(Part 2) Best fiction books according to redditors
We found 1,573 Reddit comments discussing the best fiction books. We ranked the 447 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Not really what you are looking for, but it is somewhat related and may be of interest to someone: The Penguin Book of English Verse is an anthology of poetry sorted chronologically, rather than by author.
The concept is that you can get a feeling of what kind of verse the public would hear/read and how the language and the themes would evolve as the years went on. But one could read it backwards by starting with contemporary poets and ending with the Middle English verse of 1300s (there are notes for the most difficult words).
> Although angels are generally regarded as sexless, and some rabbinic sources say
they do not procreate, almost all of them bear male names such as Michael or Gabriel
and they have male characteristics. In addition, the noun, malakh (angel) is grammatically
masculine. However, there is one angel, the angel Lailah, who has distinctly feminine
characteristics. This angel is responsible for the fetus, for assisting at birth, and for
guiding the soul from this world to the next. In many ways Lailah is the polar opposite
of Lilith, who wastes seed, is not maternal, and is bent on destruction, not creation.
While the word Lailah, meaning “night,” is masculine, the name Lailah is feminine, and
the name of this angel does not end in the usual “el,” representing God’s Name. Thus,
even though there is no direct evidence that Lailah is a feminine angel, the name Lailah
and the role of the angel strongly indicate feminine characteristics.
> Lailah, the angel’s name, likely derives from a rabbinic discussion in B. Niddah 16b,
where conception is described as taking place at night. There the name of the angel in
charge of conception is identified as “Night” (lailah). This angel takes a drop and places
it before God. B. Niddah 30b adds important details about the formation of the embryo
and the role of Lailah. It explains that a light shining above the unborn infant’s head lets
the child see from one end of the world to the other. At the same time, the angel teaches
the unborn child the Torah. But as soon as the child is born, the angel strikes it on the
upper lip, causing the infant to forget all he has learned. The full myth of Lailah and the
formation of the embryo is found in Midrash Tanhuma Pekudei 3.
> According to Rabbi Menashe ben Israel in Nishmat Hayim 2:18, God breathes the
soul into a person at conception, much as He did with Adam, when He blew into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being (Gen. 2:7). This appears to be an
alternate explanation for the version portrayed in the myth of Lailah, where the angel
orders the soul to enter the seed.
> Sources:
> B. Niddah 16b, 30b; B. Sanhedrin 96a; Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, Pekudei 3; Zohar
Hadash 68:3; Sefer ha-Zikhronot 10:19-23; Be’er ha-Hasidut 1:216; Aseret ha-Dibrot 79;
Avodat ha-Kodeah, Introduction; Nishmat Hayim 2:18; Anaf Yosef on B. Niddah 30b;
Amud ha-Avodash 103b; Avkat Rahel in Beit ha-Midrash 1:153-155; Likutei ha-Pardes
4d-5c; IFA 4722, 18976.
> Studies:
> Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, note 20, vol. 5, pp. 75-78.
The book is SO much better.
It's number one in British and Irish Poetry!
What you're asking about more or less relates to Jewish midrash. It's not really possible to detail all Jewish midrash in a single comment. If you're interested though, Legends of the Jews by Rabbi Louis Ginsberg is a compilation of some Jewish midrash arranged to the chronology of the Hebrew Bible. I also always recommend the book Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism by Howard Schwartz. There are a lot of stories in Tree of Soul which I particularly enjoy.
Well said. A lot of religions have sound philosophical backgrounds IMHO. I think that it is the transition to religion that things go sour. Have you ever read Joshua
, by Joseph Girzone? It is a rather interesting story of a modern-day Jesus' reaction to the current state of Judeo-Christian religions. As an Atheist raised in a Christian family, this story gave me a newfound respect for some of the underlying philosophy, as opposed to the current dogma, of Christianity.
Only 3 hours and 26 minutes in total, according to the schedules:
Episode | Date | Broadcast at| Length
:---:|:---:|:----:|----
1 | 22/12 | 23:00 | 30 mins
2 | 22/12 | 23:30 | 30 mins
3 | 23/12 | 23:30 | 30 mins
4 | 25/12 | 23:30 | 30 mins
5 | 26/12 | 23:27 | 28 mins
6 | 27/12 | 14:30 | 60 mins
^ Actually 28 minutes due to the 11 o'clock news summary not being factored in.
