Happy Atheist Forum

General => Philosophy => Topic started by: Bad Penny II on June 28, 2018, 01:52:29 PM

Title: Read Your Bible Child, Our Culture Is Built On It.
Post by: Bad Penny II on June 28, 2018, 01:52:29 PM
Read Your Bible Child, Our Culture Is Built On It.

That was pretty much the theme of a talk made by a professional Christian biased expert.
It's in Shakespeare, there's references all over the place, if you don't know it you won't get it.
This is now though, there's lots of Games of Thrones references thrown around in modern discourse.
Should Thrones be required reading for those seeking to understand the now?
Of course Star Wars is, Star Trek, Dune novels, Douglas and Terry....
Do I have to pay attention to sport though?
How about reality TV, cooking shows?
Is there actually anything wrong with snobbery?
That should be a separate thread.
Maybe.
You need to define a purpose for this thread.
Oh ye, OK.

What bits of literature, science, film, pop culture, folklore does the sophisticated present day HAFer  need to know?
Title: Re: Read Your Bible Child, Our Culture Is Built On It.
Post by: Sandra Craft on June 29, 2018, 02:09:23 AM
I encourage everyone who asks to read the bible cover to cover -- it's the best way in the world to make new atheists.  Other than that, I would say Shakespeare certainly and maybe also Mark Twain.  A lot more popular science needs to be read -- my dead favorites are Loren Eiseley and Carl Sagan.  Living favorite is Chet Raymo.

My problem is I'm only familiar with Western writers, and only a narrow portion of those.  I know there are writers from the East, Latin America, etc I need to get familiar with but just don't know where to start.  Tho I have gotten a few hints in the past, could stand to learn much more.

TV and movies, boy, not my long suit.  Judgement at Nuremberg is the only one that occurs off the top of my head.

Reality TV, meh.  Tho a separate thread for snobbery is a good idea.

Title: Re: Read Your Bible Child, Our Culture Is Built On It.
Post by: Icarus on June 30, 2018, 12:23:28 AM
Reading the bible as the inerrant word of god is a hot button issue for me.  Reading the bible as an historic document is also a hot button.

For Christs sake ( ;D), Why is it so difficult for otherwise intelligent people to believe that  the Bible is anything but an interesting and wildly speculative book while being so influential a book?   The good people who read the bible to their children are using one of the numerous editions, versions, revisions.  Whch one is the right one, pray tell?

One day a few years back a nice Jehova Witness lady rang my doorbell.  Nice guy that I am I answered the door and treated her with courtesy.  She wanted to discuss the bible with me..........shhhhesh!  I did not say to the nice lady; Which fucking bible are we talking about here". I thought it though.  I told her that her bible and any other bible was not a reliable source of historical information or the basis for the existence of a god like creature/force. including her Jehovah one.  She assured me with certainty that her bible was the most accurate because the television show Jeopardy had researched and found the JW bible to be the most authentic.   :picard facepalm:

Why do so many people not reason that the bible was written for something like 1500 years by scribes with quill pens and most likely their own biases and agenda or subject to pressures from their masters?   Finally the German dude Gutenberg figured out a way to print bibles without quills and primitive ink.  Two or three hundred years later King James did not like the the bible that had been favored by his predecessor, Queen Elizabeth.  James assigned 54 of his scholars to write a new bible that was more understandable for his British subjects.  Cool! Write a new bible by a committee.   No doubt the scholars were diligent and did the best they could to please James.  Hola ! We have the King James Version, the KJV that is so revered by the masses, especially Southern Baptists.

With that and a mountain of other evidence that "the bible" is neither a reliable historical reference nor a reliable source of spiritual wisdom, damn near every church in the land have bible study groups that are believed to be revealing the  verifiable word of Gd.

Forgive me Father for I have sinned....  I  have blasphemed ......and will probably continue to do so until the day of judgement.

Rant ended for now.