Did you read the Bible or parts of it? Which books did you read?

I read some psalms on courage before taking the pracitcal part of my driver's license test

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>>8335503
I read it all. Overall it has very good prose, beautiful even in some parts, but in everything else it's ultimately absurd. My wife is Christian though so it helps in that regard, even though she hasn't read it all the way through.

>>8335503
Over the course of my life I'm guessing that I've read 95%+ of the Bible. I've never read it straight through so I know that I have to have missed a few chapters/verses. Probably from the minor prophets/poetry and wisdom.

almost positive I've read the whole New Testament though.

Genesis, Exodus, 1+2 Samuel, Job, Ezekiel, Daniel, Acts, Paul's letters, and Revelation are the highlights imo.

>>8335503
I read the 1st third of the Jew Testament.
Genesis is very interesting. It feels really great to read the original version of all the stories you heard about in movies and books.
The guy who splits the red sea, the exodus from egypt, the Ark of Alliance, the tables of the law, Moses abandoned on a river, etc
(actually I liked all the first 5 books, the Torah)
Even the lengthy Law pages about hygiene and everything, I found it interesting, in a historical PoV. Like when they talk about how to deal with lepers.

Then I found the historical books quite boring. "x did y. But he didn't do it for Gog. So he failed. David did y (exactly the same thing!), he did it for God. So he succeeded."
It's extremely repetitive, it feels like bad children lit, repetitive stories about how in Jews history, those who believed in God were rewarded, those who didn't were punished.

But I kept reading, knowing good things were to come, like the Book of Job. I heard Christians say Job is an awesome book that really makes you think. I found it awful. The message is "you should obey no matter what. You should never expect rewards. When you see disobedient people being successful and rewarded, you should keep obeying. Because you don't obey to get praise or rewards. You should obey because you should obey.
I'm sure the Scientology itself isn't as stupid.

Then I liked some Psalms.

But what I found missing, is that none of the characters (maybe except Job) are portrayed facing moral dillemas. I found that whatever Hollywood movie will move me more, because the hero is confronted with a problem, and solves it. In the 1st third of the Bible, nothing is problematized. The message is incredibly repetitive : obey if you don't want to get punished. (zero poetry, zero thought, Hollywood is better, and I'm not even talking about Greek Myths)

So I gave up and switched to the New Testament. I found the Gospels boring, even though Jesus says a few nice things, introducing ethical discussion.
Once again I gave up, but I would like to finish the New Testament (the letters, apocalypse etc)
And I recommend the Torah, the 1st 4 books of the Jew Testament.

>>8335854
if you think Job is stupid read Book I (its like 40 pages) of City of God by Augustine

no meme

>>8335882
ok

>>8335523
did it help

>>8335854
>I found the Gospels boring,

pleb

>>8335889
I think so

In conclusion I would rate the Bible pretty highly

>>8335891
I found them better the second time. Probably because I had lower expectations.
But it's still mostly about a guy going around making Miracles. He gave sight to the blind, he gave speech to the dumb, hearing to the deaf, walking to the paralyzed. Wew.
But the message is quite positive, don't be a pharisian, imitate the purity of children, etc.
I was surprised though how Jesus completely endorses the Hebraic Bible. He says he doesn't criticize any of its rules, just adds new ones.

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One film I found vastly superior to the Bible is I <3 Huckabees, by David O. Russel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heart_Huckabees
It's the story of two guys, an idealist (Jason Schwartzman) and a social climber (Jude Law), who fight about a tree, that one wants to save while the latter wants it replaced by a mall.
They meet by chance in existential therapy, where the therapists try to teach them that everything is related, and we all are truely One.
Then another therapist (Isabelle Huppert) comes into play, teaching that everything is separated, that Oneness doesn't exist and is a myth.
It really helped me a lot, as I'm facing ethical conflicts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2eNQ75wdq8

>>8335854
Most biblical characters were faced with moral dilemmas like David and Joseph, those two are real interesting. Your view on the books is really interesting

>>8335921
fuck you dude that's not Jude Law

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>>8335945
hey thanks, I didn't mean to sound like this, I started reading both Bibles when I needed guidance and confort, so I really didn't have a negative perspective. But I heard reading it alone is hard. Will look into David and Joseph's dilemmas.

>>8335949
you're right about the picture. Mark Wahlberg is a third character. Jude Law is actually not in existential therapy at first, but he's the one with the mall. Wahlberg plays a firefighter.

>>8335854

>Genesis is very interesting. It feels really great to read the original version

>Original version

>>8335503
OT was Disgusting most of the time, but Beautifully constructed.
NT is shiny shit for plebs
Rev is fun.

>>8335503

This is my literal review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1340327077?book_show_action=false

Read the OT, had a good time up until the part with the fucking tent. I still don't know what a cubit is. If you're thinking of giving it a shot I'd ask around as to what parts of the OT you can skip.