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Holy Bible with the Apocrypha
The Holy Bible New Revised Standard VersionThe NRSV Standard Bible utilizes a unique blend of text formats that are designed for ease of reading and greater reader comprehension of the various literary forms embodied in the scriptures. This resource features a single column text in the prose sections and double columns in the poetic sections (Psalms, Proverbs, wisdom books, and Minor Prophets). The NRSV is the most trusted, most accepted, and most accurate English translation of the Bible available today.
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* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 117 reviews
May 8, 2023
not enough gay sex. plus the main character dies.
January 27, 2011
I mean it's the bible. Sooo not giving it a bad review.
January 2, 2021
During 2020 I read the Bible in a year (actually I started in October of 2019). It was a whirlwind spiritual experience. Keeping a good pace through the Bible informed my devotional reading of smaller sections which I read during prayer times. It also gave context as world events unfolded through the year. There was a lot I did not absorb during this schedule (Deuteronomy in particular), but I expect my understanding to grow on a second reading.
I am looking forward to rereading the Bible in 2021 using the same schedule. It takes about 4 chapters a day to do it. My father suggested an order which fit beautifully and unexpectedly with the liturgical year. Job during Lent and Holy Week was an enlightening experience, Leviticus held some liturgical surprises for Candlemas, and starting Esther on my birthday was a treat, not to mention the apocalyptic feel of the Maccabees during the end of the liturgical year. Reading Malachi during Christmas, I found words from "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" which I'd never noticed in the Bible before. And then ending the year with the last 4 Psalms, Psalms of thanksgiving and praise was fitting and right.
Basically the order I read was (with a section of Psalms read after finishing 2 books):
Gen
1 Th
Ex
2 Th
Lev
Gal
Num
1 Cor
Deut
2 Cor
Josh
Rom
Judg
Heb
Job
Eph
Ruth
Matt
1 Sam
Phil
2 Sam
Col
1 K
1 Tim
2 K
2 Tim
1 Chr
Titus
2 Chr
Phmn
Prov
Jam
Eccl
Mark
Song
Luke
Wis
Acts
Sir
1 Pet
Is
2 Pet
Jer
Jude
Lam
John
Bar
Rev
Ezek
1 John
Ezra
2John
Neh
3 John
Tobit
1 Macc
Judith
2 Macc
Esth
Dan
Hos
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Hab
Zeph
Haggai
Zech
Mal
I am looking forward to rereading the Bible in 2021 using the same schedule. It takes about 4 chapters a day to do it. My father suggested an order which fit beautifully and unexpectedly with the liturgical year. Job during Lent and Holy Week was an enlightening experience, Leviticus held some liturgical surprises for Candlemas, and starting Esther on my birthday was a treat, not to mention the apocalyptic feel of the Maccabees during the end of the liturgical year. Reading Malachi during Christmas, I found words from "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" which I'd never noticed in the Bible before. And then ending the year with the last 4 Psalms, Psalms of thanksgiving and praise was fitting and right.
Basically the order I read was (with a section of Psalms read after finishing 2 books):
Gen
1 Th
Ex
2 Th
Lev
Gal
Num
1 Cor
Deut
2 Cor
Josh
Rom
Judg
Heb
Job
Eph
Ruth
Matt
1 Sam
Phil
2 Sam
Col
1 K
1 Tim
2 K
2 Tim
1 Chr
Titus
2 Chr
Phmn
Prov
Jam
Eccl
Mark
Song
Luke
Wis
Acts
Sir
1 Pet
Is
2 Pet
Jer
Jude
Lam
John
Bar
Rev
Ezek
1 John
Ezra
2John
Neh
3 John
Tobit
1 Macc
Judith
2 Macc
Esth
Dan
Hos
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Hab
Zeph
Haggai
Zech
Mal
September 13, 2021
It's not an easy read. A lot of the book just drones endlessly on political conquests.
So many concepts in the book have probably prevented mankind's progress by centuries. For example, it is deeply and uncompromisingly sexist and homophobic.
What really interested me, the part about Jesus ( the new testament) was such a blatant contradiction to everything that happened before him. The irony being, that everything that was before him, among the Jews, was in accordance with his father's ( God's) exacting laws ( ref leviticus) .
And then Jesus comes and attempts to change the landscape.
Post Jesus, his followers somehow managed to expand the religion to everyone, not just the Jews, the irony being, Jesus was very explicit in saying that he has come only for the redemption of the Jews ( the lost lambs of Israel), everyone else with faith in him was likened to a dog eating the crumbs that fell off the table.
The Jesus story constitutes hardly 15 percent of the entirety of the book and is very repetitive in the 4 Gospels .
Bottom line is , if you have faith, good for you, you can continue reading very select passages from here, without context and feel inspired and motivated and feel the hands of God carrying you out of adversity.
If you don't and you hope to get some faith, please don't read the book in its entirety, its just disturbing.
And lastly if you have no faith and your reading out of an academic interest or just curiosity, choose something else, it's at best, badly written literature (atleast most of it, you can't completely generalise because its a compilation of books), at worst it's a tool used throughout the centuries, to further people's selfish motives in all aspects of human existence.
So many concepts in the book have probably prevented mankind's progress by centuries. For example, it is deeply and uncompromisingly sexist and homophobic.
