Atheists: favorite Bible passages, and why.

[Fretful_Porpentine]

Yeah, Ecclesiastes is wonderful.

Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry; for that shall abide with him of his labour all the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

I’m also quite fond of the Gospel according to John, especially:

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.

It’s such a quiet, understated, almost mundane moment to end all; it reminds me a little of Prospero’s “Sir, I am vex’d / Bear with my weakness” at the end of the masque in The Tempest.

[Jophiel]

As far as “just plain good advice” without bringing religion into it, I’ve always liked this:

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.

Matthew 6:2-4 (NIV)

Yeah, I know the scripture itself mentions “rewards in full”, implying not getting rewards in Heaven but, leaving that out, I just like the notion of giving to charity and keeping it to yourself. Especially when people start getting silly over how much Politican A gave on their tax returns or how much Celebrity B just gave to some cause.

[Jophiel]

One other one (sorry for the double post):

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

“Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

John 2:1-11 (NIV)

I always loved how Jesus’ performance of miracles got started. His mother asks him to help, Jesus tells her that he’s not ready to begin showing signs of his divinity and Mary, secure that her son will do as she asks, totally ignores Jesus’ protests and just tells the servants to get stuff ready for her son. Then Jesus does it for his mom.

[hlanelee]

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 (KJV)

It’s really reassuring to me.

[foolsguinea]

@smiling bandit

[on Ecclesiates] This has nothing to do with nihilism, and is in fact the very opposite of nihilism. He’s not saying that nothing has any meaning. Rather, he’s says that human efforts are pretty meaningless, and our works pass quickly from the world. The only way to avoid this is to forget about the passing, human things and focus on the eternal.

Sigh. No, really, Ecclesiastes is pretty close to nihilistic. Fatalistic, maybe. But even with the sudden shift at the end to sound less nihilistic, it says jack-all about the eternal.

You’re reading in something from your prejudices.

[Orual]

[sub][Note: Not a Christian. Also not an atheist.][/sub]

@Paul

εαν ταις γλωσσαις των ανθρωπων λαλω και των αγγελων αγαπην δε μη εχω γεγονα χαλκος ηχων η κυμβαλον αλαλαζον.*

• 1 Corinthians 13:1 - “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” (NIV)

I’m not really a fan of Paul, but he did know how to turn a phrase on occasion.

@Jophiel

I always loved how Jesus’ performance of miracles got started. His mother asks him to help, Jesus tells her that he’s not ready to begin showing signs of his divinity and Mary, secure that her son will do as she asks, totally ignores Jesus’ protests and just tells the servants to get stuff ready for her son. Then Jesus does it for his mom.

Also because Jesus loved a good party. One of my pastors as a kid constructed a whole sermon on that point.

[Malacandra]

@Two and a Half Inches of Fun

Maybe it is a part of the old law that Christians no longer follow.

I would hope it wasn’t. But to assert anything meaningful, we need to discover what percentage of Christians do X - not to talk about what percentage of those who do X are Christians, especially if in the latter case we’re not asking what proportion of the whole population is Christian. I’m sure you follow me.

[Argent_Towers]

I’m gonna have to go with Deuteronomy 23:1:

A man whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off may never join the assembly of the LORD.

Or was that Neuteronomy?

[MrDibble]

@smiling bandit

Actually, I think you misinterpret the line.

I doubt it

@smiling bandit

Read further.

What does reading further have to do with that line, itself?

@smiling bandit

This has nothing to do with nihilism, and is in fact the very opposite of nihilism.

How is “everything is meaningless” the very opposite of nihilism, pray tell?

@smiling bandit

He’s not saying that nothing has any meaning.

That’s exactly what he’s saying in that line

@smiling bandit

Rather, he’s says that human efforts are pretty meaningless, and our works pass quickly from the world.

How’s that any different from what I said?

@smiling bandit

The only way to avoid this is to forget about the passing, human things and focus on the eternal.

