Onyx Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Hi, everybody! Tis is an another great Geezer poll. Tis time is Best and Worst of Bible. Please tell us why you chose tis book for your best/worst nomination and debate whatever book you like... Vote to your heart's content! (Mods, pin this up!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fweethawt Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 I voted Ecclesiastes for the best since it is closer to reality than any other part of the bible even if it does sound a bit depressing. For the worst, I voted other. I thing Judges is the worst. At least that's the one that pops into my head at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onyx Posted February 16, 2006 Author Share Posted February 16, 2006 I voted Ecclesiastes for the best since it is closer to reality than any other part of the bible even if it does sound a bit depressing. I like it too cos of this quote "There is nothing new under the Sun." that and pro pleasure and morality verses in it. For the worst, I voted other. I thing Judges is the worst. At least that's the one that pops into my head at the moment. Ugh, judges, I think it is second only to Lev in the vileness stakes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Ecclesiastes is cool. "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you will be in Utah," or something along those lines. What's not to love about that? And Genesis, that's cool to. If not for Genesis how would we know the origins of life as we know it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
☆ TexasFreethinker ☆ Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 I think Leviticus is the worst since it has all the hate commandments ordering the deaths of people for stupid things. I think Esther is the best book in the bible since it's the only one that doesn't reference god. (Must have been written by an atheist! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anakin Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 I think the worst book is Job. Absolutely sick tale. The best book is the index, table of weights and measures, and acknowledgements listed in the back. The table of contents is OK I guess. Oh, and the little maps are OK. Other than that I can't think of any. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycorth Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 I did like Song of Solomon; nice, sappy romantic stuff. Of course, Xians will say this is rather an allegory about Jeezus and his church, but it clearly is just romantic prose. As I can recall, no god to grovel before, no illogical things to put faith in, no cruelty, no Hell - I can like a book like that. I voted Other on the second question because they're all bad in some way. Angry tribal gods, human and animal sacrifice, illogicalities and absurdities, ignorant observations of nature and scientific matters, and of course the Big Stick called "Hell" that we are beaten with in the NT. None of it I would let my children read until they were old enough to think for themselves, and none of it do I waste my time reading now. I don't care how many of my ancestors were tricked into accepting this junk, I will not. The cycle has to end somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Gods Fail Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 I actually like most of the books in the first list - Proverbs, Ecc. etc. Don't care much for the gospels, tho. And Acts is a pretty interesting adventure story, a bit like the Odyssey. The rest of it is pretty much crap, of course. Death, threats, hatred, morbidity - I'll stick w/atheism, thank you. And Cute Bunny™, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onyx Posted February 17, 2006 Author Share Posted February 17, 2006 Ecclesiastes is cool. "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you will be in Utah," or something along those lines. What's not to love about that? Hello, Vigile! Yeah, Ecclesiastes is that good. BTW where's that Eccl 1:2 dude? This is the topic for him! And Genesis, that's cool to. If not for Genesis how would we know the origins of life as we know it Wendytwitch.gif HAHA! Genesis was just a stupid book in my opinion. Omit that and we have a way hip bible, without all these dreary law books or books that threatens hell. I think Leviticus is the worst since it has all the hate commandments ordering the deaths of people for stupid things. Hi, Texas Freethinker! The stupidest ones was for crossed fabric clothes and crossdressing. Death for it? Don't make me laugh... I think Esther is the best book in the bible since it's the only one that doesn't reference god. (Must have been written by an atheist! wicked.gif ) Esther is a great little anti fascist book. Why didn't the Catholic Church use that book against these dictators they met in WW2 is beyond me... I think the worst book is Job. Absolutely sick tale. Hi, Anakin Man! Welcome to EXC! Job, yeah I agree with you. The book where God and devil seemed to be one and at their evilest. What a blameless man turned into a sad old man who lost everything then back to propserity! I wonder if Job was waxing bitter at God. The best book is the index, table of weights and measures, and acknowledgementslisted in the back. The table of contents is OK I guess. Oh, and the little maps are OK. Other