Interesting bits of the Bible

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: Wolfgang
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 03:21 PM

I do find the original idea to this thread quite interesting and not at all insulting. The idea is to point to instances where one selected quote from the Bible is taken as an argument for one particular position. The Bible is a thick book and there are quotes that can be used for opposite purposes. The joke is on the selective quoters and not on the Bible.

To quote 'if thine eye offend thee, take it out and cast it from thee' in the discussion with Wysiwyg is a (tongue in cheek?) prime example. We had a politician who could quote the Bible to make it sound like supporting each position he happened to have.

The German peace movement used freely the 'swords to ploughshares' quote. I was with them, but I always found it greatly amusing to use the opposite 'ploughshares to swords' quote on them. It made some of them think twice.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 03:26 PM

I had 100 and I didn't even know it. Not even trying.

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: GUEST,Hetero
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 04:57 PM

Les from Chorlton, Homophobia is not a prejudice against people who love people of the same sex. Its a prejudice against those who have sex with the same sex as shown in a previous post, where someone was quoting from the Bible against "lying with one of the same sex".
Hetero

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: GUEST,Hetero
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 05:03 PM

I reckon the interesting bits of the Bible which this thread is threatening to discover are the bits between the two covers.
Hetero

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Feb 05 - 02:26 PM

Interesting point Hetero, I suspect the prejudice is against both.

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: Pogo
Date: 03 Feb 05 - 01:51 PM

Well...honestly if you haven't read a book how can you dismiss it as nothing when you don't know anything about it? Ya have to read the book to decide whether or not you like it.

Like anything in this world the Bible can be used for good or ill. .

It is WHAT you do with it and what you get out of it.

If you read the Bible solely for the purpose of pointing out what is wrong with it, you will get plenty of stuff to back up your ideas. If you read it for historical interest, then you will find plenty of history. If you read it for spiritual benefit then shoot, that's what you'll get out of it. If you use it to beat people's heads in then it makes a pretty good weapon. Depending on if it's hardback or not and if it's like one of those big Church copies {O)

I read it because I know there is wisdom in it. I believe it was written and rewritten by men pondering on the nature of God and in many cases they may have recieved divine inspiration. There's a lot of allegory, parables, history, personal writings, discussions on theology and in short many things I find beneficial in my life. There are many passages in it that make me weep, that make me ponder, some things I frankly can't understand, some things I find delightfully poetic but all of them serve to engage the higher processes of thinking which in my opinion is what every good book should do.

I have also read the Apocrypha, I have read many other books pertaining to religion and higher matters (C.S. Lewis being a favorite) And when I am done reading the Bible cover to cover I think I would like to tackle the Quoran next as well a little book on Buddhist thought I saw in the library recently.

To paraphrase Paul " Whatsoever is lovely, virtous or of good report we seek after these things. " I think that is a good attitude to have. I seek all sorts of knowledge.

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 03 Feb 05 - 02:58 PM

Pogo, one of the issues is this, for believers in a faith the Bible is extemely important. To atheists like myself it is important, but one book amongst millions and millions.

My point in this thread has been to point out that people who claim it is all, pretty well, to be believed and followed do not in fact know, believe or follow it all. And that such people should be challenged at least on the grounds of inconsistency.

I alos wanted to have some fun becauae it is less dangerous thasn ranting and shouting, which we all do a bit.

Are Shellfish an abomination or not? Well, they are not even fish for a start.

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: Amos
Date: 03 Feb 05 - 03:07 PM

Well, yeah, but no-one asked Frank to agree with the practice of homosexuality, seeing as how he's not a homosexual. The deeper sociological issue is the presumption that all conduct has to be agreed on before it is allowed, where the wiser (and more Constitutional) approach is that which is not specifically forbidden because it causes harm, is an individual choice. As far as I know no homosexual act ever harmed Frank, or me either, so it's none of our business who wants to sleep with lovers of the same gender, even though he and I would perhaps crawl out of our skins first!! We don't have to agree or disagree with it, because it is none of our damned business, is what I think.