Hence I said “he loses it in the coda”. I don’t know why you’re bringing up something I already addressed in my own post.
I know how it shakes out in the whole book, this thread wasn’t about “your favourite Bible book/chapter as a whole”. The lines I quoted, by themselves, are the very pinnacle of poetry of nihilism. That the writer couldn’t bring himself to stop there is his problem, not mine. Me, I’d be happy if he had. Ecclesiastes would then sit right next to Nietzsche on my bookshelf.

ETA: I have more than 4000 posts? When the hell did that happen?

[BrainGlutton]

I also like the Song of Songs – the only book of the Bible that glorifies sexual/romantic love (and don’t gimme any crap about it being an allegory).

[Paul_in_Qatar]

(Certainly not an atheist, but let me join the fun.)

XIII Chapter, Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians:
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not rude,
does not act unbecomingly; it is not self-seeking, it is not easily-angered, does not keep a record of wrongs, it does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

For if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be pass away. For now we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

But now faith, hope, love, these three remain; but the greatest of these is love.

(from memory, I am a blast at cocktail parties, I’m telling you.)

[Baldwin]

Matthew 25:40

@KJV

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

[smiling_bandit]

@MrDibble

I know how it shakes out in the whole book, this thread wasn’t about “your favourite Bible book/chapter as a whole”. The lines I quoted, by themselves, are the very pinnacle of poetry of nihilism. That the writer couldn’t bring himself to stop there is his problem, not mine. Me, I’d be happy if he had. Ecclesiastes would then sit right next to Nietzsche on my bookshelf.

So, you’re knowlingly taking a line which appeal to you out of context and declaring that to be the “real truth”?

Edit… or just that you like it?

[smiling_bandit]

@foolsguinea

Sigh. No, really, Ecclesiastes is pretty close to nihilistic. Fatalistic, maybe. But even with the sudden shift at the end to sound less nihilistic, it says jack-all about the eternal.

You’re reading in something from your prejudices.

Perhaps so, but if I am, you are ignoring much else based upon your own. I do not deny Ecclesiastes can be fatalistic. But to say it was nihilistic is, to be bluntly, silly. There’s a great deal of clear-eyed joy and even optimism in it, a sort of folksy poetry.

[burundi]

Paul in Saudi, 1 Corinthians 13 is my favorite, too. Even though I’m not a believer, I find it incredibly comforting to recite to myself sometimes. It’s beautiful and it’s true.

[BrainGlutton]

@Paul in Saudi

XIII Chapter, Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians:
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

As George Orwell pointed out in his epigraph to Keep the Aspidistra Flying, that passage makes a whole lot more sense if the word “money” is substituted for “love.”

[MrDibble]

@smiling bandit

So, you’re knowlingly taking a line which appeal to you out of context and declaring that to be the “real truth”?

I think what you’re confused about is that I didn’t say that was what the writer meant - just that he hit upon a real truth, like a blind squirrel finding a nut. I did say “you know he was all about the nihilism” but that’s commentary, not interpretation.

@smiling bandit

Edit… or just that you like it?

That too.

[vison]

I love the 23rd Psalm (but only the King James version). It is such a mixture of beautiful poetry and vainglorious certitude.

[Syntropy]

@BrainGlutton

The first chapter of Ecclesiastes:

<snip>

Because it’s the nearest thing to philosophy you’ll find in either testament.

Ecclesiastes is my favorite book, and for the same reason. It’s almost entirely about man’s struggle to come to grips with his reason for existence.

[Syntropy]

@foolsguinea

Sigh. No, really, Ecclesiastes is pretty close to nihilistic. Fatalistic, maybe. But even with the sudden shift at the end to sound less nihilistic, it says jack-all about the eternal.

It can be seen that way, I guess, but I see it as very affirming. A mid life crisis, yes…Existential, sure… But still affirming, if only self affirming. Does it need to be about the eternal to not be nihilistic? Man’s time on Earth is short. It seems naive to think that a religious book wouldn’t address that on a personal level.