What really interested me, the part about Jesus ( the new testament) was such a blatant contradiction to everything that happened before him. The irony being, that everything that was before him, among the Jews, was in accordance with his father's ( God's) exacting laws ( ref leviticus) .
And then Jesus comes and attempts to change the landscape.
Post Jesus, his followers somehow managed to expand the religion to everyone, not just the Jews, the irony being, Jesus was very explicit in saying that he has come only for the redemption of the Jews ( the lost lambs of Israel), everyone else with faith in him was likened to a dog eating the crumbs that fell off the table.
The Jesus story constitutes hardly 15 percent of the entirety of the book and is very repetitive in the 4 Gospels .
Bottom line is , if you have faith, good for you, you can continue reading very select passages from here, without context and feel inspired and motivated and feel the hands of God carrying you out of adversity.
If you don't and you hope to get some faith, please don't read the book in its entirety, its just disturbing.
And lastly if you have no faith and your reading out of an academic interest or just curiosity, choose something else, it's at best, badly written literature (atleast most of it, you can't completely generalise because its a compilation of books), at worst it's a tool used throughout the centuries, to further people's selfish motives in all aspects of human existence.
December 15, 2024
Finished this after spending 3 years with Father Mike Schmitz’s Bible In A Year podcast!! Bittersweet to be done but good thing you can read this over and over again forever :’)
October 10, 2022
book of job was… interesting. A lot of parallels to Islamic viewpoints of suffering and questioning the reasons behind it.
December 29, 2022
Woohoo! Thanks Fr Mike!
January 30, 2025
Who rated the Bible less than 5 stars
Your cushioned kneeler privileges are revoked 😔
Your cushioned kneeler privileges are revoked 😔
April 27, 2024
So it has been 40 years since I have read the Bible all the way through. Then I wanted to believe it, now I just wanted to see what it says. It has been a pretty strange trip. There is a lot in there I recall, and a lot of surprises, in the Old Testament mostly.
I read "Cry the Beloved Country" last year and there was a character named Absalom. I knew the name was from the Old Testament and I wanted to see if it was a reference to events in the novel and did not know the Bible story. Turns out Absalom is a son of King David, the David and Goliath guy, whose story is written about in 1st and 2nd Samuel. Really, the life of David in the Hebrew Bible is a heck of a story. War, victory, lust, deception, defeat, David was portrayed as fully human with all the faults and all the greatness that can be in a man. I enjoyed the story so much I thought, "what the heck, why not read the whole bible?" and bought a copy of the New Revised Standard Version translation.
The NRSV wasn't around when I was trying so hard to believe Christianity. I was in a very young progressive church and we used the New American Standard Bible, a very literal and artless translation, often quite clunky. We were taught the New International Version was heretical and the King James was outdated. When I was casting around for a translation for this reading, the NRSV started to stand out to me quite a bit, the preferred English translation of scholars and the like, I read some of it online and found a new copy online for 10 bucks and shipping so I got it.
I had read the New Testament in a New English Bible last year and loved how smoothly it read. I have also over the years read quite a bit of Shakespeare and the King James was the English translation quoted in all of my favorite literature. The King Jimmy is a literary joy, but not a precise a translation as the NRSV. I have listed the NRSV here, but read books of the Bible in many translations this reading, including the Holman Christian Standard Bible on my Kindle, The Revised Standard, and the King James as well. I also found a nice hardbound copy of the NIV at the Goodwill for $1.84. I read most of Acts in that, it seemed fine, a little bland maybe.
This time, when I got to the New Testament, I read that in the order of the dates the books were supposed to have been written, not the traditional order found in today's Bible. The earliest written books are some of the letters of Paul for example, and Mark is the oldest Gospel. Read that way, you can see the progression of the claims made in the New Testament. It was very interesting that way. Full disclosure here, I actually did not finish the NT this time around. I read a New English Bible New Testament last year, and I didn't feel as if finishing would gain any knowledge right now. I also got tired of seeing that Bible on my Goodreads page.
I am a non-believer in anything of a supernatural nature. I won't pretend I know there is nothing supernatural, but in my life I have encountered nothing that was without simple natural explanation. That is part of the reason I left the church I was a part of as a young man, and any subsequent reading in the Christian Bible since then has done nothing to convince me otherwise. But as the background for much of the philosophical aspects of our society, I think the Bible is an important book to read. I will say that very little about Christianity as it is practiced in the United States of America in the 21st century comes from the Christian Bible. Also, there is some truly horrific stuff in the Old Testament. The culture those writings came from is not one I think should be emulated, the misogyny and rape and slavery found there are unacceptable now.
I have to recommend this to any literary reader though, especially the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the old Testament. Lots of literary themes come from there, it is like going home for a literary reader. Some big chunks are boring, it is true, and I had no problem skimming now and again. I read a lot of Wiki articles about the different books to make sure I was mostly understanding everything and there was a helpful youtube channel bibleproject, with animations that helped explain stuff in a very simple way.
This reading has illuminated a very strange thing. Many times I would read about something in the Bible, something unsavory, rape or genocide for example, and then I would see youtube vids and hear Christians go to great lengths to say their Bible does not say what it says. It is just crazy.