The CD version will be released on 15th January "with bonus length episodes and outtakes" (but it doesn't say how much bonus length there will be).
^ This! It's based on A Prayer for Owen Meany if you're interested in reading the book...I highly recommend it!
If you like fantasy mixed with horror, I have Miserere: An Autumn Tale, which is currently on Kindle Unlimited.
I'm also working on a novella set for publication in October 2014. It's called The Broken Road and introduces a brand new world. It is more horror than Miserere and very much in tone like Stephen King's Dark Tower series.
There are a couple of freebies on my web site too if you want a taste before a bite.
Robert Graves: The Greek Myths
Edith Hamilton is always a good primer, though you should realize she sanitizes the source http://www.amazon.com/Mythology-Edith-Hamilton-ebook/dp/B00852YXU8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414360728&sr=8-1&keywords=edith+hamilton Still, not a bad option, my Mythology class in College used this book.
Robert Graves is also a decent introduction: http://www.amazon.com/The-Greek-Myths-Complete-Edition/dp/0140171991/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1414360818&sr=8-2&keywords=Robert+Graves+Greek+Myths
Finally, you can't go wrong with Bullfinch http://www.amazon.com/Bulfinchs-Mythology-Modern-Library-Bulfinch-ebook/dp/B000FC1H50/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414360874&sr=1-1&keywords=bullfinch%27s+mythology Even my grandmother, who was off-the-boat from Greece had a copy of Bullfinch's Mythology.
There are other books, of course, but these should give you a good starting point.
I am curious to see any other suggestions. My library could use a refresh. ;-)
I don't know about adding stuff like the tale of beryn or finishing off the cook's tale, but the Nevill Coghill version is the adaptation most accepted by critics today.
Peter Ackroyd did a prose translation of it in modern English that's meant to be very good as well.
Either one retains the subversive humour of the original. I wouldn't worry about a feeling of cohesion - all Chaucer intended is a collection of tales. These two are very 'complete' as far as I can tell, and any incompleteness is only really frustrating to Chaucer scholars.
My personal take on them is that they are a fascinating way of getting into a medieval mind, so I read the original text, with help from notes of course. They are funny, rude, exciting ... this is high-quality entertainment. There's a reason they've survived 700 years.
Zig Zag Zen discusses this at great length. One of my favorite opening paragraphs was by Lama Surya Das, who said "If you're wondering about my history with psychedelics, all you need is to look at the initials of my name."
Another commentor referenced Ram Dass' experience with Neem Karoli Baba as accounted in Be Here Now. This book, I feel, gets to the heart of the issue.
Philip Larkin, for one.
>They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
>They may not mean to, but they do.
>They fill you with the faults they had
> And add some extra, just for you.
>
>But they were fucked up in their turn
> By fools in old-style hats and coats,
>Who half the time were soppy-stern
> And half at one another's throats.
>
>Man hands on misery to man.
> It deepens like a coastal shelf.
>Get out as early as you can,
> And don't have any kids yourself.
Just by way of example. I also highly recommend T.S. Eliot (The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a good introduction; The Waste Land is somewhat harder, but well worth it) and Ezra Pound.
Also not a waste of your time: Wilfred Owen (specifically, "Three rompers run together hand in hand"; helps if you know he wrote his poetry while fighting in World War I, and eventually died in that war), Thomas Wyatt ("Whoso list to hunt," and pretty much all his sonnets; a little biographical research also makes his poetry more rewarding, but it also stands well on its own), the Fitzgerald "translation" of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the poetry of Li Po (also spelled Li Bai) if you want to broaden your horizons outside English stuff. If you're not sure the poetry of someone who's been dead for 1200 years has much to offer you, consider this:
>Alone on Jian-Ting
>
>The birds take wing and fade away;
>The last cloud slowly disappears;
>We watch each other, the mountain and I,
>Until only the mountain remains.
