Is the Bible the Greatest Piece of Historical Fiction man ever wrote?

Question

To me it seems so. The authors mixed some history with a alot of mythology threw it in a blender and never bothered to patch up any holes.
Lo and behold, some ignorant people took it for fact and it has been negatively affecting everything in the western world ever since.
My question is: Can you think of a work of historical fiction that has been more influential?
I can't...

Answer 1

Humbert, it is more sinister than a piece of fiction in places,

Adolf Hitler had scientists dig up fake bones to 'prove' his Aryanism belief during the 1930's, some parts of the old testament of the bible are very much the same.

It is a historical book, many of the events - away from the epic acts of god, are based on very real events, but this little tribe in the foothills of backside of three huge empires, used the actual facts, and twisted them around to paint - in the same way Hitler tried to do - a very positive picture of their heritage, over all others.

The sad fact is, when the church accepted the very sophisticated religious beliefs of Judaism, they also had to swallow the propagander of the tribes of Israel, thus they have accepted the mentality of a little tribe from the backside of the middle-east, as a guidance book for their modern world.

Now the good advice, comes super glued to loads of intolerant narrow minded racist cr-ap, and whole sections of the book should frankly be edited out and re-published as a comedy book. However, if you buy into the holy thing, then you have to take the rough with the smooth, and believe all the ridiculous stuff too.

They have identified four major editors of the old testament, and even in pre-history, they were so attached to their little story, that they could not throw away the rubbish, hence you have two very different versions of events, sewn into each section, and the whole book becomes a joke to the serious scholar.

Real events have been re-interpretated by four historic editors, and spun into versions that answered problems facing the tribes at different periods in history. It is a great little document on social history of the tribes of Israel, but two authoritarian to use as a guide book for modern societies, and too loose in its interpretation, it can be used to justify both good, bad and Ugly!

Of course Mohammad tried to get around this obvious fact by re-intrepretating the old texts, but again, some parts of the Koran, written not by Mohammad, as he was illeterate, despite being 'dictated via Mohammad from God' do suffer from the problems of being written down by men who - like it or not - suffered from a political slant that related to the tribes of Saudi Arabia during a war with the Christians, and with the Jews first as Allies, then as Opponents.

Answer 2

Hey Rowan, I have a few theories about this that may add to this discussion. I welcome all comments since I don't fancy myself an expert by any means. These are just my thoughts. I believe that the Bible is a book of miracles. God reveals the truth in many ways. All God wants is for people to be thankful. The Bible tells story after story about ways God reveals the truth to people and how they react. In many stories, God says that if I do do this, these people will be my people and I will be their God (Look it up in a concordance, it happens a lot!). The people keep saying things like prove that you exist and we will follow you. God makes fire consume wet logs, defies Physics to make the sun stand still and not destroy all life, have three men walk around in a blazing furnace, set one man in an arena with a hungry lion, have one man swallowed by a whale and live to tell about it, and countless other miracles as proof of His existence. When you watch or read Harry Potter, you get swept up in the magic of JK Rowling's creation (pun intended). She writes a great story with great characters and you suspend your disbelief so that the spells, incantations and potions become real for a moment while you witness them. When you walk away, you know that you can't find a place like Hogwarts anywhere and nobody can morph into a cat or any of the other weird and wonderful things that happen in the story. The Bible, however, is a story written by real people that tell stories of how God changed their lives. None of the people God chose were eloquent speakers, most were poor and on the fringe of society. The disciples Jesus chose were a motley group of fishermen, a tax collector and assorted young people with no real direction in life. Most of the people God called thought they were the wrong choice. In most cases, God told them to go where they needed to go and God would give them the words to speak. Fiction? Maybe it's meant to sound that way. Greatest? Yes! True? I believe it....all of it. Miracles are meant to defy the reality we know. The bottom line is that the stories in the Bible are fantastic. If God kept all the miracles within the laws of science, then by this time, we would have been able to duplicate any of the stories we've read. Case in point: the first thing Moses did in front of Pharoah's court was to turn his walking stick into a snake. The court magicians were able to do the same thing and they all laughed at Moses and his God. But when Moses let God's true power work through him, Pharoah was overwhelmed. If the stories weren't fantastic, what would be the point of believing a 2000 year old book that is poorly written?

Answer 3

it is the work of men! men alone, there was no God, there is no God and the world would be better id the christian society realised that the bible is nothing more than a way of control, it teachings subjugate the conscience and imprison the mind, until they are released from this cult, there will never be peace. the bible is the greatest piece of religous lies ever concepted and we have Paul to thank for it, a man that never even met Jesus!

Answer 4

Certainly the most influential piece of historical fiction ever written. But not the greatest. In fact, it's quite poorly written. Full of gaping plot holes, poorly developed, unsympathetic, and unbelievable characters, and just plain dull.

Answer 5

History majors in college are told that, much of History is based on a lie. We know that Columbus was not the first one to set foot on America.

Answer 6

No, it's not the best, just really popular.

I guess it's like Dan Brown that way.

More influential? How about the Jewish holy books, cause that's used to make the Christians and the Muslims?

Answer 7

no not bible, not at all !

how can u have such bullshit in a so called holy book :

PROPHETS BUT NAKED !
[Gen 9:21] Noah drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. and Ham [his son] saw the NAKEDNESS of his father.
[1 Sam. 19:23] And the spirit of God came upon Saul.. And he too STRIPPED OFF HIS CLOTHES, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay NAKED all the day and all the night.
[2 Sam. 6:20] David DANCES NAKED before the people and before the Lord.
[Exo. 15:20] And so his sister Mariam the Prophetess dances, she took a tremble and dances with the women.

its just a few....bible is full of such crap especially the old testament !

Answer 8

Well, I'm not sure in that category. Certainly you could say that Confucius influenced at least as many, if not more, than any other person who ever lived.
But his works weren't historical fiction.

Answer 9

(...man has ever written...)

It is man authored but not well done.

It's a popular seller even after discounting all the free copies printed for empty hotel rooms, but it isn't the most widely read
book in print.

It isn't a very good account of history... and it isn't a very interesting story.

I'd give it a "thumbs down."

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb62/Randall_Fleck/skeptic_wife_GIF-1.gif

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

Answer 10

first of,the bible was never written as such...it is a compilation of many different manuscripts,each of which have been edited over and over to fit the need of the catholic church for political and monetary gain....the biggest and most dangerous fallacy is that the bible was written or inspired by the god that was not even christian at that time....anyhow,unlike Christians want you to believe,the most read book in the world is the Chinese little red book....