Thread: The Bible

Taken as myth or just a story the bible is extremely entertaining. Especially the Old Testament when God was super petty and unashamedly wrathful. The storys are of all sorts too. There are heros and villains rape murder pillage, fire and brimstone. Prophets dragons and sex. As well as many happy endings and all types of shit. There are even allusions to things that are never talked about any more in the bible, like the Nephelim (I think that's what they were called). The offspring of angels and humans, mentioned once in the bible and never again.

For the writer it can be a springboard for almost any type of story imaginable and has already been so for hundreds of years. Even to just quote some of the passages in your work sets your story on a whole new level of meaning.

If you don't have one, I suggest you pick one up or steal one from your nearest hotel motel holiday inn (and remember to thank the Gideons). Get you a highliter and get to work.

Ha! Good pioint. I just hope no on etakes the idea of stealing one from a hotel too seriously. Goodwill has lots of cheap Bibles, as do many used book stores. Even for the non-religious out there, it is a good read.

We're all religious, baby. Some of us just don't think there's a god - or that god runs for office...

I think the Bible is all bull, that none ever happened, and that it was made up by a few guys who wanted people to have better lives, so they wrote up little rules for people to be better off with.

It always seemed cheap to me to quote bible passages in fiction if the story isn't related to judeo-christian religion or themes. It's like quoting Blake in a short story if the story has nothing to do with Blake or the poem.

While we're at it, why not throw in a few quotes from the Quran or the Bhagavad Gita?

But that's just cynical old me.

I think that adding quotes from religious texts and or poetry really add to the atmosphere of the story. Even if the story isn't about that particular religion or person or poem. As long as somehow the quote ties into the narrative in some way. Most religious texts contain real world advice or generally accepted knowledge, but it is usually stated in some flowery way that just seems more appealing to the mind.

You feel me?

Sort of. But only slightly. I've seen quotes and biblical material used to great effect in stories, but it always seems like a bit of a sucker punch.

I've never been a fan of cheap measures. It's necessary to quote in a scholarly paper, but when I'm writing a story, I tend to avoid using other people's words to tell my tale.

I understand what you are saying but I love qoutes. I love em especially when they are at the beginning of a chapter. I always wanted someone to begin a nice dark tale that starts with the qoute "qouth the raven, nevermore".

There will never be another book as well written or as influential as the bible.

Originally Posted by MisterRaziel

It always seemed cheap to me to quote bible passages in fiction if the story isn't related to judeo-christian religion or themes. It's like quoting Blake in a short story if the story has nothing to do with Blake or the poem.

While we're at it, why not throw in a few quotes from the Quran or the Bhagavad Gita?

But that's just cynical old me.

Religion is a philosophy that is all encompassing. So, really, whatever the topic of the story is, these religious texts relate to it in some way.

Originally Posted by Webmaster

There will never be another book as well written or as influential as the bible.

Augmented Reality, coming soon! Just kidding

Originally Posted by rashadow

I understand what you are saying but I love qoutes. I love em especially when they are at the beginning of a chapter. I always wanted someone to begin a nice dark tale that starts with the qoute "qouth the raven, nevermore".

I used quotes from various sources to start each of my chapters in Augmented Reality, and they all relate to the book as a whole and the chapter it proceeds specifically. For my next book, I'm attempting to come up with my own aphorisms to begin each chapter.

Sounds like someone's self-publishing a book. )

Originally Posted by Webmaster

Sounds like someone's self-publishing a book. )

http://www.writingforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4506

It's boring, honestly.

rashadow, the nephelim are referenced more frequenly in the apocryphal book of Enoch. The Ethiopian version of this book is readily availible online, but apparently there's debate as to the origins of it. Some say it's a Sumarian writing, some say it's an outright fraud. The fact that it is referenced in the Bible illustrates that it was in circualtion at around the same time the Bible was written.

If you're interested, do a search on Google and you'll find a lot of information on it.

As far as the Bible as literature goes, I find it facinating that the King James Version is probably the most widely distributed piece of ancient English literature in the world. Myself, I prefer one of the newer translations (right now my favorite is the New Living Translation), but the Psalms in KJV are poetic to say the least.

I really enjoy reading the bible, as a matter of fact I think I've read it about 7-9 times!! I'm not actually religious though.

Wouldn't quoting off the Bible seem kind of cheap if your book really doesn't have anything religious?