God given gifts.

[Hexadecimal]

I know one of the fears amongst the great writers throughout time has been their piece of fiction and fantasy comparing in skill to the Bible.

So many take the writings that compose the Bible as a factual basis for their worship of God. Now, there are many books throughout history that, were the writer to wish it so, could have equaled the Bible in its scale of perfection and its ability to reflect on various truths of the human condition. The fear of the great writer, as I can see it, is that their work would be so poorly understood in its metaphor and analogous portrayal of human plight, that it too would spawn a vehement following that treated it as some word of God. I find it a true shame that men who wish nothing but to create imaginative pieces that put the life around them into understandable means, limiting themselves for the fear that ignorance will abuse their gifted imaginations and spawn even more terrifying religions than Christianity.

The ignorant be damned! I, nor anyone else, should compromise the true gifts of God we find in our life for the fear of another's misuse. If we, who truly have faith in the blessings of God: imagination, reason, athleticism, precision! If we are to have true faith in these abilities we were given and we have fostered, to show their full light to the world, we must not fear the ignorance that will try and twist the fruits of our natural gifts and experiences into weapons of chaos.

Our poetry, our paintings, our sports, our ideas, our sciences, our philosophies...our productions are not meant to be weapons used to enslave our brothers and sisters; nor kill them; nor take from them; nor deny them knowledge!

In essence: Fuck the Man. Fuck religion. Fuck ignorant assholes who take art as reality. Fuck ignorant assholes who think the authors of the Bible REALLY wanted you to believe in some skybourne entity that watches all you do in judgment, and provided some material sacrifice in order for you to be happy. It's all art: Poetry too beautiful for ignorance to comprehend!

[Squakey]

I don't think the Bible has gained such a huge following purely through the beauty of its poetry or the profundity of its reflections on the human condition (both of those are matters of opinion). There were a lot of contributing factors, for example the military conquering power of its evangelical proponents (eg the Roman Empire, the European powers), and the fact that people can read pretty much anything into it; it's very flexible and adaptable that way.

It would be interesting to chart the historical rise of the Bible and its causes; I think the skill of the writing would only be a part of a complicated picture.

[PS: Anyone who, in creating a work of art, seriously believes it might inspire millions of people into life-altering religious frenzy, purely due to their skill, simply shows breathtaking arrogance.]

[Hexadecimal]

Hmmm, really?

Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism, Asatru, Aesir, Olympian, and so on...fucking poetry turned into psychotic life and death religions that showed no mercy to defiance.

You really think a truly gifted writer doesn't have some fear of people thinking it's anything other than their passion for creativity?

I'm not referring to merely 'famous' artists, by the way, I'm referring to those who stand the test of time. Old poems relating fantasy to reality have become the absolute 'Truth' to billions of people who can't decipher complex metaphor.

What's even more alarming is that people actually use 'reason' to try and disprove the events to people who believe them. The problem arises in that the poetry of all these books (warped into religious texts) IS true; it's just purely metaphoric in application. Critical thinking can't disprove the truth, merely show how ridiculous it is to ignore the fact that it is fantastic metaphor, not the decree of God, that overlays realistic observations of existence.

There have been many artists who created works that turned into religions. If your imaginative language can fool the very people you stand and speak with face-to-face, then how is your pen stroke going to escape the ignorance of those who shelter their minds?

[postdiluvium]

The only poetry I see in the Bible is the beginning of Genesis and the Book of Revelations. Everything else just seems like poetry because it is written in metaphors and analogies. I think that is just how they wrote at that time. They didn't know shit, so metaphors and analogies were the only way they could articulate what they saw or what they have heard of. When it gets to places like Daniel where they are seeing giants made out of different materials and crumbling, I think that is just nomads tripping ass off of something they ate.

The possibility of scenes such as that being written by some guy that just injested some kind of poisonous fungus seems pretty likely to me. Especially when you take into consideration the time and place of these books being authored. Not so much poetry, but a person writing about what they are seeing, while tripping balls, in the best way they can.

[Digital_Savior]

Originally Posted by postdiluvium

The only poetry I see in the Bible is the beginning of Genesis and the Book of Revelations. Everything else just seems like poetry because it is written in metaphors and analogies.

You need to read Psalms. There is no other title befitting David than that of "Poet".

[Twisted_Ferret]

The Bible is hardly beautiful, even in its original languages.

[Digital_Savior]

Depends on the color of your glasses.

[postdiluvium]

Well of course, Psalms. Thats obvious. I'm talking about the not so obvious.

I'd actually call David intellectual before I'd call him poetic. From what I've read, he was a sort of renaissance man.

[Hare_Geist]

The only book I admire in the Bible is Job. On a literary level, on an aesthetic level and on an allegorical level (I have my own interpretation of it I wont share, since it means something to me and I don't want it ripped to shreds by Christians who have the supposed "true" interpretation). Really, I feel that Job is the only book of the Bible deserving of the title "art" and when read out loud, there's something truly poetic about it.

[Twisted_Ferret]

Originally Posted by Hare_Geist

The only book I admire in the Bible is Job. On a literary level, on an aesthetic level and on an allegorical level (I have my own interpretation of it I wont share, since it means something to me and I don't want it ripped to shreds by Christians who have the supposed "true" interpretation). Really, I feel that Job is the only book of the Bible deserving of the title "art" and when read out loud, there's something truly poetic about it.

Do you have AIM or MSN or something? I'd like to know. twisted dot ferret at gmail dot come if you'd care to e-mail. (I'm not a Christian, so no worries. )

Originally Posted by Digital_Savior

Depends on the color of your glasses.