Jeremiah 14

Jeremiah 14
2006.03.05 1:46

Bible was relatively new book to me. I started reading the Old Testament several years ago and I stopped reading it when I finished reading Jeremiah Chapter 14. Back in my junior high school, at age 15 I read 4 Gospels recommended by one of my acquaintant, but I had kept away from the book for many years.
Many Westerners-Americans and Europeans often refer to the discriptions in the Bible as is so natural things, so I just wonder many Westerners already completed reading the Bible or just they know a part of the Bible and just refering to as a clue to assert their argument?
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slow news day?(Score:2)
by kesuki (321456) on 2006.03.05 12:34 (#14852187) (http://kesuki.deviantart.com/ Last Journal: 2006.04.30 7:20)
sorry to not have a backlog of content for you to keep preocupied with.I've been sitting alone in the darkness of my mind lately.very few actually read the bible, although many buy it, they buy it for as you said those 'passages' that they can look to and focus upon. they even sell them handily on keychains so one doesn't need to lug the whole book around.but it hardly matters anyways, the bible has been translated so many times, the story adapted so many ways... twisted and convoluted in the ages... Romans loved nudity so what did adam and eve get caught for in the garden of eden? hiding their naked flesh ;) hrm, someone pointed out to me that in the original hebrew god visited adam and eve, and began questioning them, and caught them in a lie. and cast them out from the garden of eden before they ate of the tree of life as well.how catching someone in a lie turns up to catching one hiding one's naked body in shame, in translation is beyond me, but it happens.
--A Fool nation and their money are soon parted. America's Net worth -13 Trillion USD.
Re:slow news day?(Score:1)
by mercedo (822671) * on 2006.03.08 1:56 (#14867178) (http://mercedo-compl.../2006/04/zen-ya.html Last Journal: 2006.04.28 3:11)
sorry to not have a backlog of content for you to keep preocupied with. I've been sitting alone in the darkness of my mind lately.
Don't worry, by the way are you OK? If you feel loneliness, please post your comments in my journal. Welcome.
Thanks for letting me know the circumstances there, it was a little bit hard to guess. Now I understand a bit.
--Ancient Greek Philosophers -18c Enlightenment Thinkers -Slashdotters
[ Parent ]
Folklore(Score:2)
by Ethelred Unraed (32954) * <john@grantGAUSSham.de minus math_god> on 2006.03.06 8:01 (#14854931) (http://www.grantham.de/ Last Journal: 2006.04.28 21:01)
The Bible is certainly widespread in Western countries, both literally (as in, physical copies) but also mentally, in the form of folklore -- stories that people remember from the Bible and are used as metaphors, allegories and so on. Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah, the Sermon on the Mount, Noah's Ark, Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness, the resurrection of Lazarus, Job's travails, Joseph and the many-colored coat, Jonah and the whale, the Nativity of Christ, the Exodus and so on -- all these are in our cultural DNA, and most of them are common knowledge (even if people forget the meaning behind them). Hollywood has certainly used the Bible or Biblical stories in movies time and time again, so that people recognize it -- sometimes literally (as in The Ten Commandments) or more figuratively (Matrix or Superman Returns, with Superman as Jesus and Jar-El as God the Father).
It partly depends, though, on whether that person goes to church or grew up in one. Americans by and large are regular church-goers, and most churches include Bible readings in their services and/or Bible study courses. (Protestant ones tend to emphasize the latter, Catholic or Anglican ones the former.) However, few churches try to cover the entire Bible. Most concentrate on the major parts relevant to Christians (Mosaic Law in the Old Testament isn't considered as relevant and thus doesn't get the same level of attention as, say, the Exodus story). Meanwhile, Europeans generally are not churchgoers -- but they still have absorbed the old stories in their culture so much that they still recognize the main stories and use them in modern culture, such as in advertisements (Adam and Eve is a perennial favorite to plunder for that, but so is Noah or Moses with his stone tablets descending from Mount Sinai).
One problem with the Bible is conflicting translations and varying original texts. There is no "original Bible". There is only a collection of books that make up the Bible (the final decision as to what was canonical was made in the 4th century AD, but Protestants later tossed out a few books in the 16th and 17th centuries), and some books exist in multiple versions. Worse, they are written in languages long dead -- ancient Hebrew (Old Testament) and colloquial ancient Greek (the New Testament -- imagine if someone wrote a "holy book" in modern American slang rather than proper formal English, and you get the idea). Often the precise meaning of words is lost or can't be rendered exactly in modern English, so translators are forced to grope around for a way of expressing what they (apparently) meant in a way a modern reader would understand. (Try reading the Parallel Bible [bible.cc] to see how the translations sometimes vary widely.)
Cheers,
Ethelred
--I think those monkeys whose butts turn bright red are onto something. -- ryanr
Re:Folklore(Score:1)
by mercedo (822671) * on 2006.03.08 2:29 (#14867545) (http://mercedo-compl.../2006/04/zen-ya.html Last Journal: 2006.04.28 3:11)
Welcome to visiting my journal.
all these are in our cultural DNA, and most of them are common knowledge
I must resume reading after Jeremiah 14 so that I can catch up with the average level Westerners already hold.
Translation matters, but not much. New Testament was written as you pointed out that koine-common Greek, widely spoken among tributes of Roman Empire after the invasion of Alexander the great his largest contribution in the area was a widespread of Western culture -koine was the most conspicuous example. Normally people make their language and form their national language, but sometimes language makes people as the way it usually let its user do. In this case, koine made their people realise the importance of love and sacrifice. That made Judaism the true world religion.
--Ancient Greek Philosophers -18c Enlightenment Thinkers -Slashdotters