Makes me think that if this list was still published it would have a sort of Father Ted effect[1] and act as a list of books you’d definitely want to read.
Reading cannot be a sin. Thinking cannot be a sin. Speaking cannot be a sin.
It's a good thing that the index has been abolished in 1966.
umanwizard · 7m ago
In case you care: that the index was abolished in 1966.
Using “has been” here makes it immediately clear that you’re a non-native English speaker, unless you’re speaking some dialect I’m not familiar with.
Usually, we use the perfect (“has been”) with time intervals that include the present. We use the simple past (“was”) with time points that are closed and do not include the present.
For example: “I went to Lebanon in 2015”. 2015 is a specific point in time. But if I don’t include a time, I’d say “I’ve been to Lebanon”. Even though this was in the past, the fact that I don’t mention a specific time in the past means it implicitly includes the present, because I’m describing my current state: I’m someone who has been to Lebanon.
And, if I were in Lebanon now, for the first time, I could say “I’ve been to Lebanon”, and then it really does concretely include the present!
To illustrate another edge case: I’d say “my father has never been to Lebanon” but “my grandfather has never been to Lebanon”. Because my dad is still alive, but my grandfather is dead. So any statements about his life are automatically about a closed interval lying entirely in the past.
hypertele-Xii · 8m ago
If you bothered to actually read the Bible, you would learn that speaking can indeed be a sin in certain contexts. For example, 1 Timothy 2:12
Makes me think that if this list was still published it would have a sort of Father Ted effect[1] and act as a list of books you’d definitely want to read.
1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passion_of_Saint_Tibulus
Reading cannot be a sin. Thinking cannot be a sin. Speaking cannot be a sin.
It's a good thing that the index has been abolished in 1966.
Using “has been” here makes it immediately clear that you’re a non-native English speaker, unless you’re speaking some dialect I’m not familiar with.
Usually, we use the perfect (“has been”) with time intervals that include the present. We use the simple past (“was”) with time points that are closed and do not include the present.
For example: “I went to Lebanon in 2015”. 2015 is a specific point in time. But if I don’t include a time, I’d say “I’ve been to Lebanon”. Even though this was in the past, the fact that I don’t mention a specific time in the past means it implicitly includes the present, because I’m describing my current state: I’m someone who has been to Lebanon.
And, if I were in Lebanon now, for the first time, I could say “I’ve been to Lebanon”, and then it really does concretely include the present!
To illustrate another edge case: I’d say “my father has never been to Lebanon” but “my grandfather has never been to Lebanon”. Because my dad is still alive, but my grandfather is dead. So any statements about his life are automatically about a closed interval lying entirely in the past.