THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK - Negativity defines me

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Re: Negativity defines me

I find it extremely odd that someone who reads the bible is interested in Ligotti's works. Then, my question: why could someone read Ligotti, and at the same time read the bible?

This is probably the most despairing fact that I found in Ligotti.net today. When I read the above comments I felt that not even in the most secluded and darkest pages of the internet one can get rid of the idea of an omnipresent god, and his followers. Looks like erroneous concepts like god, evil angels, satan, after-life, have already poisoned so many lives... beyond any possible cure.

Re: Negativity defines me

I personally love reading the Bible, but that does not mean i believe in everything written in it. It is like reading mythology to me.

Re: Negativity defines me

Quote:

Originally Posted by Odalisque (Post 22800)

Quote:

Originally Posted by paeng (Post 22792)

I've several versions of the Bible...

When I got it home, I found to my astonishment that it bore the stamp of the church my mother attended in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

Oh, I spent 3 months in Leigh-on-Sea in 1998, as an au-pair girl! You used to live there?

Re: Negativity defines me

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilsa (Post 22893)

I personally love reading the Bible, but that does not mean i believe in everything written in it. It is like reading mythology to me.

By any chance, and from your words, they may suggest that you also love reading mythology, Have you read "The Popol Vuh" (secret book of the Mayas), the Egyptian Book of The Dead, the Babylonian Job poem, Theogony by Hesiod, among others?

I find very suspicious the fact that someone like reading mythology but the only book always quoted is the bible. What about the other books? For example, the myth of Eden, and the Deluge, just copies of texts from "the Epic of Gilgamesh", and not the word from god. I always hear from people the same song, "I'm not religious, I'm not Christian, I'm nihilist, but I read the bible (sometimes)". What do they think I think when I heard that?

The problem with reading the bible as if it were another mythology book is that it is still active mythology. No one is going to think that because I read the Popol Vuh I believe on what it is written there, but if someone says: "I often read the bible". Why do I think that the person may believe on its words? And this is very dangerous, Why? Well, there is a case on the news nowadays in Canada about something that happened in the States: a madman killing a doctor for legally practicing abortion. You may guess that the fellow murderer is Christian, you would be right. Worst of all, thousand of letters of other Christians stand for him. I never forget the look of so many religious people (mostly Christians) when I say I'm not baptized, neither are my two kids. Or, when I say: "I don't believe in God", they look at me like saying "he is an idiot". Perhaps I am for another reason, but not for my atheism, which is shared by 5 % or more of 7 billion people.

Re: Negativity defines me

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Originally Posted by Russell Nash (Post 22912)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilsa (Post 22893)

I personally love reading the Bible, but that does not mean i believe in everything written in it. It is like reading mythology to me.

You ARE very sospicious! And yes, i've read The Popol Vuh, the Egyptian Book of The Dead, the Tibetan book of The Dead, and you forgot greek mythology, the Eddas and the Avesta and and and.
I just quoted the Bible because I thought that was the topic of the discussion.
I don't think religion or the Bible are dangerous. Ignorance and stupidity are, and I think that is what make people behave the way you describe. Give them another sacred book, any other belief and they'll act and think the same way.
The Bible itself is not dangerous.

Re: Negativity defines me

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell Nash (Post 22912)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilsa (Post 22893)

I personally love reading the Bible, but that does not mean i believe in everything written in it. It is like reading mythology to me.

I never forget the look of so many religious people (mostly Christians) when I say I'm not baptized, neither are my two kids

By the way I am not baptized either. And I live in Italy....you know...the Pope, all that bull####. How do you think they look at me? Big deal, i don't feel offended or frightened at all.

Re: Negativity defines me

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilsa (Post 22893)

I personally love reading the Bible, but that does not mean i believe in everything written in it. It is like reading mythology to me.

I, too, love reading the Bible. Anyone interested in the evolution of the English language and its expressive possibilities cannot ignore the King James Bible. From a purely linguistic point of view, the Bible contains passages of dazzling poetic flight. The Book of Ruth, for example, features an intensity of prose that is breathtaking in scope: "And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves..." I feel sorry for any writer who would deny himself these poetic gems--besides which, the Bible constitutes an education in English grammar and syntax... and for those who are lacking in this area, the Bible is well worth studying.

Re: Negativity defines me

I read somewhere that the Bible, Shakespeare, and Lewis Carroll's Alice books are the most referenced books in Western Literature. A knowledge of these books can only enhance your reading experience.

Re: Negativity defines me

Unfortunately, the following conversation between Ernesto Sábato and Jorge Luis Borges (two of the best Argentine writers) is in Spanish.

Taringa! - DiÃ¡logos entre Borges y SÃ¡bato (2da Parte)

Barone: ¿Y que opina de Dios, Borges?
Barone: ¿And what do you think about God, Borges?

Borges: (Solemnemente irónico) Es la máxima creación de la literatura fantástica! Lo que imaginaron Wells, Kafka o Poe no es nada comparado con lo que imaginó la teología. La idea de un ser perfecto, omnipotente, todopoderoso es realmente fantástica.
Borges: (Solemnly ironic) It is the highest creation of fantasy! What Wells, Kafka or Poe thought is nothing compared to what theology has imagined. The idea of a perfect, omnipotent, almighty being is really fantastic.

[...]

Sábato: Pero dígame, Borges, si no cree en Dios ¿por qué escribe tantas historias teológicas?
Sábato: But tell me, Borges, if you don't believe in God, why do you write so many theological stories?

Borges: Es que creo en la teología como literatura fantástica. Es la perfección del género.
Borges: I just believe that theology is fantastic literature. It is the perfection of the genre.

Re: Negativity defines me

J. L. Borges also said, but I can't find the quote right now, that the mere idea that a Christian god is one and three at the same time was also part of a fantastic literature.