How well do you know the Bible?

[SDMBKL]

How well do you know the Bible? Do you know it well enough that you have read all the books in it? Do you know it well enough that you have several editions or variants of the Bible and compare the translations among each other? Do you know it well enough that you have spent countless hours trying to learn koine Greek or Hebrew or Latin just so you can read the original text, or do you just read the nearest Bible in your given language? How well do you know each character and each story? How do you treat the Bible -- a sacred text, a piece of literature, a historical document? How do you interpret passages from the Bible? Do you take passages from the Bible, find wisdom in it, and apply them to your lifestyle (i.e. living like how you think a "true Christian" should behave)? Or do you read the Bible as a source of literary entertainment and amusement and really don't treat the text very seriously? Or do you treat the work as an important historical document that has survived the test of time (a document has to be important enough for monks to actually copy it back in the day)?

[Sicks Ate]

Not well at all, despite having been forced to attend church and Sunday school until I was around 17. I'm familiar with many of the more common stories, but I never even memorized all of the books.

I own a KJV, which is the version I like to read when I need to look up something. I absolutely despise many of the new 'translations'....filled with generic, watered down language. I know it's supposed to make it more accessible to the average reader, but it reads horribly, IMO.

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by SDMBKL

How well do you know the Bible? Do you know it well enough that you have read all the books in it? Do you know it well enough that you have several editions or variants of the Bible and compare the translations among each other? Do you know it well enough that you have spent countless hours trying to learn koine Greek or Hebrew or Latin just so you can read the original text, or do you just read the nearest Bible in your given language? How well do you know each character and each story? How do you treat the Bible -- a sacred text, a piece of literature, a historical document? How do you interpret passages from the Bible? Do you take passages from the Bible, find wisdom in it, and apply them to your lifestyle (i.e. living like how you think a "true Christian" should behave)? Or do you read the Bible as a source of literary entertainment and amusement and really don't treat the text very seriously? Or do you treat the work as an important historical document that has survived the test of time (a document has to be important enough for monks to actually copy it back in the day)?

Geez -- that's a lot of questions covering a huge range. Any one of these is enough for a thread.

1.) I've read most of the Bible. There are still a couple of books I haven't read. But there are parts I've read many times over, and even have on audio. I've been through the entire new Testament exhaustively, and worked through the evangelists line by line with the Pelican Bibe Commentaries. I've listened to the entire NT on audio (Gregory Peck reads!) a couple of times.

2.) I was brought up on the Catholic Douay-Rheims translation, so the King James bible seems a little odd to me, despite al the quotations in our literature. As soon as the New English Bible -- newly translated from the original, oldest sources directly into English -- I got and read it.

3.) Nevertheless, I have three different translations of the entire Bible of my own, and my wife has three others. Not to mention several different translations of parts of the Bible. I've got a Geneva Bible on CD.

4.) Even when I was young and relatively unquestioning, my teachers -- Catholic nuns -- conveyed to mme that not all the Bible should be taken literally. I soon enough learned about errors in printing, copying, and translation, and Biblical inconsistencies. The line they handed me about the inerrancy of the biblical text seemed clearly incorrect, and was so even to a lot of devout believers I knew. Of course, as I drifted into agnosticism, that became a lot more natural and easy to accept.

5.) I certainly don't view the Bible as unquestionably true, nor as a spiritual guide. Even as history it's highly partisan and suspect. The fact that generations of people fervently believed and accepted this as the entire Truth and devoted much time to copying it and commenting upon it says much about their devbotion, but nothing about the veracity of the Book itself.

6.) there's no doubt that this is an extremely important and influential book, the bedrock of religious faith and for much of Western culture. As much could be said about a great many religious and philosophical texts, relating to other cultures. (Not to mention a great many texts now lost) It is worth reading, re-reading, and studying for al those reasons.

7.) For what it's worth, I have a collection of Sacred Texts and have read all or part of them. I've been through the Koran three times. I want to read it again, in a different and more fully footnoted edition. I've read the Upanishads, the Analects of Confucius (two different translations), the Tao te Ching (three translations and an audiobook), the Bhagavad-Gita, Mencius, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Boomk of Mormon (never finished it), Science and Health with the Key to the Scriptures (never finished that, either), the Pirke Abot, part of the Talmud, the Book of Common Prayer (did not read it all), the Gospel of Barnabas, the Nag Hammadi Library, "The Lost Books of the Bible", several Buddhist writings, and a great many others.

