Question for Atheists?

Question

I'm an atheist too! Ok, my question is, we know the Bible is fiction, but how would you rate the book along with other fiction classics?

I think the book is equal to something like the Illiad, maybe a little bit less,

We read in Job about God and Satan saying "heh can we get a man to do such and such", and in Illiad we read the Gods argueing "Is Paris worthy to win this fight?

Illiad for sure the better more gripping mythology, but is it apples ot oranges because one is polytheistic and the other is monotheistic?

Answer 1

have you read it? Genesis and revelations are interesting and trippy, and it between there is a shitload "and X begat Y, and Y begat Z, etc, etc.

There's no comparing it to Homer's classics. somebody above compared it to beowulf; that seemed rather apt.

Answer 2

I agree it shares a lot in common with the Iliad (and parts of the Odyssey too). I think everyone should read the Bible - it's simply not possible to appreciate most of Western art and literature without that background.

But The Iliad is more structured, and far more poetic than most of the bible. Only the Song of Solomon and some of the Psalms are genuinely poetic. The rest is a narrative of rather dismal events, achronological, internally inconsistent, but often quite exciting. To that extent I'd put it on a par with Mallory's Morte Darthur - which is also a compilation of different books, albeit by the same author (based on stories by many different authors) - made to glamorize certain types of power, certain ideologies and certain people. Just like the Bible.
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Answer 3

Well it has been about 30 years since I read it, but I thought that it was very hard to follow at time. It really did ramble on and on with the begats for a while there.

There were some interesting stories, but I liked the Illiad a whole lot more. Maybe its because I was older when I read it so I didn't have the problems following it. I really liked Beowolf more than both.

Answer 4

I am also an atheist too, I used to read the Bible as a story but not as a religious zeal. There is no proof or with any evidences that the characters in the Bible can be traced out in history, It is a very facinating stories of Jewish people in very ancient time where there is no records of any historical events mentioned accurately without any biases. To me , those characters were somehow existed in real life but were totally being glorified, exaggerated, heavily mythed in the events, heavily toned with religious connatations by the later on writers. The ancient stories were mainly passed on from mouths to mouths whereby it easily miscarried, mis-quoted, and re-aligned with new meanings when put in prayings or in songs or verses to celebrated a great event.

The Dead Sea Crolls were mostly in religious verses, when ancient people prayed, the verses and its meanings are in good phrases for the characters or events, fully supportive for the good deeds or lamented for the loss or defeats of the honoured one. History is created by men not by gods. Just like the Illiad, they created gods out of Homer's stories. If the Illiad is true events, why should we treated them as gods instead of historical figures. so , I have the same explanation for Bible.

Answer 5

heh, reminds me of something i saw on TV a long time ago.

Man 1: You know maybe you should just relax and not worry about stuff you can't control

Man 2: Where the hell do you get all this crap?

Man 1: The Bible. It's a bit long mind you, but it's a cracking good read.

Actually I much prefer Watership Down. I mean, if there's one book that humanity should use to guide it's way, what's better than non-violent, intelligent and socially responsible bunnies looking for a new home?

Answer 6

The only way to treat the bible is like any other book not as a divine revelation with special significance. The Old testament is a historical record of Israelite Bronze Age culture with some poetry and philosophy mixed in-it's a fascinating book but not with any spiritual meaning.

Answer 7

the Illyad was written by Homer, the Bible was written by many different men across a span of several thousand years, so it seems amazing that that many different people living so far in time from each other can still write in agreement and purpose and still touching peoples lives today. but what amazes me even more is this, that an entire group of people called the Jews can build a living culture based on this "fiction" and still living it today. so you might call it fiction because you don't want to believe in a God who gave you commandments, but the evidence that it is far from fiction is the culture is still thriving today and they can trace their ancestry back to what you would amount to being fictional people. name any other culture today that has the ability to do that. seems incredible that one could come from fictional peoples.

Answer 8

It's hard to judge because much of it, especially Genesis and the NT, is taken from other religions.

But yeah, there is a lot of beautiful poetry, engaging stories, etc in there. Just like the Quar'an and other "holy" books.

Answer 9

I don't think polytheism versus monotheism has anything to do with the value of either work as literature.

I would put it with Beowulf -- A tad incomprehensible at times but I felt good for having plowed through it.

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Answer 10

Mythology is just that, regardless of the number of gods. The bible is poorly written, the continuity is lacking, and the storyline is rather unrealistic. How about all those "begats?" No decent writer would do that.