And this is stuff you'll probably hate but that I will mention anyway because I like them and they are awesome: the Andrew George translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh (because it's excellent, and not one of those interminably dull prose translations; seriously, why the fuck do people find prose translations of verse acceptable?), and Gawain and the Green Knight (I recommend an edition that has the original Middle English side by side with the Modern English, or even better, a Middle English copy with a gloss of the difficult vocabulary in the margin).
EDIT: While I'm on the subject of translations and editions for poetry (but also literature in general): there are a lot of bad translations out there. The less well-known the language is, generally, the worse the average standard. The key, I have often found, are editions that come with a lot of additional scholarly errata, which are usually useful in providing context and additional insight. Penguin Classics editions are usually fantastic (this is how I found both the Andrew George translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is still one of my favorite books of all time, and a fantastic copy of Njal's Saga, which, although somewhat outside the scope of your original request being longish prose rather than poetry, is highly entertaining and you should check it out), and when I go to the bookstore these days I tend to be awed by the broad range of texts they cover. Norton anthologies are also excellent.
If you want a range of poetry to survey and find what you like, my brother swears by the Penguin Book of English Verse.
I recommend the Allen Mandelbaum translation. It's very faithful to the text, but also readable, and is printed alongside the original poem.
The BBC have released a CD.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Omens-Radio-dramatisation-Dramatisations/dp/1910281913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421009391&sr=8-1&keywords=good+omens
My favorite: Tree of Souls. A detailed encyclopedia of Jewish/Hebrew/Israelite mythology and folklore, with sources and arguments.
You should probably not read this book, then. It's a pretty awesome book, and actually made my faith a little bit stronger, but it would probably piss you off.
Well, there's The God of the Greeks by Karl and Carl Kerenyi. Papa Karl is one of the best respected scholars of classical mythology of the last century, so that's a good way to go.
Robert Graves' The Greek Myths is exhaustive, but I'd only recommend it with a few caveats. One is that the nature of his project tends to bastardize the stories a bit -- he wrote the book as a way of unifying the myths, but the very nature of Greek myth is that it's various and contradictory. Graves gives a very readable (and thus popular) account, but it isn't without flaws.
For something a little more classical, check out Erwin Rohde's Psyche, one of the pivotal 19th century texts of mythological scholarship. Rohde was a contemporary and friend of, as well as influence on, Nietzsche, and his ideas greatly informed the development of classical psychology. This is more specialized stuff, but it's interesting and gives a bit more insight into Greek religious thought than you would get from reading the myths alone.
ugh i've finished everything worthwhile in my local library been reading e-books but running low on those as well
heres some off the top of my head.. be warned these are more character driven then anything else... I hate books with a giant cast of characters ( though malazan was an exception )
Old Shit:
The Fionavar Tapestry (fantasy)
http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Tree-Fionavar-Tapestry-Book/dp/0451458222/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279523697&sr=1-2
Farseer Trilogy (fantasy)
http://www.amazon.com/Assassins-Apprentice-Farseer-Trilogy-Book/dp/055357339X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279523843&sr=1-1
New Shit:
First Law Trilogy (fantasy)
http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Itself-First-Law-Book/dp/159102594X/ref=pd_sim_b_1
The Name of the Wind (fantasy)
http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicles-Day/dp/0756405890/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257193424&sr=1-1
Codex Alera (fantasy)
http://www.amazon.com/Furies-Calderon-Codex-Alera-Book/dp/044101268X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279524012&sr=1-1
Miserere would probably fit. The blurb completely neglects that it's portal fantasy.
There are some books like this, you can check amazon books by story character (say Esther or David) or you can check out the bible as a novel--which is fairly well written. I read it before I became an atheist. Ezekiel is the best chapter though.
My favorite is a bit odd. I love the story of Hosea.
You have to read between the lines quite a bit, but God calls Hosea, a holy prophet, to marry a prostitute. He's thinking, OK, God, but I'm gonna have to make sure it's you first...lol.
So he marries Gomer, and they have a couple of kids. The way the Hebrew reads, the first is probably his, but the second, there is no mention of his being involved.
Then they split up. She could not remain faithful to him. Time goes by. Eventually he's going to the market, and there he sees her: on the auction block being sold as a slave.
