Three Most Influential Religious Texts

[ayani]

which three religious texts / books have influenced you the most?

which have you enjoyed, drawn inspiration from, or treasured, and why? which (if any) changed you life?

i have two, only. (i know, that's cheating...) they would have to be the Quran, and the Bible.

the Quran i found beautiful, rational, poetic, and comprehensive. it changed my life, and drew me into Islamic faith. i find it undoubtedly a work of great literary style, beauty, poetic value, and diversity of topics covered.

though i went to church for about two decades, i never actually read the Bible. reading the Bible did not lead me to Christian faith, but having come to faith it's more of a joy to read than ever. i find it rich, deep, powerful, inspired, convicting, and personally relevant. funny in places, too.

 

[Caladan]

Well its hard to point the finger at 3 alone. but as things went for me, I grew up with the stories of the bible, although I was never a religious person, its just something you get to be at least partially familiar with when living in Israel. I love the diversity in the bible, some great stories, great literature, poetry, I love the language in which it is written, I love some of its prominent figures. the bible is filled with passionate stories and literary qualities, warfare, revenge, heathen gods.. action galore, on the other side, there is charming poetic quality and hope.
should come with a warning: 'Dont Panic, or literalize', or should come with a reference to a passage from the biblical book of Jeremiah (8:8) :'Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain'

another text is the New Testament, I like many of the parables of Jesus and the message of taking it easy on religious law in favor of a display of humanity, and being the master of your own religion in order to practice logic. this book should also come with an opening note: 'dont take as gospel, or idolize main protagonist'.

now to choose another one is a bit tricky, there are important texts I have read: Tao Te Ching, which is one of the most flowing and natural texts I read. the Gospel of Thomas of the Nag Hammadi library, this text is a landmark as far as im concerned and in another alt history situation in a parallel universe this book could go beyond the boundries of a single Church or religion with ease. and of course any person who pursues cultural knowledge cannot discard the Bahagvad Gita and the Qur'an.
so with that I will leave the 3rd choice open.

 

[bobhikes]

Sciencetology, Ron L Hubbard (taught me I need to be careful I can easliy be decieved)
Genesis, Bible (was the start of the path I am now on)
Tao, Lau Tao (the path I now take)

 

[TurkeyOnRye]

The Power of Now
A New Earth
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

 

[YmirGF]

The Bardo Thodol (Evans-Wentz) was probably the most pivitol book I have read. You could say it brought back a lot of memories.

Bhagavad-Gita: As it is (and the Srimad Bhagavatam series) formalized my views of the god concepts and eventually led me beyond those concepts.

Seth Speaks: The eternal validity of the soul by Jane Roberts which brought me back to reality.

 

[J Bryson]

The New Testament, specifically the life of Jesus.

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. I can't get through most of his works, but this one touched me immensely.

Awakening The Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das. Broke down Buddhism into an understandable form, and was a source of parables and stories that I use to this day.

Runners up: Cosmic Trigger by Robert Anton Wilson, Magick In Theory And Practice by Aleister Crowley, and Be Here Now by Ram Dass

 

[ayani]

a couple more...

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Al-Furqan Al-Haqq by Anis Shorrosh

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

 

[ranjana]

For me, Bhagavad-Gita has been most influential and powerful.

Not that they are religious texts per se, but when I was younger, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind and anything by Pema Chodron was very influential on my thinking.

 

[MaeDha]

The Quran for sure. I found it an extremely calming read.
The Bible too particularly the New Testament or any of the Gospels.
I haven't read many other religious texts but now I am going to take a look at some of the texts mentioned above. So thanks for this thread!

 

[Mjolnir]

The Bhagavad-Gita challenged my thinking.

A collection of the Buddha's parables changed my life.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius showed me reason.

 

[iloveislam]

The Qur'an is the Book that changed my life for the better.

I can honestly say that I feel better and more humane now than two years before.

The second and third books would have to be Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim respectively, since they preserve many of the Authentic narrations from Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

 

[Mike182]

1) Liber AL Vel Legis.

2) The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology

3) Principia Discordia.