sterculelum
New Member
Has anyone ever actually read all of it? Any good? How long did it take you? Was it just for the sake of it?
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sterculelum said:Has anyone ever actually read all of it? Any good? How long did it take you? Was it just for the sake of it?
sterculelum said:Hehe. I know. *nods head*
I'm confused. This looks like the non-fictions section to me.Robert said:You started a thread about the bible in the fiction section? *shakes head*
Don't be confused dele. It was moved by a very efficient Ice.dele said:I'm confused. This looks like the non-fictions section to me.![]()
Gravity's Rainbow said:They are approachng now a lengthy brick improvisation, a Victorian paraphrase of what once, long ago, resulted in Gothic Cathedrals - but which, in its own time, arose not from any need to climb through the fashioning of suitable confusions toward any apical God, but more in a derangement of aim, a doubt as to the God's actual locus (or, in some, as to its very existence), out of a cruel network of sensuous moments that could not be transcended and so bent the intentions of the builders not on any zenith, but back to fright, to simple escape, in whatever direction, from what the industrial smoke, street excrement, windowless warrens, shrugging leather forests of drive belts, flowing and patient shadow states of the rats and flies, were saying about the chances for mercy that year."
page 145 said:... like light at the edge of the evening when, for perhaps a perilous ten minutes, nothing helps: put on your glasses and light lamps, sit by the west window and still it keeps going away, you keep losing the light and perhaps it is forever this time ... a good time of day for learning surrender, learning to diminish like the light, or like certain music. This surrender is his only gift. Afterward he can recall nothing. Sometimes, rarely, there may be tantalizing - not words, but halos of meaning around words his mouth evidently spoke, that only stay behind -- if they do -- for a moment, like dreams, can't be held or developed, and, presently, go away.
excerpt from my essay on Pynchon said:One farmer will say to another "what is the chance of rain?"
The phrase "chances of mercy" has a halo of sorts in a native speaker's mind.
But, when is mercy like rain?
And what is rain's halo?
I have some suspicions.
In Islam, rain is associated with mercy.
http://www.alinaam.org.za/dhadith/asunnah3.htm
http://www.soundvision.com/shop/pview.asp?Item=7406-001
Milan Kundera says that critics are people who "discover" other peoples discoveries. He makes them sound like scavangers picking apart dead bodies of works. Well, even vultures have to eat. A vulture has a bald head because it is always sticking its head in carcasses, and feathers would become matted with gore. A vulture is also, supposedly, the only bird with a sense of smell, to smell the carrion, or to smell approaching death, as it circles above.
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/mins...poems/1501.html
William Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
It is in the Old Testament that we find rain and words and mercy conjoined:
Originally Posted by Isaiah 55:10-11
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: KJV
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Humanity is God's critics (are we not).
We do not see ourselves as vultures, but rather, eagles, nobler scavangers.
http://www.precious-testimonies.com...gles/eagles.htm
For wheresoever the carcass (his body...his disciples) is, there will the eagles be gathered together". (Matthew 24:27-28).
Now, the rainbow was the sign of the first covenant, shown to Noah after the flood, symbolizing the vow God made to never again attempt to destroy the human race.
In the days of Noah, there was no hint that one day, human technology would develop the gothic sophistication to do the job of annihilation with no assistance from God.
Robert said:You started a thread about the bible in the fiction section? *shakes head*
I'm not christian, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of reading the bible. I've always liked the stories. It's interesting to see how it changes depending on which translation you are reading.
I think I own more copies of the bible than most Christians!
We certainly didn't look at it in a "this is a complete lie" attitude, but studied it more as an ancient teaching tool, particularly its use of allegory and symbolism to impart morals.
Ell said:Don't be confused dele. It was moved by a very efficient Ice.![]()
bobbyburns said:uh, they've found over 300,000 contradictions.
Robert said:I hope you can offer up some proof, bobby.
I don't really want to touch this one out of respect for the forum rules. One thing I will state, however, is that proving and disproving matters of religion is very difficult, particularly when much of the belief relies on faith. I do admire many of the moral rules within the Bible, and think some of them are a good basis on which to live. That's all I shall say on the matter here.RobertFKennedy said:I've read the bible. Amazing that 2000 years on, no matter how many people attack it, not word word of the bible has ever been disproved.