[silenus]

I own about a dozen different translations. I've read every book in it, and have taken college classes on it.

I don't believe it is divinely inspired. It has some interesting history in it, but since I am neither Jewish or Christian it doesn't have any special status on my shelf. In fact, looking to my left as I type, I see a copy of the New American Standard Bible sitting between a copy of the Qur'an and The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

[Maastricht]

Atheist here. I read the abridged bible stories as a kid so I am familiar with most of them. I read more abotu those in college in relations to the appreciation of art.

I have tried to read the bible itself but find it, frankly, mostly unreadable.

I liked very much the literal illustrated genesis by Robert Crumb. Yes, Crumb took the whole book of Genesis and illustrated it. Every verse, almost every sentence, has a drawing. And not sacrilegious; he only draws literally what the text says, nothing more, nothing less. So I know Genesis pretty well.

As for the rest of the book, I know most of it through studies debunking it or pointing out historical inconsistencies, and difference between the source tekst en the common interpretation. Cracked was a rich source So basically I studied enough to hold my own in any debate with theists.

It would never occur to me to study the Bible as a source of wisdom. I don't expect to find any wisdom there that has not been better put in other books since.

Is that about what you wanted to know?

[kayaker]

Other than seeing one in hotel/motel drawers, not at all. Not my thing.

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

Geez -- that's a lot of questions covering a huge range. Any one of these is enough for a thread.

Yeah, SDMBKL does that sometimes.

Originally Posted by silenus

I own about a dozen different translations. I've read every book in it, and have taken college classes on it.

Ditto, if by "own" you include the ones I picked up when they were free for the Kindle.

I'm familiar enough with the Bible that if you mentioned a particular passage or incident or topic, I could probably find it pretty quickly—at least I'd know which part of the Bible to look in.

As for what I believe about the Bible or how I use it—I do believe there's something uniquely authoritative and sacred about it; but my allegience as a Christian is not to the book itself but to the God and Christ it points to. To go into more detail on what I believe about the Bible would require more time and effort than I am willing or able to spend on it right now.

Originally Posted by Maastricht

I have tried to read the bible itself but find it, frankly, mostly unreadable.

In Dutch or English? What translation?

I know very little about the Bible in other languages (except that Martin Luther famously translated it into German). Do other languages/countries have many different translations to choose from, the way we do in English? Are they archaic or modern? Are any of them celebrated for their literary quality, the way the King James Version is?

[perfectparanoia]

I am a Christian and I don't know the Bible well at all.

I have read it cover to cover and while it is an interesting historical text, it has so many inconsistencies and interpretations that it is not useful as a moral guide at all.

The fact is, even if the stories the in the Bible are true, they were written by man. And we are all fallible. Ergo, large grain of salt should be taken.

My tenet is to 'treat others as you would want to be treated.' If you break the New Testament down, to live like Jesus is basically to be a good guy.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

I actually just finished a reading program in late February that covered the entire Bible in the space of 20 weeks. Naturally, at that rate, (10 or 11 chapters per day, 6 days per week) we didn't study most of it in any great depth but it did provide quite a good big picture overview of the Bible, showing how various parts fit together. The reading wasn't in strict canonical order but rather roughly chronological order. For example, upon reaching the point in the narrative at which Solomon was king, we left off of the histories and read the books that he is believed to have written (either in part or in full).

Besides that, I've had over 20 years of independent reading as well as assorted Bible studies and Sunday school classes (both attending and teaching) so I've got more depth of study (and I'd like to think understanding) than just the 20 week program provided.

I own somewhere between two and four paper Bibles and four more electronic versions on my Kindle with maybe one version overlapping between the two formats. (I've got two paper versions I could quickly lay hands on and might have a couple more in boxes I haven't unpacked from my last move). I've also got a handy app on my phone that can any of a couple dozen other translations if I want them.

I don't speak any of the original languages of the text but have studied under and alongside people who had enough knowledge to provide insight into the particular bits we were studying at the time.

I believe the Bible to be divinely inspired and try (with varying degrees of success) to interpret the divine intention of whatever passage I'm reading and apply it as best I can (again, with varying degrees of success) to my own life.

[UncleRojelio]

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John .... huh. That's it. That's all I remember. Wait, there is one called Exodus too, right?

[Procrustus]

Originally Posted by kayaker

Other than seeing one in hotel/motel drawers, not at all. Not my thing.

