I've been pretty firm on my belief that belief in God is infantile narcissism, first posited by Freud. This would mean that everyone who believes in God is mentally ill. But, how could a mentally ill person have written something as great as the Bible? I see the Bible as great literature yet if we believe in Freud and see belief in God as mental illness...I have trouble seeing how a deluded persons could have written the best book ever written. Plus, I've read books (including the Bible) and Jesus didn't really seem to be mentally ill, just kind. I don't believe he was schizophrenic or anything like that but had good parents. But, really, how could mentally ill people have written the Bible?
Help please.
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@ burningris
I don't think you have read the bible. Great literature it is not.
The lyrical side of it comes from the translators to english in the 17th Century. In latin it is a pretty turgid affair.
Get a course in critical thinking and English Literature, then come back here.
Secondly why do you claim that the many authors of the books of the bible were mentally ill? Some were definitely depressives, others exhibited sado-masochistic tendencies and all were fantasists or liars. You could find that assortment in any Masonic Lodge or train station or writers' convention, never mind the various parliaments around the world.
I don't understand your point about Jesus?
First; he didn't write anything, nothing was written about him until at least 50 years after his "death".
Second who, apart from you, has diagnosed this fictional character (as described in the gospels) as schizophrenic?
Artists actually have a far greater propensity to mental illness than the general population.
True, some of our greatest composers, musicians and writers were major depressives. There was a guy from aberdeen washington that had everything going for him...but decided to suck on a 12 gauge instead. I think the OP should define mental illness.
Sadly he did not find the right kind of Love and sought an alternate Nirvana.
burningiris,
" I see the Bible as great literature yet if we believe in Freud and see belief in God as mental illness...I have trouble seeing how a deluded persons could have written the best book ever written."
I agree, the Bible is great literature. It was written by a committee of story tellers, writers and artists in the 680s-690s AD. They wrote it because the Christians did not have a complete book of their fairy tales like the muslims had just completed under Uthman's committee in the 640s.
All of the stories are based on one or more of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 34:11-28. The miracles are based on Exodus 34:10. A lot of people get bent out of shape over the stories because some of them seem silly. The stories simply illustrate what happens when people disobey or obey the Commandments so they don't have to be based on fact. If people don't know that then none of the stories will make sense.
The purpose of the stories is to teach complete obedience and total loyalty to the Boss (God, Jesus, the priest, the family father, etc.). The point is to obey without backtalk and to follow orders without exception and not to change sides when things get tough. The Bible is like a military code of conduct for masses and considering that at that time the Christians were at war with the muslims it was a great propaganda tool to use to rally the troops. When the priests told the troops how God commanded the Old Testament guys to kill everything it removed their hesitation when they got into a pitched battle against their own enemy.
IMO it is a beautifully written story. The writers kept on track with their main message but they also included countless examples of pure non-sense to show that it was just bull shit. And since no one had ever written all of the stories in an unified collection before they got away with it. They even said it was just a story.
@burningiris: "This would mean that everyone who believes in God is mentally ill."
No. This would mean everyone was stuck in a stage of psycho-sexual development and the free flow of information between the conscious and unconscious was being blocked. (You don't need a pathology for that to happen.)
" How could a mentally ill person have written something as great as the Bible? "
I will assume you are referring to the literary structure of the bible which according to Richard Carrier is extremely high lever Greek. The stories are certainly the product of a mentally ill person and that person probably wrote the entire bible, *tongue in cheek*, one word at a time.
"Jesus didn't really seem to be mentally ill" Ha ha ha ha ha
Spitting in people's eyes to cure them of blindness. Pretending he sent demons into pigs and then chasing the pigs off a cliff. Making a whip and beating people in the market place while destroying their livelihoods.
The Gospel of Mark (Mark 3:21) reports the opinion of members of Jesus' family who believe that Jesus "is beside himself". Some psychiatrists and writers explain that they saw Jesus as mad, insane.