But hey, like I said, the NRSV seems to be good, I found a cheap copy. The King James is hard to read, but almost any of the newer translations are pretty much just fine. There used to be all sorts of cheap Bibles at the Goodwill, all sorts of different translations. There are not so many as before for some reason. But almost every single English translation can be found online on one of the Bible sites and there are plenty of free versions for Kindle. You don't have to spend a lot of money for a new Bible. I don't care for the double column format in a lot of Bibles, I like single column with font no smaller than 9, otherwise it is not that easy to read it, for me anyway.
I am done with the Bible and Bible studies for a while I think. I might try reading it in Spanish if I gain any more mastery in the language. I might read the Pentateuch again before too long, fun stuff.
I read "Cry the Beloved Country" last year and there was a character named Absalom. I knew the name was from the Old Testament and I wanted to see if it was a reference to events in the novel and did not know the Bible story. Turns out Absalom is a son of King David, the David and Goliath guy, whose story is written about in 1st and 2nd Samuel. Really, the life of David in the Hebrew Bible is a heck of a story. War, victory, lust, deception, defeat, David was portrayed as fully human with all the faults and all the greatness that can be in a man. I enjoyed the story so much I thought, "what the heck, why not read the whole bible?" and bought a copy of the New Revised Standard Version translation.
The NRSV wasn't around when I was trying so hard to believe Christianity. I was in a very young progressive church and we used the New American Standard Bible, a very literal and artless translation, often quite clunky. We were taught the New International Version was heretical and the King James was outdated. When I was casting around for a translation for this reading, the NRSV started to stand out to me quite a bit, the preferred English translation of scholars and the like, I read some of it online and found a new copy online for 10 bucks and shipping so I got it.
I had read the New Testament in a New English Bible last year and loved how smoothly it read. I have also over the years read quite a bit of Shakespeare and the King James was the English translation quoted in all of my favorite literature. The King Jimmy is a literary joy, but not a precise a translation as the NRSV. I have listed the NRSV here, but read books of the Bible in many translations this reading, including the Holman Christian Standard Bible on my Kindle, The Revised Standard, and the King James as well. I also found a nice hardbound copy of the NIV at the Goodwill for $1.84. I read most of Acts in that, it seemed fine, a little bland maybe.
This time, when I got to the New Testament, I read that in the order of the dates the books were supposed to have been written, not the traditional order found in today's Bible. The earliest written books are some of the letters of Paul for example, and Mark is the oldest Gospel. Read that way, you can see the progression of the claims made in the New Testament. It was very interesting that way. Full disclosure here, I actually did not finish the NT this time around. I read a New English Bible New Testament last year, and I didn't feel as if finishing would gain any knowledge right now. I also got tired of seeing that Bible on my Goodreads page.
I am a non-believer in anything of a supernatural nature. I won't pretend I know there is nothing supernatural, but in my life I have encountered nothing that was without simple natural explanation. That is part of the reason I left the church I was a part of as a young man, and any subsequent reading in the Christian Bible since then has done nothing to convince me otherwise. But as the background for much of the philosophical aspects of our society, I think the Bible is an important book to read. I will say that very little about Christianity as it is practiced in the United States of America in the 21st century comes from the Christian Bible. Also, there is some truly horrific stuff in the Old Testament. The culture those writings came from is not one I think should be emulated, the misogyny and rape and slavery found there are unacceptable now.
I have to recommend this to any literary reader though, especially the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the old Testament. Lots of literary themes come from there, it is like going home for a literary reader. Some big chunks are boring, it is true, and I had no problem skimming now and again. I read a lot of Wiki articles about the different books to make sure I was mostly understanding everything and there was a helpful youtube channel bibleproject, with animations that helped explain stuff in a very simple way.
This reading has illuminated a very strange thing. Many times I would read about something in the Bible, something unsavory, rape or genocide for example, and then I would see youtube vids and hear Christians go to great lengths to say their Bible does not say what it says. It is just crazy.
But hey, like I said, the NRSV seems to be good, I found a cheap copy. The King James is hard to read, but almost any of the newer translations are pretty much just fine. There used to be all sorts of cheap Bibles at the Goodwill, all sorts of different translations. There are not so many as before for some reason. But almost every single English translation can be found online on one of the Bible sites and there are plenty of free versions for Kindle. You don't have to spend a lot of money for a new Bible. I don't care for the double column format in a lot of Bibles, I like single column with font no smaller than 9, otherwise it is not that easy to read it, for me anyway.
I am done with the Bible and Bible studies for a while I think. I might try reading it in Spanish if I gain any more mastery in the language. I might read the Pentateuch again before too long, fun stuff.
January 30, 2024
Great book. I switched to esv in the New Testament 😎
I’ll die in 70 years at most. All that is done for Christ and His Kingdom will last.
I’ll die in 70 years at most. All that is done for Christ and His Kingdom will last.
December 19, 2020
I read the Bible every year, in different versions. The NRSV Bible is the official version of the United Methodist Church, of which I am a member. But I have to say, that I love all the different iterations in recent years! ATM, my favorite is a series from TheBibleProject.org which has amazing mini-lectures, with drawings, to pull together all the parts into one amazing story.