Another vote for don't know, don't care.

[purplehorseshoe]

It's a collection of fairy tales told by violent, misogynistic goat herders around their campfires a coupla thousand years ago, then translated and re-translated and then re-re-translated some more, into and out of languages that may not even be used today. Having attended (and graduated from) a Catholic high school plus a few more religion classes in college, I'd say I'm fairly familiar with it, although I'll freely admit to skipping the "X begat Y who begat Z who begat..." chapters.

I interpret it as a re-re-re-translation of a narrative that was relevant to a society that no longer exists, whose values were very different from ours (and, especially, mine) and whose view of the world is so radically different from any modern society as to be almost unrecognizable. (Ex: taking your dead brother's wife in marriage as a customary form of social security.)

I always look to see if it's there in any hotel I've stayed in, for some odd reason. Never not found it, would be highly amused if I ever staying in a room without one; would be even more amused if someone had left a different religious tract in place of, or next to, it.

[Shodan]

I would say I was relatively familiar with the Bible. Read the Old Testament end-to-end seven times (including the begats), and the New Testament end-to-end eleven times, plus various Bible studies on assorted books.

I even studied Koine Greek for a year, so I used to be able to read the NT in the original language. I own probably six or seven different translations. The Revised Standard Version is still my favorite, even more than the KJV. All the other translations, I agree with Sicks Ate - the translators took the poetry out of much of it in the course of translating to a sixth-grade level. (Or whatever it is.)

How do you treat the Bible -- a sacred text, a piece of literature, a historical document?

All of the above. I am not a literalist, but I try to read the text for what it is.

But I am a Christian, so all the Bible to me is about Jesus, including the Old Testament. The New Testament is what the early church said about Jesus, and the Old Testament is the context in which He grew up, and taught.

In terms of literary and cultural significance, I would say that the Bible, especially the King James Version, is probably the most influential work in the English language. It's worth studying for that reason alone.

I made a resolution some time back to read thru the sacred texts of other religions. So far, I have read -

• The Bible
• The Quran (the Saudi Arabian embassy was kind enough to mail me a free copy)
• The Apocrypha
• The Tao te Ching
• The Book of Mormon
• Two discourses of the Buddha
• Greek mythology, including the Odyssey and the Iliad
• Norse mythology

Not sure what I will tackle next - possibly The Pearl of Great Price or Doctrines and Covenants, to see where Mormonism gets the stuff that isn't in The Book of Mormon.

Regards,
Shodan

[Babale]

I've read all of the Old Testament in the original Hebrew, and some English translations. There's a lot lost in translation.

[Jack Batty]

I've never seen Gone With The Wind, but I can give you the basic story line, character names, settings and some high points to the story. Hell, I can even float you a quote or two. The movie is just that famous that I've managed to learn alot about having never even seen it.

Same thing with The Bible.

[Living Well Is Best Revenge]

Originally Posted by perfectparanoia

I am a Christian and I don't know the Bible well at all.

I have read it cover to cover and while it is an interesting historical text, it has so many inconsistencies and interpretations that it is not useful as a moral guide at all.

The fact is, even if the stories the in the Bible are true, they were written by man. And we are all fallible. Ergo, large grain of salt should be taken.

My tenet is to 'treat others as you would want to be treated.' If you break the New Testament down, to live like Jesus is basically to be a good guy.

This country would be so much better off if all Christians were like you.

[Skammer]

Originally Posted by SDMBKL

How well do you know the Bible?

Betterh than average I like to think.

Do you know it well enough that you have read all the books in it?

Yes.

Do you know it well enough that you have several editions or variants of the Bible and compare the translations among each other?

Yes, and sometimes.

Do you know it well enough that you have spent countless hours trying to learn koine Greek or Hebrew or Latin just so you can read the original text, or do you just read the nearest Bible in your given language?

I did take a semester of Greek in college with the idea that it would help me read the bible, but then I decided it wasn't worth the effort.

How well do you know each character and each story?

Well, I think, although all the time I come across minor stories in the OT that I had forgotten about.

How do you treat the Bible -- a sacred text, a piece of literature, a historical document?

. Yes.

How do you interpret passages from the Bible?

I look at the context both in the text and in history, and also look to see how the passage has been historically interpreted by the church and a range of biblical scholars.

