Holy Writings, Sacred Texts

I have decided to write my Book Reports on the most influential sacred texts. I will sprinkle these reports over the next few months, probably starting with the Bible or the Torah. Maybe I go in order of oldest to newest. These are the books I was given to review:

But before we get into these text, I am also making a church and I am working on my first holy writ. Yesterday I had revelation as to what the Church of the Sun could create as it’s one of its first texts. I have loved reading Ryan Holiday’s 365 days of Stoicism and now I am think that format will be perfect for a religious text.

I will collaboratively create with my family a book with a sunrise and sunset meditation prompt and leave space for journaling. Each day of the year will be met with some verse to ponder about our wonderful Sun at the center of every life on earth. Tell me if you like that this direction and I will get you my religious book for free.

Here is the first podcast I have done in a long time and first since my injury. I didn’t plan to talk so much about faith and the Sun but I went ahead and used 20 minutes to discuss my ideas:

The Quest For the Religion of the Sun with Scott Paul

The Big Ten (Religious Texts Edition):

• The Bible (Christianity)

  • Includes the Old Testament (shared with Judaism) and the New Testament (unique to Christianity).

  • Most printed and translated book in history.

• The Qur’an (Islam)

  • Believed by Muslims to be the literal word of God as revealed to Prophet Muhammad.

  • Written in Arabic; memorization of it is considered a sacred act.

• The Torah (Judaism)

  • The first five books of the Hebrew Bible, also part of the Christian Old Testament.

  • Central to Jewish law and tradition.

• The Bhagavad Gita (Hinduism)

  • A 700-verse dialogue between Prince Arjuna and the god Krishna.

  • Found within the epic Mahabharata.

• The Vedas (Hinduism)

  • The oldest sacred texts in Hinduism, composed in Sanskrit.

  • Four main Vedas: Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda.

• The Tripitaka (Pali Canon) (Buddhism)

  • The traditional scriptures of Theravāda Buddhism.

  • Three “baskets”: discipline (Vinaya), discourse (Sutta), and philosophy (Abhidhamma).

• The Tao Te Ching (Taoism)

  • Attributed to Laozi, this is a foundational Taoist text about harmony, nature, and effortless action (wu wei).

  • Widely influential in Eastern philosophy.

• The Guru Granth Sahib (Sikhism)

  • The central scripture of Sikhism, regarded as the eternal Guru.

  • Written in Gurmukhi script and compiled by Sikh Gurus.

• The Book of Mormon (Latter-day Saint Movement / Mormonism)

  • Considered another testament of Jesus Christ by its followers.

  • Claimed to be a historical record of ancient American civilizations.

• The Avesta (Zoroastrianism)

  • The primary collection of sacred texts in Zoroastrianism, including hymns, rituals, and spiritual teachings.

  • Composed in the ancient Avestan language.

These will be great books to review and report on as I have only read one of them, The book of Mormon, and I read it 5 times. I just bought the Tao Te Ching to read and the Bhagavad Gita mostly because they are shortest on the list. Have you read any of these long ones like the Triptaka?

See you tomorrow for a Book Report on Plato’s Republic. and then the Bible or Torah on Sabbath…which could be Saturday or Sunday depending on whose Sabbath I report on.

Scott X

Happy 4:20