How to read the bible

>>9451074
New Testament is the key to open the Old Testament. Both are multilayered.

My recommendation
>Genesis - Exodus - Enoch (be sure it is the Ethiopian) - Mark
>Wisdom - Psalms
>Exodus - Joshua - Samuel - Daniel - Luke - Acts
>Genesis - Enoch - Samuel - Daniel - Jeremiah - Isaiah - Matthew - Letters
>Genesis - Wisdom - Psalms - Jonah - Job - John - Revelation

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>>9451074
When you read the New Testament be sure to read pic related

http://oyc.yale.edu/religious-studies/rlst-145
http://oyc.yale.edu/religious-studies/rlst-152

>>9451074
Anyone here believes sincerely in the christian God? If so can I get a answer why he created us that makes sense, since I do want to but this is something I never understood.

Just read the fucking book OP. How hard can it be for crying out loud?

>>9451350
Since God is on the top of the moral hierarchy, and creating the World was a good thing to do, He couldn't have not done it

>>9451361
Still doesn't make sense why its a good thing when it causes so much suffering and its meaningless anyway

>>9451129
where to get the book of enoch in that version?

>>9451350
>>9451361
>>9451372

ah! this is an easy one:
“A farmer went out to sow seed. 4 While he was scattering the seed, some of it fell by the road. The birds came and ate all that seed. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where there was not enough dirt. It grew very fast there, because the soil was not deep. 6 But when the sun rose, it burned the plants. The plants died because they did not have deep roots. 7 Some other seed fell among thorny weeds. The weeds grew and stopped the good plants from growing. 8 But some of the seed fell on good ground. There it grew and made grain. Some plants made 100 times more grain, some 60 times more, and some 30 times more. 9 You people who hear me, listen!”

With free will and all you get all sorts of types of people, which have different personalities and Jesus divides the people up and the answer is as follows:

8 “So listen to the meaning of that story about the farmer:

19 “What about the seed that fell by the path? That is like the people who hear the teaching about God’s kingdom but do not understand it. The Evil One comes and takes away what was planted in their hearts.

20 “And what about the seed that fell on rocky ground? That is like the people who hear the teaching and quickly and gladly accept it. 21 But they do not let the teaching go deep into their lives. They keep it only a short time. As soon as trouble or persecution comes because of the teaching they accepted, they give up.

22 “And what about the seed that fell among the thorny weeds? That is like the people who hear the teaching but let worries about this life and love for money stop it from growing. So it does not produce a crop in their lives.

23 “But what about the seed that fell on the good ground? That is like the people who hear the teaching and understand it. They grow and produce a good crop, sometimes 100 times more, sometimes 60 times more, and sometimes 30 times more.”

>>9451450
I have read the gospels but still doesn't answers my question. And "free" will is not that free, after all we are on /lit/ not /b/.

>>9451450
Some people believe and some do not. That describes the situation, but answers nothing.

>>9451454
yeah it does
the world is a place of variety, therefore it sucks, which is the differences in variety.

you can't have a place which is only pure good, that would be heaven.

after all the devil reigns over the earh and people know about good and evil so they can be either.

God has made the world how it is because that's the best way to go about it. It produces people which equal to any of the types of ground, and only the people falling under the category of good ground are the ones who are fully good and of the word of god, which are the ones God seek. He seeks us all.

take an example from islam.

People are half animal and half angelic
If a person behaves like an animal he is worse than the animal, because the animal have no choice how to be
but the person who is angelic are better than the angel, because of the same reasoning.

so people who goes above and beyond and who believe in the word of God, those are the ones who are better than the others and those are the ones we seek.. something like that

>>9451074

don't do it. read literally anything else. sparknotes that shit. the bible is not worth it, the narrative can be interesting but the delivery is shit so just watch some movies about it.

>>9451350
God created people for eternal life and joy in Him, and to love. This is wonderful because he did not have any need to create anything outside Himself but willed the entire universe into being just for us to inherit eternal life in Him.

>>9451350
God created humans so that they may enjoy communion with Him.

>>9451422
I've found online translations, but I'm sure larger libraries will have some.

>>9451504
thanks

cover2cover

Literally just read straight through it. The Bible in its current format is the source of so much of Western literary culture (and more) that you're going to come out of it worse for wear in the end if you don't get your basic pass done first.
Then it's just an issue of seeking the topics that interest you or what you want to understand deeper. Religious commentary and examinations on the Bible have deep roots, as does historical examination.
Antiquities of the Jews is a good source of often downplayed historical and cultural context that will shed a lot of light on the secular side of the New Testament

>>9451738
thank you

>>9451738
Oh, and it will be prudent to read at least a short simple description of each major book or supplementary text (Apocrypha, extended Canon texts, etc). The Bible is not compiled strictly chronologically or thematically, and the differences in tone, subject, time period and such of each work have been generally normalized to the point of becoming complete word salad for the uninitiated. A few minutes of familiarization and context will make dissecting each piece much easier.
Also familiarize yourself briefly with each source text - the Old Hebrew, Aramaic, Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls and especially the source documents of the Gospels. An hour on wikipedia will vastly increase your comprehension compared to the average long-time reader who treats the Bible as above needing context.

