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Recognizing the problems with the Bible is not the same as abandoning it. This is a book that will never disappear, and is probably the least endangered collection of words and phrases on the planet bar none.

Clearly, both AKL and myself have studied the thing, and neither of us said it was totally without merit.

Speaking for myself, all I can say is that this is a collection of texts that doesn't give up the goods very easily. You have to dig and struggle with it to get it to reveal its secrets. Even if the good stuff therein is your 100% hands-down bag... you can read any of the dozens of great commentaries and explorations of the book to cut to the chase a bit. Even the Orthodox Jews who read the Torah in portions ever year again and again... by and large refer to the Midrash and the Talmud when they are really studying. The writings of the Hasids and Qabbalists of more recent centuries are even more explicit.

But to be honest, the books written about the Bible's secrets from the last 20 years or so are even better.

No offense to those who consider the "Good Book" to be the entirely true word of G*d. Many people even consider the Torah to be the actual name of G*d. It was supposedly given as one long word with no spaces, no vowels, and no indication of when the Hebrew letters were supposed to stand for numbers. This is one of the reasons you can read this book well over 600 ways that make sense. It is kind of a holographic cipher.

I have found a lot of value in the Bible, and by no means want to suggest it is worthless. But there are also a ton of inconsistencies, contradictions, outright errors and truly repulsive things about the Bible as well. Any book that would have G*d telling his followers to commit genocide is a bit too much for me to take seriously. The Bible has this occur 3 or more times. When I first read the passage about killing all the Midianites, man, woman and child... I had to go back and read it again a few times because I didn't want to accept that that was really what it was saying.

Or how about the scene where G*d rewards Pinkhas for murdering two people while they were having sex. Literally skewering them together with a single spear thrust like some craven, backstabbing, evil prude. He gets rewarded.

No no. The Bible had a good run, grant you. But I find it archaic and with a marked tendency to cloud people's better judgement while not actually teaching them the really cool stuff.

I mean where is the real dope? Noah's son Shem and his son Ever started and ran a school of prophecy. A University designed to teach you to become a prophet! That is some cool ass shit... If the Bible was the syllabus for that, I would be stoked. As it stands, however, I get more useful knowledge out of other books.

<blockquote data-quote="Hyperspace Fool" data-source="post: 3575447" data-attributes="member: 10791">Recognizing the problems with the Bible is not the same as abandoning it.&nbsp; This is a book that will never disappear, and is probably the least endangered collection of words and phrases on the planet bar none.Clearly, both AKL and myself have studied the thing, and neither of us said it was totally without merit.Speaking for myself, all I can say is that this is a collection of texts that doesn&#039;t give up the goods very easily.&nbsp; You have to dig and struggle with it to get it to reveal its secrets.&nbsp; Even if the good stuff therein is your 100% hands-down bag... you can read any of the dozens of great commentaries and explorations of the book to cut to the chase a bit.&nbsp; Even the Orthodox Jews who read the Torah in portions ever year again and again... by and large refer to the Midrash and the Talmud when they are really studying.&nbsp; The writings of the Hasids and Qabbalists of more recent centuries are even more explicit.But to be honest, the books written about the Bible&#039;s secrets from the last 20 years or so are even better.&nbsp; No offense to those who consider the &quot;Good Book&quot; to be the entirely true word of G*d.&nbsp; Many people even consider the Torah to be the actual name of G*d.&nbsp; It was supposedly given as one long word with no spaces, no vowels, and no indication of when the Hebrew letters were supposed to stand for numbers.&nbsp; This is one of the reasons you can read this book well over 600 ways that make sense.&nbsp; It is kind of a holographic cipher.I have found a lot of value in the Bible, and by no means want to suggest it is worthless.&nbsp; But there are also a ton of inconsistencies, contradictions, outright errors and truly repulsive things about the Bible as well.&nbsp; Any book that would have G*d telling his followers to commit genocide is a bit too much for me to take seriously.&nbsp; The Bible has this occur 3 or more times.&nbsp; When I first read the passage about killing all the Midianites, man, woman and child... I had to go back and read it again a few times because I didn&#039;t want to accept that that was really what it was saying.Or how about the scene where G*d rewards Pinkhas for murdering two people while they were having sex.&nbsp; Literally skewering them together with a single spear thrust like some craven, backstabbing, evil prude.&nbsp; He gets rewarded.No no.&nbsp; The Bible had a good run, grant you.&nbsp; But I find it archaic and with a marked tendency to cloud people&#039;s better judgement while not actually teaching them the really cool stuff.&nbsp; I mean where is the real dope?&nbsp; Noah&#039;s son Shem and his son Ever started and ran a school of prophecy.&nbsp; A University designed to teach you to become a prophet!&nbsp; That is some cool ass shit... If the Bible was the syllabus for that, I would be stoked.&nbsp; As it stands, however, I get more useful knowledge out of other books.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hyperspace Fool, post: 3575447, member: 10791"] Recognizing the problems with the Bible is [i]not[/i] the same as abandoning it. This is a book that will [i]never[/i] disappear, and is probably the [i]least[/i] endangered collection of words and phrases on the planet bar none. Clearly, both AKL and myself [b]have[/b] studied the thing, and neither of us said it was totally without merit. Speaking for myself, all I can say is that this is a collection of texts that doesn't give up the goods very easily. You have to dig and struggle with it to get it to reveal its secrets. Even if the good stuff therein is your 100% hands-down bag... you can read any of the dozens of great commentaries and explorations of the book to cut to the chase a bit. Even the Orthodox Jews who read the Torah in portions ever year again and again... by and large refer to the Midrash and the Talmud when they are really studying. The writings of the Hasids and Qabbalists of more recent centuries are even more explicit. But to be honest, the books written about the Bible's secrets from the last 20 years or so are [i]even[/i] better. No offense to those who consider the "Good Book" to be the [i]entirely[/i] true word of G*d. Many people even consider the Torah to be the actual [b]name[/b] of G*d. It was supposedly given as one long word with no spaces, no vowels, and no indication of when the Hebrew letters were supposed to stand for numbers. This is one of the reasons you can read this book well over 600 ways that make sense. It is kind of a holographic cipher. I have found a lot of value in the Bible, and by no means want to suggest it is worthless. But there are also a ton of inconsistencies, contradictions, outright errors and truly repulsive things about the Bible as well. Any book that would have G*d telling his followers to commit genocide is a bit too much for me to take seriously. The Bible has this occur 3 or more times. When I first read the passage about killing all the Midianites, man, woman and child... I had to go back and read it again a few times because I didn't want to accept that that was [i]really[/i] what it was saying. Or how about the scene where G*d rewards Pinkhas for murdering two people while they were having sex. Literally skewering them together with a single spear thrust like some craven, backstabbing, evil prude. He gets [i]rewarded[/i]. No no. The Bible had a good run, grant you. But I find it archaic and with a marked tendency to cloud people's better judgement while not actually teaching them the really cool stuff. I mean where is the real dope? Noah's son Shem and his son Ever started and ran a school of prophecy. A University designed to teach you to become a prophet! That is some cool ass shit... If the Bible was the syllabus for that, I would be [i]stoked[/i]. As it stands, however, I get more useful knowledge out of other books. [/QUOTE]