In 2011, a team of psychiatrists, behavioral psychologists, neurologists and neuropsychiatrists from the Harvard Medical School published research which suggested the development of a new diagnostic category of psychiatric disorders related to religious delusion and hyperreligiosity.[20] They compared the thought and behavior of the most important figures in the Bible (Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ and Paul)[20] with patients affected by mental disorders related to the psychotic spectrum using different clusters of disorders and diagnostic criteria (DSM-IV-TR),[20] and concluded that these Biblical figures "may have had psychotic symptoms that contributed inspiration for their revelations",[20] such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, manic depression, delusional disorder, delusions of grandeur, auditory-visual hallucinations, paranoia, Geschwind syndrome and abnormal experiences associated with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The authors suggest that Jesus sought to condemn himself to death ("suicide by proxy").[20]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_health_of_Jesus
Other insane people who did remarkable things....
Ulysses S. Grant - He never let anyone see him nude.
Charlie Chaplin - A pedophile who liked throwing custard pies at naked women.
Pythagoras - He created a religion that forbade people from eating beans.
Stonewall Jackson - One of the most gifted tactical commanders ever. He believe his arms were of unequal length and he would raise the longer one to balance out his circulation.
Nikola Tesla: An extreme obsessive compulsive (before entering a building he would walk three times around the block) and an extreme germophobe (Refusing to touch anything with a hint of dirt.)
Benjamin Franklin - Had a preoccupation with old women. Said they were the same as young women below the waist.
Jean Jacques Rousseau - Like to be spanked. He would pull his pants down in public and chase women ass first encouraging them to spank him.
Michelangelo: Slept in his clothes and boots. Kept his boots on for so long that when they were removed his skin would come away with them.
Martin Luther: He ate a spoon full of his own shit every day.
Lyndon Johnson: He liked to show people his dick and urinated in public whenever the urge struck him. He would comment, "Have you ever seen anything as big as this?"
John Quincy Adams: He believed in "Mole People." He gave the green light to an expedition that sought the center of the earth.
Howard Hughes: An extreme germophobe and agoraphobic. Lived in a screening room for 4 months eating only chicken, chocolate and milk while relieving himself in the empty containers.
James Watson - Discoverer of DNA - A white supremacist who believed whites were more intelligent than blacks. (The human genome project has been unable to find a link between race and intelligence.)
Salvador Dali. - Do I really need to go here? He believed he was possessed. He has a friar perform an exorcism on him.
What's the ole saying...? "There is a fine line between intelligence and insanity. "
Cognostic,
That's too funny. I might start telling people to do a Martin Luther.
@ Diotrephes LOL TY.
I have read the Bible and I do find it to be good literature; I think most educated people do.
But, I find the Bible to just be splitting, black and white thinking, good vs. evil. But I was reading it yesterday and was struck by how good it is.
No one really answered my question but thank you anyway. Although I do find that being stuck in a certain phase of psychosexual development to be pathology, not a range of normal behavior.
I think it is a myth that creative people are mentally ill though. You can name about five people that were mentally ill and creative (Van Gogh, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton) and they get all the attention. Most creative geniuses aren't mentally ill, though. Shakespeare wasn't mentally ill.
@ burningris
Please specify "most educated people" I am certainly educated. You seem to be claiming an unspecified quantity with no citation.
I could say "most people find the bible to be unadulterated codswallop" on the same basis.
Argument ad ignorantiam...a common theist ploy. In short a load of lies. Try again.
@Old man shouts
You get extra marks for citing the fallacy. In the unlikely event you ever post anything I disagree with, then I will hit the agree button anyway, it's in the bank mate.
@ Sheldon
I bow in respect to my sensei....
@burning "no one really answered my question" ??? Then you do not know how to read.
BurningIris: "I have read the Bible and I do find it to be good literature; I think most educated people do."
I guess since I find the the Bible to be worst and most horrifying literature ever written, that means the few degrees I have earned means I am still illiterate.
You need to prove this assertion. I have never met any person who has at least a Baccalaureate ever consider the Bible to be great literature. Never.
Provide objective hard empirical evidence, please.
Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat.
rmfr
@Arakish
I have a B.S. and I think the Bible is a fantastic piece of literature. Even if you don't believe it has any historical merit, there are many wonderful things written in its' pages. There is deep insight into human psychology, family, love, life, and humanity itself. It is filled with beautiful analogies, metaphors, and poetry. Its' contents are written simply enough for understanding across cultures, yet complicated enough that it takes years to understand (if ever). And considering it has sold more copies than any other book on the planet, kinda suggests its valuable in some way.
The major themes throughout the bible resonate with so many people because the stories themselves are written in such a way that it compliments our literal biology. The epic stories with the "Hero's Journey" prose strike humanity at its' very core. The contents of the bible have had an inestimable impact on world culture (especially Western), and so much so some of our time's "Greatest writers" have taken influence from the bible for their famous works. This list includes authors such as the anonymous writer of Beowulf, the Arthurian romances of Chrétien de Troyes, John Milton, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Charlotte Bronte, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Lord Byron, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Toni Morrison, and William Faulkner. Even Shakespeare "uses a staggering 1,300 biblical allusions throughout his plays, according to a study by Naseeb Shaheen."
Seems kinda hard-headed for you to suggest that because YOU don't believe it to be great, means no one else done. Also hard-headed to think you understand it better than others. Anyway, if we can't even agree that the Bible is a great piece of literature, I'm afraid our conversation can stop here. No way anyone will convince you it's full of truth on top of that.
Nobody's Hero: "I have a B.S. and I think the Bible is a fantastic piece of literature. Even if you don't believe it has any historical merit, there are many wonderful things written in its' pages."
And you can say this with a straight face knowing every last thing written in the Bible is lies plagiarized from sources FAR! older than the Bible AND the Hebrews attempting to pawn its bullshit off as real true literature?
Puh-leez. I hope you can get a refund for that B.S. (Bull Scrotum?).
You mean the same stuff that had already been known for tens of thousands of years before any Hebrew thought to plagiarise all those myths and legends? You sure you have a B.S. (Biscuit w/Sausage?)?
You mean all those plagiarized myths, legends, and faerie tales, many which are thousands of years older than the Bible and the Hebrews?
BTW: "Its'" is only "Its" no apostrophe. Yeah written simple enough any illiterate desert-dwelling goat-herder can understand it. And if it takes years to understand, then how come it only took me seven months to figure out the Bible is an anthology of horror stories more terrifying than the stories I was reading by HP LoveCraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Clive Barker, Stephen King, etc., etc.
Oh I understand that horrible, obsolete, irrelevant, repulsive, ancient, obnoxious, barbaric, execrable, inappropriate, offensive, savage, horrendous, abominable, loathsome, repugnant, disgusting, inapplicable, and unsubstantiated pile of lies and bullshit plagiarized from other myths and legends because the illiterate desert-dwelling goat-herders could not even create their own stories.
The Bible is the worst piece of shit, along with its cousin the Qu'ran, ever written in all of history. Even I could write a better story when I was only 5 years old.
Argumentum ab popularis. Non solum qui criticum probat contra asserit morionem.
The Bible is the best selling book only due to the reason that the Religious Absolutists (like you) buy it and force it onto others. Do me a favor. Buy one for me and I shall make a video for you.
Bullshit! OBJECTIVE HARD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE. Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat.
The only resonance the Bible has had for me for over 55 years is anyone who believes it lies is capable of the worst atrocities imaginable and should be locked away in a rubber room with a pollock dinner jacket and heavy doses of Thorazine for the rest of their days.
You, sir, are a very dangerous person known as a Religious Absolutist.
Bullshit and Horse Hoowhee. The Iliad was a much better read. So was Stephen King's The Stand. And an even better series of books is A Song of Ice and Fire by GRRT.
Only those illiterate enough to not be able to read the Bible with critical thinking, logical and deductive reasoning, and rational and analytical thought.
I do at least better than thou.
Good. Conversation over. Before you go though, you do realize the Bible has been re-written and re-translated and re-written and re-translated and re-written so many times that thers is no truth left in it.
