Tina, of misterjebsblog, asked me a question via email this morning. Apparently her local news paper asked this same question in a poll.
Would you be offended if a copy of the Holy Bible arrived at your door with your newspaper?
My opinion is remarkably similar to Tina's. If I want a bible, I will buy one. Ironically, I own several bibles already. My original New American Standard Bible with my chicken scratch from way back in the 70s. My family bible from when I was too dumb to say no to a traveling salesman in 1981. And, a bible with crucifix from my former secretary who gave it to me because she was a genuinely nice person who I cared for. Oh, and a Book of Mormon from the 1870's - it's kind of like a bible.
so... What do you think? Would you be offended if a copy of the Holy Bible arrived at your door with your newspaper? And, do you own any already?
19 comments:
Thanks Mojoey for posting that. Like I said in the e-mail, my husband says no problem, as long as he gets a copy of Hot Rod Magazine with it. I would be offended by it because I didn't get a copy of the Flying Spaghetti Monsters Book!
On a side note, it's misterjebsblog....sorry,lol! Not jibbs...lol!
Tina - I am such a spelltard. sorry.
We're supposed to be ecologically conscious these days, so mass distributed bibles are not very "green", eh? The majority of them will end up in landfills.
I'm also not crazy about getting any samples that come sealed in the plastic sleeve of the Sunday delivery. I've got 2 miniature boxes of cereal still in the cabinet from a Sunday paper delivery 2 years ago. D'ya think they're out of date?
I'm so tired of the nuts who think that reading this oddly compiled mass of gobbledygook will make the world a better place. If you REALLY read the bible, you will understand what a petty bastard the the Hebrew's god is and how odd and irrational the entire Jesus as saviour thing is; not to mention the scores and scores of horrific violence in the name of Jehova and the rampant misogyny toward women. Yeah, really great book, now where the hell is my copy of "Deathly Hallows"...
I'd be very offended - and I'd call the distributor to let them know. The actual Bible itself would be tossed into the recycling, or maybe used as a ground cover/mulch around the roses. (That's a good use for such a lot of paper!)
Or maybe I'd use it around the tomatoes, but I'd have to keep the thing lying around until next spring... No can do: the roses would receive the benefit of all that Biblical whatever.
I refuse to have a Bible in this house.
Carolyn Ann
Here's a thought for the newspaper that asked that question -- why not include a Border's gift card?
That way if I want a fantasy/sci-fi book, I can buy a much more cohesive and well written one.
All jokes aside, I'd probably rant and rave for a while, all the while being laughed at by my wife who thinks it's funny that these theo-tards get me so worked up, and then I'd lose steam and go watch cartoons with my daughter (while my yellow lab did what she does best, and chewed on the book).
-olly
It wouldn't offend me at all. I could put the thing to good use. Like to chock my wobbly table or use it to start the barbeque with. Sometimes we run out of toilet paper too...
In all seriousness though, if they're daft enough to send it then I'd probably take it. Books are books - valuable, even if we disgagree with their contents.
I would be pissed that they at least didn't offer is an option.. I mean why not the Bagavagita, or the Quran, or even the Satanic Bible or the Book of Mormon.
In reality I would use it as a means to start a fire in the fireplace. I would also try to start or join a campaign to have as many subscribers cancel their membership as possible.
The fact that they would ask that question by itself is absurd.
Do I own a Bible? Yes a few I own one that is a Youth International from my "born again year" and a KJV from my grandmother (possibly the only person who doesn't know I am an atheist.. hey she doesn't push anything on me but I respect the hell out of her... no reason to break her heart.. lol). I also own a Book of Mormon, the Bagavagita, I used to own a Quran and The Torah and a few other texts of various religious significance. I have read what I could from as many religions as possible and with the exception of Buddhism and Hinduism I have seen too many contradictions to even care. At least in some easter religions they know there stories are just that.. stories a way of telling a moral to kids and adults alike. But THAT is a discussion for another day.
Not offended ... but very annoyed because then I'd have to deal with the cognitive dissonance of throwing a book in the trash, and one that still has a great deal of black magic appeal to my mind.
Mojoey, in context your life-dating approach to accounting for your scriptural collection ... pretty kool that you got your golden bible as a first edition ...you are an ancient one.
This is all so strange to me. it is strange that I, a Christian, can see the literary value of say a Machiavelli or a Thoreau but this crowd cannot see the poetic value of Isaiah or The Gospel of John. These are at least great literary works that make incredibly profound and poetic arguements for their worldview. These are at least the greatest minds of their time. Moses and the development of ancient law. Moses was at least 500 years ahead of his time actually with a deep and profound sense of the dignity of women.
