BoS - the only holy book I espouse?

Question

I am a monotheist, an agnostic, and a witch. I have been thinking recently about "Holy" books and how convoluted and meaningless they are, and I have decided that the only book that is holy is a Book of Shadows. Okay, well, that's what we call them in witchcraft, but if you are a Christian, you may keep a book where you write down your "conversations" with God, your prayers and your beliefs or somesuch, I would consider that in the same vein. A book based upon your own personal ideas, observations, and experiences is holy, but a book based on ancient legends, violent stories, and bronze age mentality doesn't fit the bill. My reasoning is simply that other "Holy" books leave me feeling spiritually bereft, whereas my own thoughts and ideas and prayers and rituals make me feel closer to the Deity.

What are your "holy books," why are they Holy, and what makes you believe it is holy? What does it look and smell like? What sorts of things are pressed between the pages?

countrycutie, that is very sweet. I will pray for you as well.

Yogini, at 6 classes a week, I think I might agree with you there! :-) Namaste!

birdsflies, you are very condescending. How do you dare to question the manner in which the Deity chooses to speak to another? We shall indeed see who is rights.

Machiara, that is a beautiful description. I do not believe in the Bible, but your love of it is touching.

mypublicident, nice one. I would not call mine holy or sacred, but all wisom is a blessing, even if you don't believe in god(s), you know that knowledge is a wonderful thing.

jjjjjjjjj, is sopme published book called the Book of Shadows? I'm sorry, I was refering to my own book. Some of it is "made up," meaning that I wrote it based upon my own ideas, but it's not intended for anyone besides me, so I don't see how that matters.

Steve, definition 4:

having a spiritually pure quality: a holy love.

A lot of you are spending more time assessing MY holy book that discussing yours. Please answer the question.

AnArdRi, that's good. Like I said to someone else with the same approach, knowledge is a blessing! :-)

muslim, I know very little about the Quoran... incliding how to spell it properly. :-/

But I know it's a big hole in my knowledge. I have done a bit of reading about Islam, and it is interesting. Thanks for answering.

Sybil, that is another very beautiful answer. Thanks. :-)

Cindy, that is a very sweet and beautiful answer. Blessings to you.

cutedervish, perhaps sacred would have been a better word....

Thanks, Janet. It actually doesn't bother me when they pray for me. I pray for them, too. The Goddess doesn't mind their prayers.

Personal Laptop J, good choices. I'll have to look into Ishmael.

birdsflies, I hope you get your heaven. I have no desire to spew hatred at you. My Deity is the one and only Creator of the All. I was assuming yours was, too, but I guess not.

Goddess Nikki, thanks! :-)

Raymond, would you email me the name of this book? I work for a company that works with a lot of refrigeration service companies...

Randy, I'm sorry you consider this a rant. I'm not confused, I just want to know about people's experiences with books they consider sacred. But whatever.

Answer 1

I suppose my 'holy book' is the pages of my heart...and I have a good memory most of the time...

Answer 2

It astounds me how threatened Christians get if you even insinuate that a book besides the Bible can be holy. How ridiculous! The nastiness with which your question was met only serves as further proof to me that people like this are afraid of other viewpoints because they fear that they will begin to question their own beliefs, and fear that if that happens they wont find the answers. Maybe you should say "sacred texts" so mr "I cant think of an answer so I'll copy/paste the dictionary" doesnt get his knickers in a twist. I also unlike some people who "Know all about Wicca" noticed that you mentioned being a witch, and at no point mentioned practicing Wicca. Someone who knows that much about Wicca would surely know that all witches are not Wiccan, leading me to believe some of the posters on here couldnt tell a Wiccan, Pagan, and a Witch apart if their lives depended on it. That said I think it's wonderfull that you've found that writing your own BOS connects you to the divine. The creator speaks to us all, and writing is a wonderfull way to help you understand what it is saying. I think that a personal BOS can be just as sacred if not more so on a personal level than the Bible, or the Quaran. The fact that you dont press leather bound copies of your BOS into strangers' hands at 6 am on a saturday doesnt make it any less holy. I say "you go girl".

Answer 3

Ok... I've come form your other post, your request for additional answers to this question, and I've looked and read down the answers you already have here... It seems to me that you're covered with reading material, and besides, I don't personally think that any books, (or anything else,) can possess "holy" qualities - something I equate with fancifulness and mysticism.

My view is that metaphysics is nonsense, so the closest books I can think of that might satisfy as my "holy" books would be the ones with the best and most recently updated facts - encyclopedias for example - and those can be found on-line, updated monthly. My other main source of worthwhile reading is chosen for the purpose of inspiring deep personal introspection - i choose classic literature for this. You'd be surprised how much you can get out of a Dickens novel like Bleak House or a Dostoevsky book like The Brothers Karamazov. Try it you'll like it.

