Does /lit/ have any experience with church Bible study groups? I'm thinking about joining one, but I'm curious to see if you guys have any thoughts about them. Are they something an atheist (but not one of 'those' atheists) literature buff would be interested in, or is it mostly a religious thing?

File: 39 KB, 304x365, biblestudy2.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

Anonymous Tue Jul 12 21:50:37 2011 No.1922484 [Reply] [Original]

Does /lit/ have any experience with church Bible study groups?

I'm thinking about joining one, but I'm curious to see if you guys have any thoughts about them. Are they something an atheist (but not one of 'those' atheists) literature buff would be interested in, or is it mostly a religious thing?

>>	Anonymous Tue Jul 12 21:53:37 2011 No.1922488 If you like ethics and philosophy of religion itself, you'll enjoy it on some level.

Anonymous Tue Jul 12 21:53:37 2011 No.1922486

Christian here. Church Bible study groups are, more or less, made with intent to study scripture and form a closer connection and understanding with God. I actually just got back from a young adult camping trip from this past weekend (which has spurned me to look into more philosophy and introspection), and it is definitely more of a religious thing. They do make study Bibles that do have in-depth analysis of scripture I believe.

>>	Anonymous Tue Jul 12 21:56:37 2011 No.1922492 File: 213 KB, 783x1176, 50.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>	Anonymous Tue Jul 12 21:58:37 2011 No.1922499 >>1922492 >Summarize Bible Here you go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_k8JjVWQA I can't believe that comic is everywhere.

>>	Anonymous Tue Jul 12 22:02:37 2011 No.1922511 File: 537 KB, 810x1203, ya rly.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>1922499 its one of 4chan's oldest memes.

>>	Anonymous Tue Jul 12 22:03:37 2011 No.1922516 >>1922511 I forgot that my friend told me that. I was perplex when /v/ and /co/ seemed to be all over it about a month ago.

>>	Anonymous Tue Jul 12 22:12:37 2011 No.1922552 Post full comic

Anonymous Tue Jul 12 22:40:37 2011 No.1922626

>>1922484
I grew up in a church OP. If you're absolutely certain of your beliefs, you're better off taking a Bible-study-focused college class on religion. If you want to get out of paying, you could always meet with the professor before the first class and explain your situation: that you want to study the Bible in more depth without being "preached to", so to speak. Most reasonable professors would let you take the class for non-credit.

You might have to buy other supplemental reading materials though, and possibly a parallel bible (contains multiple versions of the bible side-by-side in one volume)

>>	©The Artist Formerly Known as Apostrophe !8hzzLmleDA Tue Jul 12 22:54:37 2011 No.1922664 File: 56 KB, 640x400, Carl-Sagan-Wallpaper-Exquisite-World.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] lol err why would you wanna learn about the bible

>>	Anonymous Tue Jul 12 23:00:37 2011 No.1922678 I'm pretty atheist, and I went to one. Everybody was kind, understanding, and the discussion was almost entirely analytic, though I'm pretty sure everyone else there was religious. The church was Methodist, btw.

Anonymous Tue Jul 12 23:15:37 2011 No.1922714

When I was a Christian, some random-ass Atheist came to my Sunday school classand started a whole bunch of shit. Everybody was totally bummed out. The turkey teaching the class was thrown off message and probably cried afterwards.

Watch what you say, OP. Go undercover or you'll make old men cry.

>>	Anonymous Tue Jul 12 23:23:37 2011 No.1922724 >>1922714 >some random-ass Atheist $100 it was deep&edgy

Anonymous Tue Jul 12 23:23:37 2011 No.1922726

Bible study is basically a place where Christians get together to justify shit in the Bible to make them like God better.

I go to an atheist Bible study, but it's pretty much to gawk at how fucking psychotic God is in the Bible and find arguments against fundamental Christian arguments on various topics. So it's pretty much the opposite.

I'd say if you're looking for something in the middle, you may want to create it yourself by inviting some open-minded Christian and Atheists. Good luck finding either kind of those. Christians are generally close-minded because they have been conditioned to believe something with their heart and without questioning it with their mind, and Atheists are usually close-minded because they find the former to be vile creatures only worthy of scorn.

