Cynthia of Syracuse

That's the Immaculate Conception of Mary, not the Immaculate Conception by Mary.

Sheshbazzar

No, you error in your conception. The dogma of The Immaculate Conception is a teaching of the Catholic religion that -MARY- the blessed virgin, and mother of god, was born without the contamination of "original sin".
This has nothing to do with the Saviour's gestation period, If your mothers birthday was celebrated on October 14th, and your birthday was on November 1st, would you think your gestation period was only 17 days?
-Sheshbazzar-

Atheos

I agree with the general sentiment, there is nothing inherently contradictory with being an atheist and enjoying the substantial heritage of the Bible as well as other religious texts. I imagine that most of us only have a problem with it when it's shoved down our throats or used as a means to decide legislation by which we must live.

-Atheos

Mathetes

Of course. Do you have to believe in Cyclops to like the Odyssey? Do you think that the damned in Hell speak in tercets with a Tuscan accent if you like Dante? Do you need to believe in witches to appreciate Macbeth?

My take on the Bible:

The myths in Genesis are interesting, if a bit less creative than the ones from other civilations. Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy are pretty boring, full of primitive and barbaric laws, not to mention tons of invented genealogies that serve no purpose. Kings may be interesting to historians, but hard for laymen. The story of Samson is powerful, though. Some psalms are beautiful, especially the ones that deal with the quasi-godess Wisdom and the ones that suggest polytheism. Song of Solomon is interesting. Ecclesiastes is, by far, the best book in the whole Bible, a nihilistic manifesto. The prophets ramble too much and are too incoherent for my taste. Isaiah is poetic at times, though. Ruth and Judith (in the Catholic canon) are powerful.

I have a lower literary opinion of the New Testament, but maybe it's because I read Greek, and much of the NT seems written by a mumbling illiterate that cannot form whole sentences. Some parables are beautiful, especially the ones that belong to Luke, the most able of the writers. Some aspects of John are touching in their naivity. Paul is decently written, but too much of a religious loony with bad temper. Hebrews is probably the most interesting book, in its philosophical puzzles. Revelation is just a mess of hallucinations and bad grammar. The rest is too pious or incoherent to be of any literary value.

Sensei Meela

You might also enjoy this, then:

epepke

The King James version of the Bible is really, really well written. The poetic sense is excellent. Some people have speculated that Shakespeare collaborated on parts. I don't know about that, but the writing is damn good.

I don't squirm, either, but as people have pointed out, "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" are way old and were originally Christian in nature.

I guess this is what happens when history is no longer taught in the schools. But you still should have been able to figure it out from that song with the partridge in a pear tree. Twelve days of Christmas. Dec 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, Jan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Twelve in all. Then there's Epiphany, on January 6.

Plus the others mentioned in this thread, plus the Feast of Saint Nicholas (which is actually an older Christian tradition than Christmas) on December 6, or his Saint's Day, which is December 12 or December 14 or thereabouts, depending on whom you are talking to. You may have heard of this guy. He gave gifts to people. Legends of him were brought into the US by Northern Europeans, who called him San Niklaus, which of course means "Saint Nicholas." Which was corrupted to Santa Claus. Say them both fast, and you'll see what I mean.

But of course, you knew that already from the Night before Christmas: "With a little old driver, so lively and quick/I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick."

No PC in it, my friend. Of course, pig-ignorant conservative Christians claim it is, but that's the kind of thing that happens when you're pig-ignorant and damn proud of it, too. These are the same clowns who put up billboards a few years ago dissing Santa Claus, or get their panties in a wad over Halloween (which is one of the oldest of Christian holidays, being All Hallow's Evening, the day before All Saint's Day, which is the day before All Soul's Day). Dressing up in costumes and going from door to door is a a dim remembrance of the time when secret Christians oppressed in Rome went from safe-house to safe-house in disguise to gather on November 1.

But you probably knew that already, too.

Ceverante

He only states that he 'likes' the HB, never once did he claimed that he 'believes' in the things written there. I don't see an issue with it.

I would personally lcve to have this bible too (http://bold.bolton.gov.uk/bowyerbible/index.html)



















............. and sell it for a million bucks :Cheeky:

Chris Weimer

Speaking of owning Bibles, I have three, so far, with a couple more on the way. The first I have is a nice KJV, the second is the LXX, and the third is the TNK. I have the UBS bible on the way, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. I also have the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus in PDF, but I don't think that counts... :huh:

Pjanc

I think it's ok to agree with certain concepts described in the bible like being good and helping people (I'm talking out of my arse here, not sure if it's written anywhere ) but if you agree with it in general, you're most likely not atheist anymore

But in any case, just about anything can be justified with the bible, esp. since every story has it's counter part. If one scripture says you can do something, there's a good chance another scripture says you can't and vice versa.

So I don't think there's a problem with agreeing with certain parts, as long as you're aware that as a whole, it's a load of bollocks.

muidiri

I never knew this... so jesus was suppoed to be conceived without sex, and Mary was somehow excluded from original sin. Was she always sinless, or was this kind of grandfathered in when she was chosen to be the vessel bearing jesus? Interesting pile of questions this raises for me...