Holy Books or just books?

With the ruckus in the news about the supposed flushing of the Qu'ran down a toilet by U.S. soldiers and now the Israelis, I'm curious how you all view your book of scriptures or holy book...assuming you have one.

While I think it's disgusting that someone would be deliberately disrespectful of someone's beliefs (i.e. flushing a Qu'ran), I don't see that the book itself is "holy". I feel the same way about the Bible. It's just a book and is not inherently holy. It sits on a bookshelf or side table in my home. I don't do any ritual preparations or handle it in a certain way. I hesitate to mention for fear of being stoned, but I've also been known to float in the pool with the Bible propped open on my stomach.

Your views?

Just books. But I treat books religiously anyway. With care and devotion do I read them, careful not to damage them in any way.

Druidus said:

Just books. But I treat books religiously anyway. With care and devotion do I read them, careful not to damage them in any way.

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Ditto, just books. Although the Bible for instance says to 'handle the word of God aright', it means the message, not to abuse the message, not the book itself. i know a lot of religious people treat the actual book as holy. my relatives for example won't put the Qu'ran on the floor. something to do with feet they said. (don't quote me on that tho.)
so yeah, it is just a book. however, it doesn't mean that you can do whatever you like with it (if you respect it, anyway), just like you wouldn't flush your phone book down the toilet. not that it'd fit...

I think books are just books. The words in them can be wonderful and teach great things, but when you get down to it it's just ink on tree pulp.

I'm going to stick my neck out and hazard a guess that it was not anger at the Quran being flushed, but the beliefs being disrespected.

If you look on the tabes at jumble sales and the back room of second hand book stores.
You will fid numerous bibles that people don't know what to do with. Most at the end of the day get slung with the rubbish.
Is this disrespectful or just practical
It is certainly a shame.

Terry
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Blessed are the pure of heart, They shall behold their God

To me the Torah is a living breathing entity that i can always turn to for guidance and inspiration:162:

hi guys,

please respect other religiouns beliefs

Mosilims believe the Quaran as aholy book


Moslims believe their Quaran AS AHOLY QURAN .


so if you please be polite with their beliefs.



thanks alot.

Well I'd be pissed if someone flushed my Book of Shadows down the loo... its the only copy there is!

But no, I don't feel that this book or any other is holy. If there was only one copy of the Bible left then it would be very holy indeed. The holiness gets diluted as it gets reprinted though.

jewscout said:

To me the Torah is a living breathing entity that i can always turn to for guidance and inspiration:162:

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If, as you have said before, the explanation for not writing the 'o' in G-d, I would have imagined you to be particularly upset by the thought of the desecration of any Bible.


"First the legal side: The Torah exhorts us to destroy idolatry, and from here we learn the injunction not to erase the name of God. (see Deuteronomy 12:3-4)

The question is whether this applies only to Hebrew names of G-d, or to the English word "G-d" as well. The common rabbinic opinion is that "G-d" written in any language other than Hebrew, has no holiness and can be erased. (see Shach Y.D. 179:11, and Mishneh Brura 85:10)

There is still the other issue of giving the Name proper respect. This means not taking Torah material into the bathroom, and not throwing it out with the rest of the garbage. Instead, you should bring the printed material to the synagogue and place it in a box called "Geniza" (a.k.a. "Sheimos"). This box is used to discard unusable holy objects -- including Torah scrolls that have become old and invalid, old Tefillin and Tzitzit, and papers that contain words of Torah.

When the box is full, it is taken to be buried. Now what about spelling the English name "G-d"? Even though it does not technically have "holiness," some people go beyond the letter of the law and show extra respect, by spelling G-d with a dash. "

From http://www.aish.com/rabbi/ATR_browse.asp?l=g&offset=11

Fluffy said:

Well I'd be pissed if someone flushed my Book of Shadows down the loo... its the only copy there is!

But no, I don't feel that this book or any other is holy. If there was only one copy of the Bible left then it would be very holy indeed. The holiness gets diluted as it gets reprinted though.

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Why do you feel the holiness gets diluted? If it's holy in one book, shouldn't the words be just as holy in a billion?

Michel i was simply giving my opinion of the Torah and what it means to me...

as far as desecration of other holy text i feel they should be shown the same respect as those of your own faith

Why do you feel the holiness gets diluted? If it's holy in one book, shouldn't the words be just as holy in a billion?

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Well the words do not lose any of their meaning. But it is far more precious if their is only a single copy. This increases the important of a text, since it is the only example of such a link we have left to the divine and so the religious veneration would increase accordingly.

If you print billions of copies of the Bible, it is far easier to takes its message for granted and this goes for any religious text.

i know a sikh woman who holds the 'book of prophets' (i think its called that) in the highest regard. she has a big alter for it, and at night, she has to 'put the guru to sleep', because the last guru said that he would be the LAST guru, so they think that they have to venerate his book.
Like the bible, the book of prophets is just a book, just ink and paper, no more, no less.

Well I have a Bible and a Book of Shadows and several other Holy Books, but they are still just that books. In a way they are the same as the books you had in high school and by that I mean they are educational in nature. The book is not your actual religion it is merely an idea or representation of the idea. Now I am a book fanatic I have gone so far as to ban myself from book stores because I spend to much money. Now personally I would never flush any book down the toilet.... it would stop up my toilet! I did however keep my Book of Shadows and my Bible in the same box ( no shelf space left) and I am sure at least one of you is saying "Oh dear goodness!!". The book is never as important as the feelings, thoughts and actions behind it. And remember too that there were 3 times as many cases found of the prisoners mistreating their own Holy Books in that scandal.
Blessings!