Carry on with your Illusory Sky Faerie, Bewitched Lich Virgin, and Conjured Comical Spook.
rmfr
@arakish
With all due respect (not that that is very much) your rebuttals to my comments are weak, only bulked up by your endless ad hominem attacks.
It doesn’t matter even if it is a compilation of various historical stories with similar themes. It doesn’t matter even if it is fake. So no Fiction book should ever be considered “great”? What about Star Wars? Ya; your right, that story is trash.
Another thing I love is that you cite countless “atrocities” throughout the book as reason to ignore the beneficial complexity of the work itself. I mean, it is fiction right? So should we ban Fiction from the “Greatest books of all time?”
@ SomeBODIEShero
Yes it does matter. Written, edited, plagiarised, rewritten, edited and interpolated does not make great literature. It makes it what it is; a racist, genocidal, infanticidal glorifying book of domination.
Great literature ? No.
Fiction? Yes in a a large part.
Historical in its content? No.
Aggrandising and justification for cruelty?...yes.
And the latter part, I refer to the NT..historical... NO. Has elements of a classical lyrical text where not interpolated, edited and rewritten, but definitely not a homogeneous storytelling. So..great literature? FAIL.
Go back to community college and read some truly great literature...start with the Aeneid, then the Iliad, then progress by any byway you can until the present day. By the time you reread that mishmash of racist apologetics called the bible you will see the difference between Literature, great and otherwise and that collection of horrific balderdash.
Oh and try learning Classical Greek and Latin before you start your odyssey..it will help you understand the error of your arrogance,
@old man
I appreciate your concerns for my education. Although I will never be the first to brag about my education (unlike Arakish...self proclaimed smartest in the world) I did go to university. I studied Biology, chemistry, and philosophy. I tutored all of those subjects while attending. I have read most of Aristotle’s work for fun, and many other great philosophers. I have also read the Iliad, oddest, other works by homer, Dante’s inferno, and others. And although my Greek and Latin is poor, my in laws are first generation Greek and my two brother in laws are professors of both Ancient Greek and Latin. And by the way, they are even more devout Christians than I am.
So stop trying to distract from the issue by using my education/experience as a valid talking point. And for the record, some of the LEAST educated people I know understand this world more than I could ever hope too. I think you’re wrong in your premise that formal education is necessary for productive dialogue.
@ SomeBODIEShero
It seems after your impressive reading list you failed to learn a thing.
Let us remember you came here touting a collection of secondhand rewritten, interpolated, translated, re translated, rewritten to please a king, primitive tales as "Great Literature".
Apart from the fact that many of the themes in these books are appalling (infanticide, genocide, murder, mayhem, torture and incest) they are not written particularly well and with a complete disregard for historical accuracy.
The second anthology of tales deals with a fictional character capable of miracles and magic. Yet all the fake and false 1st person accounts disagree in detail and in gross message. The tales span over 3 centuries of effort, alteration, interpolation and rewriting by numerous different copyists and authors. None of the alleged eyewitness accounts are contemporary to the events portrayed.
Just by that measure alone it is not "Great Literature" it is a false account, multiple competing narratives of a fictional series of events that culminate in the death of an individual by torture.
Fifty shades of Grey has a better chance of surviving as literature. Certainly it is more wholesome.
Appeal to authority all you want about your brothers, it just proves that idiocy can run in families.
@OM
Like I said, authenticity or atrocity has no bearing on your normal judgement of fiction books to be great literature. Your bias towards religion makes your windshield so blurry you will result in a fiery crash if you are not careful. Listen. I admit, there is no historical basis for the Bible, there is no truth to the Bible. Jesus didn’t exist, the flood is an exaggeration and Christ didn’t exist. So what? Is truth necessary for a book of fiction? Last I checked the answer was no. The only thing preventing the Bible from being even considered as a great work is your conceited self affirming bias. It’s sad really. A true “scholar” admits what is true. An amateur like yourself pretends to be about facts except when it is about the religion he disagrees with the most. Put aside the fact that you were raped by a priest. That doesn’t bother us. But don’t use that as annexcuse to ignore the truth. That the Bible is a great book.
