Book Review: 101 Myths of the Bible

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 1:14 am

Jeferson wrote:While I was looking on Amazon.com for advance ordering instructions for Wombat's upcoming release, I came across this gem:

101 Beatles Myths Debunked

Jef

#101: We're bigger than ... er ... Jesus wasn't it?

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 2:00 am

So Paul is actually alive. No, wait, he's dead. No...
Look for Paperback Writer, a hilarious fictional history of the Beatles, their first album is called "We're Going to Change the History of Pop Music Forever." Sgt. Pepper is about...pepper.
I believe the Bible was written by...Ancient Astronauts...
Maybe God deliberately filled it full of inaccuracies, and then inspired William of Occam to formulate his theory that the simplest explanation is the most plausible, just to give us a topic of debate. Mysterious ways indeed!
Blaming King James and company for the persecution of witches because of their translation is one of those super simplistic historical theories that never hold up under scrutiny. Scores of other factors were undoubtedly involved in inspiring this persecution; you could as well blame the person who gave the call for the original Crusade for the sack of Constantinople. And at any rate the King James is a beautiful read, and a massive influence on English as well.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:20 am

Our Rabbi ( Conservative ) likes to say that we take the Torah ( first 5 books of the Bible) seriously, but not literally. Did Creation actually and literally take 6 or our "days"? Interesting speculation but not really important. Did the Egyptian plagues really take place exactly as written? Makes a great movie script, but again not really that crucial. What IS important is the moral and ethical issues raised by this timeless work and the guidance that we can gain from it ( and certainly other great religious classics of all traditions).
Note that in the Orthodox Jewish tradition, the entire Torah IS regarded as the literal truth, written personally by Moses as dictated by God, etc.

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:35 am

Brewerpaul,
You said what I was thinking, but more eloquently.

Riseard,
Who is the man attached to that moustache?

Mike

Tak_the_whistler · Post by **Tak_the_whistler** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:47 am

Oh my....

Serpent, some good point

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Has anyone read Josh MacDowell's books? Not too bad.

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I think Nietsche seemed to have been okay before his mind began to look at potatoes from below.

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:55 am

Wombat wrote:Between lectures and concertina, guitar and whistle practice, I've managed to fit in a bit of anthropological research, all the more remarkable when you learn that I am a complete amateur, and I've just confirmed what I have long suspected. Gulliver's Travels is full of lies. I'm serious folks. Most of it is bull and the rest is grossly exaggerated.

Oh. That was allegory, much as The Pilgrim's Progress was allegorical about the truths of Holy Writ.

Celtoid · Post by **Celtoid** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:57 am

The world is full of myths, and they are terrifically important.

As an Agnostic I will be the first to exclaim that all religions are based upon myth but I will follow that up with just as strong a conviction that just because there are myths does not mean there is no 'higher power' beyond our senses.

I entertain and please my mind with the notion that all of creation and the creator are one and the same. We all 'walk in God' and have always been a part of the universe even before our parts were assembled to make us as sentient beings, and after death, our parts still stay in the universe. The Book of Ecclesiates is my favorite book in the Bible, at least those in the later parragraphs written by one of its authors, and expresses much of this thought. I like Marcus Aurelius too. And for religions, I like the World Pantheist Movement, though I am not a member because, run by human beings, they squable too much over details of doctrine, but I like their message.

We need to respect the faith of others because it is profoundly human to have faith. Those of us incapable of faith are in the distinct minority. There is a biological reason for the existence of faith, and probably a gene site complete with switches fore and aft of the gene for a tendency to religious fervor. A few of the faithful (this includes Atheists) can become homicidal fairly quickly when salvation is at stake. This kind of behavior points to a biological explanation. In any case, sometimes I wish the rapture would happen quickly, so the rest of us can have some peace.

Post by **Dale** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:05 am

Hi, Everybody! I was away for the weekend. Did I miss anything?

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:08 am

DaleWisely wrote:Hi, Everybody! I was away for the weekend. Did I miss anything?

Oh, just the odd OT discussion.

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:10 am

Heard yesterday on France-Q[cul] radio (or was it France-µ[mjú] ?):

"A myth is a religion of past;
a religion is a myth alive."

Thoughts for fodder, here.

slowair · Post by **slowair** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:16 am

Religion is like whistles...

Examine as many as you can and pick the one you think sounds the best.

And please don't knock someone else's choice.

Feel free to share your ideas and whistles with those that ask. Respect the privacy of those that don't.

Mike

Tak_the_whistler · Post by **Tak_the_whistler** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:16 am

Zubivka, I watched France-2 in a lecture gloriously titled "Globalisation and France"

OT? :p

Tak_the_whistler · Post by **Tak_the_whistler** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:19 am

slowair, it can be the other way around....for example, a whistle choosing a player...

Perhaps a Gen D choose Mary B. Or was it a Sindt?

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:23 am

Tak_the_whistler wrote:Zubivka, I watched France-2 in a lecture gloriously titled "Globalisation and France"

OT?

France 2 TV? They shouldn't venture into lectures eventhough it's supposedly "public" TV--complete with idiotic shows, Quizzes, TV-"reality", ads, violent standard-Japanese Manga studio cartoons, etc. I wonder if you learnt something from that show. Or did they make it a true, and truly boring, lecture? Then it's an occasional gimmick to prove their point, which is generally "why feed margaritas porcos"--the audience doesn't deserve better--so they can go on being blatantly commercial on public budget.

Tak_the_whistler · Post by **Tak_the_whistler** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 6:34 am

wow...really?! my lecturer didn't tell me that !

No, we watched just a news programme. I didn't see any sudden appearance of a clown.

Are there're two F2's ?

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edited: "crowns" and "clowns" are not the same thing. Or maybe they are.