Hey guys. Is there still a point these days to read The Old Testament? I've been reading the KJB recently not so much as in an attempt to convert as in a search for a literary experience/because it's an important work to understand the western canon. Because Christianity relies mostly on the New Testament, is the OT as important or has it degenerated more or less solely into a source of prose?
yes, it's still important. it's not necessary to becoming a christian, but a lot of it is super interesting. If you really are interested in being a Christian you might be interested in learning about the history and struggles of God's people.
>>7841384
>BEING CHRISTIAN
>NOT READING THE BIBLE IN ENTIRETY
>is there any point to reading job, psalms, proverbs, ecclesiastics, etc. etc. etc.
I thought it was NKJV that was the /lit/ approved translation?
>>7841372
>decide to read the Old Testament to gain an understanding of why the Bible is so influential
>first book is filled with copious incest, death, rape, forced genital mutilation, and God acting like a moody teenage girl
>mfw
>>7841715
I've heard that the NKJV takes too many liberties with translation and ends up mutilating the translation of the original KJV, but that could just be fanaticism.
>>7841372
>Read Daniel from the OT
>Read Mark form the NT
Jesus quotes Daniel.
Yeah, I'd say it's important.
>>7841890
Be a champion and learn to read Greek. Nothing better than looking at the academic catalog of the best original manuscripts we have.
It depends entirely on what your goals are. If you just generally want to become familiar with important literature, the answer is yes.
>>7841372
As a practicing conservative Jew, I've read the old testament at least 20 times now. Every Shabbat you read a Parashah, a chapter, and the corresponding Haftarah, an excerpt from Prophets or Writings, usually.
I used to just read at my own pace, I'm half Israeli so I would try to read both Hebrew and English, until the Torah service was over.
It really only takes that two hours, once a week, to burn through the Bible.
Honestly, it's mostly "LISTEN TO WHAT G-D SAYS OR YOU'RE FUCKED!"
http://torahportions.org/lastweek/
Eg, last week's Parashah was from Leviticus and went over ritual sacrifice and wasn't relevant to todays society. The Haftarah is from Samuels and explains that Go- doesn't want glory or material things over faith in G-d's words.
TL;DR G-d is a 12 year old suffering from mild autism - Eugene Merman
>>7841372
>KJV
For crying out loud OP, if you need it in English go for Douay–Rheims or you're going to be missing out on some interesting books that are influential to both the religion and its tradiiton because >muh ideologies.
If you wished to convert, then I'd say just read the New Testament. You'd understand the religious aspect of it because it tries very hard to be universal. However, the literary merit of the Bible is sustained by the Old Testament. It is there that you have a wide array of genres, lore, and references that will improve your insight of the western canon. Even the New Testament's deeper interpretations hinge on sufficient knowledge of the Old Testament, because most events in Jesus' life are meant to be metaphors to Old Testament beliefs.
Don't wuss out, if it's for literary merit do it right and reas the whole thing, and look for a version that includes the deuterocanonical books.
