/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.16714889]

How intelligent do you have to be to be able to interpret what's written in The Bible? Is it more difficult than Heidegger? Is it a book for intellectuals or the masses?

[Anonymous No.16714905]

>>16714889
A genius, not because it's especially dense with insights but because it has wide-ranging implications and nobody agrees on what those are.
Yes, because we can easily get an idea of what Heidegger intended to say. Although Heidegger's writing is much more dense with complex ideas, we can get what those were supposed to be quite easily.
It is a book for intellectuals, the masses shouldn't read it.

[Anonymous No.16714918]

>>16714889
You have to have a really big penis and I’m not talking about the size

[Anonymous No.16714969]

You must either be <90 iq or >130 to "understand" the bible

[Anonymous No.16714982]

>>16714969
Nah even >130 all say contradictory things about it, you'd need a superhuman IQ to make everyone agree on even the big picture.

[Anonymous No.16714991]

>>16714889
You should let the priests interpret it for you, and believe them unconditionally.
And if they grab your dick, don't tell anyone.

[Anonymous No.16714992]

>>16714889
there's literally nothing hard to understand about the bible, people just don't like to be told that a book written 2000 years ago exhibits a better knowledge of human need and desire than the thousands of years of philosophising either side of it's authoring

[Anonymous No.16715010]

>>16714889
The Church was literally designed for the illiterate. The Bible is by no means simple, but you could be blind and listen to every liturgy over the course of a few years and wind up with a decent biblical education. This is what protestants don't understand, that the structuring of the Church (even down to its minute details) is a living tradition from which anyone can draw from. As Saint Iranaeus put it;
>One should not seek among others the truth that can be easily gotten from the Church. For in her, as in a rich treasury, the apostles have placed all that pertains to truth, so that everyone can drink this beverage of life. She is the door of life.
So yes, even though lay people won't understand everything I'm siding with "for the masses" on this one.

[Anonymous No.16715061]

>>16715010
They'll understand the Church's interpretation of the Bible. There'd be no problem if when reading it directly, they came to agree with said interpretation. But we've seen since the introduction of the printing press that's not the case. Do you wish the masses would cease to read the Bible, or are you ok with some coming to leave the Church because, from your point of view, they wrongly disagree with it?

[Anonymous No.16715211]

>>16715061
>are you ok with some coming to leave the Church because, from your point of view, they wrongly disagree with it?
yes, they have free will, even though I'd worry for their spiritual health
>Do you wish the masses would cease to read the Bible
Considering I think public education was a mistake, eh. I'd have a problem with people not learning the Bible, but Christians aren't Jews or Muslims; we aren't a "literary religion", we value visual representations, and have rigid clerical structure. If scripture and individual interpretation are someone's thrill, I'm sure Islam would work fine for them (probably better anyways).
What people don't understand is this
>Christ is the Word made flesh
>scripture is the chronicling of the Word (not the Word itself)
>Christ came down to give us gifts (sacraments)
>He gave these gifts to the Apostles, so that Man might build a Church to commune with God and become equally endowed jew and gentile alike
>the teaching and understanding of these gifts lies with Christ and the Apostles, whose lineage forms the Church
>thus the Church is, yes a well of tradition to draw knowledge from, but more importantly a living tradition which gives the gifts of God
Thus, scripture is simply one of many facets to Christianity.

[Anonymous No.16715985]

Orthodox Church says the literal meaning is true.
Everything in the bible did happen or will happen.
Thus there's no necessary interpretation.
But they also say there's allegorical meaning, but these do lot conflict with the literal, and there's typology.
The answer is that no individual should be so arrogant as to presume they're without error.
TRADITION!

[Anonymous No.16716008]

>>16714889
You know, I’ve always thought that a key sign of the midwit is the inability to understand shallowness. Sure, it takes some IQ to see the depth of a piece of literature, or art, but a true sign of intellectual maturity is the ability to detect the converse. This is why you will never be a Nabokov.

[Anonymous No.16716015]

>>16715985
Based. Things be mysteries and unknowable, but also be everywhere and real.