June 14, 2020
I love this digital edition of the Catholic Bible. I bought it because it was the translation used in the Bible Study that I was facilitating. It's easy to navigate (perfect for Bible Study) and I can highlight and enter notes. Having my 'Bible' right there on my phone is perfect!
December 31, 2020
It took a year, but I finished the New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible. I had vowed for years to read it and finally found one that I was able to comprehend. It was an overwhelming task, one that I devoted time to every morning. I did it!
Read
January 13, 2019It took me 10 months, but I read it all. Truly an endlessly interesting marvel. There is no wonder it has captured the hearts of billions over millennia.
May 19, 2022
It says anonymous but the author is God
December 30, 2024
No matter which version, Jesus Christ is my Savior.
Currently reading
July 23, 2025Couldn't find the how many pages I've read button but currently on page 5.
June 4, 2015
This book has a big problem. Being a Christian, I care about the word of God. There's a scripture, however, in this book that makes no sense to me. This book says that "sodomites" are bad, so bad that they won't even go to Heaven. Are they really that bad? What is a "sodomite," anyway? My dictionary doesn't list "sodomite" at all. It has "sodomy" and "sodomize" in it but no "sodomite" anywhere. If it did, it would be right there with "sodomy" and "sodomize."
My dictionary says that "sodomy" is when people make love to each other, either gay or straight, with their own mouths and/or rears. Is there anything really wrong with it? It does not say anything about that kind of "sexual intercourse" being illegal or immoral. If there is nothing wrong with "sodomy," then, what is wrong with being a "sodomite," meaning, I presume, a person who "sodomizes?" Then again, it does not say that there is anything wrong with stealing, either.
I know that stealing is bad. That's easy to figure out. The police put you in jail for that. They don't, however, do anything to you for making love to someone with your own mouth and/or rear. Why would they, anyway? How would making love, in any way, shape, or form, ever be the same as making hate? Yet, does God, in effect, not really approve of that kind of sex, anyway?
I am still single, but if I were married, I would be married to a man, not a woman. Why, then, am I not really married? So far, God has not approved of an actual marriage for me. Why hasn't He? How does God know what I would do with a man, anyway, if one isn't right here with me in the first place? If God already knows what I would do with a man, then He has already created me to be that way and knows it, too. Yet, if He created me to be gay, does He think that He has made a big mistake, trying to cover it up all the time, making me hide behind a little box typing notes for a little piece of white space on a cold screen? Does He care at all about what I just now wrote? If God ever marries me to a man, then I will know that He was just waiting for the right time for that. If He never does, then I will wonder what might have been wrong with Him my whole life, but only on my final day of life, on my death bed.
It might take ten million dollars to bring my own fiancé from India to America. Why in the world would God care that much about me, anyway, so much so that He would actually give me that much money outright, if he hasn't done that for me already in the first place? Yet, if He cares about me at all, then maybe He just needs me to merely survive in this world, not really thrive, with abundance. Is there really such a thing as gay abundance, anyway? In this book, "abundance" means lots of offspring, I think. Whether or not I ever make love my own gay way might not matter to God, since offspring won't develop from any of that kind of activity, not directly, anyway, but if it actually makes more straight people in the world make more love overall, maybe God does not see that truth well enough to give all of His children the chance to make love. How cruel that is to those of us still alone.
Oh...wait a minute...the webpage, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/D..., says that "sodomites" are really male prostitutes, or "hustlers," but "hustler" isn't in my dictionary. Can someone please modernize this book and the dictionary, too, to clarify the sinfulness of sodomy as only when it involves prostitution, not when it's in the course of marriage, even between two men?
Yet, does God really know the difference between a married gay man and a sodomite? If he didn't, then how would He be giving us all gay marriages? What, in God's mind, then, determines the difference between a married gay man and a sodomite? Perhaps God cares about whether a gay man is promiscuous or monogamous. If so, why is monogamous sodomy righteous, whereas promiscuous sodomy is sinful?
If God is love, though, then He knows what is best for me. Maybe I'm just a big baby wanting what I'm not allowed to have in the first place, but not necessarily. Maybe I'm just not trying hard enough. Read this again, then. While you're at it, give me ten million dollars, if, that is, you're not afraid of defying the word of God and risking going to hell for marrying me off to, perhaps in God's mind, another "sodomite." Nevertheless, if you're brave enough, you can still donate to my own cause at a nifty little website that lets anyone start a campaign for free. Go to my webpage, gofundme.com/gaymarriages, and click "donate." You'll never know what God believes until you try.
How can God really hate sodomy if business doesn't hate that kind of sex at all? I've seen plenty of pictures on the Internet of underwear made just for sodomy. For instance, some men's bikinis are completely open in the front. You don't even have to pull down the front to stick out your prowess. Other men's bikinis, called straps, open up the backside, completely, not even with just a string running up through the middle, instead, hugging both cheeks on the sides, leaving the middle apart completely alone. Revealing, you don't really have to wear underwear over your own straps, if you're brave enough, that is, in your own jeans, hugging them, too.
I like thongs because they don't slip, but you have to tug the string in the back, to take them off, for anything. They don't really prove anything about sodomy, either. For some reason, thongs, swim, that is, are completely legal apparel all by themselves in public, yet, that little string in the back isn't much of a cover up. I would be too embarrassed to wear a thong in public. If I were thin and tight, then, that would be different, but my belly hangs over the top.
