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Bible API

bible-api.com

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Re: Bible API

#171

Post by sjwright »

jariel wrote: post #168
sjwright wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The character of Jesus is far worse, he said he’ll offer you vicarious redemption by way of human sacrifice. Gross. (And worst of all he didn’t even stay dead. What sort of sacrifice is that anyway? He missed out on a weekend to save the world from the rules he created in the first place.)

What he 'missed' was the real opportunity to enact justice as part of the 'Judean People's Front'. For that alone he deserved what he got. Edit: Meant to say 'People's Front of Judea'. Edit 2: Sorry - 'Popular Front of Judea'. I guess I really need a tool to help me sort that out, like an 'API' of some kind.

He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.

Re: Bible API

#172

Post by TomMarius »

RandomBacon wrote: post #158
TomMarius wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus is dead for some time and I don't care about him at all. I care about the people that are damned by their peers just because they had sex with their mate; I care about the children that are taught literal bullshit instead of science; I care about the families that fell into dysfunction just because someone told them a perfectly OK thing (such as homosexuality, science, some kinds of biology/medicine, etc) is wr…

I agree it's good to care, and I think you're being downvoted because of your association fallacy. There are Christians that teach science, that believe in evolution, that aren't sexist, etc. There are also athiests that are sexist, are anti-vaccination, and homophobic. It would be just as wrong to say athiests have no moral standing. If you want a future where people treat each other right, then don't demean them, e…

Atheism has no holy book nor organizations promoting such behavior, and there is nothing to indoctrinate anyone with. Christians behave like decent beings in spite of the Bible and the Church, mostly due to existing in a modern secular society that does not allow atrocities they did when they were in power. I fully recognize that there are many decent religious people, but that does not mean the religion is not promoting and causing said behavior in many many others. And I am specifically not demeaning the people as I see them as victims, but religion (as in the general concept, not just Christianity/Catholicism).

Re: Bible API

#173

Post by programmarchy »

Is there a programmatic way to split books into chapters and verses? Verses don't seem to simply be divided by sentences; there can be multiple sentences in a single verse. But is there a well-defined metric that could be used to apply to other books?

Re: Bible API

#174

Post by biolurker1 »

smitty1e wrote: post #141
biolurker1 wrote: post #134

Society is going backwards. Entering the dark ages soon.

Meh. "Society" is the mental crutch we all use. We are born and are judged as individuals, achieving greatness or ignobility as we do. Don't buy into the corporate piffle.

Said the molecule of water in the sea

Re: Bible API

#175

Post by tsegratis »

thomasqbrady wrote: post #157
umvi wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, I think it's fine as it reduces friction to getting the data. People particular about using KJV or whatever can easily switch. I'm more surprised Cherokee is one of the supported languages!

I used to work a a Bible software company, many, many years ago, and had to write a similar API. The surprise challenge I ran into, as that API was meant to support multiple translations, was that they don’t all agree on where chapters and verses start/stop. Some translations include or leave out a verse or two compared to others, and in some cases will number verses oddly to show it (like skipping from verse 20 to 2…

Often or always(??) it is caused by word ordering requirements in the language -- think subj-obj-verb

When translating orally, it sometimes means a translator has to pause, or guess at how the speaker is going to end sentences/paragraphs. This is because the other language requires an ending element to come earlier

This also has a fun impact on jokes. Sometimes the punch line needs changing, or other jokes become possible -- because the sentence ending gives a different denouement

--

Biblical Greek tends to use word order for emphasis, but still with an overall sentence structure very similar to English. So (as far as I know) the issue is mostly hidden for English speakers

Re: Bible API

#177

Post by Phylter »

karaterobot wrote: post #101
wcarey wrote: post #58

One of the most interesting things to happen to the scriptures is their balkanization into verses. We generally don't atomize other writings that way, and when folks read the scriptures as a series of disconnected logical propositions all sorts of wackiness ensues. What would it look like to have an API for the collected works of Jane Austen that returned snippets (some of which are not even complete sentences)? How…

