When I was with the serpent-handlers in Tennessee, it was the most bizarre method of worship I could think of. Yet when you sit with these people, you can kind of see how it makes sense.
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When I was with the serpent-handlers in Tennessee, it was the most bizarre method of worship I could think of. Yet when you sit with these people, you can kind of see how it makes sense.
A. J. JACOBSSince I was relatively new to the Bible, I was surprised by the Old Testament God. He’s wrathful, but at other times, He’s incredibly compassionate. He’s not a one-dimensional figure at all.
A. J. JACOBSI’ve never before been so aware of the thousands of little good things, the thousands of things that go right every day.
A. J. JACOBSI was very good at sitting. But I just read so much research about how horrible sitting is for you. It’s like, it’s really bad. It’s like Paula-Deen-glazed-bacon-doughnut bad. So I now move around as much as possible.
A. J. JACOBSI’m not a fan of ‘write what you know.’ If you don’t know, find out. I knew nothing about the Bible before I started writing ‘The Year of Living Biblically.’ That was kind of the point – to learn.
A. J. JACOBSA 2002 Oxford study showed counting sheep actually delays the onset of sleep. It’s just too dull to stop us from worrying about jobs and spouses.
A. J. JACOBSTaking the Bible too literally is a mistake. It should be read as a guidebook of wisdom and insight.
A. J. JACOBSI found there were things about religion that I really loved; things like the sense of gratefulness that it brings.
A. J. JACOBSBehavior shapes emotions.
A. J. JACOBSPaintings! They’re like TV, but they don’t move.
A. J. JACOBSIt comes back to the old question: How can the Bible be so wise in some places and so barbaric in others? And why should we put any faith in a book that includes such brutality?
A. J. JACOBSI grew up in a very secular home with no religion at all, so I was starting from zero.
A. J. JACOBSI’m addicted to self-improvement. The thing is, there’s so damn much about myself to improve.
A. J. JACOBSI thought religion would eventually wither away and we’d all be worshiping at the altar of science.
A. J. JACOBSWhen I went to Israel, it was a little disorienting, because there are so many people who look crazy and were dressed like me. There, I was just one of the apocalyptic crowd.
A. J. JACOBSMy reading list grows exponentially. Every time I read a book, it’ll mention three other books I feel I have to read. It’s like a particularly relentless series of pop-up ads.
A. J. JACOBS