The book itself.

Not the religions that consider it The Word. Not the people good and bad who cite it as authority. Not its merit as a paperweight, coaster or doorstop.

The book itself as a literary experience, at least as we receive it as a distant and heavily edited translation of a translation.

For my money, I'm not sure that anyone has ever topped a story like Genesis 22. "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." Oh my...

NOT CRAP

Definately not crap for all of the literary archetypes that have been created because of it.

Revelations is terrifying and I once saw this girl get all hot and bothered because of it in my Bible as Lit class. Reorw!

I've said this before, but Jesus had some ill flow.
Pilate: "Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus: "You say that I am."

Man, Jesus was so sarcastic. He called that one woman a Dog and that was kind of harsh, but whatever. I think knee-jerk reactions to the Bible are kinda weak if you haven't bothered to read it.

Some chapters are rather dull (psalms), but I think there's actually something in it for everybody:romance, incest, lynchings, ill flow...

NOT CRAP.



Faiz

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the ALBINI:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.



ROCK I vs. ii. upon signing to a major

it's a great book

some of that old testament shit is truly insane

and revelations? man. revelations is fuuuuucked up.

it is also often rather beautiful. i like many of the psalms for this reason, myself.

i like it quite a bit, as a book, as a collaborative work of fiction, and i vote not crap

I think it's a shazam collection of stories, most of which may have happend in some shape or form. Historical context, though, people.
Not hysterical.

This is a very difficult C/NC you have laid down, Bradley. As a literary work, it's not very good. The writing is beautiful at times, but there are inconsistencies all over the place and the beginning gets bogged down a bit in the the geneology. I don't believe you actually CAN review this book without the context. As you say, it is a translation of a largely orally transmitted text, so there's two generations right there. No problem normally, but the translation istelf is so contentious as to call into question the whole issue of content.

As a compendium of short stories written by several authors, that would be the way to go and I would have to say NOT CRAP.

I liken the Bible to Stevie Ray Vaughan (I am sure I am not the first to do so, right?). SRV was not a terrible guy. He was actually pretty good (first record..Texas Flood and even some of 2nd LP Couldn’t Stand the Whether). He was just some poor white trash Dallas/Austin twerp loosing his hair that loved Jimi Hendrix and Freddie King and sat in his room day and night learning to play the guitar. No harm done right? But now look at the evil his influenced has released on this earth! Kenny Wayne Shepard, Johnny Lang, even John Mayor! Our radio waves are STILL jammed with the-next-Stevie-Ray-Vaughans. He has poisoned our water with countless horrid white blues dishonorables! He has divided our world with his influence like a cancerous growth.

He himself… not terrible (for a while anyway).
He within the bigger context…CRAP.

In my opinion it is hard to view the Bible without the knowledge that it while being a big uniter is an even bigger divider.

yes, mayfair

once you get into the fact that this book may be responsible in part for the eventual end of the world

given the belief of many people in the concept of the 'last days' as posited by it

and a latent desire on their part to let the prophecies play out (i.e. enact them in an attempt to fulfill the biblical promise of rapturous ascent for all believers)

then it becomes a question of one's stance on biblical armageddon

for those of us who do not believe that revelations is necessarily, ahem, accurate in its predictions, armageddon as depicted in the bible is likely to strike us as 'crap,' as it would involve the destruction of all that we know to facilitate a payoff of absolutely nothing

in which case the bible itself could be considered 'crap,' as well

but to pick the bible off a shelf and read it, heedless of whatever it means to the lunatic corner preacher or our president or whomever, i find this is a fine experience

it's the ultimate test of judging a work on its own merits, for sure. as in the case of srv: do the positive aspects of the source overpower the lameness of that which it has influenced? it's a close call in both cases.

An "I feel 15lbs. lighter after taking that crap" crap.

As the wise Mayfair suggests, you cannot separate this book from its ridiculously overwhelming influence on the world. For all the people who have died for and against it, and all the fools its given false hope for god and afterlife it is the mightiest crap filled with vengeance and wrath.

tmidgett wrote:
it's the ultimate test of judging a work on its own merits, for sure. as in the case of srv: do the positive aspects of the source overpower the lameness of that which it has influenced? it's a close call in both cases.

I agree. As a book, it is way out. It is surreal and full of imagination and complicated stories and obvious power (the parts I have read anyway). It has moments of beauty along with a lot of confusion and contrasting messages and content. As a work, it is very dense and compelling.

It does not exist in a vacuum and all though we should not judge a band by it’s crowd, we can see the truly destructive affect the Bible has on our world and I find it very hard to separate it’s effects from it itself. Yes, it gives some hope. I am not one to say ‘false hope’ because who am I? Hope is hope. I think that is a good thing. I think a lot of good people get good things from the Bible. I just get very nervous when people decide that THEIR hope and beliefs should be YOUR hope and beliefs and if it is not, you are the walking damned (that is not just a Christian belief, mind you). It is hard to jive with that. Seems contrary to what some of it’s main messages imply.