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First and foremost: The Bible. Not the watered down "everybody goes to heaven" theology that most people subscribe to, but rather an evidence based approach tha

First and foremost: The Bible. Not the watered down "everybody goes to heaven" theology that most people subscribe to, but rather an evidence based approach that uses the Bible to interpret itself as it was designed to do. Secondarily, this book saved my life in the sense that it helped me understand my depression, a clinical depression so deep that my psychologist had never seen such a thing previously: Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life: The New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - Stephen C. Hayes https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0054M063A/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0054M063A/ Its scientific approach to understanding our own thought patterns gave me control- coping mechanisms- for dealing with my own feelings instead of ignoring ("Burying") them and letting them slowly destroy me from the inside out.

rramadass 5y ago
The "only thing" worth reading from the The Bible are the "Wisdom Books". Robert Alter's translation The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes: A Translation with Commentary is pretty good.
- CitrusFruits 5y ago
  I mean if you like those you'd probably like Jesus's sermon on the mount.
- kcartlidge 5y ago
  > The "only thing" worth reading from the The Bible are the "Wisdom Books" From the perspective of Wisdom you're probably right. From the perspective of the modern Christian Faith I'd include the complete New Testament. From the perspective of historical reference (I know archaeological opinions vary) include the Old Testament too.
seminarianhere 5y ago
Seminarian here. One word of caution here, is plenty of people think they discover something new by reading some authors. Whatever the view is, a lot of them aren't new, and there exists notable scholars (from the early church fathers to modern theologians) that can disagree and agree with it. When people think they knew. They actually don't know. Not even close.
eigenheart 5y ago
Love there's a passionate discussion/touch point about the Bible on this site. For anyone interested, biblehub.com is a tremendous resource to help deep-dive themes, passages, words, etc...
- swat535 5y ago
  I actually highly recommend The Word on Fire series by Bishop Barron, it's not a full Bible yet but the two books are out (Gospels and Act) I believe. They have great commentary, beautiful artwork and are high quality overall. Leaving the link here for anyone interested: https://www.wordonfire.org/bible/#volumeii https://www.wordonfire.org/bible/#volumeii Word of caution: if you are an Atheist, please remember that the Bible is a religious text, many verses are in parables and should not be taken literally. It is not a scientific textbook or a historical one either. It is also a _collection_ of books called the Canon. You must read it with an open heart and mind to get the most out of it!
Revisional_Sin 5y ago
Do you also read about the history of the Bible? For example, scholars consider the book of exodus to be highly inaccurate/mythologised.
chevill 5y ago
>but rather an evidence based approach that uses the Bible to interpret itself as it was designed to do. Can you elaborate on this? I'd be interested to hear more about your approach.
tomrod 5y ago
> evidence based approach that uses the Bible to interpret itself as it was designed to do I don't understand what that means. But I do think Misquoting Jesus is one of the better biblical criticism books I've read, and can recommend it for interested folks. Your recommendation reminded me of that.
- geocrasher 5y ago
  It means not taking individual verses out of context and using only the rest of the Bible to provide that context such as who the Bible writer was writing to, in what circumstance, even in what time of year if it was a farming analogy, or what other Bible writers say on the same subject. That's only scratching the surface, but hopefully gives you an idea what I meant.
voisin 5y ago
> but rather an evidence based approach that uses the Bible to interpret itself as it was designed to do. Can you expand? Did you create this approach yourself or just read the Bible directly?
- prometheus76 5y ago
  I would recommend getting the Ancient Faith Study Bible, which uses a very readable translation, and has extensive footnotes that consist of commentary on the Bible from the Early Church Fathers.
- kk6mrp 5y ago
  From my understanding, this is the oldest approach to understanding scripture. To keep from deviating from the truth you must examine the text in light of what has been written before. Acts 17:11 bears this out, "Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."
- geocrasher 5y ago
  No, I did not create this approach at all. It is the approach taken by Jehovah's Witnesses who started out by questioning beliefs and looking directly at the Bible to figure out whether a belief was Biblical or not. That's how they came to the conclusion that hellfire is a lie and many other things that the Christendom accepts aren't actually Biblical. It's a very balanced approach. It also avoids all the "God hates $group" garbage and gives solid reasons for what's going on in the world. If you want to learn about that method of Bible study, check out jw.org.
  - Revisional_Sin 5y ago
    Ironically, the name "Jehovah" is a misunderstanding. It comes from applying the vowels from "Adonai" (my lord) to "Yahweh" (the name of God). The Hebrew alphabet initially didn't have vowels, so the name was written as YHWH. When vowels were introduced they decided to write the vowels for Adonai above YHWH, to remind readers not to say his name, as it was too holy. Eventually people forgot this logic and assumed it was the normal spelling of his name.
p0d 5y ago
I agree. I would also add continues to change my life. I read the Bible every day and am constantly amazed how relevant ancient wisdom is today. In recent years teaching from Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament taught me how to understand my work. There is such a lot of nonsense on HN and the net about success. So many are pursuing a pipe dream. Below helped me to work hard, enjoy what I have, and not be concerned about what others have. See below, written in Ecclesiastes 5, thousands of years ago. 10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! 11 The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! 12 People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep. 13 There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. 14 Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children. 15 We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us. 16 And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind. 17 Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry. 18 Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. 19 And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. 20 God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.
- geocrasher 5y ago
  Solomon knew what he was talking about!
- agumonkey 5y ago
  Man, I tried reading the bible, maybe some pages are to be skipped, I couldn't keep after 5 ... too many "don't have sex with your cousin's wife unless her father owned a goat" logic.
  - 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
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rramadass 5y ago

The "only thing" worth reading from the The Bible are the "Wisdom Books". Robert Alter's translation The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes: A Translation with Commentary is pretty good.