>>	Anonymous Tue Jul 12 23:24:37 2011 No.1922728 >>1922664 Because it's referenced in nearly everything. Methodists are probably a good option, but if you can find a Unitarian Universalist Bible study group that would be your best bet, if you're worrying about being preached to.

>>	Archduke !EQmEmVtTi2 Tue Jul 12 23:30:37 2011 No.1922738 Why not just study it by yourself with a good study guide? Good's subjective, but I hate reading/study groups of ALL kinds, personally. You could also start your own study group.

>>	Archduke !EQmEmVtTi2 Tue Jul 12 23:31:37 2011 No.1922739 >>1922511 If by 4chan, you mean Something Awful, then you're right!

Anonymous Tue Jul 12 23:37:37 2011 No.1922747

I used to go the Bible studies all the time when I was Catholic. Religious people, obviously, take the Bible pretty seriously, so the discussion is pretty intelligent. Also, Catholics are generally pretty cool, the lady coordinating my church's events believed in evolution and that most of the stories in the Bible are fables.

>>	Insinuates gODS Tue Jul 12 23:57:37 2011 No.1922781 >Study the Fible Can't study imaginary masturbatory nonsense. Try Spiderman, you might learn more from it since it's quite up to date. Iron-age mythology and soon-to-be-dead religionism isn't just as fun anymore.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 00:01:37 2011 No.1922790 >>1922781 >implying the Bible isn't massively relevant in literature >implying you're not an ignorant prick

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 00:04:37 2011 No.1922799

>>1922747
>the lady coordinating my church's events believed in evolution and that most of the stories in the Bible are fables

it's all Catholics that think like that

a priest once said to me that the bible is just a book of nice stories, and what's important is what those stories teach
I remember reading that Catholic theologians have considered the bible to be largely figurative at least since the time of Saint Augustine, nearly 1700 years ago

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 00:06:37 2011 No.1922805 >>1922781 hurr you sure are edgy maybe when you've matured past your "angry" atheist phase you'll be able to appreciate the bible's literary and historic value it's shaped western society and culture like nothing else in history

>>	Kuchiku Wed Jul 13 00:07:37 2011 No.1922806 Hey, weren't you people supposed to rise up to the heavens by now? Oh, and my life isn't miserable at all, by the way.

Insinuates gODS Wed Jul 13 00:11:37 2011 No.1922815

>>1922790
>implying Spiderman isn't massively relevant in literature
Sure thing, because masturbatory reading without any real appliance is sooo important.

>implying you're not an ignorant prick
i might be ignorant, but I'm atleast not religous, so godS save me.

So how do you study fictional literature? Do you find the inconsistencies? Or do you just straddle along and pretend it's some kind of real science? I know that in the Harry-potter fan-clubs no-one is allowed to say anything bad about harry potter. Does the same rules apply to your fanclubs?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 00:12:37 2011 No.1922816 >>1922806 the fuck does your comment have to do with anything oh, I suppose that anyone who wants to learn something about the book that shaped human history like nothing else ever has is some kind of American fundamentalist hick but of course

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 00:13:37 2011 No.1922818 >>1922815 are you seriously 14 or what

>>	Kuchiku Wed Jul 13 00:15:37 2011 No.1922821 Are you attempting to relate to your own age group? I'm assuming that's why you ask him that.

>>	Insinuates gODS Wed Jul 13 00:17:37 2011 No.1922825 >>1922821 this thread must be D&E's work. Only he would sink this low for the amusement.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 00:18:37 2011 No.1922829 >>1922815 10/10. Good troll. Now kill yourself you stupid fucking cunt.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 00:18:37 2011 No.1922830 >>1922821 because clearly, anyone who thinks that the bible is worth some thought beyond "lol religion is dum" is very immature

>>	Insinuates gODS Wed Jul 13 00:20:37 2011 No.1922832 >>1922830 >>1922829 Samefagging is also fun. Stop bumping D&E faggot. Nobody baits your shit troll.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 00:28:37 2011 No.1922844 >>1922832 now you're posting in another thread about putting wads of gum into bibles fuck's sake I hope you are a troll, or at least an underage poster

>>	Insinuates gODS Wed Jul 13 00:32:37 2011 No.1922853 >>1922844 Well, when my pods of dog-semen runs out you gotta improvise. How else can you sabotage these holy books? I'm open to suggestions. Remember, the key is to ruin and make it's value forfeit.

