GQ magazine puts Bible on list of classic books not worth reading, incurs the wrath of Christians

Matthew Diebel | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption GQ Magazine puts Bible on list of classic books not worth reading GQ Magazine placed the bible on a list called “21 Books You Don’t Have to Read.” Veuer's Sam Berman has the full story.

Well, it appears this group of scribes won’t be greeted very warmly at the Pearly Gates.

GQ magazine, a bible of “grooming” tips, gadget suggestions and style advice, has sparked a social media conflagration by calling the Christian Holy Bible “foolish, repetitive and contradictory” and placing it on a list of “21 Books You Don’t Have to Read.”

“The Holy Bible is rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it,” novelist Jesse Ball writes in the magazine. “Those who have read it know there are some good parts, but overall it is certainly not the finest thing that man has ever produced.”

Instead, Ball recommends reading Agota Kristof's The Notebook calling it “a marvelous tale of two brothers who have to get along when things get rough.”

Also on the GQ list are such classics as The Catcher in the Rye, Lonesome Dove, The Old Man and the Sea, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Lord of the Rings.

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In an introduction to the piece, GQ editors attempted justify their choices. "We've been told all our lives that we can only call ourselves well-read once we've read the Great Books. We tried," the editors wrote. "We realized that not all the Great Books have aged well. Some are racist and some are sexist, but most are just really, really boring.”

Perhaps predictably, the provocative proclamation about the Bible brought instant ire from Christians.

"Even if you don't believe this is an inspired word of God, in the last 50 years 3.9 billion have read the book," Fox News religion contributor Father Jonathan Morris told Fox & Friends on Sunday. Morris also labeled the inclusion as “just foolish and a shame.”

.@fatherjonathan: It’s ‘foolish’ that the editors of GQ Magazine would claim that the bible is one of the most overrated books of all time pic.twitter.com/rY7vhbTWkx — FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) April 22, 2018

And evangelist Franklin Graham, in a post on Facebook, said that the Bible is “sharper than a double-edged sword. There’s nothing more powerful, and there’s nothing more needed by mankind than the Word of God.”

Graham suggested that the GQ editors need to read it again. “The subject of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is Jesus Christ. And one day soon, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.”

On Twitter, a user called Bluestar called GQ “The Most Overrated Magazine Of All Time!” and said the choice was an “epic fail.”

Another poster, who identified himself as Eric Metaxas, also slammed the magazine. “If there is a person on the planet who cares what @GQMagazine has to say about literature, I'd love to meet that person,” said. “And pray for him.”

If there is a person on the planet who cares what @GQMagazine has to say about literature, I'd love to meet that person. And pray for him. https://t.co/xJlWfH4m5P — Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas) April 22, 2018

Meanwhile, Twitter user David D raged that “This Act by GQ is a total disgrace to the Christain (sic) Community.”

“I really don't think I'll be buying anymore GQ Mags,” he proclaimed.

I just heard GQ Magazine just Bashed the Bible!!!

The Bible is God's Holy Word.

I really don't think I'll be buying anymore GQ Mags.

This Act by GQ is a total disgrace to the Christain Community. — 🇺🇸 David D 🇺🇸 (@luckydbldd) April 22, 2018

And in perhaps the cruelest jab at the magazine, Tweeter Brian Houston declared that the Bible “is way more hip than GQ.”

Wow. What a way for GQ to show this irrelevance. The bible is way more hip than GQ. — Brian Houston (@BrianCHouston) April 23, 2018

GQ did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.