A parable is an assault on the conventions, including the social, economic and mythic structures that people build for their own comfort and security. A parable is a story meant to subvert these structures and to suggest that the way of the kingdom is not the way of the world.
Bible Quotes
Great objects inspire great thoughts; great munificence excites great gratitude; but the groveling tales and doctrines of the Bible – are fit only to excite contempt… the stupid Bible of the church, that teaches man nothing.
The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity.
If one is willing to make adjustments in the historical claims of the Bible, they can be correlated with the archaeological evidence if one is willing to take some liberties with the archaeological evidence.
I have now gone through the Bible, as a man would go through a wood with an ax on his shoulder, and fell trees. Here they lie; and the priests, if they can, may replant them. They may, perhaps, stick them in the ground, but they will never make them grow.
There is much in the Bible against which every instinct of my being rebels, so much that I regret the necessity which has compelled me to read it through from beginning to end. I do not think that the knowledge which I have gained of its history and sources compensates me for the unpleasant details […]
I know the Bible is inspired because it inspires me.
Among the detestable villains that in any period of the world have disgraced the name of man, it is impossible to find a greater than Moses, if this account be true. Here is an order to butcher the boys, to massacre the mothers, and debauch the daughters. Let any mother put herself in the situation […]
It is not a scientific textbook. It is not a textbook on religion. It is not a textbook at all; it is a revelation from God!
Moral: A peerless maxim enumerated by God in his Holy Bible, such as that of Deuteronomy 23:1, if your testicles are crushed or your male member missing, you must never enter a sanctuary of the Lord.
