A.J. Jacobs: My year of living biblically

http://www.ted.com Speaking at the most recent EG conference, author, philosopher, prankster and journalist A.J. Jacobs talks about the year he spent living biblically -- following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible.


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[FreethinkingFun]

People need to chill the fuck out about this talk (religious and anti-religious people) This guy did something interesting and pretty funny as an experiment and all I see is a bunch of people making bold inferences about the "message" or moral point.

Sure he gives a few musings on sacredness but nothing to get worked up about. Just enjoy the story of this guys experiment, he is not touting biblical morality nor does he seem have any need for salvation. Great talk, hilarious presentation.

[TomFynn]

Eleventh commandment: "Do not start a fight with a guy whose wife looks like she might have a strong grip."

[TheVirus3000]

Tradition of putting candles on birthday cake:

The tradition of placing candles on birthday cake is attributed to early Greeks, who used to place lit candles on cakes to make them glow like the moon. Greeks used to take the cake to the temple of Artemis. Some[citation needed] say that candles were placed on the cake because people believed that the smoke of the candle carried their prayers to gods.

From Wikipedia I searched for Birthday cake. Every ritual has a purpose, it's just forgotten.

[RedPanda79]

Wow your voice is a lot higher than I thought. Love the books!

[crudhousefull]

This guy hits the nail on the head. Incredibly person

[MarkHolgate]

@pyr666 perhaps more pertinent, is the way he himself reveals that he didn't know or appreciate many biblical precepts before he had put them into practise. In other words, we aren't good at determining "which bits" are more or less important. We don't appreciate the 'silly' laws like fabrics, for example, until we have allergies to synthetics. And the bits he decides against (homosexuality, violence) are the socially awkward ones. The ones you'll cop flak for. Interesting experiment tho.

[WombatSpasm]

Is it just me or did the video do a horrible job of synchronizing the sound & picture? I had to listen to the entire speech with the browser minimized to keep from going crazy

[pyr666]

funny thing is, cherry picking the bible IS AGAINST THE BIBLE.

[Tributer123]

Gal. 3:23-25: “But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor (to lead us) to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. " NO MORE (Old Testament) LAW. V. 26 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Everything in the New Testament covenant is by faith, not law.

Jesus died for us and was raised it Came 2 pass

[LondonIrishRover]

@jcolino3 I can understand why you don't want to argue. The bible is impossible to defend logically.