God tells him to "buy back" his wife, and command her to live with him and him only from that point on.
The whole scenario is an analogy of Israel's relationship with God, and deeper than that, our relationship with God. We are, and have been unfaithful to God, repeatedly, and sold into slavery to sin. But God, through Jesus, bought us back to be faithful to Him.
It's a wonderful love story, and a great Biblical lesson. I love it.
There is a fictional re-telling of it by Francine Rivers, called "Redeeming Love" available at Amazon. I have not been paid for this endorsement...:)
I think you might really enjoy almost anything by Guy Gavriel Kay, but especially his early series, a trilogy called The Fionavar Tapestry. The first book is The Summer Tree
Here's a blurb from the Amazon page for The Summer Tree: 'I'm not just impressed by THE SUMMER TREE - I'm overwhelmed' Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Seriously, this is one of the best fantasy trilogies I've ever read and it makes me sad that more folks don't know about it. Read it and you'll probably start proselytizing about it too.
You want to read anything by Guy Gavriel Kay. Though not specifically set during these times and areas, the overarching themes are so apparent it’s almost appalling. Start with the The Summer Tree it’s hard to get into because he makes the characters hard to like before growing their personality. It’s worth it till the end though.
LAMB by Christopher Moore
http://www.amazon.com/Lamb-Special-Gift-According-Childhood/dp/0061438596/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0
Just trying to get some of the lesser known series in there.
EDIT: woops some of these may not be Epic...hmm...I honestly don't know how to distinguish...I think Most of them are Epic, and the only really out of place one in Cook's Garrett series, but to be honest it does get pretty epic, I mean...it builds slowly but...ok, make of the list as you will.
> Because court chose to put them there
Yes, as punishment.
I do not agree that hell is some sort of "cosmic prison" precisely because its purpose is not punitive. Punishment in the Christian system exists so that one can be reformed, so that one might have the impetus to change one's ways and become a better person (in that sense Purgatory is far more analogous to a prison: it is punishment for sins with the purpose of being corrective—we do call prisons "correctional facilities," after all).
Yet hell does not exist to reform the sinner. Reform in hell is impossible, because one's renunciation of love is absolute. Rather, hell is the unfortunate logical necessity of the Christian soteriological framework. If we are free beings then we must be able to make the free choice not to love. Given that human beings are immortal, there must be a post-earthly place for those who choose not to love; hence, hell.
Another work to recommend would be Dante's Inferno, in which that greatest of Italian poets imagines that those in hell are so attached to their sins that they would choose the sin over anything else, even over the possibility of love.
If you are a gamer, then look at The Guardians of the Flame by Joel Rosenberg.
If not, I can suggest the A Wizard in Rhyme series or Terry Brooks Landover series.
Longshot but maybe This Present Darkness?
I hope I don't annoy you with recommendations sligthly different than what you asked for, but considering your background and interests, I think you'll find them valuable.
Are Psychedelics Useful in the Practice of Buddhism? (Myron Stolaroff)
Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics
My 'favourite' novel seems to rotate amongst about 10 books, but if I could only read one novel for the rest of my life, it would be a A Prayer for Owen Meany. I don't even know how many times I've read it, but I still enjoy it (and get more out of it) every time.
Part of it is the characters. I like 'offbeat', and he certainly writes memorable, 'different' characters. But even though his characters are usually more than a little bit odd, they're also very human- they're not one-dimensional, but usually show something about the experience of life, and how to live it. Even when they're otherworldly (as Owen is, to a great extent), they are still firmly grounded in being human.
Themes- A lot of the themes are universal, and things that I've been thinking about for decades- sex, war, religion, fate, friendship, parenting, wealth, child/parent relationships, growing up, etc. One of the things that I love about the book is that as I've matured, I see different things in it. I think that I was in my early 20s when it was published- the way that I've thought about religion/love/sex/parenting has changed considerably over the years, and the novel has more than kept pace with that.
