Favorite book of the Old Testament?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tomarin
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Nehemiah-- – I love it because of the story, the humanity, the earnestness of Ezra and the way we can identify with the people–
 
I like the stories in Genesis.

In this day and age I most identify with Jeremiah, all doom and gloom, with a long term hopeful future. I think he’s the most relevant.

Incidentally I haven’t been rostered to proclaim the Word for a while as the masses have changed their timeslots, but I found the Old Testament readings as a rule lent themselves to dramatization more readily than the NT readings. So if you want to practice your speechcraft, stick with the old time boys.👍
 
My second favorite OT Book is Genesis Because it it here that we can gain the understanging that Archbishop Fulton revealed that the bile is NOT about “man’s searching for a relationship with God [although that too is true] rather it is about God searching for a relationship with man.” Gen. 1: 26-27.
 
I love Psalms it is inspireing and beautiful. I can recite 22 or so Psalms. I can’t use english punctuations good but I can read and recite. I go about in the day and recite diferent psalms, but I can only do the KJV because that is the way I learned them:D love of Christ Nancy
 
Recently, Book of Hosea is my favorite.
It is the undying love of God for me, even as I betray Him.

Tak
 
I think Ecclesiasticus is good starting point to read the O.T.; it was the first book I read on the Bible, after I become curious when someone read a snippet of the text on TV. After I read Ecclesiasticus, I went reading the Gospels on N.T.
 
Yes! Eccleastics, is very good I like chapter 12 verse 6+7 because we know even back then they believed you went to God and didn’t sleep in the cold ground. Praise Jesus! Nancy:)
 
paulonei said:
I think Ecclesiasticus is good starting point to read the O.T.; it was the first book I read on the Bible, after I become curious when someone read a snippet of the text on TV. After I read Ecclesiasticus, I went reading the Gospels on N.T.
Click to expand...
Welcome to CAF I hope you have a wonderful experience here God Bless You Nancy;)
 
Bob_Crowley said:
I like the stories in Genesis.

In this day and age I most identify with Jeremiah, all doom and gloom, with a long term hopeful future. I think he’s the most relevant.

Incidentally I haven’t been rostered to proclaim the Word for a while as the masses have changed their timeslots, but I found the Old Testament readings as a rule lent themselves to dramatization more readily than the NT readings. So if you want to practice your speechcraft, stick with the old time boys.👍
Click to expand...
:)Bob Crowley, God Bless You I hope you have a great experience at CAF Love of Christ Nancy
 
annejohno said:
Nehemiah-- – I love it because of the story, the humanity, the earnestness of Ezra and the way we can identify with the people–
Click to expand...
Welcome annejohno, I hope your stay will increase your knowledge You are Loved Nancy
 
GOSH, SO MUCH BRUTALITY!
Code: 
 I hesitate to write this because it could annoy many posters. There are beautiful parts to the Old Testament, but so much of it is filled with violence, a spirit of hatred, killing the innocent, an attitude of racial and religious superiority and mythology that there are huge portions of it that don't deserve the title of "the Word of God! etc.

  Just a few examples. Many of the Psalms are inspirational, and I have memorized several. However, other Psalms are full of bitterness and bigotry. Consider, as one example, Psalm 137:9 - "Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." Does anyone see anything of Christ in that verse?

   Or, what about Esther. Not one mention of God in the entire book. Okay, we can admire the courage of Esther in her successful effort to save the Hebrew people. But what about the slaughter of thousands upon thousands in revenge.

    Then, in the historical books, we find gross atrocities. How God allegedly ordered Joshua to slay everybody in Jericho, Ai and elsewhere. How God allegedly commanded Saul to murder every last Amalekite. Does anyone find the spirit of Christ in such brutal ethnic cleansing? Sounds more like Hitler than Jesus.

     We could go on and on. All sorts of mythology in Genesis, of course - at least the first 11 chapters. God created different languages because man built the Tower of Babel? Give me a break. And Noah built that ark and two of every animal got on board? Silly. Besides, what kind of God would drown all the rest of humanity, including babies - some still in the womb. 

