Take every religous law from every obscure and common religion around the world and put them in one book.
Call it the rule book.
This will show the humor of God by blending Levitical laws with Rastifarian pecepts, Islamic dogma and Puritan morals in one easy to read text.-- Hiremetoday, Feb 03 2005 An open-air private space, bounded by a wire. http://www.jewishsf.../bk030307/i27.shtml [AbsintheWithoutLeave, Feb 04 2005] AlGathafi Speaks http://www.algathaf.../turky/turki-en.htmAvailable in English, French, Arabic, ... and other religions, I'm sure. [reensure, Feb 09 2005] Every law of god available in one handy book; for those people who obessivley care.
They can use it to follow an even higher moral calling. They can blame it for why they won't eat meat, or wear clothing, or drink wine or make war or have sex or live like the rest of us.
I dont know. It just seems like a funny idea.-- Hiremetoday, Feb 03 2005 Nor mine, neilp. But as soon as I see "Other:[General]", I shudder.-- blissmiss, Feb 03 2005 very few people (none?) care obsessively about all of the aforementioned laws (indeed, if they did, the book you're proposing would already be in its 18th reprint). It would make for an interesting read though, especially if it was well cross referenced. 'live like the rest of us' is very amusing, given that even if you're a follower of the most popular religion on the planet, the other 4.5bn people aren't.-- neilp, Feb 03 2005 ...might tempt people to pick a religion that seems easier to follow.-- po, Feb 03 2005 //...might tempt people to pick a religion that seems easier to follow.//
Or to figure it out for themselves.-- Detly, Feb 03 2005 *it*?-- po, Feb 03 2005 So we end up with a book, endorsed by no faith. It tells us, for instance, that killing the infidels will please God, but that any killing is bad? Or that God says that all food is permissible, but that we may not eat pork or beef? It doesn't add up.-- david_scothern, Feb 03 2005 The question that arrives at the answer '42'.-- ConsulFlaminicus, Feb 03 2005 Sounds like this would give the Green Light to a No-Holds-Barred, Carte Blanche Do-What-You-LikeFest if you ask me.-- gnomethang, Feb 03 2005 [ds] We already have a book endorsed by at least one faith that says that their god says that we may take revenge (an eye for an eye), but that also says that that same god (or his son or possibly a third of the same god, or some other mumbo-jumbo) says we should turn the other cheek. Seems to me easier to ignore rules laid down by fairy stories.-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Feb 03 2005 //It doesn't add up// I think that that is rather the point.
I'd probably buy this, if it was authoritative and, as neilp says, thoroughly cross-referenced.-- calum, Feb 03 2005 Absinthe, if you'd actually like the explanation for that, let me know and I'll happily oblige. If you're just up for a fight, or to attack something that is close to a lot of people's hearts, maybe you should rethink your motives a little.-- david_scothern, Feb 03 2005 [david], 'seems to me easier to ignore trolling.'-- contracts, Feb 03 2005 I think this book would sell well, based on [Absinthe] and [david]'s little exchange. I also think for any of the religious texts you'll find quite a range of interpretations about what the actual laws are.-- Worldgineer, Feb 03 2005 Contracts, I guess so. But the answers to such points are out there, if a person genuinely wants the information.-- david_scothern, Feb 03 2005 "The Ten Thousand Commandments"?-- FarmerJohn, Feb 03 2005 [d_s] Yeah, whatever. I didn't bother to rethink my motives, but you'll have to excuse my trollish newbie tendencies (where did I read that?). Email me.-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Feb 03 2005 Ooh, here's an idea -- sort the ten thousand commandments in order of difficultly. That way you can find out how devoted you are. "In general I find i'm only page 53 level devout."-- not_only_but_also, Feb 03 2005 You're in the wrong card catalogue sir. You need to try using the don't dewi decimal system.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 03 2005 //I also think for any of the religious texts you'll find quite a range of interpretations about what the actual laws are.// Perhaps it needs a standard, like ANSI or IEC?-- Ling, Feb 04 2005 [BrauBeaton] That's an interesting point - I've always been puzzled by some aspects of the Jewish faith, where a great deal of time and effort seems to be expended on bending the rules. A case in point is the eruv in North London [link]. If the law is the Word of God, surely it a blasphemy to apply human interpretation? (I should point out that I'm not saying such practices don't take place in other faiths, or that I'm taking a pop at Orthodox Jews, it is just seems very odd to an atheist) I'd certainly buy this book.-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Feb 04 2005 [Brau] very good point
this Rule book would be a farce of contradictions. humorous at best.- unless it was done as a resource or encyclopedia sort of thing.-- dentworth, Feb 09 2005 Spiritual ISDN.-- egbert, Feb 09 2005 [dentworth]: You've hit on one of the greatest truths of Religion: "everyone else is wrong."