A

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 03 Feb 05 - 06:00 PM

I am with you on this Amos.

As somebody said (since this is a music website):

Love is the sweetest thing ......

What I do find a bit confusing is that a lot of people posting here seem to have 2 names and know each other ....... is that biblical or Russian or what?

Anyway I am going back to watch Dinner ladies with the love of my life ...........

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: robomatic
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 06:28 PM

One of my favorite Bible stories is the mysterious hand that wrote on the wall prophesying Belshazzer's downfall. There's a great song that captures it from Daniel Chapter 5 completely:

From the Ladies Garment Workers Union Revue: "Pins And Needles"

Mene Mene Tekel

by Harold Rome

The King of Babylon Belshazzeh
He sat feasting on his golden piazza
With his court and concubines
Stuffin' in fried chicken and imported wine

Mene Mene Tekel, Tekel, Tekel
Mene Mene Tekel, Upharson

They sat there in that banquet hall
Drinking from the vessels of the Lo-ord
Big swells of the neighborhood
Praisin' Gods of gold and silver iron and wood

Now the King of Babylong Belshazzer
Was a mean ol' razzeh - dazzeh
Never paid no income taxes
The big shot of the Babylon Jerusalem Axis

Mene Mene Tekel, Upharson

Now the tribes of Judah from below
Heard the saxophones and trumpets blo-ow
Sore and weary laid them down
While Belshazzeh and his troup were goin' to town

Oh the joint was hot, the booze was flowin'
How the wine and beer and gin was flowin'
When of a sudden, all was still
Everyone froze to the floor with a chill

Above the plaster and the brick
Over by the candlestick
In Belshazzer's banquet hall
A hand was writin' writin' slowly on the wall

The King froze still were he was sittin'
The finger wrote and having writtin'
Vanished slowly overhead
And this was what the writin' of the Good Lord said:

Mene Mene Tekel, Tekel, Tekel
Mene Mene Tekel, Upharson

The king called all his council table
To read the writin' but they weren't able
In came Daniel, spurned 'em all
And for nothin' told the writin' on the wall

He said "King those words mean stop your flauntin'
You've been weighed and you're found wantin'
All your days is numbered days
The Lord don't like dictators or dictator's ways

The king cried out, "Man you're lyin'
But there was no use denyin'
For he saw those words divine
Shining out just like a cafeteria sign

Mene Mene Tekel, Tekel, Tekel
Mene Mene Tekel, Upharson

Now the king of Babylon was slain
But the children of the Lord remain
All his statues turned to rust
Crumbled are his kingdom and his power to dust

Mene Mene Tekel, Tekel, Tekel
Mene Mene Tekel, Upharson

Subject: RE: Interesting bits of the Bible
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 06:28 PM

Anyone who depends on the Bible as the final, authoritative, and perfect source of all spiritual truth is building a house on very, very shaky ground. And they have not really bothered to think about it independently or look at it in its historical context, in my opinion.

The Bible is like all the other great spiritual books, such as the Baghavad Gita, the K'Ran, the Upanishads, the Book of Mormon, the Buddhist Scriptures, the Torah, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the Taoist writings, etc...ad infinitum. It contains much spiritual wisdom, much truth, much mythology, metaphor, and allegory, much that is misleading and really not appropriate to our present culture, and much outright error.

Let the unwary beware of practicing absolutism based on a single book from a long time ago that someone else told them is THE ONE AND ONLY book.

Therein lies the basic problem with organized religion.

There is no such thing as the one and only true spiritual book. It's an ongoing process, and there are great new spiritual books coming forth right now. Plenty of them. If you read them, you will find they make a whole lot more sense than the Bible does, in today's terms. Revelation is a living process. It didn't just happen 2,000 years ago or 3,000 years ago. It's happening right now, and will be happening again and again in the future.