I've always been drawn to the religious aspect of it. Not just about the big questions (Owen as Christ figure, the pastors/priests in the book, pre-destination etc), but I've got a very strong connection to John Wheelwright's practice of his religion. Even though I've been an atheist for a long time, I grew up with the type of Anglicanism that he practices, and the forms and rituals are still very comfortable for me. Johnny could be any number of the 'neuter' older men that I would see in our church every week. And a good number of my friends went to Bishop Strachan, so there's that :-)
And while I've heard some younger readers say that the Vietnam aspect doesn't do anything for them, it's pretty integral to the novel for me. At that point (late 80s) there was a huge amount of Vietnam discussion going on where I live- not only constant new revelations about the war, but discussions about draft dodgers (in the late 80s in Canada there were questions/discussions going on about the draft dodgers who had come here from the U.S., as well as about govt. responsibility/transparency), and because it was the time that Reagan/Mulroney/Thatcher and their cronies were all going batshit crazy while still being extremely popular, a lot of the political/moral/military questions of the day were being asked through the filter of Vietnam, rather than head-on.
The humour- aside from all of the constant funny absurdities, the Nativity Play scene is one of the funniest things that I've ever read. It still puts me on the floor every time I read it.
The plotting. You don't really get the intricacies of the plot until the last few pages, where everything comes together brilliantly. It's a fun book just to sit down and read, but once you get to the end, you realize that there's not a wasted scene/event in the book- everything leads up to the last section. Even the parts that seemed extraneous or rambling lead directly to the last few pages- while I don't actually believe in predestination or fate, it's the one book that I always go back to if I want to believe for a while that everything happens for a reason.
At least, Jason Elam.
Seriously. This is real.
This subject has been covered ad nauseum in the book Zig Zag Zen:
http://www.amazon.com/Zig-Zag-Zen-Buddhism-Psychedelics/dp/0811832864
this is the edition I'm using with my students right now and they seem to be pretty into it.
The versions I got, this publisher for all three, had a couple good things in it. One, the italian was on the left hand pages, the english on the right, so you could still see the poetry. Two, all of the three were about 300 pages of text, and then about a hundred pages of finer print notes. I didn't read all the notes, but I used a good bit of them. They definitely helped me understand a good part of the history I definitely was lost on.
Should you go back? Yes. That's my opinion. The translation I had, even if you didn't read the notes, was simply a beautiful sounding translation. The beginning of purgatory is the most boring part, which I didn't even think bad, but it definitely gets better and more interesting when he goes through the seven deadly sins. Paradise is simply awe inspiring. You need to get through Purgatory just to get to Paradise. Purgatory was the worst of the three if I had to rank.
Hmm. Tough question. The Alchemist is the first one I ever read and it is very good. It's the one that most people have heard of and is all about following your dreams and how if you want something badly enough that the entire universe conspires in helping you to get it, so long as you aren't afraid of it when it comes. It's really quite extraordinary and I think the message and inspiration from that one is my favorite. But just for the sake of reading its not my favorite. There is a short description in that link.
I think my favorite is either Eleven Minutes or By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept. Eleven Minutes is about sex and love and its the setting is wondrous and the characters are fascinating. The story is a bit more modern than the story in the Alchemist so its a bit more fun to read, just to read. I think my favorite might be By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept though. It is a story about forgiveness and the writing is beautiful and the places he takes you are beautiful and the characters are all likeable most of the time and the story is interesting. I'd highly reccommend any of those. But they're all good.
Despite being more religious than most of his, I actually really loved The Fifth Mountain. Its one I bought without knowing anything about it and the story is almost biblical (still not preachy though) but it was more about choices and duty and honor and I really liked it. Not my favorite, but very good.
Sorry, I'm long winded when talking about his books lol.
Good read. Addresses this question. Recommended.
http://www.amazon.com/Joshua-Parable-Joseph-F-Girzone/dp/0684813467
I have this and have found it useful
The Fionavar Tapestry remains one of my absolute favorite works of fiction, easily ranking up there with Way of Kings or The Name of the Wind.
The first book is The Summer Tree.
Sounds like Joshua: A Parable for Today by
Joseph F. Girzone. It is a series of books.
Some of the quotes are from The Fifth Mountain: A Novel Paulo Coelho. I read that book multiple times. Also I would recommend 7 habits.