@ Somebodies hero
Listen you twat: the bible is NOT 'a' book. As I have been at pains to tell you in several posts. The bible is a collection of "books", actually texts.
These texts are all anonymous, collated in various volumes from the 2nd Century onwards, interpolated, altered, rewritten. That alone, never mind the content, is enough to make the title "Great Literature" meaningless. The texts are wildly disparate, from bare lists to works of fantasy. Evan as an anthology it wouldn't rate because of the differences in literary quality of the components.
Now, pick one text from either of the two anthologies comprising the modern (translated, retranslated, altered, truncated) bible and tell me how you judge it to be "Great Literature"
I wouldn't pick that text full of begats as it is just a genealogical list, and non too accurate to boot...so go for it. Pick a text you think is "Great Literature" and we can apply some standards to it.
So far all you have displayed is woeful ignorance and a regurgitation of pulpit oratory. Your ad hominems and plain insults are immaterial as they come from such a sadly undeveloped mind.
@Old man shouts ... If he is Christian, he can not tell a lie, That's why he said he WENT to university. Not that he graduated. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ,,,,,,,
*Wiping tears from my eyes.* And if it was a CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY did it have any sort of accreditation at all? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ......
Okay, let's pretend you actually did study Chemistry. Please tell us the chemical composition of the soul. THAT WAY WE CAN FIND IT.
@ Cog
Ha Ha.
That is actually a good question though, I have no idea what the soul would be made of.
@ Nobody's Hero
Bold text. Either prove this assertion, or shut the fuck up. I have never proclaimed to be smartest in the world as you just did with this assertion. So where do you in comparison to Chris Langen?
And I seriously doubt you ever went to university. You did say you have a B.S. I am fairly certain you typoed the hell out that one. You should have said your full of B.S. You would have been more accurate.
BTW: Look at who was the first to sink to the level of ad hominem. Do you even know what it means? Me, the best I have done until now was ad quotum.
I am sorry. All those possibly brilliant minds wasted. And no wonder. Most of y'all's studies were in the Liberal Arts. The profound section of college proficient at nothing more than further cementing of wasted intelligence. Y'all should have gone into Physical Sciences half of the university.
Your apparent education as you bragged about is paramount as a valid point. If you show that you ain't educated, then we can understand why you are a Religious Absolutist. However, since you are supposed educated, you left us wondering why. Of course, we know that you focused into the Liberal Arts. The half of college education that requires almost no critical thinking, logical and deductive reasoning, and rational and analytical thought in order to obtain a Baccalaureate. And you said your's was a B.S. If you mean Baccalaureate of Science, then you abbreviated incorrectly. It is "BSc." Not Bull Shit.
This is because I guarantee those people are not Religious Absolutists as you are.
And you are the one who is wrong. Cannot have any kind productive anything without a formal education.
rmfr
&arakish
This is the SADDEST attempt at a rebuttal that I have ever seen. My whole point in my response was that my education should not be considered. Yet even after I told you my education level, your entire response to that was that you didn’t believe me.
IF YOU ARE A HUMAN. IF YOU DO NOT SEE THE DISINGENUOUS COMMENTS OF THE ATHEIST ARAKISH, then there is no hope. I just told you my education level and your response is to insinuate that I’m lying. Sooooo fuckinggggg sad. Seriously. This is why there is no remedy between religious and non religious. DO NOT FOE A SECOND BLAME THE RELIGIOUS. IT IS THE ATHEIST WHO IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY.
I really feel bad for you tho Arakish. I’d be frustrated all of the time if I was a fucking moron too. No judgement.
@ Nobody's Hero
And you accused me of ad hominem attacks. Look who the actual liar is. All I ever did was ad quotum on your crap. Do you even know what "ad hominem" and "ad quotum" mean?
Now who is the disingenuous and fucking sad Religious Absolutist? If you think the Bible is so great, proselytise somewhere else. We've heard all the bullshit lies from many, many different theists already. This post was the most depressing and pathetic post I have ever seen. A supposed college educated Religious Absolutist who sinks down to the same level as all the other low life theists. This is what is truly sad.
