GQ magazine puts Bible on list of classic books not worth reading, incurs the wrath of Christians

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Well, it appears this group of scribes won’t be greeted very warmly at the Pearly Gates.

GQ magazine, a bible of “grooming” tips, gadget suggestions and style advice, has sparked a social media conflagration by calling the Christian Holy Bible “foolish, repetitive and contradictory” and placing it on a list of “21 Books You Don’t Have to Read.”

“The Holy Bible is rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it,” novelist Jesse Ball writes in the magazine. “Those who have read it know there are some good parts, but overall it is certainly not the finest thing that man has ever produced.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/gq-magazine-puts-bible-on-list-of-classic-books-not-worth-reading-incurs-the-wrath-of-christians/ar-AAweGHY?ocid=spartanntp

[RockRaven]

1. The more stridently someone insists it is worth reading (in it's entirety, sans cherry-picking)

the less likely I am to believe they
a) have actually read it, and
b) have actually read *anything* else

[SomethingNew]

2. I'll go ahead and put that guys books on my never read list.

Regardless of your opinion of Christianity, knowledge of the Bible is pretty much mandatory for reading the last 1000 years of western literature.

[DetlefK]

3. The only Bible I have ever read was a simplified, cherry-picked version for children. With pictures.

Plus, I have been an avid reader all my life. And I am pretty sure that I never really needed Bible-knowledge, neither in school nor in hobby. What little snippets of Bible-knowledge I needed for understanding the "Divine Comedy" or "Faust", I could get from the footnotes or looking up elsewhere.



The Bible has some interesting parts, like Adam&Eve, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Iob, Samson, David, Solomon, Daniel, Jesus. But you can dump pretty much the whole rest.
For example, the Deuteronomium is just a list of rules how to live your life Bronze-age-style. Nobody needs that anymore.
Or the story of Holofernes.
Or how Absolom betrayed his father King David and died in a horrible accident.
Knowledge of the mad king Ahab is only necessary because the mad captain Ahab in "Moby Dick" is a reference to him.
But have any of the psalms or of the evangelical letters in the New Testament ever made it into literature?

[Brainstormy]

7. Oh my goodness!

It's impossible to exaggerate the influence that the Bible, particularly the KJV, has had on Western culture. For that reason alone I disagree with GQ's suggestion that it's a "don't read." No course in Western World Literature would omit consideration of the Bible. And there is some lovely stuff mixed in there with the Biblical BS. Song of Solomon, for example, is far sexier than anything in Shades of Grey. I also think that as thinking atheist it's important for me to be fortified against the Christian cherry-picking and proliferation of outright lies as to what the Bible says. You don't have to read Shakespeare either, but . . .

[edhopper]

5. That is because of it's impact on our society

But the book itself is not a well written book. There are long boring passages and much of it is obtuse.

It is what it is, a mish-mash of various stories and fables.

As a work of fantasy, it is not on par with books like The Lord of the Rings or Dune.

[Jim Lane]

6. Knowledge of Christianity is important, but not the Bible cover-to-cover

The Bible has about 800,000 words.

Although I'm not religious, I agree with you that the Bible is a significant part of Western literature. It's just that, to obtain the relevant knowledge, plowing through the whole thing is not an efficient way to go. I'd guess that very few people have done it, and that those who have read the whole thing haven't read all that much else.

[Iggo]

10. You showed him!

[SWBTATTReg]

4. Well, I admire GQ for having the guts to admit this 'hidden' truth about the ...

bible (readership). What is more telling is how the religious or faithful reacted to GQ's announcement. What hypocrites. I guarantee you that if you went out and did a study (where participants were protected / shielded 100% privacy in their answers), the GQ conclusions would match the results of the study. And besides, everybody has the right to their own opinions, eh?

However, what I am tired of, is that so many have claimed to read the bible from cover to cover repeatedly, and that they are the 'experts', and that they know best on how to interpret what they have read. But so many people like this have used the words of the bible, manipulated in such a way to justify their idiotic claims and statements.

This abuse of the bible, of taking a bit here and a bit there, is done solely to justify their actions (cherry picking). I guarantee you that if you had 100 people read a series of passages in the bible (the same ones of course from person to person), you are going to have 100 different interpretations of these passages. Many persons have devoted their entire lives to study of the 'written word', and still don't 'know it all'.

Our television culture and the unfettered capitalism (ugly sin of greed) has made it more easier to abuse the interpretation of the bible, in order to misguide others, regardless of the warnings issued about misinterpretation, thus, misleading others astray, a big no no.

[elocs]

8. As a young man in my 20s I was a Christian and seriously read the entire Bible

and studied some of it in its original languages all in the effort to better be able to defend my faith. The end result was that I came out on the other side an an unbeliever.
But I cannot say now that I regret having read or studied the Bible. I think it's a good idea for even atheists to have read the highlights and well known verses and passages of the Bible just to have an understanding of it when dealing with believers who will accuse us of not knowing anything about it. Having read and studied the Bible I think I have a basic understanding of it and I can call BS on those who like to play Bible Buffet and pick and choose the verses they like and ignore those that don't fit their prejudices.
Also, like it or not, the Bible has had a profound effect on western literature and is very much a part of our culture here in the U.S. so it is good to have read it, not meaning from cover to cover.

(yortsed snacilbuper--Interesting. I have been told I have a mind like a blotter--I take it all in but I get it backwards, but it's useful sometimes. Wouldn't it have been better as 'snacilbuper yortsed' to read properly?)

[Mr.Bill]

9. The clergy doesn't want you to read or interpret the bible.

They want you to pay them to read it to you and interpret it for you. At least once a week.

Sort of like how lawyers don't want you to read law books. That's what they do for a living. And they like to become politicians so they can write the laws in ways to make them difficult to understand.

[lindysalsagal]

11. World's best insomnia cure.

Or doorstop. There is a purpose for every book.