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You can tell a lot about a person by the books they read

Laodicean60

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I dunno, maybe that you don't like to read?

Beware the man of a single book - St. Thomas Aquinas
“Never trust a man who reads only one book.” ― Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Purity of Blood
You hit it right on the head! Everyone on the planet has different worldviews and interests, and to place judgment on them for the books that they read. This thread is a hit piece behind A Lot of words attacking others that he doesn't agree with. I would appreciate the truth and say Vance, Christian, and Trump are this because..... instead of all the innuendos which are overworked to get his point across, his post doesn't ring authentic.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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You hit it right on the head! Everyone on the planet has different worldviews and interests, and to place judgment on them for the books that they read. This thread is a hit piece behind A Lot of words attacking others that he doesn't agree with. I would appreciate the truth and say Vance, Christian, and Trump are this because..... instead of all the innuendos which are overworked to get his point across, his post doesn't ring authentic.
Well for me, books I read in which decade?

Books I just read for entertainment, others to research parallel points of view.

Do the books I read reflect what I think? Not always.
 
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Godsunworthyservant

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Godsunworthyservant

You laugh at Gregory Thompson's reply with nothing to add. What does it say about you, Brother?
It says that I found it humorous and have nothing to add. I simply got a chuckle from it. I guess it says that I have a sense of humor. Do you read something else into it? What would that be?
 
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Laodicean60

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It says that I found it humorous and have nothing to add. I simply got a chuckle from it. I guess it says that I have a sense of humor. Do you read something else into it? What would that be?
Beware of a man, or never trust a man, is funny since I don't like to read. At least Gregory was up front. Carry on.
 
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Godsunworthyservant

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You hit it right on the head! Everyone on the planet has different worldviews and interests, and to place judgment on them for the books that they read. This thread is a hit piece behind A Lot of words attacking others that he doesn't agree with. I would appreciate the truth and say Vance, Christian, and Trump are this because..... instead of all the innuendos which are overworked to get his point across, his post doesn't ring authentic.
I was simply pointing out that it has been credibly reported that Mr. Trump has, in the past kept by his bedside and read the speeches of Hitler and showed a few examples where he has used the same terminology as Hitler in his own rhetoric. Nothing more. As for Mr. Vance, I simply pointed out the fact that he has publicly endorsed a book calling those on the left "unhuman" and that praised violent, fascist dictators such as Spain's Francisco Franco and Chile’s Augusto Pinochet. I'm not attacking anyone, I'm simply pointing out what they read or recommend and comparing the reading material with their own words. Is there something wrong with that? What exactly do you take offense to?
 
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Godsunworthyservant

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Beware of a man, or never trust a man, is funny since I don't like to read. At least Gregory was up front. Carry on.
You asked what the fact that you only read one book says about you and Gregory said "I dunno, maybe that you don't like to read". I found that comment humorous. I don't care if you like to read, I just thought the way he put it was funny. Sorry if you took it wrong.
 
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Laodicean60

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lismore

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I don't read books except one; what does that say about me? I'd like to hear all your honest opinions, brothers and sisters.
It depends what that one books is. As far as I know Jesus quoted from one book. God Bless You :)
 
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Godsunworthyservant

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Of course you don't, but I'll tell you, brother, it's cause of a reading disability.
Sorry to hear that. I'm sure you're aware that there are services available through most libraries in the US for free audio books for those with disabilities. They have quite a few audio books these days, if you're so inclined.
 
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Tuur

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I used the term widely reported to answer a question of where to find confirmation of the facts in my post. Let me rephrase for those who want to play semantics. It has been thoroughly researched and reported by many reputable news outlets. What sort of "hard cite" do you need? And on which details? Can you not do your own research and report on it? If you have any "hard cite" that can disprove the facts that I have laid out, please provide them. If not, then your attempts to discredit the reporting that I cited are nothing more than your own opinion and I don't know your qualifications so I can't just take your word. So, please examine any of these and let me know if you find evidence that they are not "valid".
"Widely reported" isn't a cite. The closest to it is passim, meaning scattered throughout. My one experience with a passim cite was I checked the records in question and, no, that particular cite wasn't scattered throughout. "Widely reported" is the same as "everyone says" or "they say" without specifics on whom "everyone" or "they" are. If "everyone" says a particular thing, then there's nothing to tell as everyone already knows it.

