Question about people in the Bible...

[BigToquex]

Personally, I don't really believe in God, Heaven, Hell, etc... However I do know that I am not very open-minded about the subject. I feel like it's not right for me to base what I believe on just ignorance. My goal is to read the Bible and other literature that would be useful to read, so I know both sides of the story, then come to my own conclusion about everything (maybe I'll just end up totally confused - who knows).

Anyway, I just started to read the Bible today, and the first thing that I'm noticing is the huge family trees they are listing out, how old people are, where they live, etc. (Like it lists like 3 or 4 generations of Noah's kids - thats like 50 people at least. I remember Noah, and that he died at 950 years old)

I was just kind of reading these parts pretty fast. Should I take my time over these parts and try to thoroughly understand who all these people are?

 

[notfred]

The geaneology stuff really isn't important to any of the stories.

 

[her209]

yes.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: Tyler
The geaneology stuff really isn't important to any of the stories.

Then again, what's the point of reading it if you don't want to take the time to understand it?

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: Tyler
The geaneology stuff really isn't important to any of the stories.

Then again, what's the point of reading it if you don't want to take the time to understand it?

Most of those people in there are never mentioned again. Have you read Genesis?

 

[Geekbabe]

Lol,just take the word "begat" and multiply it a few thousand times

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: Tyler
The geaneology stuff really isn't important to any of the stories.

Then again, what's the point of reading it if you don't want to take the time to understand it?

Most of those people in there are never mentioned again. Have you read Genesis?

Sure, when is the first mention of baseball in the Bible?

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: BigToque
Personally, I don't really believe in God, Heaven, Hell, etc... However I do know that I am not very open-minded about the subject. I feel like it's not right for me to base what I believe on just ignorance. My goal is to read the Bible and other literature that would be useful to read, so I know both sides of the story, then come to my own conclusion about everything (maybe I'll just end up totally confused - who knows).

Anyway, I just started to read the Bible today, and the first thing that I'm noticing is the huge family trees they are listing out, how old people are, where they live, etc. (Like it lists like 3 or 4 generations of Noah's kids - thats like 50 people at least. I remember Noah, and that he died at 950 years old)

I was just kind of reading these parts pretty fast. Should I take my time over these parts and try to thoroughly understand who all these people are?

Tracing geneology is a cultural thing, important to several different cultures. All you really need to know about it for simple reading through is that you get from well-known person A to well-known person B through a line of not so well known people.
Plus, there's a very big difference between parts of the Bible, so if some is boring or incomprehensible, there are other parts that are far more accessible that you'll get to.

 

[BigToquex]

Actually, another question...

What's the difference between the old and new testement? Is old before Jesus is born, and new after Jesus is born?

 

[igowerf]

The genealogy isn't important, although I believe that there are a few references in some of the books. The Old Testament is the story of the Jewish people. It's essentially the Jewish Bible, while the New Testament is about the Christians.

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: BigToque
Actually, another question...

What's the difference between the old and new testement? Is old before Jesus is born, and new after Jesus is born?

Close enough.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: BigToque
Actually, another question...

What's the difference between the old and new testement? Is old before Jesus is born, and new after Jesus is born?

The Old Testament is a history of the Jewish people, the laws they were given by God, who conquered them, who did what, how God warned them. It's basically a story where they screw up, God disciplines them, and they get back in line for a while before screwing up again and repeating the process. The New Testament tells of the fulfillment of prophecies made in the Old Testament. With the coming of the Messiah, the covenant of works they had made with God was covered by a new covenant (another name for the New Testament) of grace, whereby you could worship God directly and be forgiven without the intermediary trappings of sacrifice.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: Tyler
The geaneology stuff really isn't important to any of the stories.

Then again, what's the point of reading it if you don't want to take the time to understand it?

Most of those people in there are never mentioned again. Have you read Genesis?

Sure, when is the first mention of baseball in the Bible?

In the beginning (big inning), of course.

Anyway, don't get bogged down in some of the genealogies. Most of the genealogies you read before around Genesis 11 or 12 are not that important (IIRC, Cain's descendents get killed in the flood, so why does it matter anyway?), and the first 10 chapters or so of 1st Chronicles are as dry as the Sahara (or perhaps even more dehydrated).

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: HotChic

Originally posted by: BigToque
Actually, another question...

What's the difference between the old and new testement? Is old before Jesus is born, and new after Jesus is born?

The Old Testament is a history of the Jewish people, the laws they were given by God, who conquered them, who did what, how God warned them. It's basically a story where they screw up, God disciplines them, and they get back in line for a while before screwing up again and repeating the process. The New Testament tells of the fulfillment of prophecies made in the Old Testament. With the coming of the Messiah, the covenant of works they had made with God was covered by a new covenant (another name for the New Testament) of grace, whereby you could worship God directly and be forgiven without the intermediary trappings of sacrifice.

Very well summarized, HotChic. The screw up then repent, rinse, and repeat thing is very well illustrated in the book of Judges. Some of that stuff is kind of confusing to me, however, like the part where the men whos wives had been killed went to the vineyard to "catch themselves a wife" when the ladies came out to dance. It's probably confusing just because it was a different culture and all, but anyway...

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: HotChic

Originally posted by: BigToque
Actually, another question...

What's the difference between the old and new testement? Is old before Jesus is born, and new after Jesus is born?

The Old Testament is a history of the Jewish people, the laws they were given by God, who conquered them, who did what, how God warned them. It's basically a story where they screw up, God disciplines them, and they get back in line for a while before screwing up again and repeating the process. The New Testament tells of the fulfillment of prophecies made in the Old Testament. With the coming of the Messiah, the covenant of works they had made with God was covered by a new covenant (another name for the New Testament) of grace, whereby you could worship God directly and be forgiven without the intermediary trappings of sacrifice.

excellently put. basically you have the cycle in the OT of people - >

doing good -> screwing up -> punished -> cry out to God -> God answers -> doing good ->screwing up ->......................

 

[ElFenix]

the old testament is basically the high priests of the time making stuff up as they go along and saying that it was god's word and they were disobeying it and thats why they were getting overrun. no really, you can look through older and older texts and see where the priests added in stories

 

[sandorski]

The geneology parts are boring as hell, but the more historical parts such as Judges/Kings/others are quite interesting. Of particular interest is the transition from Theocracy to Monarchy.

The Theocracy was about as close to Anarchy as I've ever read about, consisting mainly of a religious practice and a court system that enforced laws. Taxes were 10% and were used to maintain the priests and what not. Also of interest is Esther, a chick who lead the Israelis in a war!

 

[Atrail]

The Jews do not believe Jesus was the Messiah, they are still waiting for the true Messiah to come. In the eyes of the Jews, Christians are following a false prophet. They believe that the New Testament stories were written by his followers on their own accord, not through divine revelation.
The Christians believe that the Muslims are following a false prophet, Muhammad and that the Koran is not the word of God.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

the new testiment is when the church realized and happy God is a good God. a mean vindictive God is less likely to help them control the masses cause people wil only do enough to be out of the pan, where as if they are rewarded with eternal happiness and nice things, they will give the church more money(church levvied taxes)