Sorry I couldn't add anything more "holy" than that to your search... but keep smiling; I know I will be. LOL

[][][] r u randy? [][][]
.

Answer 4

Aside from my wife and children, I suppose the most important thing in my life was work. I wrote about it. Do you want to repair your home refrigerator? Do you want to know how to align a drive and a driven? The writings are very precise and detailed. The drawings are very clear. Do you want to operate your own service business and be profitable from day one? I can tell you how. I have written an instruction manual. Perhaps you cannot feel "spiritual" (whatever that means) about machinery, electricity, or about working atop a derrick in high winds, driving rain, with voltages that will kill an elephant. I wouldn't say it was better than sex, but it comes real close. I have an eight foot shelf for my refrigeration and electrical books, and a six foot shelf for my English language and religion books. I do wonder what will become of them when I die. Probably a giant garage sale to get rid of Daddy's old junk.

Answer 5

Don't know if you're familiar with Brahms Bookworks, but they hand-craft beautiful Grimoires and Spellbooks. Worth a look at the link below!

As a Buddhist my "book" is the living dharma, which comes from a variety of sources and teachers. All the "basics" are photocopied from The Complete Idiot's Guide (no kidding), for frequent reference, and then I make a habit of daily reflections from a daily meditations book by the Dalai Lama. My "go to" books for reading and re-reading are "The Miracle of Mindfullness" and "Peace is Every Step" by Thich Nhat Hahn. Sogyale Rinpoche's "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dieing" is extremely important but difficult . . . I'm on my third study-and-underline with that one. I've got many others in the library but those, and the course materials from teachings I've taken from the Dalai Lama are pretty much the special ones.

Namaste, peace, love and blessed be!

Answer 6

Chickadee, I love you, but you have to make a decision. You can't be a monothiest and agnostic. If you believe that there is any Deity what so ever, you can not be agnostic. Please read the definitions below...

ag·nos·tic /ægˈnɒstɪk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ag-nos-tik] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.
2. a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.
–adjective 3. of or pertaining to agnostics or agnosticism.
4. asserting the uncertainty of all claims to knowledge.


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[Origin: < Gk ágnōst(os), var. of ágnōtos not known, incapable of being known (a- a-6 + gnōtós known, adj. deriv. from base of gignskein to know) + -ic, after gnostic; said to have been coined by T.H. Huxley in 1869]

—Related forms
ag·nos·ti·cal·ly, adverb


—Synonyms 1. See atheist.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source ag·nos·tic (āg-nŏs'tĭk) Pronunciation Key
n.

One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.

adj.
Relating to or being an agnostic.
Doubtful or noncommittal: "Though I am agnostic on what terms to use, I have no doubt that human infants come with an enormous 'acquisitiveness' for discovering patterns" (William H. Calvin).

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/agnostic

That being said, a prayer journal doesn't make you holy. If your a dirty person writing about killing people and your observations about it, it makes you Charles Manson, not Mark the Apostle. Granted, the HOLY SPIRIT lives within each of us, it doesn't make me worthy of praise or adoration, just a really nice guy who is one step closer to paradise.

Answer 7

My Holy Book is the battered and cherished Bible that my grandfather left me after he died.
In the Bible, are the 10 rules to follow to have a better l life (The ten commandments,) the right way to treat a woman, (Song of Solomon,) the right way to pray (Psalms,) the exortation to love my neighbor as myself (Christ) and go spread the gospel news.

Are any of the books of other religions any less holy to the belivers of that religion? No.

Answer 8

That's an interesting thought on your BoS. I'd never really thought of it that way but I can see your point.

I am glad to see at least one christian (Machaira) actually got your question.

To you other closed minded people get a life and stop using your prayers like curses. I'll pray for you... oooooo boogey boogey... Get over yourselves. So what this question is one you disagree with. You think you are the only ones with holy books? Please.... Sometimes you make me sick at your intolerance. The exact reason some many think negatively against christians.

Answer 9

Ishmael - by Daniel Quinn. Changed my life when I was thinking my way out of Christianity. A positive book with real solutions to the global environmental crisis and a new way of thinking about our role on the planet (and the bible for that matter)

Billions and Demon Haunted World - by Carl Sagan. He writes with a humility that is very spiritual to me.

Answer 10

Holy Quran

Quran Means "Recitation"
Only One Version - Arabic
Memorized by Millions - Entirely
Each Muslim Has "Quran" Memorized
God Speaks in First Person to Mankind in Quran
Quran Describes God's Nature Exactly
Quran Challanges Readers
Scientific Miracles in Quran
& many other things
details r given below