God allows sodomy if you look good. If you're fat, though, you can't even walk around in your own underwear in your own home without hearing people hating you for it, even when you're the only one at home. Fat men might turn off the women, making them breed less. I think that my own fiancé might love me no matter what, fat or not, but, as of yet, that man I love is still in India, and even ten million dollars might not bring him to me.
My dictionary says that "sodomy" is when people make love to each other, either gay or straight, with their own mouths and/or rears. Is there anything really wrong with it? It does not say anything about that kind of "sexual intercourse" being illegal or immoral. If there is nothing wrong with "sodomy," then, what is wrong with being a "sodomite," meaning, I presume, a person who "sodomizes?" Then again, it does not say that there is anything wrong with stealing, either.
I know that stealing is bad. That's easy to figure out. The police put you in jail for that. They don't, however, do anything to you for making love to someone with your own mouth and/or rear. Why would they, anyway? How would making love, in any way, shape, or form, ever be the same as making hate? Yet, does God, in effect, not really approve of that kind of sex, anyway?
I am still single, but if I were married, I would be married to a man, not a woman. Why, then, am I not really married? So far, God has not approved of an actual marriage for me. Why hasn't He? How does God know what I would do with a man, anyway, if one isn't right here with me in the first place? If God already knows what I would do with a man, then He has already created me to be that way and knows it, too. Yet, if He created me to be gay, does He think that He has made a big mistake, trying to cover it up all the time, making me hide behind a little box typing notes for a little piece of white space on a cold screen? Does He care at all about what I just now wrote? If God ever marries me to a man, then I will know that He was just waiting for the right time for that. If He never does, then I will wonder what might have been wrong with Him my whole life, but only on my final day of life, on my death bed.
It might take ten million dollars to bring my own fiancé from India to America. Why in the world would God care that much about me, anyway, so much so that He would actually give me that much money outright, if he hasn't done that for me already in the first place? Yet, if He cares about me at all, then maybe He just needs me to merely survive in this world, not really thrive, with abundance. Is there really such a thing as gay abundance, anyway? In this book, "abundance" means lots of offspring, I think. Whether or not I ever make love my own gay way might not matter to God, since offspring won't develop from any of that kind of activity, not directly, anyway, but if it actually makes more straight people in the world make more love overall, maybe God does not see that truth well enough to give all of His children the chance to make love. How cruel that is to those of us still alone.
Oh...wait a minute...the webpage, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/D..., says that "sodomites" are really male prostitutes, or "hustlers," but "hustler" isn't in my dictionary. Can someone please modernize this book and the dictionary, too, to clarify the sinfulness of sodomy as only when it involves prostitution, not when it's in the course of marriage, even between two men?
Yet, does God really know the difference between a married gay man and a sodomite? If he didn't, then how would He be giving us all gay marriages? What, in God's mind, then, determines the difference between a married gay man and a sodomite? Perhaps God cares about whether a gay man is promiscuous or monogamous. If so, why is monogamous sodomy righteous, whereas promiscuous sodomy is sinful?
If God is love, though, then He knows what is best for me. Maybe I'm just a big baby wanting what I'm not allowed to have in the first place, but not necessarily. Maybe I'm just not trying hard enough. Read this again, then. While you're at it, give me ten million dollars, if, that is, you're not afraid of defying the word of God and risking going to hell for marrying me off to, perhaps in God's mind, another "sodomite." Nevertheless, if you're brave enough, you can still donate to my own cause at a nifty little website that lets anyone start a campaign for free. Go to my webpage, gofundme.com/gaymarriages, and click "donate." You'll never know what God believes until you try.
How can God really hate sodomy if business doesn't hate that kind of sex at all? I've seen plenty of pictures on the Internet of underwear made just for sodomy. For instance, some men's bikinis are completely open in the front. You don't even have to pull down the front to stick out your prowess. Other men's bikinis, called straps, open up the backside, completely, not even with just a string running up through the middle, instead, hugging both cheeks on the sides, leaving the middle apart completely alone. Revealing, you don't really have to wear underwear over your own straps, if you're brave enough, that is, in your own jeans, hugging them, too.
I like thongs because they don't slip, but you have to tug the string in the back, to take them off, for anything. They don't really prove anything about sodomy, either. For some reason, thongs, swim, that is, are completely legal apparel all by themselves in public, yet, that little string in the back isn't much of a cover up. I would be too embarrassed to wear a thong in public. If I were thin and tight, then, that would be different, but my belly hangs over the top.
God allows sodomy if you look good. If you're fat, though, you can't even walk around in your own underwear in your own home without hearing people hating you for it, even when you're the only one at home. Fat men might turn off the women, making them breed less. I think that my own fiancé might love me no matter what, fat or not, but, as of yet, that man I love is still in India, and even ten million dollars might not bring him to me.
