“Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious,Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I learned When I Read Every Single Word of The Bible” by David Plotz

June 21, 2009 by admin

Just when we thought we were beginning to understand the sorts of book Jen likes, she throws a curve ball with,”Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious,Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I learned When I Read Every Single Word of The Bible” by David Plotz. Forgive us, but it seemed appropriate to leave publication of her thoughts about reading a book about reading The Bible until Sunday

I regard this as a slightly inane Cliff Notes for the Bible. It was everything he found it to be and his book follows suit. It is very interesting, slightly irreverent, and clever.

What I remember most about my Sunday School adventures is the oatmeal cookies (and the fact that Madison Avenue Presbyterian had both a pool and bowling lanes in the basements.) I then studied eastern religions in College, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

That about sums it up.

I, like David Plotz, have not read the whole Bible. Nor do I really want to, so this book looked perfect.

He reads the whole thing. The whole enchilada. What he finds is startling in its violence and horrors. He finds a very cruel, vindictive God. We are both surprised.

The God of the Old Testament is not too approachable. Rape, incest, murder abounds. Parents killing children. Children killing parents. Yikes.

He takes you book by book through the Bible. Genesis, Deuteronomy, Leviticus etc …

He calls Deuteronomy the,” Moses farewell tour.” He mentions Leviticus, “in the same hushed tones that … Hollywood exectutives whisper ISHTAR.”

Luckily he has a wonderfully outrageous sense of humor, which makes the content palatable. Otherwise it would be frightening.

My God, and his, is a very different sort. In amongst the evils, are the stories we know and the parables worth learning.

All humor aside he tells us to read the Bible for ourselves. He says he felt like he was understanding his world for the first time. He was humbled. It is perfectly acceptable to debate religious interpretation and challenge the beliefs of others, but only if you know all the facts. One can not presume to judge without full disclosure.

Keep an open mind, remember the importance of The Bible as a stepping stone and don’t lose heart.

It is worth the read.