Do you take passages from the Bible, find wisdom in it, and apply them to your lifestyle (i.e. living like how you think a "true Christian" should behave)?

Yes, more or less.

Or do you read the Bible as a source of literary entertainment and amusement and really don't treat the text very seriously?

Sometimes but not usually.

Or do you treat the work as an important historical document that has survived the test of time (a document has to be important enough for monks to actually copy it back in the day)?

Those options are not mutually exclusive. I do read it as sacred text, AND a source of stories and myths, AND an important historical document. (Not historical in the sense that it describes true history like a textbook, but historical in that it tells us things about the people and societies that wrote it).

[Skammer]

Originally Posted by purplehorseshoe

then translated and re-translated and then re-re-translated some more, into and out of languages that may not even be used today.

I don't have any problem with anything else you wrote, but this is untrue. Most modern versions of the Bible are primarily translated directly from original language manuscripts.

It's true that hundreds of years ago you had an Old Testament that basically went from Hebrew to Greek [and maybe to Latin] to English, but that's not the case today.

[Little Nemo]

We've met on social occasions but I wouldn't call us friends.

[Loach]

I was raised Catholic. We had a guy who read the bible so we wouldn't have to. Every week he gave us a few of the highlights.

[kanicbird]

I have read it several times, never straight through. I have a few versions and sometimes will read other translations and lexicons online.

It is to me a very advanced book of eternal wisdom. It can teach one how to control others, can teach one to be controlled, can teach one how to unleash enormous power to destroy and build up - as such the use of its wisdom can be used for good or bad. It teaches a way, for those who seek it - who have such a desire, that will lead to the freedom that we were always suppose to live in.

[perfectparanoia]

Originally Posted by Living Well Is Best Revenge

This country would be so much better off if all Christians were like you.

I'll take the compliment but I am Canadian. If you can set me up with a 6-figure Software Support job in Atlanta, I could be convinced to start converting you Americans....

[Annie-Xmas]

Anyone who wants to know the Old Testament should read David Plotz's Good Book. It is not only informative, but interesting and very fun to read.

[RaftPeople]

Originally Posted by purplehorseshoe

It's a collection of fairy tales told by violent, misogynistic goat herders around their campfires...

Well that would appear to be a pretty good formula for success.

[Nava]

Do you know it well enough that you have read all the books in it?
I don't think I'll ever be bored enough to read the Book of Numbers. You realize that thing's a census, right?

Do you know it well enough that you have several editions or variants of the Bible and compare the translations among each other?
WTF does the first part of this question have to do with knowing the Bible? I've got two NTs and three Bibles, but the NTs are from school (we were required different editions at different points) as is one of the Bibles; another Bible I bought because the first one, having gone through the hands of a dozen middle school students, is not fit for company; the third one is in English and from the same "translation school" as my newer Spanish copy. I don't open two of them and start comparing translations, but I do compare translations occasionally yes; mostly when I'm looking for a cite for here.

Do you know it well enough that you have spent countless hours trying to learn koine Greek or Hebrew or Latin just so you can read the original text, or do you just read the nearest Bible in your given language?
I just read the nearest Bible (including webpages) in two or more languages I'm familiar with; sometimes I run into a passage which is very different in English and Spanish and I like to check how do the other languages I can read transcribe that detail. My Latin sucks and I know about a dozen words in modern Greek.

How well do you know each character and each story?
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH! Dude, I seriously doubt most biblical scholars will be able to tell you they know "each" character.

How do you treat the Bible -- a sacred text, a piece of literature, a historical document?
All three.

How do you interpret passages from the Bible? Do you take passages from the Bible, find wisdom in it, and apply them to your lifestyle (i.e. living like how you think a "true Christian" should behave)?
I find it offensive that you are assuming everybody who reads the Bible is a Christian. You ever heard of Jews and Muslims?

Or do you read the Bible as a source of literary entertainment and amusement and really don't treat the text very seriously? Or do you treat the work as an important historical document that has survived the test of time (a document has to be important enough for monks to actually copy it back in the day)?
...again, I fail to see what does its importance to monks (who were interested in it for its religious value) have to do with its historical value, which resides mostly in the least-religious parts (like that census, or the off-hand descriptions of people's everyday lives).

[Trinopus]

Middlin' well. I've read it, cover to cover, twice, and spot-read through it all the time. I can usually find the quote I'm thinking of. I have Bible Study software on my computer, and I have taken a class.

