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/lit/ - Literature

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[SPOILER] No.2846441[SPOILER]  [DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

I just... don't... understand...

I'm not religious, but I wanted to read the Bible for its literary merit because it is referenced so often and such an influential book. But already over 50 pages into Genesis, I can't help but notice it feels like it was written by a 5-year-old.

I'm not talking about how it was translated; I'm talking about the plot/style. A whole page of useless names of descendents and how old random characters list? Am I reading some sort of sadistic fanfiction? Not to mention the repetition. "This character traveled over here. He arrived there. When the character arrived there, after traveling for a while...."

Please tell me it gets better. On the plus side, I didn't realize that many of the familiar fables were actually just part of Genesis, and that it included way more than I expected.

>Start a religious debate and die
This is about the Bible as a piece of literature, and nothing more please.

>> No.2846452

>>2846441
>Please tell me it gets better.
It's already good. It's the best and can't get any better. It's the word of our LORD and SAVIOR.

>> No.2846513
File: 80 KB, 456x386, stopit.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2846513

>>2846452
Stop.

>> No.2846519

it really doesn't.
There are some good "sections" in that there are quotable lines and some OK bits, but the overall work is really, REALLY, terribly written.

>> No.2846522

>I'm not talking about how it was translated
>Not to mention the repetition. "This character traveled over here. He arrived there. When the character arrived there, after traveling for a while...."
You dumbass.
>A whole page of useless names of descendents and how old random characters list?
God forbid you ever read the Odyssey.

The fact is, the original is very much like poetry. It's also not for plebs who cannot into reading.

>> No.2846524

You haven't even gotten to Numbers or the Chronicles books yet. Those are like reading a phonebook.

>> No.2846528

>>2846522
God forbid we admit that writing as a whole as evolved and gotten better in the last couple thousand years

>> No.2846527

What translation are you reading?

>> No.2846532

>>2846528
If you think Harry Potter and Twilight are at the pinacle of literature since the dawn of time, that's your problem. There's no reason to then start making threads complaining about your inability to get into works like the Old Testament.

>> No.2846533

>>2846528

No. Writing is not some utilitarian thing made up of tissue that adheres to Darwinism. Seriously, just no.

>> No.2846539
File: 22 KB, 363x501, evola.2jpg.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2846539

>>2846528
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

Read that then kill yourself in a public square.

>> No.2846542

Styles of writing change, OP. Do you think you can write modifier-laden prose anymore and not have it be called shit?

>> No.2846547

>>2846527
New Revised Standard Version

>>2846524
Oh boy, can't wait. Seriously though, if I didn't know anything about the Old Testament prior to reading this, I'd have no clue which names to pay attention to and which are just extraneous. I don't know how someone could think up all these names...

>> No.2846548
File: 271 KB, 357x346, no reason.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2846548

>>2846532
Harry Potter's plot > The Bible's plot

>> No.2846554

>>2846548
They have the same plot.

>> No.2846556

>>2846547

There's your first mistake. Why would you read the bible for its literary influence and not read the King James version? Now go read that instead.

>> No.2846557

>>2846554
Not true.

There was more magic in the Bible

>> No.2846558

>>2846548

>the Bible's plot

It doesn't have one plot.

>> No.2846563

>>2846556
I didn't want to try to wade through Shakespeare-tier language in addition to trying to familiarize myself with the story.

I guess I wasn't completely honest. It's true that I do want to understand why it is so universal, but I also want to try to understand the Abrahamic religions and what their beliefs are more.

>> No.2846559

>>2846547
Read King James or get the fuck out.

>> No.2846569

>>2846563
How do you not know the story? God made everything, then kicks the humans out for eating his shit, then there's lots of wandering the desert and shenanigans.

>> No.2846570

Seems like the complaints you have are either due to the translation, despite you denying this, see:
>>2846522
or they stem from a lack of understanding just what Genesis was, a creation myth which alongside being a nice literary piece also sought to inform about Hebrew lineage.

>> No.2846573

>>2846569
I want to know the full story, meaning the stuff most Christians aren't even aware of/talk about.

For example, I didn't know that the circumcision stuff originated because God told Abraham that all of his family must do it to stay in his favor (still makes no sense though).

>> No.2846576

>>2846573

>(still makes no sense though)

It's God, it doesn't have to.

Didn't you read the Book of Job?

>> No.2846582

Just don't bother OP. You're too plebeian to appreciate it. Maybe in a couple years you'll get it.

>> No.2846583

>>2846573
Circumcision is for two reasons:
Your junk gets infected in the desert because of stuff getting stuck in the skin
It creates a sense of community

The mention in Genesis is about legitimising the culture.

>> No.2846584

OP and this thread is infuriating.

>> No.2846585

>>2846563

>I didn't want to try to wade through Shakespeare-tier language in addition to trying to familiarize myself with the story.

The KJV is pretty readily understandable, far more so than Shakespeare.

>> No.2846590

>>2846573

In ancient times circumcision made a lot of sense for hygiene reasons (which is why it was started of course). It's mentioned in the bible that way simply as a way of God-blessing an entrenched part of their culture.

>> No.2846595

I like the part where God moons moses. That wasn't juvenile at all.

>> No.2846601

>>2846590

Except that circumcision wasn't a normal practice even in the Near East. It was mostly a tribal and religious ritual, that also happened to have hygienic benefits (the only reason that circumcision exists in North America is the latter, as it was prior to the 1900s (iirc) rare).

>> No.2846604

>>2846595
My favorite is when a pair of bears maul a group of kids for making fun of a bald prophet. (It was either Elijah or Elisha, but I forget)

>> No.2846605

>>2846604

http://www.cafemom.com/answers/842532/5_Golden_Hemorrhoids_Bible_Scholars

>> No.2846615

ITT: OP tells us he can't into context

>> No.2846616
File: 111 KB, 960x720, Slide1-bible_names.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2846616

>whole page of useless names of descendents

I had to be told this but those names have meanings and though none of us know the meanings of a dozen names it is relevant and tells it's own story.

>> No.2846618

Star with the beginning of the new testament, the four gospels. Mathew, Mark, Luke, John

You'll gain a lot from that reading, and very thoughtful passages regardless of your religion. You'll also find out that many christians don't follow what Jesus preached.

>> No.2846629

>>2846618
Even Paul didn't practice what Jesus preached and went off into obscene levels of asceticism that not only weren't mentioned but could not be interpreted through his parables. I've often found in conversations with Christians well versed in the Bible that they tend to quote Paul more often than Christ.

>> No.2846635

>>2846629
Yeah, the disciples weren't perfect, but it's very humanizing to know/see that in the bible.