Good observation, but I think it's overstated. I don't know many people who read the bible as a series of disconnected logical propositions, they mainly read it in much longer sections covering some topic. Chapter and verse come in when you want to quote something, or shorthand something, or refer someone to a specific and narrow section. In this usage, it's very similar to the way we cite Shakespeare, Homer, Chaucer…

I think what you're saying is right on. But I do know the occasion where someone will take a verse by itself and consider it a single logical unit where they get all meaning, understanding, etc. from that one verse and nothing else. It's just a learning point is all. I've always been taught to take the scripture as a whole and not just take one verse for understanding.

Re: Bible API

#178

Post by bdcravens »

karaterobot wrote: post #101
wcarey wrote: post #58

One of the most interesting things to happen to the scriptures is their balkanization into verses. We generally don't atomize other writings that way, and when folks read the scriptures as a series of disconnected logical propositions all sorts of wackiness ensues. What would it look like to have an API for the collected works of Jane Austen that returned snippets (some of which are not even complete sentences)? How…

Good observation, but I think it's overstated. I don't know many people who read the bible as a series of disconnected logical propositions, they mainly read it in much longer sections covering some topic. Chapter and verse come in when you want to quote something, or shorthand something, or refer someone to a specific and narrow section. In this usage, it's very similar to the way we cite Shakespeare, Homer, Chaucer…

> I don't know many people who read the bible as a series of disconnected logical propositions

It's common to quote short passages (1-3 verses) in society, either to prove a point (often missing context) or in a "thought for the day" manner. Many homes have wall hangings with scripture that the owner has never read in the bible.

Re: Bible API

#179

Post by TomMarius »

elwell wrote: post #156
TomMarius wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus is dead for some time and I don't care about him at all. I care about the people that are damned by their peers just because they had sex with their mate; I care about the children that are taught literal bullshit instead of science; I care about the families that fell into dysfunction just because someone told them a perfectly OK thing (such as homosexuality, science, some kinds of biology/medicine, etc) is wr…

"In the new reconstruction [atheism], we do not see the promised greatness or harmony. Instead we are trapped in a world of violence, discord, emptiness, alienation, and racial hatred... The infrastructure of our society has become mindless and senseless because the foundation upon which we have built cannot support any other kind of structure. Ah, but it is at this point that we have played a game with words and lie…

I live in a very dominantly atheist country, and this whole paragraph seems completely made up if I compare it with my experience and statistics. Here is way less violence than in any country with more religious people - and we're speaking about the country that inspired the protestant movement and was the target of two crusades.

Re: Bible API

#180

Post by memling »

newacct583 wrote: post #72
wcarey wrote: post #58

One of the most interesting things to happen to the scriptures is their balkanization into verses. We generally don't atomize other writings that way, and when folks read the scriptures as a series of disconnected logical propositions all sorts of wackiness ensues. What would it look like to have an API for the collected works of Jane Austen that returned snippets (some of which are not even complete sentences)? How…

> That hermeneutic - texts are collections of independent logical propositions - was essentially unknown in the ancient world, and cedes immense epistemological ground to the project of the enlightenment that is diametrically opposed to a Christian reading of the Scriptures, which emphasizes their unity and their role in liturgical worship. I just had to quote that sentence construction without comment. But to reply…

> Christians are what Christians do.

This is generally not true. Try to replace "Christian" with "Atheist" or "Gnostic" and see how far this travels. While there are, I suppose, some distinctive practices that characterize various systems of belief (or disbelief), what distinguishes Christianity from, say, Judaism, is a set of irreconcilable beliefs (e.g., that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah). It is true that practices might distinguish religious groups (e.g., Orthodox Jews eat no pork, which is allowed to Christians), but those practices directly correlate to beliefs (Peter, citing Jesus, declares all meats clean in the New Testament).

No, religions are not merely practice: they are creedal, too. One who rejects the virgin birth is per se not Christian, at least if the word "Christian" means anything.

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