Of course, I am a daily bible reader and am inspired to live graciously by the texts. It is hard for me to imagine not being able to at least see the literary and poetic value of the texts. i mean think about Dylan or TS Eliot they steal enormous amount of metaphor and word pictures from Biblical texts. They do this because they have an eye for insight.
brad
Poetic value in the bible? Wow that is a stretch. I have read it and perhaps at first it seems like a few good moral stories but in later parts it contradicts itself. I never saw the poetic nature of the bible, if you have then feel free to show those and show how they are poetic. Poetry is something that Shakespeare or Dylan or even a street musician knows more about than the empty pages of a bible.
Anyone can see the literary value in a lot of books you mentioned and not just because the status quo says they are but because they are chock full of ideas, reason, logic and forethought. The bible on the other hand, though some parts want to show compassion. It is for a large part vengeful, despotic, demeaning to women and anyone who does not fit your world view. IF you choose to believe in a "cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father that can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove and evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree" yeah, you go ahead and believe that. If you can find poetry in that... then by all means prove it.
by way of clarification - I actually do own a book of Mormon for the 1870s. It was owned by my great great grand mother who brought it to California in a covered wagon.
and... I read the bible. I find the sermon on the mount inspiring. I read it at least once a year.
I'll not deny that the King James version has some beautiful language, and some universal ideas of morality. (Some of which are, as Johnny points out, quite at odds with what 'we' consider reasonable!)
But my (potential) use of the book is not based on the language, or the morals in it. I find the book useless because of what it stands for: the supernatural and the superstitious.
I'll read Shakespeare for inspirational language (something I do quite regularly, by the way), not any religious text.
I do object to the bible; I also object to the Qu'ran and any other religious book. I buy plenty of books about atheism (I've got a good collection of those!), and that's that. I'm not obliged to have a copy of any religious book, and I don't.
I hope that explains my antipathy to that book. At least in part!
Carolyn Ann
I have a number of bibles that have been handed down through the family or been given to me, or that we picked up in m/hotels courtesy of the Gideons. Probably 8-10 in all. Also have at least one Koran, book of Mormon, the Mahabarata, sayings of Confucius, teachings of Buddha, books of Roman and Greek mythology, and...what was the question again? do I want more books of myths? LOL
Personally, I think it's just silly. It's offensive only because I would imagine it will reach a certain number of impressionable, uneducated and gullible people who will be taken in by the prospect of a FREE! eternal life!
Thanks for commenting, I was dying to know what people thought about this. This newspaper has some really crazy polls and usually later on, there will be something pertaining to this very poll in the paper. Crazy I say!!
Johnny C,
You must see that your view of scripture is a tad jaded.
For example, poetic value:
Ps 23 - The Lord is my shephard etc..
Jesus' parable of the prodigal son
The Various Plays in Scripture (Ecclesiates and Job)
The whole drama of the patriarchs with Abraham and Joseph and the story of the Exodus.
Isaiah's messianic metaphors....the highway of holiness, the streams in the desert, the suffering servant, the man of sorrows,
Jesus' washing of the disciples feet. Jesus on the cross and "Father forgive them they do not know what they are doing". Jesus' metaphors: I am the light, the bread of life, the good shephard, the door, the word, etc..
David's failures and Absalom.
Paul's doxologies. Peter's denial and Jesus' restoring him.
The 2000 years of drama of the book is so filled with struggle and suffering and hardships. If you cannot see any literary value in this then why did so many english speaking poets disagree with you.
brad
Anyone interested in western civilization should own a decent bible, translated from the original languages -- not one of those simplifications the fundies are so proud of. We atheists don't have to believe a word of it; but to be cultured, we do need to have it available as a reference book because its historical influence has been so broad. Mind you: it's not the only important book by a long shot. I also think all cultured people should own, at a bare minimum, a complete Shakespeare, a good retelling of the Greek myths, a copy of Darwin's Origin of Species, and some Dickens and Twain. If they're American, they should also have copies of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
That said, I would complain loudly, and cancel my subscription, if a bible were bundled with my local newspaper. (I would be delighted, however, if a free Declaration of Independence were distributed on July 4.) If the newspaper's powers-that-be chose to promote religion so actively, I'd have to question the quality of its daily reporting. On the other hand, if I had a subscription to, say, The Christian Science Monitor, I would be neither surprised nor offended if biblical tracts accompanied the paper from time to time. That paper advertises itself as a religious organ, and the subscriber should know that.
If a bible were dumped on my door step I would feel the same as I do when a phone book is left there: Annoyed that I now have to find some responsible disposal method for a book I once found valuable but now is pretty much useless to me.
I also have a bunch of bibles which document my relationship relationship with Christainity. I blogged about it a few weeks ago. (I hope you don't mind my link MoJoey.)
no worries Zeolite
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