      David is praised because "Saul has killed his thousands but David his ten thousands!" And that 'great king' steals another man's wife and deliberately sends the poor guy off to battle to be killed so he can add her to his harem  If Madoff deserves 150 years, David deserved at least that much. Instead he is still hailed as Israel's most heralded monarch. Rubbish! And how did having 1000 wives and 600 concubines help make Solomon 'wiser than all men'? And we excuse that but get upset about renegade Mormons and their 3-4 wives today!

     Probably the best parts of the OT are some of the prophetic passages which condemn war, the oppression of the poor, corruption and other social evils.

    Christians need to stop swallowing scriptures that are filled with violence, superstition, misinformation, and other nonsense. Yes, there is considerable wisdom there, too - rather like refining valuable minerals by first discarding the sludge.
 
I personally don’t know which parts of the OT are literal and which parts are allegorical- like a 6 day creation of earth for example. Or always what parts of the Bible are documenting merely documenting something or it is God’s feelings. I like Karl Barth’s answer to someone who asked him on whether a real serpent really talked to Eve in the garden. He answered that he would worry less on if the serpent spoke and focus more on the words the serpent said. Call me sick but I like the prayer that is found in Psalm 137 about dashing their enemies’ babies heads among the rocks. Not because I think that is God’s intentions, but it’s a reminder that I’m not the only person who has prayed an unrighteous prayer, but God is patient with me. The story of Abraham willing to sacrifice his son bothered me, until I learned in Jewish midrash, that child sacrifice was very common and accepted in Canaan. It wouldn’t have been an unusual request at all from a ‘god’. By God stopping Abraham’s hand, God was saying that the common practice of child sacrifice was not acceptable, YHWH isn’t like the other false gods of the land.
I like the book of Judges. It shows no matter how lost mankind can get, God doesn’t forget us. I like Deuteronomy too. It talks about the ‘heart’ behind the law that was given.
 
Roy5 said:
GOSH, SO MUCH BRUTALITY!
Code: 
 Yes, there is considerable wisdom there, too - rather like refining valuable minerals by first discarding the sludge.
Click to expand...
I have to agree with you on this one. I used to be a part of a ‘hard-core’ elistist heavy strong evangelism Protestant group, that justified being harsh with people and self-righteous. A person with emotional problems will definitely get a much different interpretation of the Scriptures than a healthy person. I think the Bible can be dangerous in the wrong hands.
 
Roy5 said:
GOSH, SO MUCH BRUTALITY!
there are huge portions of it that don’t deserve the title of "the Word of God! etc.
Click to expand...
That was interesting…I’ve been feeling the same way this week with the story of
Abraham and Sarah, etc… why should we have to look up to them?

But you didn’t mention, what is your favorite OT Book? After you said all this, it
would be interesting to know…
 
My favorite OT book
Code: 
Hm! That's a difficult question. I probably find more inspiration in the Psalms than anywhere else, so that would be my choice overall. At the same time, some of my favorite passages are in the prophets - e. g., verses from Isaiah 40, Micah 6:8, Amos 5:21-24. As a drama (not to be taken literally, of course), I have always liked Job.

 The Catholic Church has 9 more books in the OT than I knew as a child, so I'm not as familiar with those books, though I am generally acquainted with their content. Now, please remember two things: (1) those 9 books are often included in many Protestant Bibles as the Apocrypha; (2) the Protestant Old Testament contains the identifical OT scriptures that you will find in the Bible in your neigborhood synagogue. And St. Jerome of Vulgate fame, I believe, felt that the 9 should not be included in the official canon. Personally, I don't care either way, but I think that to argue over that issue is a waste of time.
 
Ezekiel is my favorite. There is so much imagery, almost as much as in Revelations. As a visual person and a painter, I love the stories that could be told with pictures the best. Genesis is good for that, along with Tobit and Daniel (with the Apocrypha parts kept in). My least favorite is Leviticus…🙂
 
Roy5 said:
GOSH, SO MUCH BRUTALITY!
Code: 
 I hesitate to write this because it could annoy many posters. There are beautiful parts to the Old Testament, but so much of it is filled with violence, a spirit of hatred, killing the innocent, an attitude of racial and religious superiority and mythology that there are huge portions of it that don't deserve the title of "the Word of God! etc.

