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It Comes Back To The Old Question: How Can The Bible Be So Wise In Some Places And So Barbaric In Others? And Why Should We Put Any Faith In A Book That Includes Such Brutality?

-A. J. Jacobs

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It Comes Back To

A. J. Jacobs

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It Comes Back To The Old Question: How Can The Bible Be So Wise In Some Places And So Barbaric In Others? And Why Should We Put Any Faith In A Book That Includes Such Brutality?

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Taking The Bible Too Literally Is A Mistake. It Should Be Read As A Guidebook Of Wisdom And Insight.

A Loud Noise Will Get Your Fight-or-flight Response Going. This, Over The Years, Can Cause Real Cardiovascular Damage.

It's Hard To Be In A Bad Mood When You're Walking Around Looking Like You're About To Play The Semifinals At Wimbledon.

When I Went To Israel, It Was A Little Disorienting, Because There Are So Many People Who Look Crazy And Were Dressed Like Me. There, I Was Just One Of The Apocalyptic Crowd.

Probably 90 Percent Of Our Life Decisions Are Powered By The Twin Engines Of Inertia And Laziness.

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The Bible Improved My Ethical Iq. I Started To Act Like A Good Person. I Tried Not To Gossip, And Lie, And Covet, And Just By Pretending I Was A Good Person, I Think I Actually Became A Little Bit Better Of A Person. I'm Not Gandhi Or Angelina Jolie, But It Was A Baby Step.

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It Comes Back To The Old Question: How Can The Bible Be So Wise In Some Places And So Barbaric In Others? And Why Should We Put Any Faith In A Book That Includes Such Brutality?

This Is What The Sabbath Should Feel Like. A Pause. Not Just A Minor Pause, But A Major Pause. Not Just Lowering The Volume, But A Muting. As The Famous Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Put It, The Sabbath Is A Sanctuary In Time.

I’m Not A Fan Of ‘write What You Know.’ If You Don’t Know, Find Out. I Knew Nothing About The Bible Before I Started Writing ‘the Year Of Living Biblically.’ That Was Kind Of The Point – To Learn.

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