Read
March 2, 2025Reading the Catholic books for the first time (these books are not in the Canonical Jewish Tanakh or Protestant Bible)
-these stories are included in the Bible’s of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox (both Greek and Slavic) & Oriental Orthadox
the Catholic books:
Tobit
Judith
Wisdom of Solomon
Sirach (Ecclesiastes)
Baruch
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
What’s interesting is the Protestant reformation started in 1517 in Germany and they used to have these books in the Protestant Bible but then in 1885 they officially removed those 7 books. So now the current Protestant Bibles do not have them, but they used to have them for the first 368 years after the Protestant reformation, even the first king James Bible had it, but the current edition of it doesn’t have it anymore
It was intesting to see where the ash on the forehead thing came from, holy water and purgatory
All these mentioned in these books here
-these stories are included in the Bible’s of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox (both Greek and Slavic) & Oriental Orthadox
the Catholic books:
Tobit
Judith
Wisdom of Solomon
Sirach (Ecclesiastes)
Baruch
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
What’s interesting is the Protestant reformation started in 1517 in Germany and they used to have these books in the Protestant Bible but then in 1885 they officially removed those 7 books. So now the current Protestant Bibles do not have them, but they used to have them for the first 368 years after the Protestant reformation, even the first king James Bible had it, but the current edition of it doesn’t have it anymore
It was intesting to see where the ash on the forehead thing came from, holy water and purgatory
All these mentioned in these books here
Read
December 30, 2025Doing the whole Bible in a year is probably not the best way to study it, but I did enjoy working through the NRSV for the first time.
October 2, 2025
Absolute perfection
Read
March 28, 2024Spoiler: didn’t read
Read
August 11, 2023so it feels weird giving this a rating so i’m not going to :)
also i think it’s so silly and goofy of me that i thought i was going to finish this before i went on my trip… it’s currently the day after i got back 😁
anyway my biggest complaint is the amount of discrepancies, repetition, unnecessary details, and the hypocrisy i found throughout. of course most people don’t read it cover to cover though. i do think it was really helpful to read it all the way through because i was able to develop my own opinions and have some context that i needed. i will say though, i definitely could’ve skipped over many parts and still gained as much out of it as i did by reading it in full.
anyway, all in all, i feel like this is another example of something that is much different in practice than the original idea and goal. although it was a long and difficult experience i am ultimately glad i did it because i think having my own ideas and interpretation is important.
also i think it’s so silly and goofy of me that i thought i was going to finish this before i went on my trip… it’s currently the day after i got back 😁
anyway my biggest complaint is the amount of discrepancies, repetition, unnecessary details, and the hypocrisy i found throughout. of course most people don’t read it cover to cover though. i do think it was really helpful to read it all the way through because i was able to develop my own opinions and have some context that i needed. i will say though, i definitely could’ve skipped over many parts and still gained as much out of it as i did by reading it in full.
anyway, all in all, i feel like this is another example of something that is much different in practice than the original idea and goal. although it was a long and difficult experience i am ultimately glad i did it because i think having my own ideas and interpretation is important.
January 10, 2021
A Great Bible to Read!
This Catholic Bible has a great introduction to the Catholic faith in addition to its history! This New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible, editionized for the Catholic faith includes the deuterocanonical books embedded into the Old Testament, enhancing the reading experience. Great use of English language vocabulary & grammar, however, footnote numbering is spoken via text-to-speech, causing some confusion with verse numbering. This Bible is my first choice for a Catholic Bible! Truly, a Great Read!
This Catholic Bible has a great introduction to the Catholic faith in addition to its history! This New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible, editionized for the Catholic faith includes the deuterocanonical books embedded into the Old Testament, enhancing the reading experience. Great use of English language vocabulary & grammar, however, footnote numbering is spoken via text-to-speech, causing some confusion with verse numbering. This Bible is my first choice for a Catholic Bible! Truly, a Great Read!
February 4, 2019
I love the NRSV as a translation, but there are a ton of links in this edition, so turning a page is difficult. Also, some of the Contents links don't actually take you to the stated location. Search borders on impossible.
December 31, 2018
So much to learn from this book.
December 31, 2019
Highly recommended
February 9, 2021
Laudetur Jesus Christus! In æternum. Amen.
January 7, 2024
Rewriting and reposting this review after I received 5 messages of concern.
This year, I approached Christianity and the Bible with the perspectives and critical lens' that I have learned and developed through studying and practicing Buddhism. This has been a project I have been meaning to take on for a while, and some experiences I have had privately (mystically? revelatory? hmpf) prompted to start this up in 2023.
First and foremost, this reading of the bible involved ditching the religious viewpoints I had as a child and teenager. The primary lens' ditched were that the bible is univocal and inerrant - this perspective is standard in critical biblical scholarship and would be something taken for granted by most secular readers. Yet, many Christians would consider biblical univocality and inerrancy parts of their creed.
By removing ultimate authority away from the text, it actually allows the text way more space to breath and speak to us. Approaching ancient texts cannot be done as we approach contemporary books - we need to gather more context to appreciate the text by understanding the political, cultural, and historical contexts of each book.
In that regard, the Bible is a collection of political, religious, and poetic texts with *shared* religious, political, and cultural contexts, but these texts differ in their views on moral behavior, the history of Israel, how a community should function, as well as more fundamental ideas about who god is and what the nature of god is.
