/lit/ - Literature

Unironically, Taleb was the only one capable of bringing me back to religion. All the apologetic arguments are bankrupt, but as a result I basically participate in Catholicism without really believing any of it, sadly.

>>22733732
what is taleb exactly? is that some kind of book? didn't find it on google

>>22733739
Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Church, firstly

>>22733725
The Desert Fathers and the Cappadocians.

>>22733725
City of God dude that’s the tip top tippy top of the tip top

>>22733725

I started this audiobook this afternoon. It is a very nice introduction, even for non-Christians, full of wit and rather entertaining all round.

>C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters" Narrated by John Cleese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBxpcGfznos&list=PLA8BAC9375345E6C7

>>22733725
Epic of Eden
English standard version or NRSV
Inductive Bible study by Bauer is a good resource about how to understand Scriptures and read them well
My utmost for his highest is top 5 of all time devotional book
The normal Christian life and Sit walk stand by watchman nee
The unseen realm by heiser
Gift of being yourself
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis is a classic but CS Lewis is a popular writer.
It's important to know that there are issues Christians disagree with each other about and competing schemes of interesting the narrative of the Bible. Each has strengths and weaknesses, some more than others. Dispensationalism and covenant theology are two big ones they're very different from each other. People in dispensational theological groups may tend to have an apocalyptic perspective of reality and when that's all you think about it's easy to lose touch.

How to pray by Peter greig is one that I've heard is good but I haven't read

>>22733725
Another thing is that the church is made of people that are broken just like the rest of us. Finding a church is really important but the people in the church aren't going to be perfect and may even be real jerks. That doesn't mean Christianity isn't true it just means those people are still broken.

>>22733906
Understanding not interesting

>>22733801
"The Screwtape Letters" truly is great and it helped me understand how Christians view the world when I was about to accept Jesus as well

>>22733906
Thanks, those all sound interesting!

The only one I’ve already read is Mere Christianity. I didn’t actually like it that much. I agree with his messages, but I don’t know, something about the tone didn’t sit right with me. It felt a bit snarky and condescending.

>>22733742
Please elaborate on how Mr Blackswan helped you get back into being Cath

>>22733725
The Dog Delusion by Richard Dawkins

>>22733725
Compendium: Catechism of the Catholic Church
https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html

>>22733725
>been an atheist for 30 years now I’ve been buck-broken into being a christqueer by the internet, how do I reaffirm my retardation?

>>22735088
I forgot to say I am not only atheist but also a massive faggot.

>>22733725
>now see Jesus
babbies first hallucination

>>22733725
Visit your local Orthodox Church and talk to the Priest. Don't ask these retards

>>22735144
One way or another, he'll reveal himself to you, if you humble yourselves. I pray that you do. Christ knows your pain and rejection more than anyone and he only wants to help you.

>>22735465
Calling your brothers "retards" tells me you're not listening to any priests yourself.

>>22735491
im based

>>22733749
Does anyone here actually read the Desert Fathers? Can you tell me what you liked about their writings?

Til We Have Faces

>>22733725

I feel sorry for you that you have fallen into error, fallen out of The Truth.

>>22733754

>dude I heard this one crazy story this one time that this guy left peacock flesh out for a whole MONTH and it didn't putrefy, he just ate it straight up and it was fine. The flesh of a peacock is like the body of christ crazy miracles man praise be to god
Yeah, great book.

>>22733725
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

>>22733725
Nietzsche, Antichrist, might cure your brain cancer

>>22733725
The apocrypha available on gospels.net. The gospel of judas is so esoteric that I'd read it but not try to commit it to memory. Add to that, the books of adam and eve and the book of enoch are also good. The books of adam and eve give an idea of why satan is regarded as a bad guy (it gives specific stories of him seducing men and women into lust and revelry and violence) and the book of enoch gives some history of the fallen angels' interactions with men and some other esoterica. Both of those can be found here:
https://sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/index.htm

In reference to the gay-ness and the bible, I think this fag's presentation is pretty well-explained and presented. Even if he has clear and vested interest in coming up right you can't really argue against the research that he presents without doing the intellectual equivalent of plugging your ears and burying your head in the sand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezQjNJUSraY

>>22736047
didn't manage to cure your brain cancer tho

>>22733725
Just the Bible, get the New Testament down before you start going all in on other meme stuff.

