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A. J. Jacobs, who read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in The Know it All, is at it again. I just hit stumbleupon and came up with this.

It's a memoir of a guy who spent one year living up to the rules of the Bible, completely literally. I just bought it today. It's really interesting.

Thoughts?

You might want to rephrase the way you state that, Greg. You might note that he did not claim to be COMPLETELY able to do it, but only as closely as possible.

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If you tried to follow the Bible absolutely literally some of that Deuteronomy and Leviticus stuff could land you in jail, so it goes without saying the guy had to make some compromises. Still, it sounds like an interesting read. This might've made for a good documentary.

Mike

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Logical fallacies ahoy! I'd also like to say: graaaaagh!

so basically he spent a year living as an Orthodox Jew. sounds interesting, though.

Wow. This book is amazing. Not to be cliche, but it really changed the way I think about things. This man is agnostic, but he's acting like a orthodox jew/christian.

If you had asked me before I read this book "What your opinion on creationism and evolution?" I would've said "Pff. Creationism is stupid and impossible. Evolution is scientifically proven." Now I would talk about the upsides and downsides and believability of each. And surprisingly, there are many things that make sense about creationism.

Oh, by the way, this book is not trying to convert you. It's trying to tell to instead of getting in a fight about your beliefs that boils down to Chrisitans Vs. Atheists or Faith vs. science, just stay in the middle and explain, not defend, each.

Like Didymus for example. He barely ever says "You're wrong" He says "Here's why I think I'm right."

Also, if this comes of as rambling or contradicting itself, it's because I'm really tired.

I'm a debater at heart, so I doubt that book would change me much in that regard. I'm going to have to disagree at least somewhat with a "stay in the middle" policy. Sometimes it's necessary to defend what's right. For instance, if a school system adopts a practice of putting little stickers on science books because the contents, while consensus science, contradict a literal reading of the Bible, I don't think there's any room for standing in the middle. Science is science, and Young Earth creationism is not science.

- Kef

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What I don't like about this book is that he seems to think that the Bible is just a bunch of rules which, once followed, result in the follower spending eternity with God. It's not.

i don't even think the author definitively believes in God. but, you know, the Bible IS primarily a book of laws on how to live correctly. that's, like, why it's all full of laws and stuff.

and please don't start up with some "but you have to BELIEVE IN JESUS" stuff, because the Tanakh ("Old Testament") IS a law book and was always understood as such and states repeatedly that the laws are binding for all time on those on whom it is binding, and the author of this book is a Jew (if an agnostic one), so...yeah, i don't think your objection is a fair one.

An agnostic Jew? How are his views even relavent to actual practicing Jews?

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Judaism is not just a religion, but an ethnicity and a cultural identity. Practicing or no, if you were born Jewish you're always Jewish. A good number of non-practicing Jews are still very well informed about their faith and their opinions still carry weight in the community. This is especially true in the Reform movement.

Mike

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Logical fallacies ahoy! I'd also like to say: graaaaagh!