I've read a lot of answers to theological questions that simply say "Read the Bible", as though that is a solution to something. I tried it just now, out of curiosity. Starting from the beginning, I got as far as Genesis 8. Normally I enjoy reading fantasy, but I found the writing style rather bland. Was there a point?
Then I thought maybe I was supposed to open the bible randomly and start reading, so I read chapter 10 of Nehemiah; it was a long list of people who decided to become bigots, and take a vacation every 7 years. It's not that this isn't fascinating, but why would this be beneficial to me unless I really needed that particular piece of information?
Is it possible that people don't really mean "read the bible"? Instead, maybe what they mean is "Accept my personal interpretation of whatever part of the bible I think is relevant to the current topic." Another way of saying the same thing would be "I'm right, deal with it." If that is what someone means, why not just say so?
2006-06-06
13:31:44
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26 answers
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asked by
abram.kelly
4