Frankly, if the Bible was univocal and inerrant, it would be repulsive (at best), indecipherable, and incoherent. Bibles *should* come with some sort of proper warning label and introduction. WARNING: Contains violence, rape, slavery, sexism, racism, ethnic cleansing/genocide, homophobia, ableism, xenophobia, etc. etc. etc.
However, I do not think this means the Bible is not a rich source of spiritual information and guidance. Through the bible the reader can appreciate the development of religion over time and the way human communities interact with spiritual movements and understand themselves and the world they live in. With the context provided from critical biblical scholarship, the bible gives the reader a framework for thinking about both the deep evil and good that resides within humanity. It shows humans at their absolute worst, as well what could possibly be perfection in love. Through reading these texts I have experienced almost all emotions from vile disgust to ecstasy.
The bible is a foundational text in our society that is still used by people to level power and privilege for themselves and their agenda. I think it is our responsibility to have people in the marketplace of ideas that are able to challenge those who use the bible to promote dogmatic ideologies and oppress others.
If you are interested at all in approaching the bible from these points of view, I can highly recommend the podcast Data Over Dogma as an entertaining and educational podcast that promotes and increases access to the academic study of the bible.
Some other notes:
- I picked this edition because the NRSV is more standard amongst the academics I am reading and listening to. The Catholic version because, frankly, that's my background and there are some extra texts and scriptures included that I treasure (especially the Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children).
- I've only finished about 75%, but am on to the wisdom and prophetic books to wrap things up!
- There are many more perspectives on how to read the text than I had imagined. I have soaked up a handful of Greek and Hebrew words and learned more about Second Temple Judaism than I thought I would have. I am shocked at the lack of proper history education around the Bible that I received in my CCD (religious ed) classes, but my understanding is that this is universal. Access to academic knowledge and understanding of this text is not wide spread or accessible, for a large and wide variety of reasons.
- I have learned way more about ancient near east religion than I thought I would. I think our world would be better if we were more informed on religious history stretching past 0 BC, because our perspective on our differences would be shifted.
- There is so much more meaning and beauty in the text when you allow the text and the author to speak on their terms in their own context instead of bringing an assumption of univocality and universal authority.
- The amount of violence in the text that people complain about is accurate. There is a lot. The bible is a historical document that documents a cornucopia of humanity's evils.
- There are several theologies and conceptions of God in the bible. It is an absurd notion that any reader could develop any coherent creed with this text.
This year, I approached Christianity and the Bible with the perspectives and critical lens' that I have learned and developed through studying and practicing Buddhism. This has been a project I have been meaning to take on for a while, and some experiences I have had privately (mystically? revelatory? hmpf) prompted to start this up in 2023.
First and foremost, this reading of the bible involved ditching the religious viewpoints I had as a child and teenager. The primary lens' ditched were that the bible is univocal and inerrant - this perspective is standard in critical biblical scholarship and would be something taken for granted by most secular readers. Yet, many Christians would consider biblical univocality and inerrancy parts of their creed.
By removing ultimate authority away from the text, it actually allows the text way more space to breath and speak to us. Approaching ancient texts cannot be done as we approach contemporary books - we need to gather more context to appreciate the text by understanding the political, cultural, and historical contexts of each book.
In that regard, the Bible is a collection of political, religious, and poetic texts with *shared* religious, political, and cultural contexts, but these texts differ in their views on moral behavior, the history of Israel, how a community should function, as well as more fundamental ideas about who god is and what the nature of god is.
Frankly, if the Bible was univocal and inerrant, it would be repulsive (at best), indecipherable, and incoherent. Bibles *should* come with some sort of proper warning label and introduction. WARNING: Contains violence, rape, slavery, sexism, racism, ethnic cleansing/genocide, homophobia, ableism, xenophobia, etc. etc. etc.
However, I do not think this means the Bible is not a rich source of spiritual information and guidance. Through the bible the reader can appreciate the development of religion over time and the way human communities interact with spiritual movements and understand themselves and the world they live in. With the context provided from critical biblical scholarship, the bible gives the reader a framework for thinking about both the deep evil and good that resides within humanity. It shows humans at their absolute worst, as well what could possibly be perfection in love. Through reading these texts I have experienced almost all emotions from vile disgust to ecstasy.
The bible is a foundational text in our society that is still used by people to level power and privilege for themselves and their agenda. I think it is our responsibility to have people in the marketplace of ideas that are able to challenge those who use the bible to promote dogmatic ideologies and oppress others.
If you are interested at all in approaching the bible from these points of view, I can highly recommend the podcast Data Over Dogma as an entertaining and educational podcast that promotes and increases access to the academic study of the bible.
Some other notes:
- I picked this edition because the NRSV is more standard amongst the academics I am reading and listening to. The Catholic version because, frankly, that's my background and there are some extra texts and scriptures included that I treasure (especially the Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children).
- I've only finished about 75%, but am on to the wisdom and prophetic books to wrap things up!
- There are many more perspectives on how to read the text than I had imagined. I have soaked up a handful of Greek and Hebrew words and learned more about Second Temple Judaism than I thought I would have. I am shocked at the lack of proper history education around the Bible that I received in my CCD (religious ed) classes, but my understanding is that this is universal. Access to academic knowledge and understanding of this text is not wide spread or accessible, for a large and wide variety of reasons.
