A literal well-deserved punch to the stomach? What did you do?
Yeah, the Bible sure has lots of wise advice to impart. Very useful topics on ritual sacrifice, what not to eat, why to beat wives, how to keep slaves, etc, etc, etc.
Oh there's that. But in any ancient text there are two levels: what is of its time, and what transcends its time. I would never argue for blind literalism. What I mean is that too often people point to those--legitimate--examples of the failures of the past in order to dismiss the past entirely. And this is a false assumption, because it's my opinion that people are the same no matter the era: the same stupid problems recur time and time again in different forms. And if a book can sustain people for a long while through stupid problems, it likely has wisdom to it. That doesn't mean it's all wise or flawless, but that value can and should be reaped from it.
P.S. I've changed what was originally just the Bible to include other examples of sacred texts, because I feel the way I originally worded this post made me seem like I thought all the answers were in one book, which is not the case.
Bah, you answer this bible-bashing atheist prick but not me?
It's nothing personal, I just prefer to keep it a mystery in this case. The exact circumstances aren't very interesting.
Fair enough.
Perhaps it has sustained us for a long while, in some for or another. And I'm not quite ignorant or naive enough to say there isn't a little wisdom under the blood soaked clothing the bible wears. But the transcendat wisdom from past has an ugly step-brother that has an annoying habit of following it through time as well, perpetuating so many ancient quarrels, hatreds and other undesirables. Can't we just rid ourselves of both? Is the wisdom in the bible or the koran or the talmud worth the fire and brimstone that they frequently rain down upon us? I suspect they really aren't.
And I'm most definitely a bible-bashing atheist, but I protest the prick moniker!
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