>>22733732
>All the apologetic arguments are bankrupt
What argument specifically did you not find convincing?

>>22733725
say how

>>22733725
- Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
- The Christian in Complete Armor by William Gurnall

- The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis

The Screwtape Letters is especially interesting as it is from the perspective of a demon mentoring anotherbdemon on how to best lead his assigned human away from Christ.

>>22735060
>Compendium: Catechism of the Catholic Church
This and the ignatius new testament study bible are a great start.

>>22733725
the Bible and the catechism, stuff by the greatest Church fathers... keep digging around until God points you the way. E.g: Augustine's confessions etc.

What is your story?

>>22735670
The simplicity is like Zen (koans) except prior to zen and less nihilistic. It is not a clearing of being but a clearing of being in order for God to shine, which makes a world of difference. They are sparse, bare, hungry, brutal, simple stories about people who had almost nothing yet nevertheless become brighter and more loving than angels.

There is a sadness and a brilliance to them; unlike in Latin theology, where things are more complicated than in the gospels, Greek theology makes things simpler than they are in the gospels. Which is such a weird, uncanny feeling for someone used to Latin theology and a culture which in the last account traces its descent to Latin Christendom

>>22735922
that minor error doesn't invalidate the book... that's just resentful. it's a brilliant work, first philosophy of history IIRC, that alone is worthwhile.

>>22736981
>>22733725
oh and the catena aurea, a compilation of commentary on the Bible made by no less a luminary than St. Thomas Aquinas. I'd ask you to read the summa but it's too imposing and dense. But it is an invaluable resource, as long as you realize that theology has developed further since then.

>>22733725
>I now see Jesus clear as day
why

>>22736968
Should I read the Didache Bible for my first read through? I was just going to read the normal KJV; but I thought I wouldn't understand lot of it, so I figured I'd opt for a Study Bible to understand. (And I happen to be Catholic).

>>22737114
idk, postconciliar commentaries are pretty shit imo. but maybe it's good?

>>22733725
its nighttime nigga if you see day you're fucking delusional

>>22733725
Here’s a bunch of Christianity and Christianity adjacent books. I most strongly recommend “dominion” and “a secular age”. I also recommend “don’t know much about the Bible” and “I see satan fall like lightning”.

Like to the video the list is from. It’s good even if you think the guy’s a schizo (he kinda is but that’s besides the point)
https://youtu.be/nbhpUjXAfrM?si=mvzSHKb69QJ5HBgu

>>22737114
I think the RSV-2CE it's based on is a direct, straightforward translation which would be fine for a first read through and I like the translation. I personally didn't care for the type of study notes in that Didache bible. Generally they weren't giving the type of explanation of verses I was looking for.

The NABRE is the official US translation and is even easier to understand. It also has extensive study notes. There are a very few issues with some of the notes, but it's one of the first secondary sources I use when looking for more explanation.
It's all online if you want to get an idea how it reads:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible
You can get a used paperback for about the cost of shipping.
Saint Joseph Medium Size Bible is the particular one I got and it's good, but I don't have any other paperback to compare it to.

>>22735491
Not him but Prots aren't necessarily brothers any more than Mormons.

All honest people are, though

>>22733725
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

>>22734256
>>22737526

>approximately 2027 years since the death and resurrection of Christ full of theology, history and apologetics
>one man writes one book in 2006

haha gotcha christc*cks I am better than 2000 years of history

>>22737634
Yes

>>22737634
>>22737730
burn in hell pagan

It will pass. You are searching for an escape and latching onto the nearest thing

>>22734152
This is probably good because it was written by a white woman, who are the ultimate seat of holiness on Earth.

>>22733754
This, though the first 7 or so books are somewhat boring apologetics against contemporary pagan arguments

>>22737846
This is so true. Christianity would not even exist without White women. We must worship them in thanks.

