(no subject)

[quidditchgrrl]

Some people are truly special. Like people who demand that I read The Five People You Meet In Heaven or who tell me I'd love Kathy Reichs' books.

Then there are the Left Behind people, who seem to think that we've incorrectly classified those books as fiction. Rawr.

Certifiable, I tell you.

I've been trying to find a stat that I'd seen somewhere, but now I can't verify it: only 37% of regular churchgoers - people who attend religious services two or more times a month - have actually read the Bible from cover to cover. That seems like such a small number; it would surely go a long way to explain a lot of the nutty Christian fervor that seems to have taken over this country.

Please, if you're a Christian, read the Bible yourself, once. I know it's boring and not as steamy as, say, Danielle Steel, but slog through so you at least know enough to call shenanigans when people try to tell you that Jesus referenced homosexuality and said it was okay to kill brown people without provocation. We have the entire thing on CD at the library!

Comments

[netbyrd.livejournal.com]

I like how the European Union is now the Holy Roman Empire reborn.

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

Completely forgetting that the US is the huge superpower with its resources stretched paper-thin to cover all of its conquests and using military might to gain advantage abroad while its citizens suffer from economic parity and the inability of its government to function the way it should!

[photosinensis.livejournal.com]

I'd not recommend the whole thing. I would only recommend the following books:

The Gospels
Acts
The lettere NOT written by Paul
Revelations

That's it. Revelations is only included because there are some good bits in there too. Those are the texts on which I base my own personal faith. Sure, having a grounding in OT mythos is all well and good, but honestly, there are parts of that collection that I'm rather uncomfortable with.

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

Well, that's kind of the condensed version, true. But if you're going to base your ENTIRE BELIEF SYSTEM on a book, knowing everything that happens is pretty darned important when it comes to a)the history of that belief, b)the current context of that belief and c)defending that belief from both internal and external criticism.

[writers-wrath.livejournal.com]

It seems like there's so many prayer books and "walk you through a particular section" Bible books that people tend to go for those than the actual Bible itself. I know my mother has about 30 of those AT LEAST. I've never been able to figure that out...

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, MAN. Those things fly fast and furious from the library. They're like Cliffs notes! I wouldn't want another person telling me how to interpret passages I've never read myself. Bleh.

[harumph.livejournal.com]

One of the reasons why I'm still having trouble reconciling myself to Christianity is that people want to pick and choose what they use, even the people who claim to be doing things exactly like "the church" in the 1st century AD. Like, it's ok to hate gays because it's in the old testament, but then you basically disregard everything else there unless you want another excuse for hate, because you want to concentrate on all the stuff in the new testament. Oy.

Re: that article: um, how does one become a "prophecy expert"? And perhaps Hurricane Katrina wasn't foreshadowing the apocalypse, but rather showing the world what an incompetent government we have? Plus, everything everyone else has said. Eesh.

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

I think that's also my problem - the people who believe in the teachings of Christ are picking what they like and what is comfortable to them, and forgetting the rest. Hypocrisy.

Yes, "prophecy expert" - another term for "bullshit master"? LOL

I agree, Katrina was a world-changing, life-altering event for most of the First World - it showed that the USA, a once-mighty nation, could not respond to a domestic crisis with the efficiency it shows when exercising its might in the world arena. Talk about parallels to the Roman Empire...! Eesh, indeed.

[allichan.livejournal.com]

I know it's boring and not as steamy as, say, Danielle Steel...

Dude...SO untrue! The old testament is chocked full of steamy bits. Incest, affairs, murder. It's awesome! I read the bible as a child and I remember being shocked out of my little lacy socks. My mom was very protective about what we could read and watch so you could imagine my surprise.

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

But it's well-written smut, which is hard to mass market, especially when there is plot involved. LOL!

[killerbeautiful.livejournal.com]

my ex boyfriend loved the left behind books. knew they were fiction, sure, but still thought they were great. guess i should have expected him not to enjoy me becoming pagan and bisexual. oops. XD

it is an interesting book, the bible. most christians have no frickin clue what the hell they're flinging around so carelessly.

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

Strange, I know so many agnostics/atheists who have read the Bible compared to christians who get all of their supposed beliefs from a third party. o.O Boggles the mind, it does. I couldn't fathom basing my belief system and JUDGING other people on it, without knowing the source of my faith.

We have an unwritten rule at work (heck, it may be a library-general rule) that you may not mock a book unless you have read it. I thought Left Behind was poorly written and it CLEARLY pandered to the demographic that would read it. Yech.