CitrusFruits 5y ago
I mean if you like those you'd probably like Jesus's sermon on the mount.
kcartlidge 5y ago
> The "only thing" worth reading from the The Bible are the "Wisdom Books" From the perspective of Wisdom you're probably right. From the perspective of the modern Christian Faith I'd include the complete New Testament. From the perspective of historical reference (I know archaeological opinions vary) include the Old Testament too.

seminarianhere 5y ago

Seminarian here. One word of caution here, is plenty of people think they discover something new by reading some authors. Whatever the view is, a lot of them aren't new, and there exists notable scholars (from the early church fathers to modern theologians) that can disagree and agree with it. When people think they knew. They actually don't know. Not even close.

eigenheart 5y ago

Love there's a passionate discussion/touch point about the Bible on this site. For anyone interested, biblehub.com is a tremendous resource to help deep-dive themes, passages, words, etc...

swat535 5y ago
I actually highly recommend The Word on Fire series by Bishop Barron, it's not a full Bible yet but the two books are out (Gospels and Act) I believe. They have great commentary, beautiful artwork and are high quality overall. Leaving the link here for anyone interested: https://www.wordonfire.org/bible/#volumeii https://www.wordonfire.org/bible/#volumeii Word of caution: if you are an Atheist, please remember that the Bible is a religious text, many verses are in parables and should not be taken literally. It is not a scientific textbook or a historical one either. It is also a _collection_ of books called the Canon. You must read it with an open heart and mind to get the most out of it!

Revisional_Sin 5y ago

Do you also read about the history of the Bible? For example, scholars consider the book of exodus to be highly inaccurate/mythologised.

chevill 5y ago

>but rather an evidence based approach that uses the Bible to interpret itself as it was designed to do. Can you elaborate on this? I'd be interested to hear more about your approach.

tomrod 5y ago

> evidence based approach that uses the Bible to interpret itself as it was designed to do I don't understand what that means. But I do think Misquoting Jesus is one of the better biblical criticism books I've read, and can recommend it for interested folks. Your recommendation reminded me of that.

geocrasher 5y ago
It means not taking individual verses out of context and using only the rest of the Bible to provide that context such as who the Bible writer was writing to, in what circumstance, even in what time of year if it was a farming analogy, or what other Bible writers say on the same subject. That's only scratching the surface, but hopefully gives you an idea what I meant.

voisin 5y ago

> but rather an evidence based approach that uses the Bible to interpret itself as it was designed to do. Can you expand? Did you create this approach yourself or just read the Bible directly?

prometheus76 5y ago
I would recommend getting the Ancient Faith Study Bible, which uses a very readable translation, and has extensive footnotes that consist of commentary on the Bible from the Early Church Fathers.
kk6mrp 5y ago
From my understanding, this is the oldest approach to understanding scripture. To keep from deviating from the truth you must examine the text in light of what has been written before. Acts 17:11 bears this out, "Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."
geocrasher 5y ago
No, I did not create this approach at all. It is the approach taken by Jehovah's Witnesses who started out by questioning beliefs and looking directly at the Bible to figure out whether a belief was Biblical or not. That's how they came to the conclusion that hellfire is a lie and many other things that the Christendom accepts aren't actually Biblical. It's a very balanced approach. It also avoids all the "God hates $group" garbage and gives solid reasons for what's going on in the world. If you want to learn about that method of Bible study, check out jw.org.
- Revisional_Sin 5y ago
  Ironically, the name "Jehovah" is a misunderstanding. It comes from applying the vowels from "Adonai" (my lord) to "Yahweh" (the name of God). The Hebrew alphabet initially didn't have vowels, so the name was written as YHWH. When vowels were introduced they decided to write the vowels for Adonai above YHWH, to remind readers not to say his name, as it was too holy. Eventually people forgot this logic and assumed it was the normal spelling of his name.

p0d 5y ago

I agree. I would also add continues to change my life. I read the Bible every day and am constantly amazed how relevant ancient wisdom is today. In recent years teaching from Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament taught me how to understand my work. There is such a lot of nonsense on HN and the net about success. So many are pursuing a pipe dream. Below helped me to work hard, enjoy what I have, and not be concerned about what others have. See below, written in Ecclesiastes 5, thousands of years ago. 10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! 11 The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! 12 People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep. 13 There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. 14 Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children. 15 We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us. 16 And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind. 17 Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry. 18 Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. 19 And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. 20 God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.

geocrasher 5y ago
Solomon knew what he was talking about!
agumonkey 5y ago
Man, I tried reading the bible, maybe some pages are to be skipped, I couldn't keep after 5 ... too many "don't have sex with your cousin's wife unless her father owned a goat" logic.
- 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]