>>22733725
Thomas Merton - The Inner Experience, best short book on the life of prayer and contemplation.
William Harmless - Mystics, lots of excerpts which run the narrative on Merton, Saint Bonaventure, Saint Gregory of Clairvaux, Hildegard, Evagrius, Eckhart, Rumi, and Dogen. His "Augustine in his own words," is the best Saint Augustine intro too, quoting heavily and giving you a flavor of all the main works through excerpts.
Saint Augustine - Confessions (although it has some slow parts)
Or, for the more philosophically minded, Philosophical Mysticism in Plato in Hegel, since the authors points apply more to the Patristics than Plato, but he decides to read them back into Plato because secularism is king now.
Saint Bonaventure - The Mind's Journey Into God is really good, short, but quite dense.

>>22735922
Lmao I dont even remember this part. Also not even that christian its just a big-brained book.

>>22737735
>burn in hell pagan

>>22733725
Based. I'm really trying to have faith in Christ and I want to believe, I really do. Bought a bible the other day and started to read the New Testaments, it's been good so far to learn about Jesus in his early days.

>>22737229
That's a really useful resource. Thanks anon. I assume I can read it if I'm not American lol?

>>22738007
read Imitation of Christ by a Kempis

>>22738007
God bless brother

>>22733725
I'll instead recommend seeing a doctor and requesting a brain scan since it appears you may have a tumor developing.

>>22737114
Since you are Catholic the Bible I'd recommend you is the douay rheims. It's a translation of the Latin Vulgate so it is very very close to the source. The translation itself is older then the KJV and has been only worked on by Catholics.
There are some revisions by Challoner which give the Bible more modern understandable english, while keeping true to the source and still having a bit of the "ye olden" language.
For a Bible commentary I'd look for something not to heavy as a beginer maybe something like the MacArthur study Bible. This isn't the douay Bible but still very good and with good commentary from MacArthur.

>>22733725
>“Do not seek a wife. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.” (1 Corinthians 7:27,29-31)
>“The end of all things is near…” (1 Peter 4:7)
>“…the coming of the Lord is near. …the Judge is standing right at the door.” (James 5:8, 9)
>We who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:15-17).
>Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. (Matthew 24:34)
just in time, rabbi Yeshua dropping soon(tm)

>>22738471
>I'd recommend you is the douay rheims
I'd recommend it also, but probably not for a first read through although the study notes are excellent.
It's online also:
https://drbo.org/

>>22738228
>I assume I can read it if I'm not American lol?
We'll make an exception for you this time.

>>22733725
A Confession and Other Religious Writings

>>22733725
Tolstoy and Luther had the most influence on my Christian beliefs, you can try both

>>22738504
Based

Catholicism is idolatry

>>22738007
>>22738240
>(You)

>>22738007
there is a massive amount of parallelism between the nt and the ot. many of the accounts of jesus references psalms, the prophets, etc. keep that in mind while reading it if you don't completely understand what is being written.

>>22733725
You see a dead jewish wizard? Might want to take your meds.

>>22739397
>tips fedora

>>22733725

Awesome! I found Jesus when I was 34 and my life completely changed.

For books, I like
Augustine - Confessions
CS Lewis
Great Adventure Bible
Word on Fire Gospels Bible
Ed Feser for understanding metaphysics

On YouTube I like Pints With Aquinas, Bishop Robert Barron, Parker's Pensees, Catholic Truth, Inspiring Philosophy.

God bless you

>>22738007

Good stuff. You must truly believe. Once you believe and surrender your ego and act out the faith (live it), the reality becomes undeniable.

>>22737846
My>>22738006
Wow! Very cool image

>>22733725
You should read the following books in any order. All the works of Blatavatsky. The Master and Margarita. Gravity's Rainbow. Hop on Pop. My Little Pony Adventures in Pedophilia. How I Did It. Everyone Poops. Giraffes Can't Dance. A Field Guide to Raping Rhinos. The Satanic Bible.

>>22741251
>My Little Pony Adventures in Pedophilia

>>22741251
Shouldn't you be getting ready for high school tomorrow

Welcome to our new server centred mainly around western theology and philosophy, civility is the only rule here:

https://discord.com/invite/VyCHeGH7dw

>>22733725
Tolle, lege

>christcuck pretends to be an atheist convert to save his dying faith exhibit 1662

>>22741538
>discord

>>22737297
>prots are your enemies

Aaand this is why I don’t take online Christianity seriously