than that I can't think of any. HAHAHA! I do like these maps in there. I did like Song of Solomon; nice, sappy romantic stuff. Of course, Xians will say this is rather an allegory about Jeezus and his church, but it clearly is just romantic prose. As I can recall, no god to grovel before, no illogical things to put faith in, no cruelty, no Hell - I can like a book like that. Hi, Wolf! That and it's one of the only books that is PRO healthy sexuality. I voted Other on the second question because they're all bad in some way. Angry tribal gods, human and animal sacrifice, illogicalities and absurdities, ignorant observations of nature and scientific matters, and of course the Big Stick called "Hell" that we are beaten with in the NT. None of it I would let my children read until they were old enough to think for themselves, and none of it do I waste my time reading now. I don't care how many of my ancestors were tricked into accepting this junk, I will not. The cycle has to end somewhere. Too right, it has to end... I actually like most of the books in the first list - Proverbs, Ecc. etc. Don't care much for the gospels, tho. And Acts is a pretty interesting adventure story, a bit like the Odyssey. Hello, All Gods Fail! Acts has two scenes that are classic. The first one is where man got bored and fell to his death after Paul preached. The second one is Paul going into Greece. He debated philosophy with the thinkers which the thinker defeated him at. The rest of it is pretty much crap, of course. Death, threats, hatred, morbidity - I'll stick w/atheism, thank you. phew.gif And Cute Bunny™, of course. Thank God for Atheism and cute bunnies! * Did I say that out loud?* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 I relate to Ecclesiates because he is a total skeptic. (BTW, that was NOT written by Solomom). Leviticus, definitely bad. It personifies everything the the fundi's wish they could sell, but can't get away with considering how popluar Red Lobster is with the after church folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godlessgrrl Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 I voted "Song of Solomon" as my fave. It's sexy. It's a great piece of erotic poetry, in the tradition of some of the Sumerian hymns to Inanna. Plus I love the shocked look Xians get on their face when you tell them it's all about doin' the nasty. I put Leviticus as the worst. I think it's the "spoiled priest brat" book - the book written by the Levites to justify their cushy job and pampered social status. Plus it's got some utterly barbaric shit in it. Plus it's just mind-numbingly BORING in some parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Iconoclastic1 Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Man, how could you forget to add Judges to the worst book list? Judges 19 is the most vile piece of fiction anybody's ever conceived of, and this is coming from someone who's seen Steel Magnolias. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taphophilia Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Judges is pretty sick and twisted. I love Ecclesiastes. I don't understand how the book even made it's way into the Bible. It is totally different from anything in the Bible and is contradictory to what the rest of it says. Taph 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnosis of Disbelief Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 I can relate to Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon in a literary sort of way, so I voted for them as the best. However, it was hard to choose the worst, because there really are so many viable choices. I opted for Revelations, just because of the really vicious, vindictive streak that it has lurking beneath all of its weird, acid trip imagery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythra Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 The best? The gospel according to John. The worst? The gospel according to John. It's all about perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Demona- Posted February 23, 2006 Share Posted February 23, 2006 I voted Song of Solomon as the best, as I love erotica. But I like Proverbs and Ecclesiates too. Cool stuff there. Worst? Ugh, so many to choose from! But I voted for Leviticus. I read that piece of crap in its entirety and felt like praying to the porcelain goddess after. Revelations is horrific though, too. So it was a tough call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boink666 Posted February 23, 2006 Share Posted February 23, 2006 I voted Proverbs as the best because it mostly just softy poems Gensis is the worst because its where all the lies begain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Worst book = Leviticus (it is so dead boring) Best book = Job In the book of Job, Job struggles with God. Job does not (like Christians are supposed to) blame himself for his misery, but wants to bring his case in front of God. The book is very unclear about what actually happens, when Job meets God. But one possible interpretation is, that nothing happens at all. God is silent, because he does not exist. The book is a piece of litterature and did never actually happpen. But I think it does touch many of the issues christians go through, when beginning to leave the fold. Maybe the book is about facing the absurdities of religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onyx Posted March 3, 2006 Author Share Posted March 3, 2006 Interesting view you have on Job, Thomas. Most exchristians who read Job say it is one of the vilest books in the Bible. That's a different view, I say... