the most insulting first paragraph ever? - Page 2 - WritingForums.com - Writing Forums, Writing Challenges, Critiques and Help for Writers

SoNickSays... · 05-31-2008, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RSD

What's insulting about it is you think Christians would get upset about a rebel doing a rebellious thing. Personally, I think your first paragraph is everyday, everytown, everywhere, world at 5:00. The paragraph isn't saying too much to be honest. So another person calls the Bible "fiction" and chooses not to read it...

*The crowd sits on the edge of their seats, eagerly anticipating the punchline.*

"AND?!" they bellow in unison.

It's not insulting, just typical simplistic monotony. He might as well say "I'm going to do what a large percentage of the world's population already does." Then toss the Bible out of the window. If your goal is to show the character as Mr. Norm Normalson, then by all means keep this paragraph.

Absolutely incorrect. Many people worship the Bible, and even more go to a local church just for support. They believe that if they believe in God, they'll go to Heaven, so for a Prime Minister (who should be intelligent enough, and also religiously sympathetic) it is very unusual.

RSD · 05-31-2008, 07:24 AM

Quote:

RSD - a prime minister flicking through a bible, screaming his displeasure at it and throwing it out the window is normal behaviour?

It is absolutely 100% normal for anyone that doesn't believe in God to reject everything about Him. So yes, it is normal behavior for someone like that. I can only base my opinion on what you gave me. The natural instinct of mankind is to reject the God of the Bible, and find another way. You can cite just about anything for that behavior; Science, Islam, New Age, etc. etc. The list goes on and on. Therefore, it's not so extremely removed from the realm of possibility for an "average non-believer" to "not believe." I'm just saying I've seen worse.

Quote:

Absolutely incorrect. Many people worship the Bible, and even more go to a local church just for support. They believe that if they believe in God, they'll go to Heaven, so for a Prime Minister (who should be intelligent enough, and also religiously sympathetic) it is very unusual.

Most people don't "worship" the Bible. They worship the God in the Bible. They read the Bible and go to church to learn about God. Even though the Bible is the God-inspired Word, it is still a material thing. And according to the Bible, people won't be lugging it with them when they die.

As for a "Mr. Prime Minister" being "more religious..." That just depends on your perspective. If you look at him like a normal person, that's what he is. He'd be no different than the janitor. So what he does with the Bible is no worse than what the janitor would do with it.

Case in point, look at what we're trying to do with Israel right now. If any politicians actually read the Bible, they wouldn't be trying to force Israel to divide their lands for peace. Dubbya is supposed to be a Christian, yet he's talking about giving the Jew's "promised land" to the Arabs? Yeah... really knows his religion huh? And he's the President...

That's my take on it. If he was the Pastor for the local Baptist church it might be more shocking. But a political figure? Most people wouldn't be shocked at all by it. I mean we put liberals in office don't we?

TevenB · 05-31-2008, 03:02 PM

Totally right RSD, couldn't have said it any better.

GodofLiterature · 05-31-2008, 05:09 PM

Less is more HippoHead.

Just by that one sentence--"it doesn't have any pictures!"--you imply the book is rubbish.

Try not to preach to us.

HippoHead · 05-31-2008, 05:38 PM

no, but i want the first sentence to be 'this book is rubbish.' - because don't you think that's an awesomely terrible line to have as the first in a novel?

Ungood · 05-31-2008, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HippoHead

no, but i want the first sentence to be 'this book is rubbish.' - because don't you think that's an awesomely terrible line to have as the first in a novel?

Not really, I have read and seen far more horrible lines. But it is a pretty bad line if someone is doing a critique of your book...

Ungood.

Candrah · 06-01-2008, 08:31 AM

I wouldnt call it awesome. It is what it is - a controversial statement. Its only blasphemous if you a Christian. And, uh, if any prime minister is dumb enough not to know the difference between a novel and a religious book - God help us...

AlienatedAlien · 06-01-2008, 10:31 AM

wow, this is the one place that I thought I could escape theological discussions on the web, I guess I was wrong about that...haha. And all because Hippohead was concerned about insulting Christians, who are evidently more insulted by (his?) consideration of their feelings/beliefs than by the content of his story that he thought may be insulting to them...hows that for irony.

Though belief is a saviour to billions around the world, it is a constant source of conflict to humanity...if we cant get over it here, then the world as a whole doesn't stand a chance.

I'm all done playing Doctor Phil for the night...

Curse you subjectivity! Curse you!

Peace Out.

Kittenification · 06-01-2008, 12:47 PM

Incidentally there was a prime minister (Disraeli I think) who read the bible on a bet and somewhat famously said "Isn't god a shit" so I suppose RSD is at least partially correct about things of that nature happening.

ross · 06-01-2008, 01:25 PM

Keep it. You need a lot more of the same to carry off this level of absurdity though...

Go to it! Write like the wind!!!

HippoHead · 06-01-2008, 10:22 PM

=o!

*wind writes*

RSD · 06-02-2008, 11:05 AM

Lol. Yeah I wouldn't put it too entirely past a Prime Minister to be religiously ignorant. Sure they might have to use religion for their platform, but that doesn't say much. They just turn around to the next crowd and say the opposite thing to get more votes.

Quote:

Though belief is a saviour to billions around the world, it is a constant source of conflict to humanity...if we cant get over it here, then the world as a whole doesn't stand a chance.

That's assuming the world had a chance to begin with. Oooooh... chew on that nugget. O.o

And to my knowledge it has been the extreme wackos that cause the conflicts. There's belief and then there's crazy.

I really don't want this to be a theological debate. All I'm saying is it doesn't hurt my little feelings to read the paragraph. So if insult is your intention, you might scar a few people for life (mostly people that can't handle satire), but in the long run it's a fictitious guy doing what the average guy does. So really there is no insult, from the way I see it.

Just thought HippoHead might want some useful insight from someone that would say more than "it's insulting," or "i'm not insulted." I should've just stuck with my initial response: "Good enough for government work."

Wintermute · 06-02-2008, 12:06 PM

I think the idea is a bit trite. Just look at half the threads in the Lounge forum.

HippoHead · 06-02-2008, 07:02 PM

basically, this entire thread has been pointless :}

Ungood · 06-02-2008, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HippoHead

basically, this entire thread has been pointless :}

What?

You came to the conclusion to keep the line ... and that it sounds believable... what more you do you want?

Ungood.