- I have learned way more about ancient near east religion than I thought I would. I think our world would be better if we were more informed on religious history stretching past 0 BC, because our perspective on our differences would be shifted.
- There is so much more meaning and beauty in the text when you allow the text and the author to speak on their terms in their own context instead of bringing an assumption of univocality and universal authority.
- The amount of violence in the text that people complain about is accurate. There is a lot. The bible is a historical document that documents a cornucopia of humanity's evils.
- There are several theologies and conceptions of God in the bible. It is an absurd notion that any reader could develop any coherent creed with this text.
January 1, 2026
I decided to take on reading it this year, so I found a fairly portable version, along with a year-long reading guide. I started in late April, just after Easter, and finished the weekend before Christmas. These 1,500+ pages are why my other reading fell short this year.
As it is supposed to, it provided many moments of question and reflection. In the "what the heck" category were the many stories I thought I knew that were quite different, and often quite a bit shorter than legend would have me believe. For example, the story of Samson and Delilah is barely a chapter in Judges, and is far from anything romantic, but the couple occupies a place in the romantic pantheon alongside Romeo and Juliet. Similarly, the story of Noah is barely 2 pages long and yet is the stuff of many much longer stories and films, much of which are extreme interpretations of this very hazy story.
Overall, this is a fairly easy read, except for the lengthy (and boring) sections delineating in excruciating and repetitive detail the various family lines of the kings and the now-irrelevant laws ("You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together."), customs for sacrifice ("...you shall choose your offering from turtle-doves or pigeons."), and the various numbers of people moving from one place to another.
Most striking to me was the differences in tone and language from the old to new testament, most like due to the immediacy of the recording - the old testament being the post hoc writing-down of ancient oral histories versus the new testament's more authentic(ish) first-person writings. A bit like biography/history versus memoir. But I did learn some interesting things. For instance, why don't Christians keep kosher? Because Jesus said (essentially), "don't bother." This and other over-rulings of canon and custom, culminating in his abbreviation of the 10 commandments into his own 2 (which capture the 10), was the root of the Jewish leaders' disapproval (to put it mildly).
Like the old testament, the common understanding of the new is rife with fabulations, despite the comparative narratives in the gospels. For example, there was no inn nor innkeeper to turn the family away. The three-ish wise men did not arrive at the manger, but quite a while later. However, other elements of the story and of the lives of the apostles are part of non-biblical historical record, and so the witness accounts of the apostles are historically true; the more mystical elements of healing and miracles are, of course, matters of faith. The book of Revelation is just plain weird, more like a drug-induced fever dream and hallucination than anything clearly suggesting what the end of days will be like.
I'm glad I took the time to read this, checking off a lifelong ambition. I don't know that it has made me smarter, but certainly more familiar with a text that is so important to so many. In the end, it is a story written by men (almost all by men); the evidence of tinkering through the centuries is clear, and the political motivations and ambitions of some of the writers is obvious. But, given the bible's centrality in so many other stories and settings, I hope I'm now better able to better recognize its influence in literature and elsewhere.
As it is supposed to, it provided many moments of question and reflection. In the "what the heck" category were the many stories I thought I knew that were quite different, and often quite a bit shorter than legend would have me believe. For example, the story of Samson and Delilah is barely a chapter in Judges, and is far from anything romantic, but the couple occupies a place in the romantic pantheon alongside Romeo and Juliet. Similarly, the story of Noah is barely 2 pages long and yet is the stuff of many much longer stories and films, much of which are extreme interpretations of this very hazy story.
Overall, this is a fairly easy read, except for the lengthy (and boring) sections delineating in excruciating and repetitive detail the various family lines of the kings and the now-irrelevant laws ("You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together."), customs for sacrifice ("...you shall choose your offering from turtle-doves or pigeons."), and the various numbers of people moving from one place to another.
Most striking to me was the differences in tone and language from the old to new testament, most like due to the immediacy of the recording - the old testament being the post hoc writing-down of ancient oral histories versus the new testament's more authentic(ish) first-person writings. A bit like biography/history versus memoir. But I did learn some interesting things. For instance, why don't Christians keep kosher? Because Jesus said (essentially), "don't bother." This and other over-rulings of canon and custom, culminating in his abbreviation of the 10 commandments into his own 2 (which capture the 10), was the root of the Jewish leaders' disapproval (to put it mildly).
Like the old testament, the common understanding of the new is rife with fabulations, despite the comparative narratives in the gospels. For example, there was no inn nor innkeeper to turn the family away. The three-ish wise men did not arrive at the manger, but quite a while later. However, other elements of the story and of the lives of the apostles are part of non-biblical historical record, and so the witness accounts of the apostles are historically true; the more mystical elements of healing and miracles are, of course, matters of faith. The book of Revelation is just plain weird, more like a drug-induced fever dream and hallucination than anything clearly suggesting what the end of days will be like.
I'm glad I took the time to read this, checking off a lifelong ambition. I don't know that it has made me smarter, but certainly more familiar with a text that is so important to so many. In the end, it is a story written by men (almost all by men); the evidence of tinkering through the centuries is clear, and the political motivations and ambitions of some of the writers is obvious. But, given the bible's centrality in so many other stories and settings, I hope I'm now better able to better recognize its influence in literature and elsewhere.
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