On one hand, I think you have experienced one or two unique coincidences and then your mind came up with this idea. Now, you have latched on to it and are subconciously looking to confirm it. I recommend you read "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin DeBecker, which will help you be more perceptive to details you may be overlooking, in this situation and others.
On the second hand, there is no technology whereby a person's thoughts can be seen or read. Only yourself and your Creator know your thoughts. Fallen angels may be able to as well. They can certainly influence your thoughts and are keenly sensitive to a human's reactions and are able to interpret them and predict behavior correctly. There exists overwhelming evidence to demonstrate the connection between world leaders and occultic behaviors.
Perhaps this is the beginning of an active campaign wherein the deep state, working with demonic forces, are seeking to create fear and the belief in their all-knowing, all powerfulness -the result being that people are fearful of standing up for what is right. Consider this scenario: You are watching YT, some video about girls dancing. Halfway through the video you are reminded by one girl's pink leotard that you saw a cute pair of pink earrings you think your girlfriend may like, in the store two days ago. The demon which has been following you around and saw you looking at them is the one who put the thought into your mind. He communicates this thought to another demon an hundred miles away, who is sitting unseen on a YT server somewhere. This demon manipulates the data stream so the next video that pops up is one about pink jewelry. Along this line of seemingly crazy and absurd thinking, let me also recommend you read the excellent novels by Frank Peretti: "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness" -both of which do a great job fleshing out the battles and shenanigans which go unseen, everyday.
If you like this prompt, you should check out the "Heaven" series of books by Mur Lafferty. Very similar idea and a great story. Five seasons/books in all and every one of them is worth it.
Free audiobooks of the series at podiobooks.com
and Kindle versions for $0.99 each. Heaven (The Afterlife Series book 1)
way ahead of you
Miserere might work. It's portal fiction about an additional plane between earth and heaven and hell. It's also very cheap as an ebook.
This is by far my personal favorite translation of Inferno. I've tried a couple of other translations, they just weren't as poetic. I also like that this has the original Italian side-by-side with the English, and the illustrations are interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/Monday-Night-Covington-Thriller-Series/dp/141431731X
> I also want actual english poem collections too
this is the only part where I can help. I suggest The Penguin Book of English Verse (don't be put off by the average rating, many reviews are just against the lack of an index in the kindle version).
It's a very wisely chosen and various collection of poems ranging from 1300 to 1994 and sorted by date rather than by author - so you can dive in a certain period if you feel like it, or just read in a sequence and see how the language and the themes evolved. I've been perusing it for months and I keep on finding gems inside.
It's pretty cheap too.
I haven't read this though it has been recommended to me....
https://www.amazon.com/Book-God-Walter-Wangerin/dp/0310220211
It's very literally what you're asking for lol.
You might consider getting her this book then. It's hilarious as are his other works. I'm partial to A Dirty Job, but The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove is really good as is Practical Demonkeeping. Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story is really good too.
I'm taking the assumption that God exists. I can grant that goodness has a transcendent source, and personally my own moral ideals are mostly derived from Christianity. But evil seems to be more parsimoniously understood as the simple absence of good, and given the evidence of history I see no personal reason to believe that there is no grand conspiracy of evil beyond human imperfection and natural chaos and entropy (which I agree isn't in nature's vocabulary, though it seems to be from a Christian perspective).
>Please explain how you know this.
This is more my own intuition than anything, but ever since high school what I've learned about human societies seem to tell me that any belief expressed by a large enough population will be taken to the extreme. I feel like, to some degree, the inherent goodness or badness of beliefs can then be determined from how they play out. Christianity as a whole produces great evils, but it's also done much good, so it can be said to be benign (especially given how broad a tradition it is). Belief in spiritual warfare and the worldview of a demonic conspiracy to me seems to lead to Satanic Panic, overzealous exorcisms, Salem, and paranoid Frank Peretti novels more than anything good. Even if we believe that Jesus is already victorious.
Anyways. I know it doesn't play out like that for many individuals. But it does for many others.
>I thought no Bible?
This sentence doesn't make any sense. What were you trying to say?
I recommend reading the book "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers.