I'm still an atheist... But I do recognize the beauty and the wisdom in the Bible.

(Also the absurdity, low farce, and foolishness of some parts of it.)

(Now, I presume, sow-bears will be sent to kill my neighbors' children...)

[tr0psn4j]

I know enough to know it's a work of fiction

[Lanzy]

well
yes
no
fuck no
good enough
fiction
I don't
Never
yes past tense
never

[Gatopescado]

I know enough to know I know too much.

[living_in_hell]

Go back to your psych prof and tell him/her that unless your study involves "conducting shitty research on an online forum" you have no business working in human services and you should probably change majors.

[kanicbird]

Originally Posted by Nava

I don't think I'll ever be bored enough to read the Book of Numbers. You realize that thing's a census, right?

And a story of a talking donkey

[simster]

Originally Posted by kanicbird

And a story of a talking donkey

You know what? Maybe there's a good reason donkeys shouldn't talk.

[SDMBKL]

Originally Posted by living_in_hell

Go back to your psych prof and tell him/her that unless your study involves "conducting shitty research on an online forum" you have no business working in human services and you should probably change majors.

First of all, I am not conducting any research at all.

Second of all, I am not a Psychology major.

Third of all, I am only asking the set of questions for fun. It's kind of amusing, seeing how people would respond to the set of questions.

Fourth of all, I don't think you are really interested in answering the question in the OP. That's OK. You don't have to be interested. No one requires you to respond to this forum. Responding to this forum is entirely VOLUNTARY.

[Johnny L.A.]

I 'know' it 'Biblically'.

[GuanoLad]

I have read parts of the Bible.

The pacing is slow, and the juicy sex and murder seems to seriously slow down about halfway through, when a whole new character gets introduced. And the ending's a bit of a downer.

Needs a second draft.

[SciFiSam]

I mentioned to someone the other day that in Chronicles I gave up because of the begats. I doubt Chronicles was ever meant to be read like a book, just like you wouldn't expect people to read the phone book. I doubt most Bishops, even, could recite Chronicles from memory and that's not a judgment on them.

The rest of the Bible I've pretty much read (some of the other books have some chronicling sections too). KJV in full only. I'm an atheist and read it out of curiosity and literary interest. Reading the Bible did pretty much the opposite of convert me, TBH. I recommend anyone considering being a 'true devout Christian' to actually read the Bible.

It's a very interesting text and my knowledge of it has come in useful now and then, though mostly because I know it and others don't, even those who claim to be Christian.

I'd answer the rest of your questions if they weren't all bunched up like you're a small child breathlessly asking about why the sky's blue. If you're actually interested in communicating with people and hearing their answers to your questions, then it's a good idea to make your questions readable. "Readable" would be (for a start) putting one big question per paragraph.

[Sudden Kestrel]

Originally Posted by SDMBKL

How well do you know the Bible? Do you know it well enough that you have read all the books in it? Do you know it well enough that you have several editions or variants of the Bible and compare the translations among each other? Do you know it well enough that you have spent countless hours trying to learn koine Greek or Hebrew or Latin just so you can read the original text, or do you just read the nearest Bible in your given language? How well do you know each character and each story? How do you treat the Bible -- a sacred text, a piece of literature, a historical document? How do you interpret passages from the Bible? Do you take passages from the Bible, find wisdom in it, and apply them to your lifestyle (i.e. living like how you think a "true Christian" should behave)? Or do you read the Bible as a source of literary entertainment and amusement and really don't treat the text very seriously? Or do you treat the work as an important historical document that has survived the test of time (a document has to be important enough for monks to actually copy it back in the day)?

Hardly at all. No. No. See above. Literature. No. No. No.

[wheresmymind]

I know all the famous stories from growing up Catholic, and probably picked up more than the average US Catholic due to the fact that my mother has a master's degree in theology. I've never really done what you would call "independent study" (picking up a Bible and reading it on my own) though.

In the past couple years I've become very familiar with the Pentateuch from doing the NY Times crossword puzzle daily. There are many short person and place names that apparently come in handy when constructing a puzzle. Enoch, Enos, Moab, Esau, Edom, etc come up pretty frequently. My personal feeling is that using google or wikipedia is "cheating," but looking up answers from their original source is ok, so I find myself flipping through a Bible app on my iPhone almost daily.

[Dereknocue67]

I know the Bible well enough to recognize it as widely accepted superstition.