It's not my place to provide links to information reported by others. Will note that for anything other than personal information, cites in the form of a link to the referenced information are known on CF, particular in the Current Events topics.
 
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Tuur

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Tuur: I also have an Ashley's Book of Knots in my library which I break out every once in a great while to learn a knot. I was into bushcrafting and survival for many years.
Off Topic Sidebar: Years ago, I had to tie a rope as a harness to a transformer and the best I could do was a square knot that I placed flat against the tank and hoped didn't capsize. That day figured I needed to learn more knots. Unfortunately, unless practiced often, I tend to forget them. After having to look up a Spier knot online, went back over a few.
 
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Godsunworthyservant

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"Widely reported" isn't a cite. The closest to it is passim, meaning scattered throughout. My one experience with a passim cite was I checked the records in question and, no, that particular cite wasn't scattered throughout. "Widely reported" is the same as "everyone says" or "they say" without specifics on whom "everyone" or "they" are. If "everyone" says a particular thing, then there's nothing to tell as everyone already knows it.

It's not my place to provide links to information reported by others. Will note that for anything other than personal information, cites in the form of a link to the referenced information are known on CF, particular in the Current Events topics.

 
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Tuur

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Thank you. These are hard cites. Let's look at them.

Note that the first and second are of the same article from the same source. This counts as one cite.
Moving to the CNN cite, it, too, is of the same source., Ivana Trump.
The Business Insider cite references Ivana Trump. Same source.
Hindustan Times references Ivana Trump. Same source.
Looking at your first fourteen cites, the source is Ivana Trump. Only the ABC article makes an effort to found different, offering an "analysis," but again reference Ivana Trump.

If I were to find, oh, let's say forty, references to an account only recorded by Josephus, I only have one source: Josephus.

Cite fifteen shifts to Vance, and the book Unhuman. The question then is the accuracy of what is reported about the book. After getting stuck with a book deep in woo-woo, if a library doesn't carry what could be a questionable book, I won't spend money on it. I can recommend the book Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand, Read that and see what you think of the treatment of Christians in the USSR.

Cite sixteen is once again the book Unhuman, as does the remainder of the cites about Vance. Unlike the cites about Trump, technically they seem to be from different sources and hinge on the book. I used the word "seem" because without going through each in fine detail, I don't know whether each is independent. They very well could be, but don't know.

Just as I won't know the content of Unhuman without reading it for myself. Yet every cite from number fifteen onward depends on what's inside it.
 
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Godsunworthyservant

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Thank you. These are hard cites. Let's look at them.

Note that the first and second are of the same article from the same source. This counts as one cite.
Moving to the CNN cite, it, too, is of the same source., Ivana Trump.
The Business Insider cite references Ivana Trump. Same source.
Hindustan Times references Ivana Trump. Same source.
Looking at your first fourteen cites, the source is Ivana Trump. Only the ABC article makes an effort to found different, offering an "analysis," but again reference Ivana Trump.

If I were to find, oh, let's say forty, references to an account only recorded by Josephus, I only have one source: Josephus.

Cite fifteen shifts to Vance, and the book Unhuman. The question then is the accuracy of what is reported about the book. After getting stuck with a book deep in woo-woo, if a library doesn't carry what could be a questionable book, I won't spend money on it. I can recommend the book Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand, Read that and see what you think of the treatment of Christians in the USSR.

Cite sixteen is once again the book Unhuman, as does the remainder of the cites about Vance. Unlike the cites about Trump, technically they seem to be from different sources and hinge on the book. I used the word "seem" because without going through each in fine detail, I don't know whether each is independent. They very well could be, but don't know.

Just as I won't know the content of Unhuman without reading it for myself. Yet every cite from number fifteen onward depends on what's inside it.
I never claimed the source material for the articles was from anywhere but Ivana and the original article in Vanity Fair. I made that very clear in the original post. Some folks would rather muck things up with questions like "what do you mean by widely reported". I guess it was my bad to think that the term widely reported was universally understood so I provided the rest of the links to illustrate the meaning of "widely reported". Now you want to complain that the links were exactly what I stated, articles based on the original Ivana quote from the Vanity Fair article. I even noted that it didn't get much attention until Trump started using quotes from Hitler speeches and only then was it widely reported. To quote Jonathan Swift, "There are none so blind as those who will not see"

