Check out The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. I have not read it, but it sounds fascinating. Tim Ferris (of 4-Hour Work Week fame) has written this post describing an interview with AJ Jacobs, the author of The Year of Living Biblically.
Excerpts from the interview:
Two types of rules were hardest for me. First, there was avoiding the sins we commit every day – no lying, no gossiping, no coveting. I’m a journalist in New York. That’s like 70 percent of my day.
The second type of difficult rules were those that will get you into trouble if you follow them in modern-day America. For instance, the Old Testament rule that you should stone adulterers. Luckily, I was able to stone one adulterer. I was in the park dressed in my biblical garb (white clothes, a beard, sandals, walking stick) and a man came up to me and asked why I was dressed so strangely. He seemed hostile right from the start. I explained to him my project. And he said “I’m an adulterer. Are you going to stone me?” I said, “That would be great.”
I took out a handful of pebbles – because the Bible never specifies the size of the stones. This man actually grabbed the stones from my hand and chucked them at my face. I felt I had the right to retaliate, so I tossed a pebble at him. And in that way I stoned.
...
What was the hardest for your wife to put up with?
Well, my wife’s a saint. At one point, I built a biblical hut in our living room, and she didn’t appreciate the construction project in our apartment. Also, the Bible says not to touch women during that time of the month. Even more strictly, though, it says you shouldn’t sit in a seat where an “impure” woman has sat. My wife didn’t like that, so in retaliation, she sat on every seat in our apartment. I was forced to do a lot of standing that year.
This is not my normal kind of book but I'll be very interested to take a look at this book!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
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