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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   6142 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 21, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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The Bible is simply veiled moral allegory. In some cases of the Old Testament it’s also history, but the rest is entirely allegory. Even the books which read as not allegorical are, in fact, allegory, and even beyond the fist layer of allegory reads another allegory. In a book like Job, nearly every noun in every sentence is an allegory. In the Gospel, most of the scenes are also expertly concealed allegories. Virgin birth? Dead in a tomb? Allegory.

Wait, this is a conspiracy theory?

I think it’s the most reasonable—and interesting—reading of the Bible. The books are clearly laden with meaning, partly from the enormous weight of history, partly from the composition process. It says things that are obviously, literally false, but have reasonable interpretations or poetic license. Biblical aesthetics are so strong that they have dominated Western cultural products. I don’t think you get that without some layers of narrative and allegory.

Biblical aesthetics are so strong that they have dominated Western cultural products. I don’t think you get that without some layers of narrative and allegory.

It's possible, or possible it works the other way around. Our culture has been shaped by the Bible for thousands of years, so of course now the morals it teaches seem to slot very well into the rest of our understanding of the world. You will hear sayings, moral teachings, etc. and then years later hear them from the Bible and think "that sounds like what I believe" when really those teachings came from the Bible in the first place.

Some is practical advice for the operation of a church. Women should be silent in church. If they've questions they should ask their husbands at home.

There are too many immoral degenerates to avoid all of them. Don't eat with the degenerates who claim to be Christian.

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