GQ magazine puts Bible on list of classic books not worth reading, incurs the wrath of Christians

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Well, it appears this group of scribes won’t be greeted very warmly at the Pearly Gates.

GQ magazine, a bible of “grooming” tips, gadget suggestions and style advice, has sparked a social media conflagration by calling the Christian Holy Bible “foolish, repetitive and contradictory” and placing it on a list of “21 Books You Don’t Have to Read.”

“The Holy Bible is rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it,” novelist Jesse Ball writes in the magazine. “Those who have read it know there are some good parts, but overall it is certainly not the finest thing that man has ever produced.”

link

[IluvPitties]

1. Can't you say the same thing about most religious texts?

[fleur-de-lisa]

2. I bet most of those x-tians frothing at the mouth have never read the bible in its entirety.

In my twenties, when I was questioning my own faith and debating how I would raise my daughter, I read it from cover to cover. I have been an atheist ever since.

[NastyRiffraff]

15. Ditto

And it's true that most Christians have never read the bible. They depend on their priests, ministers, rabbis, etc. to spoon feed them bible stories and verses. I'm an atheist and I can usually out-argue most bible-thumpers just by quoting the bible.

[lindysalsagal]

21. Pronouncing the words doesn't count.

You can't make sense out of something that was never intended to make sence, 20 centuries ago....

[exboyfil]

3. Seriously it puts eyeballs on the list

but why take on the headache. They could have used the same reasoning to exclude Shakespeare and Cervantes a well. They already put Swift and Twain on the list as well.

Granted the Bible does not match its press clippings, but even without faith in Christianity, it is woven into our culture, and a knowledge of it serves as shorthand to understand literary references dating back 1500 years.

Just like other literature written in the past, it is also useful for understanding the people of that age.

[treestar]

20. +1

[Johonny]

4. Mark Twain was a racist. Just read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He was a man of his time, so let'

Okay, I don't need to accept this person's opinion on anything. They need a lit class in a bad, bad, way if they don't understand the Frederick Douglass quote they use against Huck Finn actually agrees with the theme of Huck Finn. Some people don't do sarcasm., Mark Twain did.

[cemaphonic]

13. Yeah, that is astoundingly ignorant.

Even the most cursory glance at Twain's biography shows that he railed against racial injustice his whole professional career. And not just the institution of American slavery either. He wrote about the horrible conditions in the Belgian Congo, and the abuse of Chinese immigrants in the west.

[bluestarone]

5. If RUMP told them to burn the bible

THEY WOULD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Exotica]

6. THIS!!!! AND they would make up some bullshit excuse PLUS lie and say they never burned it

[Chitown Kev]

18. and what color do these fools think

these Palestinian apostles were, exactly

[DetlefK]

7. It's funny how none of the offended even try to refute GQ's points.

It is repetitive, self-contradictory, sententious, foolish, and even at times ill-intentioned.

And their best counter-argument is that he's simply wrong?

[FarCenter]

8. Having read it from cover to cover, I'd say about 90% is not worth reading.

Fictional histories, obsolete laws governing a slave-owning agricultural tribe, genocidal conquest of Canaan, Middle Eastern wars (like enough already), tales of lust and power, dire predictions, etc.

Not to mention long lists of who begat whom.

Followed by more pseudo-history, miracle tales, moralizing and fantasies of the future.

[skypilot]

9. "Not to mention long lists of who begat whom."

Stops me dead in my tracks every time. I'm amazed at people who can read the thing from cover to cover. I've tried, I really have. It will never happen.

[FarCenter]

10. It was when I was young and searching for the answer -- there aren't any.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. Ok, the Bible is not worth reading. But, is GQ worth reading?

I always figured it was for people with much excess money who can afford to blow it on dressy clothing and jewelry. In other words, not for me.

[Jim Lane]

16. This particular list has some interesting entries.

I agree with the deprecation of A Farewell to Arms. When I read it, I thought it had been greatly overrated.

I definitely do not agree with the inclusion of Huckleberry Finn and Lord of the Rings. The criticisms made of those works are not well founded. Of course, the list maker is correct that you don't have to read them, but they're worth reading.

The list makes suggestions for alternatives to the disparaged books. This called my attention to some works I hadn't previously heard of, which I might consider reading.

[nolabels]

12. Pot calling kettle black

I have never looked to either for information and now, not to waste any more seconds of my finite time on earth

[TheBlackAdder]

14. Hah! The last sentence implies that man created works much better than the 'divinely inspired' Bible

[dalton99a]

17. Baloney

[bluestarone]

24. I bet The fucker couldn't even recite one full verse from it

[treestar]

19. That's stupid

It is referenced very often in English Literature, along with the Greek and Latin classics. Shakespeare, along with others, made many references to it. It is part of literature and history. One does not have to be a believer for it to be a big part of education on western civilization and culture.

[Kaleva]

22. Which book in the Bible are they refering to? All? Most? Some?

And which Bible? The Catholic Bible has 7 more books then the version Protestants use.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

23. I have a copy on my kindle, it is very difficult to read!