>>9451454
I'll preface this by admitting my atheism, but honestly it isn't possible to logically reconcile the desires and actions of YHWH with the teachings and actions of Jesus of Nazareth. His teachings and actions, even in the strictest religious sense, are revisionary. God was and remains equally incompatible with humanity as we are with him, and as such required His manifestation as a mortal to reconcile these differences.
Closer understanding of (at least man's interpretation of) God's desires could only really be understood through close study of the Old Testament and other Orthodox work, though that assumes that said work has not become bastardized by secularism and corrupted false prophets - which Jesus certainly proclaimed.

>>9451790
What makes you think YHWH and Jesus are irreconcilable?

>>9451074
Skip Numbers it will kill your read through.

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>>9451165
I think you mean pic related

>>9451129
What is the point in reading Exodus and Genesis so many times? Shouldn't one interested in Catholicism just get the necessary exposition from the OT, then survey most of the NT, and then fill in the gaps? I'm asking because I've read Genesis and Exodus and I plan to hop straight to Job and then read the New Testament.

>>9451350
Sorta what this guy said >>9451483
But if you take into account that we were created in His image, I would say it has less to do with giving some people eternal life as it does about creating something beautiful—I say that God has that same creative spirit as we do. The beauty of the scenery alone is enough to satisfy, but imagine observing all of reality from the outside: it would be an eternal, infinitely-complex drama which evolves unceasingly. Imagine seeing a play where you follow the life of an individual and it truly, authentically captures the complexity of human existence—you watch the character develop as you would your own child, you see him struggle, you see him strong and you see him weak, you see him be the protagonist of his own drama, foil to another's, and antagonist to yet another's. To see all of this, to which a fugue appears as "Chopsticks," would make any one say, no matter how high his standards, "it is very good."

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>>9451074

Read the King James Version. I picked this one up for $50 aud, beautiful book with superb illustrations, perfect to hand down to a child in later years.

>>9451074

I have put a decent amount of effort into developing an answer to this question in terms of the two testaments, the genres involved, their timeframe, and so on, partly with an eye toward sharing it here, but I'm so fed up with this place that I think maybe I'll cast my pearls elsewhere

That picture is really beautiful

>>9454904
>$50 aud
I got it for $10 USD

On the topic, I want to use the vulgate if at all possible, but since my Latin isn't super good I want to pick up the Douay rheims bible. The thing is, it has to be the original text, since the more recent one is updated significantly. Has anyone reliably retyped the original DR to modern spelling, and changed nothing else? I've heard even the formatting and notes were superb.

>>9453822

I'm not him but I assume it has to do with typology. I'm only vaguely familiar with the concept because I'm just getting into it myself but I think the idea is that as you read the later books you can go back and read the earlier books and come to a greater understanding by seeing Adam or Moses as a type of Jesus. St. Josemaria Escriva was really into this sort of thing which is why it's so commonly used in the Navarre Bible commentary.

>>9454932

I got it from a retail store that's probably why.

>>9451350
>religion can be understood from 1 reply in a chinese cartoon imageboard

>>9454904
got that one too. a bit pomo but its great, doré's illustrations gives the read a whole new experience. also, if you take care of it, it will last forever and will age beautifully

>>9454977
Not religion by itself but a fundamental question that is supposed to be the most important from all. Still no answer to my question

>>9454992
I am pretty sure Aquinas has your answer, but he is a bit busy to post it in an chinese cartoon imageboard

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>>9451074
A beginner to what?
>>9451350
This is a category error. A reason is a cause, but God has no cause, He has no motive nor compulsion. The answer to every question, if it's even a valid question, is ultimately, just that God is, so thus it is.

>>9451129
>not pairing Isaiah and the new testament

>>9454988
>pomo

What does this mean sorry?

I agree with everything you said, it really is a beautiful book inside and out.

>>9452051
Numbers is fine if you just skip over the census bits and focus on the narrative.

>>9455063
like...its a bit flashy, a bit "luxurious", with all the decoration, golden pages and such. I have read in this board, probably written by a hater of KJV or barnes & noble, that this is a negative factor to this edition. Not my case though, I really like it.

>>9455049
>not reading the post

>>9456666
They are. They are.

>>9456717
That's not what pomo means you goddamn illiterate. I don't even know if I'm being subtly trolled here

>>9451074
Alphabetically.

>>9456921
I don't see the problem, the narrative of Numbers is literally Exodus 2.

>>9456717
>>9456941

poshy not pomo, what is pomo?

Anyway that KJV is beautiful, highly recommend it

>>9457317
Pomo literally means POst MOdern

>>9451074
The way I was taught is the books were put in order for a reason. Start at the beginning and work your way through. One cannot properly understand the New Testament, without knowledge of the Old Testament. One cannot pick and choose things out of context.

>>9455025
>He has no motive nor compulsion.
But that makes no sense. Why should people follow him and the world he made is by default quite determined so it makes even less sense why the world is so flawed.