Is the bible the best book there is with the most wisdom?

[noname223]

I think Jordan Peterson claimed that.
I don't know much about the bible. I have read some passages and we talked about it in reilgious class. Sometimes in films they quote passages. I wanted to ask what your favorite passages are of that book but this thread already exists.

I think religion can comfort people and give them strength. But religion also cause(d) a lot of damage. The celibacy in the catholic church is one of the main causes for sexual abuse. Just because these old men are dogmatic about it so many young children have to suffer.
It is likely the next pope will be a traditionalist. I think they often alternate. One reformer, one conservative...but I am not an expert.

Yeah there will be a guy who is even more conservative than Pope Francis and this dude argumented once to hit your own children. Fucking idiot.

I could imagine that the bible is quite a smart book. I mean it had great success. I think no other fictional book had these good sales. (I am joking sorry)

I think there are people who profited from the wisdom this book contains. But it also caused wars, abuse and hatred. There is always a discussion how to interpret the book. Some argument you have to take it literally or you always have to keep in mind the time when the bible was written.

In my opinion it is not that unlikely that many of the prophets were just mentally ill. I mean so many in this book claim that they hear Gods voice and die for it. I have met a lot of psychotic/delusional people. Some pretended they were Jesus or another prophet on his or her mission.

Though I don't think that psychotic people could write such a coherent book. I think the people who wrote the bible were smart. Maybe even very smart. But I think enlightment was very important. The bible was written under special circumstances. To keep the historical context in mind is quite important in my opinion.

To take the bible literally can cause a lot of problems. And I think many fundamentalists do that.

For me becoming atheist or agnostic helped me to cope with my pain. I was raised partly religious. When I had my first major depression and extreme suicidality I felt a lot of guilt for having these thoughts. It tortured me even more. I had a lot of nightmares about hell. Then I read a lot about atheism and this comforted me also the notion that after death there will be nothingness. Other people might prefer the justice after death narrative of the bible. But I don't really believe in that.

 

[Darkover]

the bible a bunch of bat shit crazy nonsense

Adultery. "If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death". (Leviticus 20:10)

 

[CoalmineCanary]

No.

Schizotypal personality disorder and meta-magic may be related to schizophrenia.

I encourage you to listen to this segment of this lecture.



The rest of us have to financially support this "priestly class" with tax exemptions and special privileges who continue to use to the bible as a source for justifying their own interests be it racism, slavery, misogyny, and dishonesty.

You ever heard of paying for "catholic indulgences"? That's how they became trillionaires then went bankrupt trying to use the bible to justify their wrong-doings and failed.

Read it and judge for yourself. I dare you. If you like that kind of stuff try Bulfinch's Mythology.

Can't believe how many people haven't actually read the bible but still continue to endorse it.

 

[whatevs]

There are a lot of interesting quotes and concepts/metaphors from the Bible, and also a lot of Jewish racism/ethnocentrism and the blatant wantonness and tyrannical ways of 'Yahweh'.

Some of the ideas I like are:

- Many are called but only a few sit at the table.
- Wide is the path to damnation and hard the path that leads out of it.
- First will be last and last will be first.
- A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. By their fruits you shall know them.
- If you love this world you are 'not of my Father'. (gnostic message).
- Forgive them as they know not what they do (my interpretation: we are all one and you harm yourself when harming others).
- There's a time to gather stones and a time to disperse them, a time to die and a time to be born, a time to kiss and a time to strike, etc.

Some of the stuff I absolutely loathed:

- Jews being commanded by their God to wipe out regions, but sometimes they were instructed to keep female teenagers from the conquered population.
- Slavery is not condemned but just regulated nonchalantly.
- Stories like the Esau one (got scammed out of his inheritance by his brother) used to instruct Jews about using deceit with your enemies.
- Dozens of animals slaughtered every day and their blood spilled on a sinister altar, their grease roasted because 'its aroma pleases the Lord'. Super fckn creepy!

 

[Suicidebydeath]

The bible is a good story book. It's never taught me any morals that I didn't already possess and I personally wouldn't get them from a book.

I don't know whether wisdom can be taught, and I think people often repeat mistakes and not just the ones made in history.

By example, if anything, this new ruling by the Supreme Court is just plain backwards. It's a mistake.

 

[CoalmineCanary]

- There's a time to gather stones and a time to disperse them, a time to die and a time to be born, a time to kiss and a time to strike, etc.

This has been a protest meme for years.



(edit: added a word)

 

[Someone123]

In my opinion no, I have personally not foudn anything to be useful from the bible, and that's after twelve years of catholic brainwashing.

 

[CoalmineCanary]

- Forgive them as they know not what they do (my interpretation: we are all one and you harm yourself when harming others).

This is what that means:

 

[Green Destiny]

To me there's way more books with significantly more wisdom than the bible.

 

[Sibyl Vane]

I would not classify it as the book with "the most wisdom" since this is very relative and depends a lot on who you are and what you need to learn at the moment. But it does have a lot of interesting insights. One part I find interesting, and I don't see many people talking about it, is when the Israeli people are demanding to have a king because everybody has it (so abdicate of their recent achieved freedom and being ruled by another must be what they need too) and god through Samuel warns them of the dangers of it and explain exactly what will happen if their desire is granted. In the end, of course, they don't listen and continue with the demands for a king to rule over them. The description reminds me a lot of what the state is and does and makes me think about the concept of liberty, the consequences of renouncing it, and some other things.

"Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights."

Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king.

He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day."

But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles."

When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord.

The Lord answered, "Listen to them and give them a king."