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 00:58:37 2011 No.1922906

>>1922853

Insert a literal analysis of the bible within each book somewhere near the transition of the old testament to the new, not exactly there you understand, but rather close. The customers will throw a fit at such heresy being hidden within their holy texts. Likewise, I find the bible to have virtually no literary value when stripped of all religious pretenses. When attempting to read it as such I found myself laughing like a mad man at just how ridiculous the book is itself.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 01:03:37 2011 No.1922921 >>1922906 I have a Catholic bible and at least 40% of each page is devoted to analyzing and clarifying what it says explaining the cultural context and history behind certain passages and things like that

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 01:08:37 2011 No.1922933

>>1922921

Understandable, however the book as a whole, when judged by modern standards without allowing for the multiple contradictions and such found within a holy book. True, one could say the bible is but a book of moral tales. Then again, that could be said of the Brothers Grimm. But you don't see people worshiping them as the one and only god now do you? Similarly the morals taught are often far less culturally acceptable than those within the Brothers Grimm. I could be wrong and if I am please explain, I'm open to being shown to be wrong.

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 01:16:37 2011 No.1922942

>>1922933
what morals, specifically, are bad

some of the stories are pretty messed up, like Lot offering his virgin daughters to the men of Sodom when they want to rape his guests

but the moral there is "place the well being of guests above your own"

and that's a huge thing in middle eastern societies, treating guests as well as possible

really what matters in the bible (to Christians anyway) is the new testament

████████████ Wed Jul 13 01:19:37 2011 No.1922948

http://www.evilbible.com/

Shows how terrible the bible is by using many, many, many passages.

The Bible is arguably the most important misogynist, male power work in the history of the world.

Probably also the most important work to encourage genocide.

████████████ Wed Jul 13 01:25:37 2011 No.1922963

>>1922942

That may be true, but they aren't very good Christians then (but who really is anymore?) because the New Testament says in many places not to ignore and that you must still obey the old testament.

Though, I personally also liked the idea of the new testament being a new religion that attached itself to an old fanbase to quicken its acceptance and approval. Regardless of the validity thereof.

The same could be said of Islam.

Why they both latched on to and added on to Judaism is beyond me.

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 01:25:37 2011 No.1922965

>>1922948
what genocides have been motivated by the bible

and don't even say that the inquisition amounted to genocide

the number of people killed in the Spanish inquisition was probably not any more than 5,000 in the 200 some years that it was active

>>	████████████ Wed Jul 13 01:26:37 2011 No.1922968 >>1922965 I meant more of the repeated acts of genocide that take place in the Bible itself.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 01:31:37 2011 No.1922980 >>1922968 well killing every member of a city after conquering it wasn't genocide 5,000 years ago it was pretty normal actually absolutely horrifying by our standards, but understandable in the bronze ages

████████████ Wed Jul 13 01:39:37 2011 No.1922997

>>1922980
I agree that it was normal.

The problem is that Bible tells you to do such things.

The Bible tells you to a lot of illegal things and otherwise unacceptable things for modern times.

Most people seem to to use like a summary of the Bible. They only follow the vaguest of outlines, usually for political reasons.

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 01:41:37 2011 No.1923003

>>1922942

Now see you made me get up from my chair and get the goddamn book out, thank you for forcing more exercise upon my already strenuous life.

Let us consider Romans 1:18-32 which essentially claims that if one does not believe in their god then they are deserving of death. Tell me is this a sound moral standpoint? But I could be interpreting it incorrectly do fix this if I am.

