Have you read your holy book

[ChristineM]

Inspired by a conversation with @Mark Charles Compton about whether Christians actually read the bible.

@Mark Charles Compton suggests that in his experience the majority of Christians have read the entire bible though it may differ by denomination. While my view again based on experience is that very few Christians have actually read the bible and are satisfied with snippets handed to them, so long as those snippets.meet their expectations.

Here i am going to expand the idea across all religions. First I ask for a simple Yes/No answer to the questionnaire then add a quick post naming which of the Bible, Qur'an, Gita, Torah, Guru Granth Sahib, Tripitaka or other named holy book of your religion you have read cover to cover.


Edit for clarity.

Some faiths have more (many more) than one book, for these, full read of the book(s) you consider most important will suffice for a tes vote

 

[epronovost]

I did read the first volume of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Does that count?

 

[JustGeorge]

There are a lot of 'Holy Books' in Hinduism. I'm not sure one could read them all.... its just too vast.

The Vedas, the Puranas(of which I believe are 18), the Mahabharata(of which the Bhagavad Gita is a part of) Ramayana, and Tirukural all come to my mind(after just waking up), but there are countless others.

No one is expected to read them all, and not every scripture is relevant to every tradition. A person focuses on the ones that are pertinent to them.

Off the top of my head, I have read Devi Bhagavatam, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, and Tirukural.

 

[ChristineM]

I did read the first volume of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Does that count?

I am afraid not. Good book thought, I've read all 6 books in the trilogy

 

[paradox]

Inspired by a conversation with @Mark Charles Compton about whether Christians actually read the bible.

@Mark Charles Compton suggests that in his experience the majority of Christians have read the entire bible though it may differ by denomination. While my view again based on experience is that very few Christians have actually read the bible and are satisfied with snippets handed to them, so long as those snippets.meet their expectations.

Here i am going to expand the idea across all religions. First I ask for a simple Yes/No answer to the questionnaire then add a quick post naming which of the Bible, Qur'an, Gita, Torah, Guru Granth Sahib, Tripitaka or other named holy book of your religion you have read cover to cover.

I've read my bible several times over and also in between as needed.
I'm still reading it and still find new interesting stuff that is invisible right away.

 

[Exaltist Ethan]

I don't read books; I listen to audiobooks.

I have the audiobook of the holy book of my faith. I listened to a bit of it, but not cover to cover. A lot of it I agree with but it was written by Swedish nationalists and that filters in throughout the book. Honestly, I could probably write a better syntheist scripture book than them, but I'm too much of a perfectionist to do so. Plus, they invented the word and concept, not me.

 

[Heyo]

I did read the first volume of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Does that count?

Just my thought. I've read all 5 books in the 4 part trilogy (written by Douglas Adams) and watched the BBC TV series multiple times.

 

[RestlessSoul]

I’ve read a little bit of Genesis. Many though not all of the Psalms. All of Ecclesiastes and The Song of Solomon. The Book of Job. And I once read most of Leviticus, think I was very bored that day. That’s about it for the Old Testament.
Of the New Testament I’ve read The Gospels, and Revelation.
I’m not anticipating a test at the pearly gates. I’ll be ****ed if there is.

I’ve also read the Dhammapada, The Baghavad Gita, some of the Upanishads, most of the Tibetan Book of The Dead, and the Tao te Ching

And then there’s Milton, Blake, Rumi, Attar, Ryokan, Basho and Tolstoy etc, all divinely inspired writers imo.

 

[crossfire]

I've read the Bible and the Tao Te Ching cover to cover several times. I've read the Quran cover to cover once. I need to finish up Chuangtze and the Analects of Confucious. I've read many Pali Buddhist suttas, Zen and other Mahayana writings, but the whole amount of Buddhist literature is quite vast, and many have not been translated into English. I've read the Bhagavad Gita a few times, some of the Samkhya literature, as well as some of the Shaivite Tantras, a few of the Upanishads and Puranas, but not much else from any of the other Hindu schools. I've also read many writings and mythos from less well-known traditions.

I have so much to read and learn yet!

 

[Link]

More than 40 times.

 

[Vee]

I've read the Bible a few times, but never from Genesis to Armageddon in a row. I like picking a book and reading that one, according to the subject and my mood.

 

[Secret Chief]

Inspired by a conversation with @Mark Charles Compton about whether Christians actually read the bible.

@Mark Charles Compton suggests that in his experience the majority of Christians have read the entire bible though it may differ by denomination. While my view again based on experience is that very few Christians have actually read the bible and are satisfied with snippets handed to them, so long as those snippets.meet their expectations.

Here i am going to expand the idea across all religions. First I ask for a simple Yes/No answer to the questionnaire then add a quick post naming which of the Bible, Qur'an, Gita, Torah, Guru Granth Sahib, Tripitaka or other named holy book of your religion you have read cover to cover.

First off, I consider nothing to be holy.
Minor point aside, how many Buddhists would read all of the Tipitaka - one of the three "baskets" is rules and regulations for monastics.
There is much variance across the traditions and schools. So one who practices within Theravada will possibly not even have heard of the Shobogenzo for instance (which is probably the major work of Soto Zen).
The Heart Sutra is an important "part" of the zen tradition and yes I have read it several times from cover to cover, but then it's only two pages long (if the paper is small). Words are the finger, not the moon.
So how should I vote?

 

[Secret Chief]

I've read the Bible and the Tao Te Ching cover to cover several times. I've read the Quran cover to cover once. I need to finish up Chuangtze and the Analects of Confucious. I've read many Pali Buddhist suttas, Zen and other Mahayana writings, but the whole amount of Buddhist literature is quite vast, and many have not been translated into English. I've read the Bhagavad Gita a few times, some of the Samkhya literature, as well as some of the Shaivite Tantras, a few of the Upanishads and Puranas, but not much else from any of the other Hindu schools. I've also read many writings and mythos from less well-known traditions.

I have so much to read and learn yet!

Slacker!

 

[ChristineM]

First off, I consider nothing to be holy.
Minor point aside, how many Buddhists would read all of the Tipitaka - one of the three "baskets" is rules and regulations for monastics.
There is much variance across the traditions and schools. So one who practices within Theravada will possibly not even have heard of the Shobogenzo for instance (which is probably the major work of Soto Zen).
The Heart Sutra is an important "part" of the zen tradition and yes I have read it several times from cover to cover, but then it's only two pages long (if the paper is small). Words are the finger, not the moon.
So how should I vote?

I would say vote no,

 

[JustGeorge]

I didn't know how to vote, either.

 

[VoidCat]

To me...all books are sacred. For knowledge and learning is holy. I voted no as I can't read every book in existance.

 

[paradox]

More than 40 times.

man, you must be reading all the time.

 

[ChristineM]

I didn't know how to vote, either.

Which book/books do you consider most important to your faith and use that as a guide.

 

[JustGeorge]

Which book/books do you consider most important to your faith and use that as a guide.

Yup, then.

 

[sun rise]

I didn't know how to vote, either.

True for me as well. Since there is no one book I did not answer the question.

I read the 5400+ pages of Meher Baba's biography "Lord Meher" in its entirety. I've read Meher Baba's Discourses and many other books cover to cover. I've never actually made it through "God Speaks".