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Hey dudes,
I've been keeping the Bible and the Koran for some time now, but I never really touch it.
For those who read the Gospel or the Koran, or any religious texts for that matter, how do you read it and gain wisdom?
Do you go page-to-page like a novel, or do you just read whatever suits you at the current time?
NOTE: I am not an idolater, but I'm not a subscriber of any religion. I know that religions preach good values, but I've never been baptised or anything. I am an agnostic at best.
Thank you.
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I've read most of the Bible and some of the Qur'an. I pretty much finished the entire Bible, from start to finish, from the Old to the New Testament. If you truly want to understand the wisdom contained in that book, you'll have to read the Bible in its entirely. You won't be able to fully comprehend a proverb, if you haven't read a verse or story related to that proverb. But if you insist on reading the whole book, you should use a study guide to help direct you to any specific wisdom your looking for. btw don't read any of the catholic versions or any modernized versions of the Bible, as some verses are slightly modified, with the result being the whole meaning of the verse is changed indefinitely.
As for the Qur'an, its a bit more different. Like the Bible, the Qur'an has invaluable wisdom that you can apply to your daily life. But from my experience, the Qur'an should be read in it's non-translated Arabic version. This may seem hard to do, learn to read in Arabic, but it will provide you with the most realistic version, with (pretty much) no errors. Unlike the Bible, you don't have to read the whole scripture, but its recommend that you do. You can also use a study guide, and jump from proverb to proverb without having to read any other pages, for the most part.
These are the most powerful books to have ever been written by the hands of man. But the thing is with these two books, is that they can be easily misinterpreted by anyone. And when they are, a lot of bad things tend to occur.
As a reader of both scriptures, I have found just how eerily similar these two books are. They both tell of a God of love, peace, pretty much the same prophets, and similar proverbs. Thus, one could call the Qur'an a "spin-off" or a continuation/extension of the Bible. But in a general perspective, it can be said that the God in the Bible and the One in the Qur'an, are the same.
Either way, these two books are a great source of wisdom that can make you a better human.
I hope you find your looking for Robert 
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Thanks, I'll do it.
Unfortunately, I have spent most of my youth with Catholics, or others like them.
Of course, people here too condemn the Koran because of 9/11.
You know, Joker, I find you a man of many surprises. Not only are you seasoned with computers, an open source advocate, or a pirate, you're also an accepting person. Not too many people will offer something that insightful as you put in your reply.
Again, thank you.
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Thank you Robert, and no problem.
I find it that, one has to be open-minded to absorb knowledge of all areas. I hope you study the scriptures and learn that, knowledge is a tool for everybody, and that it doesn't discriminate for anybody. I too, want to continue expanding my education, but I still have ways to go.
Good luck Robert
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Sep 03, 2015, 02:19 am
(This post was last modified: Sep 03, 2015, 02:31 am by gcjm. Edited 3 times in total.)
to suggest that one should learn arabic to read the quran, but accept the English translations of the bible is illogical.
why shouldn't rob learn latin, hebrew or aramaic to understand "the most realistic version" of the bible?
learning a new language brings inherent difficulties and errors for the first few years at least.
coming from a religious family and having studied religions academically for seven years I would question what you hope to achieve by reading them.
if you wish to dive in and honestly get to grips with these two massively complex books, I recommend you don't bother.
instead read history for context of the times first. learn about the "mystical experience" as the source of all religions and how human attempts to structure the mystical experience in text and law always lead to paradox.
before understanding the old testament you should have some understanding of judaism for context. to understand the new testament you should understand a little of the roman empire. equally, to understand the quran, a background of judaism and christianity certainly helps, along with historical context.
both books can be opened to random pages and offer enlightenment. this is the simplest introduction to the two.
to choose to spend a couple of years in ~2000 year old texts requires some perspective first, unless you just wish to be swept away by faith.. which only happens to those who can't think for themselves.
edit: forgot to directly answer the questions..
on occasion I will dip into specific texts to verify what was written in my own memory. this leads to a more specific focus on certain other related texts. then I put them down and forget about them for a long long time.
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Good point, but imo the Qur'an seems like a easy place to start with, with the only prerequisite being of how to read Arabic. Compared to the Bible, Rob will have to learn three different languages, which might prove to be too time consuming for one.
Even then for some people, they still don't find what they're looking for. So don't get your hopes too high, for some they're both pieces of paper, and for others, its their life. The Qur'an can also prove to be a insight of the values of the Bible, so it's recommended (imo) to go Qur'an first, Bible second.
The majority of both book's proverbs, are somewhat religious. So to a agnostic person like yourself, this type of wisdom is useless due to you not being a follower. But both books, contain specific pieces of information, that anybody (even atheists) can apply to their everyday life. I believe this is the kind of wisdom your seeking. These types of proverbs are pretty much common sense, but explained in a complex way.
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Hey folks, why not start at the top? I find reading the "story behind the story" give much better context to such seminal works as bible & Quran. While reading both are both engrossing & entertaining, find how each has influenced mankind throughout history, can only lend authenticity to both works and will, no doubt, give each new generation a reason to reflect on past mistakes, so as not to repeat. To start a book list would not even scatch the proverbial surface. To that end, I would recommend only the finest (in my opinion) modern authors:
Fritz Springmeier, Dean Henderson ( https://hendersonlefthook.wordpress.com), Dr. John Coleman (committee of 300), Eugene Mallove (fire from ice)
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