  Just a few examples. Many of the Psalms are inspirational, and I have memorized several. However, other Psalms are full of bitterness and bigotry. Consider, as one example, Psalm 137:9 - "Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." Does anyone see anything of Christ in that verse?

   Or, what about Esther. Not one mention of God in the entire book. Okay, we can admire the courage of Esther in her successful effort to save the Hebrew people. But what about the slaughter of thousands upon thousands in revenge.

    Then, in the historical books, we find gross atrocities. How God allegedly ordered Joshua to slay everybody in Jericho, Ai and elsewhere. How God allegedly commanded Saul to murder every last Amalekite. Does anyone find the spirit of Christ in such brutal ethnic cleansing? Sounds more like Hitler than Jesus.

     We could go on and on. All sorts of mythology in Genesis, of course - at least the first 11 chapters. God created different languages because man built the Tower of Babel? Give me a break. And Noah built that ark and two of every animal got on board? Silly. Besides, what kind of God would drown all the rest of humanity, including babies - some still in the womb. 

      David is praised because "Saul has killed his thousands but David his ten thousands!" And that 'great king' steals another man's wife and deliberately sends the poor guy off to battle to be killed so he can add her to his harem  If Madoff deserves 150 years, David deserved at least that much. Instead he is still hailed as Israel's most heralded monarch. Rubbish! And how did having 1000 wives and 600 concubines help make Solomon 'wiser than all men'? And we excuse that but get upset about renegade Mormons and their 3-4 wives today!

     Probably the best parts of the OT are some of the prophetic passages which condemn war, the oppression of the poor, corruption and other social evils.

    Christians need to stop swallowing scriptures that are filled with violence, superstition, misinformation, and other nonsense. Yes, there is considerable wisdom there, too - rather like refining valuable minerals by first discarding the sludge.
Click to expand...
Psalm 137:1-4
The writer of this Psalm, whose name is unknown, drew up a form of lamentation, that by giving expression to their sufferings in sighs and prayers, they might keep alive the hope of that…
biblestudyguide.org
 
Eric_Prine said:
I personally don’t know which parts of the OT are literal and which parts are allegorical- like a 6 day creation of earth for example. Or always what parts of the Bible are documenting merely documenting something or it is God’s feelings. I like Karl Barth’s answer to someone who asked him on whether a real serpent really talked to Eve in the garden. He answered that he would worry less on if the serpent spoke and focus more on the words the serpent said. Call me sick but I like the prayer that is found in Psalm 137 about dashing their enemies’ babies heads among the rocks. Not because I think that is God’s intentions, but it’s a reminder that I’m not the only person who has prayed an unrighteous prayer, but God is patient with me. The story of Abraham willing to sacrifice his son bothered me, until I learned in Jewish midrash, that child sacrifice was very common and accepted in Canaan. It wouldn’t have been an unusual request at all from a ‘god’. By God stopping Abraham’s hand, God was saying that the common practice of child sacrifice was not acceptable, YHWH isn’t like the other false gods of the land.
I like the book of Judges. It shows no matter how lost mankind can get, God doesn’t forget us. I like Deuteronomy too. It talks about the ‘heart’ behind the law that was given.
Click to expand...
:)Hello EricPrine, Welcome to CAF and I like the way you think. We have all said some selfish prayers to Father some time in our life and people thought alot differnt back then and their laws were alot stranger to us because we never knew them we just read about them and we take and do alot of surmising instead of studying, like we should. I have made the same assumption and I still have difficulties with the old testemant until I learn it and learn to appreciate it. i am trying and I know we believe with Faith, and we know God is Love and that is what is most important about the bible. Love. In all things we should love,if we can master that we are still only half there. you are Loved Nancy
 
I think this is nice also:🙂

1 Corinthians 13

Other translations of this chapter: NASV / NKJV / NIV Chapter 13
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Love of Christ Nancy
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top