Reprobate

...which part[s] would you remove from the text?

For instance, certain texts contain man-made rules/laws that are ascribed to God. That women should remain virgins until they are deflowered by their husbands upon their wedding night is clearly not an 'edict of God', but rather a man-made law to assure a high dowry for 'undamaged' goods. Still, a lot of Christians will adhere to this 'law' because it 'says so in the Bible'.

Other ridiculous texts:

-Leviticus 15:19-24 concerning having sex with females during menstrual uncleanness,
-Leviticus 25:44 concerning the possession of slaves, as long as they're from neighbouring countries,
-Exodus 35:2 which states that anyone working on the Sabbath should be put to death,
-Leviticus 11:10 concerning the eating of shellfish,
-Leviticus 21:20 which states that you may not approach the altar of God if you have a defect in your sight,
-Leviticus 19:19 on the planting two different crops in the same field and wearing garments composed of two different kinds of thread, which would require communal stoning [Leviticus 24:10-16].

Come to think of it, Leviticus is filled with these 'laws', so it might be the first to go.

JEST2ASK

Option 1 : I would not edit the bible at all as the orginal stories and their context is completely lost in the current document and the centuries of overlaying new meanings unto the outlook of other cultures basically makes it a lost cause

Option 2 : Keep "In The Beginnig" (very nice opening) and "He who testifies to these things says surely I come quickly" lose every thing in between.

philechat

One thing: As of moral repugnance I am of nothing to complain about...as long as people do not treat them laws as God-given. But the aesthetic problems...now I would say something about it.

For example, in Numbers, there is a place where the same paragraph was repeated not twice, but 10 times. Perhaps we should somehow alter the structure of the grammer, so that the gifts of the 10 tribes could be grouped together without losing its original meanings? And of the rituals, couldn't they just say "they performed offerings to the Lord" without sprouting all the details for 100x?

Reprobate

My point exactly. Problem is, most Christians harp on that the entire Bible has been written by people inspired by the Lord. Now, level-headed people reading the bible might find passages that are certainly not 'inspired by the Lord', but more inspired by local customs and put in the bible because you have to put it somewhere...

Of course, level-headed people take the bible with more than a grain of salt. Alas, most people who are eager to quote the bible in order to justify their atrocities use passages that any 'normal' Christian would've negated as being irrelevant, had it not been 'written in the bible'. And so on, and so on...

Idiosyncrasies aside, too many passages stem from dubious sources and are tainting the bible more than strengthening its content.

philechat

Oops...I am judging the Bible as an epic poem again, my bad . But I am all for people who want to express their versions of morality in their books, even if their moral ideas are dubious...It has not been the main things I look in an epic poem.

But, alas, compared to say the Iliad, where the events are much more tightly packed and the presentations much smoother, I have a lot to complain about the aesthetic merits of the Bible (though they occasionally contain good poetry). The Bible as a book is particularly dearth of nuances, using way too many hyperboles and black-and-white emotional depictions. The Greek tragedies contain more beauty as ancient texts--their plot constructions more sophisticated, their metaphors more appropriate, and their voices more consistent. Now this might be a genuine improvement of the Bible if I can change it.

Dark Jedi

My edit:

vi /home/bible.txt <enter>

1G<enter>
dG<enter>

wq<enter>

worldling

If I was the commissioning editor in charge of the bible project, and I received the manusript of the bible as it currently stands, I would return the whole thing to the author and demand either a complete rewrite or the immediate return of any monies paid in advance of royalties.

My author's brief would have that the book should convey The Truth to the target audience (humanity) in clear and unambiguous language. As it stands, the author has demonstrably failed to deliver. He has shown a complete lack of understanding of his target readership - who he knows very well are not very bright and prone to disagreements on both minor and major points - and has almost wilfully included ambiguities and inconsistencies which are bound to cause confusion. Even those who think the bible is perfect in every way are divided into mutually antagonistic sects!

To be honest, I think the whole Holy Book idea was a mistake right from the start.

Strawberry

Immaculate conception, omnipotence, and hell. Then maybe the fundies would leave me alone.

Dominus Paradoxum

Um, the immaculate conception isn't even in the text, so it would be pretty hard to take it out.

Kosh

here, this'll be faster:

:1,$dd
ZZ