The Bible's literary sins

from theblogbooks - Sam Jordison

Whether its central character exists or not is beside the point - the Christian scriptures are a barely readable mess.

Contrary to popular belief, the Bible is not a good book. I'm not talking in a moral sense and it's not my purpose to discuss its malign social influence, scientific absurdity, historical implausibility and the rather sordid origins of Christian orthodoxy. There's been plenty of that kind of thing recently from Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. I'm talking about the book purely as one that an intelligent person may enjoy reading, or (discounting the pretty slim possibility that labouring through the Testaments may win you a pass card through to heaven) find rewarding.

The literary quality of the Bible is an issue that I think is worth addressing. Firstly, there's the simple point that if the Bible really were the word of God, you'd think that He would be able to make it more interesting. Secondly, there's a war being waged against reason at the moment and it's gone time that reason started landing a few punches of its own. Why not freely state the obvious, but hitherto rarely mentioned, truth? The Good Book is not, as is so often suggested, a damn good read. It's crap. If the two Testaments tell the greatest story ever told, I am a monkey (and not just the distant descendant of one).

Now, I'm aware that saying the Bible is crap rather a crude statement. So, let me introduce a few points to qualify my basic assertion.

Finish the thought here ...

Actually, I've read through it. It's not an easy read nor is it a particularly enlightening read ... at least not in the way it was intended. It found the Tao Te Ching much more spiritual, peaceful, and enlightening (in the way it was intended).

The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.


The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.

Hold on to the center.