your least favorite books in the bible

leviticus = talks about sacrifices and decrees that jesus made irrelevant.
numbers = a bunch of numbers, literally
esther = doesnt even talk about God.
song of songs = hilarious. it mustve inspired romeo and juliet.
mark = mediocre followup to matthew

I cant call myself a semi-christian either. I hope I could accept these kinda books.

I'm with you, except for Mark, which historically was believed to have been written first. I'm not a huge fan of the Gospel of John, as it doesn't really follow the pattern of the Gospels. Luke makes me wary, since Luke says himself that he wasn't direct witness to the events, so everything written there is heresay.

that's me- I admitadly am no biblical scholar.

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Luck happens when skill meets opportunity. Everything else is Divine Intervention.

wow.... take out leviticus and Jesus makes no sense....

how sad.



Steve

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I've never found much use for the "short" books, like Obadiah, 2 and 3 John, etc.

I've never liked the fourth gospel much. How it portrays Jesus, I mean. He feels very inhuman. I know that's the whole point, but it's always made reading it a bit difficult. I like a lot of the parables and symbolism, though.

Ezekiel is a little long. Proverbs too. I wish they weren't so repetitive. Leviticus is also repetitive, but I understand why. It wasn't exactly written with the intention of fitting into "read the Bible in a year" schedules

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Interesting question.

I'm with you on Numbers and Leviticus. I'm not a big fan of Proverbs. And Chronicles - well, I much prefer the Samuel/Kings telling of the story.

N.T. wise, I've yet to aquire a taste for Hebrews.

I couldn't agree about Mark I'm afraid - I'd take Mark over Matthew any day; but don't read one after the other - they each need to be approached on their own terms. Mark as the text on discipleship.

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"Goodness is stronger than evil,
love is stronger than hate,
light is stronger than darkness,
life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us."
(+Desmond Tutu)

The first nine chapters of I Chronicles - BORING!

My goal this year was to actually study the entire bible and while I have about 9 more books to go, I found out that many of the books I thought were more challenging to read, contains many hidden scriptures that I did not know about. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of them, (but I understand that I have to put what I read into word and deeds).Yes, some passages are harder to read, but I sort of like that. And I like reading each book because they tell you something about God or humanity or turns back in history and I appreciate the writings, even the ones that is challenging to understand. I've also found out that being on this forum really calls for a lot of scripture I never thought about because it all relates to each other. For example: when someone have a question about when Christ was first called "Son" in scripture, you can turn back to Psalms, Proverbs and Daniel, before you look at the New Testament.

I have a whole new understanding, I am reading the bible so I can know the mind of God and I realize just how active He is in scripture and that He has much more of a personality then I ever thought He did. I love absolutely love Him. And it is amazing how comforting His words are in times of despair, for my family is having a rough time but I know, that we will get through this in the way that God wants.

One of my new favorite verses, I've found: Micah 6:6-8

"With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?

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1 Corinthians 8:9-11
Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.

Legalistic or not, Christ said "If you love me, keep My commandments...He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the father's who send Me." John 14:15, 24

Why do we fight so hard to explain scriptures that are not there and yet ignore the ones that are?

Leviticus - Considered by Jews to be the most holy of the Scriptures, and the first book taught to boys studying Torah
Numbers - Has two census reports at the front and back, but mostly narrative in between
Esther - one of the best peices of straight literature in all of scripture
SOS - Has a long, long, long history of being the most loved book by various groups. Maybe I can find a list later, but it is very impressive...mostly groups that were known for undergoing times of intense persecution
Mark - The oldest of the gospels


Personally, my list might have included Obadiah, the second half of Exodus, the second half of Joshua, or the opening chapters of 1Chronicles. Not that those can't be fun in their own right

I don't like much of the Old Testement, especially when God was pronouncing punishment on the nations for being so wicked. Or boring lists of rules that Jesus weeded out. Basically the Old Testement. I believe it to be factuall and true, and filled with wisdom, but a lot of it I can barely read because of how punishing it is. Esther however is one of my favorite books.

I like pretty much all of the Bible, there's always some teaching in it...