Has anyone read the bible

[pontifex]

Has anyone read the bible as a fiction book and not for religious purposes?

Is it something you would recommend or is it completely boring?


Please, do not turn this into a religion thread.

---

Please honor the op's request not let this turn into a thread about religion, and please do not turn it into a flame or neffing fest.

Thanks.

AnandTech Moderator

 

[FoBoT]

there is a lot of history in it, so you might can consider it a non-religious book (somehow) but i don't see how you can call it strictly fiction since it does contain historical facts, in part

 

[AStar617]

I think "a prosaic novel" would be a better description for what OP is attempting to get at than "fiction", which implies a lack of factuality, the flamebaiter's dream.

I did try this, actually. I remember getting through Genesis 15 or so before being sidetracked by other things. I don't remember it being a very boring read, though I do read (and enjoy reading) more than the average person might. Don't remember what version it was.

 

[AaronB]

Personally I think the style of writing is boring, so if you are looking at it from an entertainment perspective you can find better "historical" fiction.

 

[Brainonska511]

In my senior year AP English Lit class, we looked at parts of the Bible from a literary perspective. Also, my Fall Quarter humanities class read Genesis and we looked at that more from a literary perspective as well.

 

[BMdoobieW]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
In my senior year AP English Lit class, we looked at parts of the Bible from a literary perspective. Also, my Fall Quarter humanities class read Genesis and we looked at that more from a literary perspective as well.

Same here, but in my high school sophomore English class, IIRC.

 

[brandonb]

I've read the first 1/4 of the Bible... I believe I'm in Judges or Ruth or something.

The book is 6000 years old. It's not exactly high quality, or very interesting at all. Is it worth reading? Maybe just for context of the times, and history, and may if you have nothing better to do. Since the writing is so old style, things are just breezed over, and not indepth at all. In one page, the topic or the person in context does 6 different things... It's not like reading a typical fiction book. It's style is like this:

"Joebob went to fight the Babblenites, once reaching the city of Babbleton realized it was too strong, and their army lost 200 good men. Joebob waited until nightfall and sent a small company to the other side of the town to distract the defenders. Once the defenders went out, Joebob took the rest of the army in the town and slaughtered all the men, and took the woman as slaves. The town was set on fire. The gold was not to be taken as God said take nothing of value with them. Joebob then went back to his tribe and drank and slaughtered three lambs in honor of God's blessing."

If you consider that interesting or worth reading, then maybe you will be ok reading the bible, but its written pretty much exactly like that and I consider it very "dry"...

--- My review of what I read so far...

Genesis was decent as a book, nothing fantastic mind you. It was fairly interesting if you skip certain sections of it (jimbo began hooligan, hooligan begat rumplestiltskin, etc for a page or two)...

Exodus was ok less interesting than Genesis, the 2nd half is about laws and is really boring. But its ok if you just read the first half.

Leviticus is just a repeat of the laws in Exodus. ZzzzZzzz....

Numbers is just about the first priests or whatever, and laws... ZzzzZzzzZzzz...

Deuteronomy is just about laws and how the first people followed them (or didn't) ... ZzzzZzzzZzzzz...

Joshua is about them retaking over the lands in Israel... Starts to pick up again here.... My example above is pretty much what Joshua is repeated 20 times...

Judges more war, and the people of Israel start to ignore God and do their own thing once again... (I'm not done with this book yet)

----

In other words, its probably not worth reading. Maybe Genessis, first half of Exodus, and skipping over to Joshua... But only if you can handle the style of writing as I described above. I hope it gets better.

 

[dyn2nvu]

I guess you can read it as a fairy tale like Penn & Teller do.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1930782056164220973

I like this part though. Bible says girls should be submissive.

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
1 Timothy 2:12

 

[eLiu]

I tried, but it did get unbearably boring and I stopped. Like you can have pages and pages of X begot Y followed by a few interesting lines of story, and then more begetting. *snore*

 

[CKent]

I'd like to sometime, but I think the wording would get to me... "thee", "thy" and every verb ending in "eth" would drive me bonkers within 100 pages. There a cliff's version out there?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

If you're going to read fairy tales at least read good fairy tales. Stick with Hans Christian Anderson or The Brothers Grimm. The bible has a few moments of nice fire and brimstone mayhem, but it's mostly boring. And whatever you do, DON'T pay close attention. It's culled from so many sources that it trips over itself constantly.

 

[Farang]

I've meant to do that.. then again I've meant to do a lot of things. But the knowledge you gain from reading it would be very valuable.. I mean you could actually understand what Christians are citing and the context of what they are citing.

 

[Kirby64]

Originally posted by: CKent
I'd like to sometime, but I think the wording would get to me... "thee", "thy" and every verb ending in "eth" would drive me bonkers within 100 pages. There a cliff's version out there?

Try the NASB version. No thee, thy, or anything ending with eth. Much easier read than King James version.

 

[pontifex]

i'm just going by things i've read in other books and seen/heard in movies.
So i guess i'm not really interested in the whole Bible.

I've also contemplated reading the Koran (sp?) based on the same reasons.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I sometimes read it as a Fiction book. I skip all the way to Revelations. Thats where all the interesting stuff happens.

 

[deepred98]

Originally posted by: CKent
I'd like to sometime, but I think the wording would get to me... "thee", "thy" and every verb ending in "eth" would drive me bonkers within 100 pages. There a cliff's version out there?

i think there actually is a cliff note version out there

yep there is
Old Testement
New Testement
lol

 

[Flyback]

The original translation from Greek to English by William Tyndale (who was killed for being a heretic and making the bible accessible to "commoners") is regarded as some really high-quality writing by some of the world's eminent literary theorists and critics (Harold Bloom being one of the bigger names--and that guy rails hardcore on lots of lit).

I've never read the bible, not even in excerpts. I need to make it a point to do so.

 

[SirStev0]

i read a couple of the books. i sought out the more interesting ones. I am quite the lover of mythologies and really enjoy reading different philosophies and the like. To be honest, I've read much better, as far as myths go, but there are some interesting things.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: SirStev0
i read a couple of the books. i sought out the more interesting ones. I am quite the lover of mythologies and really enjoy reading different philosophies and the like. To be honest, I've read much better, as far as myths go, but there are some interesting things.

so which parts did you read? that sounds like more of what i'm interested in possibly.

 

[compudog]

I would like to read all of the major religious texts (bible old & new testaments) Quran (Koran), Torah but as was mentioned over and over in this thread, I am afraid I will be bored to tears.

I try finish everything I start reading, but I never made it through The New Testament. I gave up around First Timothy IIRC.

 

[homercles337]

Yes. As an undergrad I had Bible as Fiction and a Mythology courses. The mythology course was FAR more interesting.

 

[daveshel]

I read it sequentially a couple years ago for historical context. Very interesting, if a bit disjointed. I would like to read the King James version at some point.

 

[RapidSnail]

Originally posted by: daveshel
I read it sequentially a couple years ago for historical context. Very interesting, if a bit disjointed. I would like to read the King James version at some point.

I find the KJV to be the best translation as far as literature is concerned. Everything else just doesn't sound right to me.

 

[meltdown75]

Of all the threads to unlock...

Gag, get in here. Perfect one for ya bud.

edit: :laugh: n/m, he already posted in it

/slaps knee

baaaahahahahahah

 

[redgtxdi]

Actually, you can look up & read about Bible prophecy if you're into the "Indiana Jones" / "National Treasure" kinda' stuff.

Just beware............


The accuracy is frighteningly precise!