i'm reading teh kjv bible

[s1rnight]

god is not a “thing” and so rarely if ever reveals who he is on the basis of one particular clear sign - nonetheless, he draws near to people who are open to him.

[_choof]

he revealed himself to me in a sears dressing room and I had to call teh cops

[MarioNintendo]

I really enjoyed reading Proverbs in the Bible. I'm going through it too.

[Travis_Flesher]

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

the scale on which you weigh the ability to know If it's within the realm of possibility to know for sure, you are gnostic
I am gnostic of meteorology I have seen compelling evidence that individuals are capable of predicting near-future weather patterns.
... is possible given enough time to research

I am agnostic of the outcome of a fair dice roll. Until after it happens and I see the result, I do not know what the outcome would be.

I am gnostic on fair dice rollls. Admittedly, the stadard 2-six sided di on a level playing surface can become very predictable, due to rapid calculations of the player. Long story short, I studied this for quite some time, the biggest factors in it aren't quick eyes, but A: Tactlile sensation; feeling which dots are on your fingers.. and B: the axis on which the dice rolls, X, Y, or Z planes.. ayways.. it gets cool when the surface is bumpy. More dice and di faces are lame..
good post rushy, nice topic, glad you're doing well choof.

[_choof]

I am not doing remotely well at all

[s1rnight]

ah, its been a rough few days for me too …

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
He drew me out of deep waters.”

[Mollocephalus]

Originally Posted by _choof

if we're talking about the Big G, I definitely don't believe that exists at all, but if we're talking about god(s) in general, I'm not sure and I don't believe there's any way to know for sure. I'm still trying to figure out how to flesh out what I think in regards to the question of whether a higher power exists or not. atm what I can say is that I don't think any of the named gods that we've come up with throughout our entire history exist, at least as literally portrayed. I don't believe in the supernatural, but if such a thing exists, a higher power that might exist there is inaccessible to us and ultimately doesn't matter because of that.

15 years ago you were the most fervent supporter of chatolicism, how the turn tables...

But this thread made me think about how even though the holy books don't have an ounce of holiness in them, it's still a commendable effort to read them with an open mind, placing focus on the symbolism and practical purposes of some passages relative to the times they were written for instead of looking for direct guidance. I heard the Quran is an interesting read too.

[_choof]

I wonder if there's a meaningful difference between holiness and divinity
but yeah lmao it's both kinda funny and frustrating to look back on all that. grew up in the church and was baptized as a Certified Born Again Christian™, then swung way too hard in the other direction and burned a bunch of bridges with friends I grew up with. thinking about the kind of stereotypically annoying atheist shit I was on makes me cringe pretty hard. I've been enjoying the bible way more reading it divorced from belief. it's also been pretty cool talking to family members who are still religious to some degree, especially my mom. hittin em with the more interesting verses like they're deep cuts. I don't think it's worth trying to convince believers to not believe at all anymore, it's an exercise in futility. my time is better spent just trying to get them to be better people generally, and in turn myself

I'm thinking I'll take a look at something I'm totally unfamiliar with next, most likely hinduism. I'll have to defer to someone who actually knows about it for guidance tho I suppose. like is the kama sutra hornier than song of songs

[_choof]

was in cali on vacation with family recently, while looking for a menu in our hotel room I found the obligatory gideon's bible in the drawer, but also found a book of mormon. didn't have plans for that evening so I stayed at the hotel with my mom and skimmed through it for a few hours. and wow, it is incredibly fucking boring. and the writing is kinda bizarre at points. when jesus is quoted in the book of mormon I could see the kjv english bleed through but the rest of the stuff I looked at had this very odd combination of kjv and 19th century american english? I stumbled across a verse that used the word "verily" like 5 times. an entire page where basically every verse started with "and it came to pass." there's a person in here named "Zeezrom," which, incredibly badass jrpg name (legend of legaia ass name), but seems so out of place when compared to the other names in the bible that have a "z" in them. I made this jrpg joke to my mom about 30 seconds before finding another person named "Zenos," which, incredibly badass final fantasy 14 antagonist.

but yeah, mostly boring as hell. really does seem like "chloroform in print," as marky mark twain would say

[jacobvl39]

I also read the Bible recently and have gotten interested in theology despite not really being religious myself. If you want a good Hindu text, according to my research this is the best translation of the Bhagavad Gita which is what people normally suggest starting with: https://archive.org/details/gitapres...roman/mode/2up

[DaBackpack]

bhagavad vita is a good start for Hinduism, yeah. Also the Kama Sutra is kinda overblown imo. iirc it's nothing really transgressive by modern standards.

if you want a really good time, you should check out Zoroastrianism