[Anonymous No.16716016]

Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack[a] Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”

4 So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.

6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

Saul Rejected as King
10 Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11 “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.”
>How dare you only genocide an entire people but not also all their good livestock? I told you to murder all of them!

[Anonymous No.16716158]

>>16715985
Orthos believe that genesis is literal?

[Anonymous No.16716184]

>>16714889
It was written by people who would struggle to score above 70 on an IQ test.

[Anonymous No.16716244]

>>16716158
>doesn't believe the nephilim are real
ngmi

[Anonymous No.16717346]

>>16716158
Yes, most of them probably also think the world isn't older than at most like 12000 years.
They even say that God literally walked in the garden looking for Adam (as the pre-incarnate logos), but also walked in the garden in its spiritual implications.

[Anonymous No.16718334]

>>16716158
>Orthos believe that genesis is literal?
>>16717346
>most of them probably also think the world isn't older than at most like 12000 years

[Anonymous No.16718393]

>>16715010
>listen to every liturgy over the course of a few years and wind up with a decent biblical education. This is what protestants don't understand, that the structuring of the Church (even down to its minute details) is a living tradition from which anyone can draw from.
>Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Revelation 2:4
With all the ceremony you love so, you are no better than Pharisees. You lose your love for God and his word and grow to care only for oranteness and your own expositions. Don't lecture me on muh church practices and try to act holier than thou when you simply aren't

[Anonymous No.16719072]

>>16714889
I think the beauty of the Bible is in its being valuable both to the layman and the scholar it has both surface and deep levels of depth and serve as a bridge between scholars and masses.

[Anonymous No.16719499]

>>16716158
>>16717346
Yes? What's so weird about it?

[Anonymous No.16719513]

>>16717346
>the world isn't older than at most like 12000 years
And how would you know otherwise

[Anonymous No.16719944]

>>16718393
>You lose your love for God and his word and grow to care only for oranteness and your own expositions
Projecting. Just because you don't see God in the "ornate" sublimity of a living tradition, doesn't mean it's not there. I'm not the most pious Christian, in fact the chief among sinners, but I happen to respect the Church more than the spiritual vacuum of individual interpretation. The fact simply is that Christianity has survived by its traditions. It doesn't need you to accept them in order to live past all of us.
>>16719072
Based. I love lay theologians, especially the inklings. Charles Williams, Chesterton, Bernanos, and Lewis are all beautiful writers, and even though they aren't priests I feel lay theology and fiction can do great things literarily.

[Anonymous No.16720470]

>>16714889
It's not a question of intelligence, but of guidance by the Hooy Spirit.

[Anonymous No.16720662]

>>16718393
Why do Protcucks always quote some verse out of context and then make some exposition three times as long as the quotation, which the quotation doesn't actually support?

[Anonymous No.16721546]

>>16714889
The bible is just a bunch of Jewish bullshit from a bunch of fucking kikes. My friend is following some hyper-literalist preacher who is a flat earther and believes God is a physical being with a figure floating in the heavens and thinks metaphysics is neoplatonist bullshit. Its archaic. There's more to do about God in Greek philosophy than the whole bible contained.

[Anonymous No.16721550]

>>16721546
Your anecdote proves nothing. In Catholicism, God is Pure Actuality.

[Frater Asemlen !XS8vrClKs2 No.16721560]

Your intellect doesn’t matter, understanding of the scripture comes directly from your relationship of God, the teaching from the Holy Spirit.

It is like a marriage veil, the closer you draw to Christ the more you can see drew the veil the face of your bridegroom.

Pray and in accordance with your relationship he will unveil what is appropriate to you and your current capacity and how to advance further.

[Anonymous No.16722653]

the bible is combination of philosophy that anyone with a little life experience and, more importantly, self awareness, should be able to understand and see the importance of, and metaphysical stuff to give people who are too stupid to understand it a reason to "follow the rules" even if they dont comprehend why its good for them. i wouldn't say it requires that much intelligence to understand, you just have to be capable of honest self reflection and analysis, which a surprising amount of people, even intelligent ones, are incapable of doing without clouding their judgement with lies and excuses and justifications, and i guess a little life experience is indeed important to because you also need something to reflect upon