My reason as I see it on October 12 4:43pm
The reasons for reading a literature meant for a defined group of people which I nominally belonged to for a time but am actually a stranger to are:
1. The sheer volume, velocity and scope of it all, not content wise specifically, that is another matter to be addressed below, but the "OMG there's so much of it" is a major element of it's alluring my lifelong devotion.
2. The specific content of it is for the most part all saying the same things, on the surface of things therefore there's nothing to draw one to it unless one is among those it was meant for, and it's been made clear they weren't meant for me.
3. Reading what isn't meant for me, feeds a propulsive desire to go against the grain, or other phrases of speech more common but more immature, I see my manner of it as like a demented researcher doing an extensive expose on it all, and the term demented applies to not just this, and demention explains the always going to other kinds of literature, and doing anything else really.
For you'd have to be demented to read anything else which says very different things and always very differently by the participants in whatever subject it is.
4. And this is the cherry on top, that of being transported to another time, with the classics of Reformed Theology I can get a taste of the 1500s to 1700s, a period of time where in my mind's eyes aren't completely filled out, all I can imagine is no vehicles or electricity, horse and carriage, and cottages with straw roofs, bumpy roads, insects the size of Utah, and oh to be in London and seeing Catholics and Protestants getting into arguments, to hear and see it all, oh it's within grasp almost by reading a classic text from a Puritan, and some secondary literature on Shakespeare helps a lot too, there's one where it's letters from the Puritanical community railing against the immense sinfulness of the theatre which as we all know Shakespeare is the leading proponent.
5. But there's this reason too - to be reading things I disagree with is what reading should be, reading what you already agree with shall dull your wits if that is all thou readest.
6. One last reason, is that today's popular Christian teachers, and how they seek to get rich off of the elderly and stuff, those who publish self help books and live in mansions, and take a private jet to wherever they'll be spewing their BS or worse going to places where they commit recognized crimes, well when that is how it is these days, and a modicum of respect for what the religion was supposed to be like, seeing that the Reformed tradition imo that is constitutes the most accurate handling of doctrine and praxis, well it's like cheering on Team Reformed against Team Prosperity.
7. Oh one last one -- there is a mighty sense inside me that things in general are crumbling, falling apart. Reading this kind of literature can represent things which feels secure, like you can depend on certain things.
8. To understand absurdity
1. The sheer volume, velocity and scope of it all, not content wise specifically, that is another matter to be addressed below, but the "OMG there's so much of it" is a major element of it's alluring my lifelong devotion.
2. The specific content of it is for the most part all saying the same things, on the surface of things therefore there's nothing to draw one to it unless one is among those it was meant for, and it's been made clear they weren't meant for me.
3. Reading what isn't meant for me, feeds a propulsive desire to go against the grain, or other phrases of speech more common but more immature, I see my manner of it as like a demented researcher doing an extensive expose on it all, and the term demented applies to not just this, and demention explains the always going to other kinds of literature, and doing anything else really.
For you'd have to be demented to read anything else which says very different things and always very differently by the participants in whatever subject it is.
4. And this is the cherry on top, that of being transported to another time, with the classics of Reformed Theology I can get a taste of the 1500s to 1700s, a period of time where in my mind's eyes aren't completely filled out, all I can imagine is no vehicles or electricity, horse and carriage, and cottages with straw roofs, bumpy roads, insects the size of Utah, and oh to be in London and seeing Catholics and Protestants getting into arguments, to hear and see it all, oh it's within grasp almost by reading a classic text from a Puritan, and some secondary literature on Shakespeare helps a lot too, there's one where it's letters from the Puritanical community railing against the immense sinfulness of the theatre which as we all know Shakespeare is the leading proponent.
5. But there's this reason too - to be reading things I disagree with is what reading should be, reading what you already agree with shall dull your wits if that is all thou readest.
6. One last reason, is that today's popular Christian teachers, and how they seek to get rich off of the elderly and stuff, those who publish self help books and live in mansions, and take a private jet to wherever they'll be spewing their BS or worse going to places where they commit recognized crimes, well when that is how it is these days, and a modicum of respect for what the religion was supposed to be like, seeing that the Reformed tradition imo that is constitutes the most accurate handling of doctrine and praxis, well it's like cheering on Team Reformed against Team Prosperity.
7. Oh one last one -- there is a mighty sense inside me that things in general are crumbling, falling apart. Reading this kind of literature can represent things which feels secure, like you can depend on certain things.
8. To understand absurdity
46-50, M