Old Testament vs. New Testament

[Renew Deal]

Poll question: Old Testament vs. New Testament

Which should be read first? Should the Old Testament be read at all?

[Warpy]

1. Try reading the whole thing cover to cover

like a novel, begats and all. Don't worry about the contradictions in a single reading. Get all that bible school stuff in context for a change.

It's a real eye opener whether or not you're a believer.

[Dr.Phool]

5. And order a copy of "The Born-again Skeptics Guide to the Bible"

Available from the Freedom From Religion Foundation www.ffrf.org. It'll put it all in a whole new perspective.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Howard Zinn: "A people's history"

[joneschick]

3. If you want to read

the Bible in its entirety, find a good translation that's set up for a one year study sort of reading. This will give you a good juxtapostion of Old and New, which can really go a long way to understanding both, particularly with a good concordance. I never quite made it through this way but it was good for several months. My husband likes to read aloud and we did this back in '90. We come from rather different Christian backgrounds, so it made for some good discussions.

[peacebird]

4. welcome to DU joneschick!

O8)

[Selteri]

6. Like has been said, cover to cover

Just like when I had to read the Koran in College.


I've studied a number of religions... by decision - I'm a dieist.

[Tux]

16. A deist

Damn we're rare.

[Betsy Ross]

7. Read in any order you like if

you are looking for a Christian perspective. If you are looking for a Jewish perspective, read or study with Jewish commentary. There is so little the King James (and other recent translations) have in common with the Tanach ("Jewish bible") other than storyline. Much of the deeper implications are lost in the translations from the Hebrew which has more subtleties of language. Start with the first line which is translated as "In the begining..). Hebrew verb tenses might better translate to "When G-d began to create." Big difference. Translations of the "Old Testament" often serve the agenda of the NT.

[Roland99]

8. Front-to-back but I'd recommend something like the NRSV

so that you can at least be somewhat aware of the machinations that were employed in the creation of the Bible.

[Igel]

9. Reading the New Testament without reading the Old Testament

is like watching Return of the Jedi without having seen the first two (ok, the fourth and fifth) Star Wars movie.

It's the context. You can't understand the Pharisee's distortions--and what Jesus railed against--without seeing what was intended. What meaning does Jesus' "go, and sin no more" have, if 'sin' is undefined? And if Jesus is portrayed as the paschal lamb ... what's a paschal lamb, and why is it important? If Jesus said the "righteous" are blessed ... what's "righteous" mean?

If the Romans believed Jesus to be a messianic rabble rouser, and the Jewish hierarchy of the day thought he meant that there'd be an independent Jewish state, what's the history of the people involved? (Reading few pages on Jewish history, 500 BC to 20 AD would certainly help, too.)

Read OT; maybe 20 pages on the Maccabees; and then the NT.

[onager]

10. For one of the best secular approaches...

Read it along with Isaac Asimov's "Guide To The Bible." Originally published as a "Guide" to the two testaments. Then updated to include both testaments and the Apocrypha.

It's too bad Asimov is dead and can't update this to reflect modern findings.

Still...speaking as an atheist here...this is one of the most balanced studies of the Bible you're likely to find.

Asimov uses his wonderful prose to explain things in plain English.

I was struck by how much of the Old Testament is one long wail against the idea of religious tolerance.

Or course, you could argue plausibly that the Jews would have vanished thru assimilation if they had tolerated other religions.

And you could argue just as plausibly that without the official state religious tolerance of the Babylonians, Persians, Romans, etc., Judaism and its jealous, intolerant god might have vanished into the fog of history long before the myth of Jesus ever appeared.

[onager]

11. A useful link...

Sorry to board-hog and reply to my own post, but here's another useful secular link.

The Skeptic's Guide To The Bible, The Koran and Book Of Mormon:

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/

[Igel]

14. Agreed. The Asimov work is good. n/t

[ooglymoogly]

12. grimms fairy tails

far more enlightening and a lot easier to read

[Renew Deal]

13. Thanks for nothing.

:yourock:

[JVS]

15. Choose one of the gospels, read Acts, after that let curiousity guide you

Cover to cover is really a dumb way to go about it because it will kill off your interest. Unless you typically like to hear the same story told 4 times (NT) or are interested in the small details of Jewish law (OT) it will bore you to the point of not reading. Also, at least for the NT, the order of the books is really unimportant. In a gospel and Act there will be numerous citations in the form "It is written..." maybe you'd be curious to see where it is written using a search engine and check out that part. Also maybe you'd be curious to know more about apostles mentioned in the gospel you chose, find an epistle that was written by that guy.

[JanMichael]

17. Take classes in them at your local community college

Believe me, sitting down and slopping through the Bible is dull as hell--do it with a professor-