OK. Education no longer considered since you ain't got any. Any assertions calling the Bible the "greatest" piece of literature can only be made by a complete moron. If the shoe fits…
How am I to believe something when the way a person writes his/her thoughts are worse than a Kindergartener's writing level? Start writing as if you did earn a Baccalaureate and I might take that bullshit and horse hoowhee you write seriously. But if it is still bullshit, I won't.
One cannot take a person's writing seriously if all they throw out is brain diarrhea.
Remember, I speak only the true truth. If you find it offensive, then the problem is yours.
You sir, are a failure at fact checking yourself and your logical fallacies and presupposed assumptive assertions and confirmation bias.
The only disenfranchisement going on here is yours. If you wish to call my comments disingenuous, then provide proof. Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat.
No insinuation. Plain truth. If you did get a Baccalaureate, it is actually a BA, NOT a BSc. Else you'd be able to show evidence of critical thinking, logical and deductive reasoning, and rational and analytical thought.
At least you did get one thing correct so far. Long way to go since you are 1 out of a 100. 99% wrong. Must be embarrasing.
Yes. Science and Religion shall NEVER be reconciled. Science is based on evidence, truth, and facts. Religion is based on faith, lies, and forgeries. Thus, irreconcilable diferences.
Who is the moron? The one who believes an anthology of plagiarized lies? Or one who has NEVER believed that bundle of Holy Toilet Paper?
And as you have done I have not. I have never bragged in this thread about educated I am. Don't need to. Why? Because I am the stupidest one here. Ask all the others.
What think y'all? Ain't I the stupidest person here?
rmfr
You're the one who is stalking atheists, in a sad attempt at trolling.
SomeBODIEShero "I’d be frustrated all of the time if I was a fucking moron"
That explains the evident frustration in your posts then.
"This is why there is no remedy between religious and non religious."
That's because the religious choose to believe in archaic superstitious fairy tales, and atheists don't.
@ Nobody's Hero
You call them weak only because they are actually so strong you CANNOT refute them. Cannot respect someone gullible enough to believe lies are truth, or great literature.
What ad hominem attacks? Prove it.
It does not matter even if it is fake? Really? Are you truly that thick?
If it were "fake," then the problem would have been solved centuries ago. Think Critically about it.
However, since the Bible is nothing more than:
Since the Bible is nothing but lies used by megalomaniacal psychotic sociopaths to help control the population, that is what makes the Bible as horrible, abhorrent, gruesome, dangerous, frightful, appalling, and disturbing piece of literary bullshit ever created.
Books that make the Bible look like the piece of toilet paper it is.
JRR Tolien's Middle-Earth
Stephen R Donalson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series
Robert A Heilein's Stranger in a Strange Land
Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth
Geoge RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire
any book written by Stephen Hawking
anything done by Carl Sagan
the writings of Alan Turing
I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and … … … … ad infintum.
Basically, anything written by anyone is better than anyting in the Bible. Hell, even the books and writings yet to be created are already infinitely greater literary works than the Bible shall ever be, no matter how times it is re-written and re-translated.
There is ABSOLUTELY nothing beneficial within the Bible. ABSOLUTELY nothing. Never has been. Never shall be.
No. The Bible never qualifies as "fiction" since it is nothing but plagiarized lies. There is a huge difference. Think Critically about it.
Yes. All Bibles, Qu'rans, Bhagavad Gitas, etc., etc., etc. should be burned and never remembered. Persons who believe in these books, well, I cannot say because it would be in violation of forum guidelines. Use your imagination. Oh, I forget, you don't have imagination due to the RAIP you have suffered.
rmfr
I think the problem with your argument is that you attempt to highlight the fiction aspect in order to make the atrocities element seem immaterial: the fact is, hundreds of millions of people throughout history have believed it to be true, and have committed atrocities as a result. A central message of the New Testament is that most of humanity will be tortured for humanity: and yet you try to attempt to paint it as a great work of humane insight ("Even if you don't believe it has any historical merit, there are many wonderful things written in its' pages. There is deep insight into human psychology, family, love, life, and humanity itself.")
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