This would make a good coffee table book.-- shapu, Feb 09 2005 Given the number of religions and rules, it would make a good coffee table.-- Detly, Feb 09 2005 Books on comparative religion aren't exactly scarce.-- half, Feb 09 2005 Question: who gets the money made from sales of this book? Since most religions are all about money and power would they all get a share of the proceeds? if not, would the publishers then start a new religion?-- elfling, Feb 09 2005 You could just give it to the Quakers, but they'd probably do something socially responsible with it.-- shapu, Feb 09 2005 They will ban all means of contraceptives, for they believe it is not permitted. They believe in polygamy, maids and what the right hand possessed, i.e. European Christian women ... , to revive Albania as an Islamic state, as well as Bosnia, ... and force Europe into embracing Islam or pay poll tax. -- great "now, ask me if that's a good idea" religious insight from a major mideast political leader. <link>-- reensure, Feb 09 2005 Easily condensed.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two."-- RayfordSteele, Feb 10 2005 Rayford, Roberts, you two actually play very well with one another.
Believe in God or not, I won't comment on my own beliefs here, I think that this is good moral guidance for all, these two rules having about equal importance (though it feels like I need a third (ah, there goes))
"Love thy neighbor as thyself." "An it harm none, do what ye will." "Don't be evil."
Evil: for the purposes of this, deriving pleasure directly or indirectly from another's suffering.
From these three rules, you can derive a whole system of coherent and useful guidelines, methinks.-- Chrontius, Mar 03 2005 [TheRoberts] Because it is a book about religious laws, not living justly.-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 03 2005 I approve. It would be interesting especially to see databases of all the laws lined up in side-by-side comparison. Like comparing used cars.-- k_sra, Mar 03 2005 [TheRoberts] I don't understand your response to, and call for muzzling, [Absinthe]'s comments. I could have easily written the same comment and with the same reasoning: the idea is about religious law and not civil or moral law.
Maybe I missed something, somewhere.-- bristolz, Mar 03 2005 I still like [FJ]'s "The Ten Thousand Commandments".-- wagster, Mar 03 2005 [k_sra] Consumer's Guide: The religion edition ?-- normzone, Mar 03 2005 Flaky pastry, if only for the idea of Rasta Shiites -- who are, no doubt, awaiting the return of the Twelfth Im-Mon.
Re: [Absinthe]'s query about rational thought + divine law, there's a famous post-Second Temple Jewish parable about a conclave of rabbis disputing an obscure religious precept. Finally, they take a vote, but the voice of G-d descends and tells them that they have chosen wrongly. The rabbis then rebuke G-d for giving Man reason but then refusing to let him exercise it. Chastised, God laughs and withdraws.
In Islam, some laws are considered to be revoked (being superceded elsewhere in the Quran, though dating those texts can be a matter of dispute), while another doctrine suggests that religious laws should be considered relative to the barbaric time of Muhammad's life -- e.g., Muhammad sought to ameliorate the worst aspects of slavery, so in today's more enlightened (and, one assumes, Islamic) age, a good Muslim should follow that course all the way through and oppose slavery.
Early Christians, especially Origen, read the Bible literally, metaphorically, and fantastically as they thought necessary; the concept of Biblical literalism in the radical-right-wing sense is really a 19th-century development, though some trace it (quite wrongly) back to Wesley (who was nowhere near as literalist a Christian as some today think).
In any case, I'd cheerfully buy a massive cross-referenced tome of religious and quasi-religious works, though I'd like both original languages and the better translations (such as Maududi's translation and commentary on the Quran).-- baka, Jul 06 2005 Why buy a book? The gods were certainly good enough to infuse all needed information directly into you and the universe you inhabit. The trick is discovering it. The joke is that someone who already discovered it may have put it in the book.-- baconbrain, Jul 06 2005 random, halfbakery