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 01:47:37 2011 No.1923017

>>1922933
You don't understand the importance of the Bible. The Bible's importance lies not in that people think it's some brilliant work, but that all Western literature can be traced back to it. What you have to keep in mind is that, up until the Renaissance, all art and literature revolved around religion. When the Renaissance began, all writers had available was religious stories, and as a result religious themes have been handed down throughout literature. Hence why the story Garden of Eden has relevance in Flowers For Algernon, or that the punishment of sin could be argued to be a major theme in the Great Gatsby.

Oh, and also, the Grimm fairytales were just a collection of miscellaneous folk-tales. It's the middle ages equivalent of "Weird New England" or some other collection of urban legends.

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 01:50:37 2011 No.1923022

>>1923003
The Bible was written by multiple people. Some of whom didn't even know about each other. These works weren't brought together until years later, so its to be expected that it contradicts itself and some portions might just be complete crocks.

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 01:52:37 2011 No.1923026

>>1923017

Come now, you must be joking, the Renaissance returned life to the focus on both logic and beauty which were found in the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. If anything they moved farther away from the religious tyranny that they had been stuck under for so long. Once again, Fables, not just urban legends that you find in the "Weird (your state here)" books, they had a moral and in all honesty I found them much more closely related to our current moral outlook in the U.S.

>>	████████████ Wed Jul 13 01:53:37 2011 No.1923027 >>1923022 You realize that many such portions were dropped or otherwise not included in the Bible right? Everything that there is was decided over a course of centuries whether or not to be included.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 01:54:37 2011 No.1923030 >>1923022 You'd think that those who canonized the bible would have actually READ the stories they were including in their holy texts wouldn't they? Or did they just have a short attention span and didn't notice all the contradictions?

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:02:37 2011 No.1923042

>>1923026
>>1923026
That doesn't mean Christian themes weren't still an enormous part of literature. Gargantua and Pantagruel, for instance, has a great deal of commentary on gluttony. I'm not all too well versed in renaissance literature, but I can assure you that 90% of the stuff you can name can be related to the Bible.

The Grimm fairy tales were only told to children to scare them into behaving a certain way. Just because they have morals does not put them on the same level as the Bible.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:05:37 2011 No.1923045 The bible study group at my uni gives out free food. I go for the feast and there are some seriously awesome people there.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:06:37 2011 No.1923048 >>1923042 >Scare children into behaving good >Scare adults into behaving good So that's the big difference you choose? Really? Super.

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:07:37 2011 No.1923051

>>1923030
If two parts of the Bible were extremely important to Christianity but contradicted each other, they had no way of determining which one was right and which was wrong, so they kept them both. Also, you can't just cut out or alter chunks of text in the middle of a paragraph. You can drop whole sections of the Bible if they're complete crap, but you can't tamper with someone's writing to make it "moral" if its somebody's writings on the life of Jesus Christ.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:10:37 2011 No.1923055 >go on 4chan >suddenly, biblefags, biblefags errywhere I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:13:37 2011 No.1923057 >>1923055 This planet doesn't want YOU on it anymore.

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:14:37 2011 No.1923058

>>1923048
>behaving good

Nice grammar, faggot.

Also, you're a dumbass. There's a difference between a story with a moral tone that served as the Jews' and Catholics' explanation for the creation of the world for hundreds of years and a story told to children to keep them from wandering off into the woods and getting eaten by wolves.

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:16:37 2011 No.1923062 >>1923057 >isn't it funny how biblefags preach kindness and tolerance, yet they are always the meanest and least tolerant of all?

>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:21:37 2011 No.1923072 >>1923062 Not really. It's kind of depressing.

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:22:37 2011 No.1923073

>>1923058

Hey man I'm trying to keep it simple, using terrible grammar allows people who cannot differentiate between two books with similar purposes, however one has caused enough bloodshed to be considered a rival of the Necronomicon, the other is read to children. I wonder which is better?

Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:23:37 2011 No.1923076

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>>	Anonymous Wed Jul 13 02:27:37 2011 No.1923086 >>1923073 You probably didn't even read what I posted and you didn't acknowlede my argument. At this point I really don't have anything more to hurl into the retarded black hole of information that is Anonymous.

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/lit/ - Literature