I've been finishing about one book per week every week for the last 3 years. It's probably my favorite hobby. I read mostly non-fiction and take lots of notes.
While these 10 books aren't about current events (most of them are pretty old) they all deeply apply to what's happening now. I've read a lot of good stuff and a lot of crap, but these 10 are the best time investments I've made when it comes to reading. I think they're very important and relevant.
The books by topic:
Political Psychology
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind By Gustave Le Bon
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer
Thought Reform And The Psychology Of Totalism by Robert Jay Lifton
Max Weber on Charisma and Institution Building; Selected Papers
History & Culture
The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C. S. Lewis
The Pagan Temptation by Thomas Molnar
Political Philosophy
The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis
The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy by Carl Schmitt
Fascism Viewed from the Right by Julius Evola
King of the Castle: Choice and Responsibility in the Modern World by Gai Eaton
If you want the truth, just read the Bible.
I say this as a Christian and as someone who has read the Bible many, many times:
I hate your answer. Hate it. You took a post that someone had spend hundreds of hours of labor in order to put it together and you dismissed it outright.
Our greatest challenge in making the Great Awakening a reality is waking up those in a deep slumber. I've read 7 of the books the OP posted and a subset provide excellent insights in waking up those slumbering people.
God did not put us on earth to read the Bible and then pray for everything we want. He gave us the wonderous gift of free will and autonomy to allow us the choice of making the lives of our brothers and sisters better.
Understanding how people think and how a collective thinks is a key to making this world a better place. The books that the OP mentioned provide assistance in that endeavor that the Bible does not. The Bible is a guide to living a good, righteous life. It is not a guide to waking up communist imbeciles.
Here, here
I have a college degree in Bible studies, and I agree, there is nothing more embarrassing than the lazy unthoughtful response of "The Bible said it, I believe it, and that settles it." This mentality is a reason why the younger generation is abandoning Biblical view point in droves.
I'll bet 99% of those with such as a simplistic view have no idea on what year the books of the new testament were canonized, who in particular selected the books of the New Testament, which books were received with opposition and why, which books of the New Testament were considered and were rejected.
I also read and studied the Bible many times and I wish I could down vote that comment a thousand times.
Hmmm, me too, and Jesus Christ answered every single time with "for it is written!" He is the example I'm surprised you didn't pick up on that in College.
I'm curious what 7 books you read and what you thought of them.
Always make me roll my eyes when people think that the bible haven't been through kazahrian hands on numerous occasions and rewritten and edited to suit their agenda....
The whole number of the beast/satan mythos is a good example, the original number was 616 and it was a number they feared so much they changed it to their number, the original story wasn't their satan but a story more akin to that of Prometheus in Greek mythology and the person in question being better describe there and in Loki of nordic mythology, but these people don't like stories of individualism that could inspire people to start thinking and start pushing back/standing on their own...
Ever wonder why there seem to some rather strong common threads in various religions texts and why they seem to be somewhat 'different' in the major adherent ones.....Common origin, many scribes, not all of them good....
Sorry you hate it. I've read thousands of books. when looking for truth they all wasted my time.
The bible did not. Redeem the time for rhe days are evil. People may not have the time left for anything else.
I started reading the Bible beginning to end recently. I have just started the book of Judges. The word of the LORD has already changed my life.
If you want the Truth of Salvation and of God’s character and what we should strive to be, just read the Bible.
That seems to fix it.
You should do some research and find there is no original manuscript fo the Bible. Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy with passages added in thru the years as the scribes thought fit.
A Manuscript would imply the Bible was a continuous work. On its own.
It’s a compilation of dozens if not hundreds of documents which were passed between various churches and Christian communities. The Bible was assembled later by early Church leaders.
Partly as a response to political pressures. And partly out of a desire to unite the Church with a single set of beliefs. Prior. There were dozens if not hundreds of sects and churches. They shared some common beliefs but were all different.
The sects and Churches that ultimately fell into line with the cannon the meeting decided. Became the Church in Rome. The Sects and Churches which didn’t were declared heretics. And over the years. Were purged or forced underground. Either by direct actions of the church or various kingdoms and Empires.
Point being there would be no manuscript for the Bible.
Yes. And then there are the MANY English translations.
Never said there was an an original manuscript. But God said He "magnified His Word above ALL His name".
He did that, perhaps we should too.
That might work for you because you believe in a god. I believe we were created by an Annunaki called Enki.
Absolutely
Unequivocally
u/#wrong
I love the bible, but this answer isn't helpful. There are many versions of the bible and many parts are written by different people, additionally alot of it is symbolic, not literal.
When adam and eve ate the apple and then covered their privates, was it really an apple they ate, or did they have premarital sex? That would explain why they were shameful of their privates and hid them.
If you tell people to read the bible, and they believe eating an apple led to so many issues for humanity, that isn't truthful or helpful in my opinion.
So instead of recommending the bible in general, how about a specific section or person who you believe accurately understands the bible.
Adam and Eve did not eat an apple. They ate fruit from the tree of THE knowledge of good and evil not an apple tree. (not the tree of knowledge as some claim)
They could have been in the garden 100s of years before they ate from the tree. We have no way of knowning.
This story has NOTHING to do with premarital sex. They were "married" at Eve's creation. Besides the ONLY sin they could have commited at the time was eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil.
The sin that Adam and Eve did is the same one we all do to this day.
Adam and Eve no longer did what was right in the eyes of God. They did what was right in THEIR eyes. They wanted to be god deciding what is right and wrong.
All evil stems from doing what is right in our eyes, and not the eyes of God.
.
There are not many different versions of the bible. There are many translations of the bible. Even many different English translations. Some groups add or take away different books. some groups attempt to twist their translations to push their falsh teachings.
The bible was written over a span of 1500 years so of course there are many different authors. I am not sure why you think that is a problem. Try to find anything else written over a span of 100 years and see if it all matches up.
Of course much of scripture is symbolic. The bible is not designed to be read through for understanding. It was designed to be read over and over and meditated on. As your faith grows the symbolic imagery takes on new meaning within your heart.
Bottom line for understanding the bible. It's not about knowledge. It's about relationship. If you seek God with a seekers heart and you will find God who is the truth. The more you seek God the more of God you will find.
So that would be my general answer for someone that wants to know the truth.
The truth will not be given to you, You must search for it and take it. The world despises the truth. The world will do everything possible to keep it from you.
In the end the truth is free but it will cost you everything you have.
I know a lot that hate when one image diverts from actual truth and supplants it. The apple is one example of many, and some symbologists do go really deeply into it.
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Corinthians 2:14, NASB)
"For the scripture did not come by the will of men. But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit.""
"How To Enjoy Reading The Bible" by E.W. Bullinger
This man was, figuratively speaking, an "autist" of the Word of God. He researched many different facets (without a computer!)to really enhance people's understanding of the Bible and of God.