You say as for the book, "Unhumans", "The question then is the accuracy of what is reported about the book." That's why I checked the accuracy of the reporting and found dozens of articles where they quote the exact same things from the book. I even read the articles from those on the far right who were touting the book and even they didn't dispute the contents, they just attempted to glorify them. Might I suggest that if you have doubts, my research is going to do nothing to alleviate them, so either do your own research or refrain from denigrating or questioning mine until you have done so and have some credible evidence that mine is in error. Yes, everything depends on what's actually in the book and I have researched and reported what's in it, where you question my research without even doing any of your own. They say "Ignorance is bliss". You acknowledge ignorance of the contents of the book in question but rather than educating yourself before commenting you choose to question my research and that of the dozens of writers which I cited with absolutely no knowledge of what's actually in the book. If you seek the truth, why don't you find it and report on it instead of questioning it just because you haven't taken the time to learn it?
 
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Laodicean60

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All I can say about this thread is, do you know any of these people personally, and have you been to any of their homes and looked at their bookshelves to see what else they have read?
I had a friend at work that read that had read Hitler's work, and he was no Hitler.
 
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Godsunworthyservant

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All I can say about this thread is, do you know any of these people personally, and have you been to any of their homes and looked at their bookshelves to see what else they have read?
I had a friend at work that read that had read Hitler's work, and he was no Hitler.
I do not and have not. That's taking the argument to the absurd. I can only share what's been reported about what they have read and what books they endorse. I didn't say Trump (or anyone else) was Hitler! I simply pointed out that he seems to use Hitler quotes in his rhetoric. Let's keep this in perspective and not get into the weeds with things I didn't say. Don't try to read between the lines. It's never a good path to understanding.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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All I can say about this thread is, do you know any of these people personally, and have you been to any of their homes and looked at their bookshelves to see what else they have read?
I had a friend at work that read that had read Hitler's work, and he was no Hitler.
That's a good point, a lot of people have read the bible, but they don't act like Jesus.
 
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Tuur

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I never claimed the source material for the articles was from anywhere but Ivana and the original article in Vanity Fair. I made that very clear in the original post. Some folks would rather muck things up with questions like "what do you mean by widely reported". I guess it was my bad to think that the term widely reported was universally understood so I provided the rest of the links to illustrate the meaning of "widely reported". Now you want to complain that the links were exactly what I stated, articles based on the original Ivana quote from the Vanity Fair article. I even noted that it didn't get much attention until Trump started using quotes from Hitler speeches and only then was it widely reported. To quote Jonathan Swift, "There are none so blind as those who will not see"

You say as for the book, "Unhumans", "The question then is the accuracy of what is reported about the book." That's why I checked the accuracy of the reporting and found dozens of articles where they quote the exact same things from the book. I even read the articles from those on the far right who were touting the book and even they didn't dispute the contents, they just attempted to glorify them. Might I suggest that if you have doubts, my research is going to do nothing to alleviate them, so either do your own research or refrain from denigrating or questioning mine until you have done so and have some credible evidence that mine is in error. Yes, everything depends on what's actually in the book and I have researched and reported what's in it, where you question my research without even doing any of your own. They say "Ignorance is bliss". You acknowledge ignorance of the contents of the book in question but rather than educating yourself before commenting you choose to question my research and that of the dozens of writers which I cited with absolutely no knowledge of what's actually in the book. If you seek the truth, why don't you find it and report on it instead of questioning it just because you haven't taken the time to learn it?
"Widely reported" is in the category of ":everyone says." That has the implication of multiple sources. In this case what's "widely reported" is a claim by Ivana Trump. The one question (and the one I really thought you'd address) is whether Ivana Trump's statement is accurate. Having never known Ivana Trump, I can't say one way or the other. Note that Josephus' accuracy concerning the First Jewish Revolt has been questioned, so this is something that's common in history. The elephant in the room is whether the statement by an ex wife about a former spouse is always accurate. To this we can answer a definite "Maybe."

I'm sorry if you find this offensive, but this is part and parcel of history, whether it's Trump or Titus.

As to Unhuman, from experience I can say what is reported about a book may or may not be accurate. That's why I ended up reading Godsey's When We Talk About God, Let's Be Honest. The same for Caldwell's Tobacco Road. Read only opinions about a book, and you come away knowing the opinions but not the contents.

From your statement above, it appears you haven't read Unhuman either. Should you chose to do so, I recommend finding it in a library rather than buying a copy, if at all possible. That way, if you find it to be objectionable, you haven't spent money lining the author's pocket.
 
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