luka

Well-known member
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

A lot of the best lines are about dust, aren't they?
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
It's been demonstrated many many times that I have a tin ear for poetry and I have to screw up my brow to understand it, unless it rhymes
 

luka

Well-known member
7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

And what about the pictures? They're good aren't they?
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Genenis 22 1

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

So, in my school we had a class called Scripture taken by a Chaplain. One of his things was to make us write dramatic narratives of Bible stories and then choose one for us all to act out in front of the class.

The story of Abraham and Isaac was one of mine. I did this, and it was chosen to enact in front of the class. My version was bit a different to the Bible narrative. In mine, Abraham went to slay his son, but missed, because he was incompetent, and ended up in a heap on the floor, Isaac safely alive. Seconds later, the angel appeared in a panic, 10 seconds late, hoping Issac was still alive. I turned it into a farce.

The Chaplain said it was "very imaginative" but wasn't happy. I wasn't actually trying to make a big point, aged 12, just trying to make my mates laugh. Yet the basic impulse was true and still holds for me: at that age I thought the story was horrific and cruel. If that is what faith demands, it deserves to be ridiculed. It is ridiculous. Later, I thought it was sinister.

I think this is why I am like I am. I distrust faith. Ultimately, faith leads to killing your children, unless you miss. Faith makes you want to exterminate categories of people, like people who live in the Home Counties or Oxfordshire.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I like that the Bible is so fucked up and cruel, though.

Saying that, I was trying to read it today on the train and it was this interminable boring list of kings attacking each other (Abram and Lot somewhere in the midst of all this) and I began speed reading it because who really cares?

Which was dispiriting. I am tired though. Started reading a biography of Michelangelo instead, which was much more engaging. Did you know that when Michelangelo died the Pope wanted him buried in Rome, to which the Medici's said 'fuck that' and stole his corpse to bury it in Florence? (I recently stood in front of the tomb in Santa Croce.)
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
Saying that, I was trying to read it today on the train and it was this interminable boring list of kings attacking each other (Abram and Lot somewhere in the midst of all this) and I began speed reading it because who really cares?

This is exactly how I envision myself being when reading it
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Droid, were you raised religiously?

My stereotypical view of Ireland would suggest so.

I sang hymns in school and learned about some Bible stuff but it was all very soft-touch and I actually remember the trauma of one of my teachers (I must have been 6 or 7) announcing that she believed there was no life after death.

One of my other religious memories is feeling that I was to be damned because I used swearwords and trying to bargain with God in my head.

I used to feel like I could sense the presence of God in gusts of wind (which would 'respond' to my thoughts). This belief in God was never fervent, but it died hard - when I was a teenager I was something like a pantheist. I felt a serene security when looking at the sky, 'knowing' that the universe was meaningful and some sort of force lay behind it all.
 

droid

Well-known member
Agnostic parents. Church for xmas, christenings, communions etc. My ma was spat at for opposing the abortion referendum in '84. Spent three years in a Christian brothers school, then moved to a multi denominational and refused to get confirmed.

Ireland's relationship with the church is far more complicated than is assumed. More fearful than faithful.
 
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