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 That's a different view, I say... One of the great things about not being a Christian is, that we do not have to agree on everything in order to respect each other. My view on Job is probably a little alternative, and it is certainly authorized by the Church. But it represents how I can relate to that book and actually find some kind of meaning in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudhoney Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I voted from my perspective now, as an ex-c. I voted Acts as the best because I think it's totally hilarious the way Paul is always getting imprisoned, shipwrecked, and beaten. I voted Proverbs as the worst because all of the many spankings I received growing up, too many to count, were a direct result of the "beat them with a rod" verse. Made my childhood a living hell. Now on the other hand...as a fundy my favorite book was John because I thought it was such a beautiful story of god's love for mankind. Such bullshit. My least fav was leviticus because of the gross animal sacrifices and crazy laws that never made sense to me but I just told myself that god knew what he was talking about, I didn't need to understand it. I was so stupid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeasabird Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 1 Kings has stuck in my head for a long time, specifically where they slaughter 144,000 animals in a week's time to dedicate Solomon's temple. For anyone not good at math that comes out to 14 animals gutted and barbecued every minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzy Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 When my faith already started to slip away but I still felt the need to read the Bible every day, I usually went to either Ecclesiates, Proverbs or Song of Solomon (and also Psalms). Those are the books I didn't find annoying and still found some wisdom and joy in. Ecclesiates and Proverbs have some wise sayings and Song of Solomon is one of the most human books in the Bible as it describes love between two people. Although I know many Christians claim that too is a metaphor for the love Jesus has for his fianceé, the Church, bla-bla-bla, but I just viewed it as a nice love poem. I loved that it doesn't talk about God, LOL. And it doesn't try to manipulate you into fear and guilt like most other books of the Bible. Just the genuine description of love and lust. (I'm not even sure how this ended up in the Bible.) And Ecclesiates for all the reasons others said before me. Worst? All other. LOL. Seriously, it's hard to choose because there are so many violent and downright evil books in the Bible. Leviticus, Deutromony, many of the prophets, Revelations, the Gospels too with the threats of Jesus against people he doesn't like etc. I picked Deutromony but there's a lot to hate about the Bible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Song is the best because make-love-not-war. The natural sex stands out from the rest of the Old Testament. For worst I put "other" because of Joshua. Genocide and more genocide - all because these people had the nerve to build cities and live on the land that God wanted to give to someone else. So the God of Justice has an answer - kill them and take their property! Fortunately the whole thing is fiction. Unfortunately this fiction was probably used to justify real war and the sacking of real cities for whichever king commissioned the propaganda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzy Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Worst book = Leviticus (it is so dead boring) Best book = Job In the book of Job, Job struggles with God. Job does not (like Christians are supposed to) blame himself for his misery, but wants to bring his case in front of God. The book is very unclear about what actually happens, when Job meets God. But one possible interpretation is, that nothing happens at all. God is silent, because he does not exist. The book is a piece of litterature and did never actually happpen. But I think it does touch many of the issues christians go through, when beginning to leave the fold. Maybe the book is about facing the absurdities of religion. Yeah, that's true. Job is indeed another book that somehow never seemed to fit in the Bible. I remember when I was a child one of my Christian relatives had a big struggle to understand it and reconcile it with other teachings of the Bible. I don't remember what her questions were exactly, I was a child, I just remember she struggled with this book. Of course it's easier to understand it when you know how the Bible was created and canonized and you understand you don't have to view it as God's word that is coherent and without contradictions. And when you know some people in the Bible had different beliefs than others. For example if you look at Job's idea of the afterworld and Jesus's - those are two very different views. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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