Sex is beautiful gift from God to us to enjoy with the love of our spouse/future spouse. Like you say, it is also a wonderful gift from us to our spouse/future spouse. However, sex might be important for a healthy marriage but know that it isn't everything. There is a lot more to a marriage than intercourse, intimacy; sex. If you marry this man, then know that he will make mistakes because he is not perfect -- when that happens, will you be there to pick him up and encourage him or will you tare him down? Will you forgive him? A healthy, strong and loving marriage revolves around God and forgiving your spouse is one of the greatest 'actions' we can do for our brethren... just as God does daily for us. To me, and in my marriage, sacrificial love appears to be one of the biggest keys to our healthy marriage alongside communication and loving forgiveness. Like I said, sex is a beautiful gift from God that we share with our love, but it isn't everything in a marriage. I pray and encourage you to forgive this man because in God's eyes he is pure... Show the world that a God-loving, a God-fearing couple can overcome the desires of our hearts to condemn one another by the simple act of forgiveness and compassion. It isn't easy and neither is a life of marriage.
Read this, then this. Social skills are skills. You have to practice them to get good at them. Most people suck at listening. Every loves Owen Meanty, even though he was smaller than you are. You are going to learn how to listen...how to like people, or your life is going to be surprisingly frustrating. A vous...
You didn't even read the comments, since that first paragraph not only does it put words in my mouth that I never said. It tells me you just refused a proven idea. Read the books.
You need to read if you want an argument. stop being lazy. If you want to understand my point of view you have to enter to the discussion with knowledge of why I believe what I believe. It's not only the God presented in Christianity, it's more than that; that's why I sent you to read Leo Tolstoy and Gandhi too.
If I notice you miss information that unproves your dialog, I gave you the ways to find that missing information. I won't babysit you; no wonder you just repeat everything. I answered and explained everything you asked for; you didn't like the responce, I told you where you can find more information, you say "nope, i dont' want to".
You show no interest in learning or even thinking on others opinions. You simply refuse them without validation, you just stayed in your own mentality and think that anything that challenges your ideals is not worth the effort. That's being closed minded and ignorant. So I guess you're right, the conversation lost it's value when you decided to ignore the points being discussed.
I answered all of your questions. That you don't accept them is not my problem.
I'll leave the books here for people that find this thing and aren't afraid to challenge their knowledge.
The kingdom of God is within you
Gandhi an Authobiography
The fifth mountain
When God doesn't make sense
Funny.
Check out his book by Christopher Moore.
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
I believe this takes the cake, though.
In case anyone wants the Amazon link - http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Afterlife-Book-Mur-Lafferty-ebook/dp/B004YDTGM2/
You can also find links to the rest of the series there.
I would absolutely agree on the NIV as a good general purpose bible, however there are some alternatives out there depending on what you are looking for. I would highly recommend either The Book of God by Walter Wangerin or The Message by Eugene Peterson, both of which are a re-imagining (read: they should not be used as a reference!) of the biblical stories, the former as a novel and the latter as a bible where the stories are told using language you or I would.
I also greatly support using a study bible, the good ones will give helpful context or reference to the stories you read, or you can just go all the way academic and grab a copy of the Oxford Annotated Bible (but from the sounds of it you wouldn't want that).
Although workingmouse, I would disagree that the KJV is the go-to bible these days for protestants, largely for the reasons you gave. Speaking of definitely not kosher, has anyone read the book Lamb? It's a pretty humorous read, but you really need to be ready to hold nothing sacred for a few hundred pages. =)
Good luck in your search OP!
Yeah, it's too wacky for analogies.
I haven't read it, but I hear that https://www.amazon.com/Redeeming-Love-Francine-Rivers/dp/1590525132 is a pretty interesting "modern" retelling of the book of Hosea.
Sounds somewhat like the Afterlife series by Mur Lafferty
https://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Afterlife-Book-Mur-Lafferty-ebook/dp/B004YDTGM2
Try the BBC adaptation it's fab. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Omens-Radio-dramatisation-Dramatisations/dp/1910281913/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426182742&sr=8-2&keywords=good+omens
Her Majesty's Wizard (A Wizard in Rhyme)