brick Testament, not for the annotations. I chose it simply because it was the first site that came to mind and is easy to navigate and search. Also, while I don’t understand why you believe, I don’t think you are crazed.
I don’t know if I will post anymore on this endeavor or not. Reading Genesis has put me off the whole ordeal for a while. Not only is it boring and repetitive, God is exceedingly murderous and His reasons for it make very little sense. I do have a copy of the King James Bible on my Sony Reader that I plan to read though at some point and I may post some observations.
As far as being opposed to the Bible goes, I am simply opposed to acceptance of claims without evidence or in spite of evidence no matter what the source. This includes belief in the supernatural, homeopathy, most of chiropractic, acupuncture, psychics, etc. These sorts of beliefs can lead to actions that are detrimental to the believer and society as a whole such as sectarian conflict. Both sides believe they are right with no objective evidence that either side is correct. Until someone provides compelling evidence that a supreme being(s) exist, worrying about whether the Bible, Qu’ran, or any other religious text is true seems to me to be missing the point.
You stay cool as well. Hopefully the cooler weather of autumn will appear soon. Enjoy the new school year.