And the angel said unto me. "Behold these shall dwindle in unbelief" 1 Nephi 12:22
And the angel said unto me. "Behold these shall dwindle in unbelief" 1 Nephi 12:22
Posted: Monday 07 September 2026 ( 19 hours ago )
I've often said that the best book in the Bible, by far, is Ecclesiastes. But what is the best chapter?
Well, Ecclesiastes has some good chapters in it. The chapter with the most good stuff is Chapter 9, with ten good verses out of a total of 18.
But there is another chapter in the Bible that has 15 good things in only 21 verses. And that book is, surprisingly (to me anyway), Paul's epistle to the Romans.
Now Romans is not one of my favorite books. It has some awful things in it. Things that have had a huge and harmful effect on Christianity. It condemns atheists and homosexuals, while presenting the doctrine of predestination and salvation by faith alone. But none of that is in Chapter 12. In fact, there's nothing in that chapter that is cruel, intolerant, unjust, misogynistic, homophobic, or absurd. It is one of the few immaculate chapters in the Bible - chapters that contain only good things.[*]
I owe the discovery about Romans 12 to John Fugelsang and his wonderful book, Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible From Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-fleecing Frauds. As I began reading it I found on page 9 this statement: "His [Jesus's] followers are instructed to live in peace with everyone (Romans 12:18)."
So I looked that verse up and saw that Romans 12 had a lot of good in it. It seems to be, in fact, the best chapter in the entire Bible.
(I can't recommend highly enough John Fugelsang's book. If you don't have it already, go get a copy of it.)
* Out of the 1,189 chapters in the King James Bible, I can only find five that are immaculate, although some are much better than others. Here they are: Ecclesiastes 2, 6, and 9, Zechariah 7, and Romans 12.
