Shakespeare v The Bible

Sunday is a special day. No not because of its religious connotation but because it contains "The Big Question".
Today I was gripped by a discussion "is Shakespeare more relevant to today's audience than the Bible". 

Why on earth do I describe this as gripping, what relevance does Shakespeare or indeed the Bible have on our lives in this fast moving drama we call 'our lives'. 

Of course I describe 'life' as a drama and Shakespeare was the master story teller in which he describes the vicissitudes of people who live through, even up to today, what is right and wrong, good and bad in each of the characters with which he describes our own dilemma.
The audience in York were extremely erudite and it was for me an, edge of seat occasion, as I listened to an impassioned academic debate, each participant at the leading edge of their speciality. 

I am fascinated by language and a persons ability to put across an idea with the correct choice of words. Language is a rich mixture, like the ingredients in the mixture of a cake, leave out one of those ingredients and the finished product is spoilt.
Today's event was a delight since it was largely a meeting of minds yet each contribution brought new light to bear on the difference of the contribution between, a "directive" issued by the Bible and a "self censoring" question which the Shakespearean plays pose. 

"To be or not to be" is a question that not only Hamlet grappled with but one we all pose to ourselves, "whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them"

Neither a borrower or lender be for loan oft loses both itself and friend and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

You speak an infinite deal of nothing.

Love is not love which alters when alteration finds or bends with the remover to remove. Oh no it is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken.

Shall I compare thee to a summers day, thou art more lovely and more temperate. 

Conscience does make cowards of us all.
Our language is full of Shakespearean phrases which we set aside as truisms. It is rich in pathos as it is of success. The characters although written and construed in the 1500s are as relevant today because he emboldens them with all the frailties we see in ourselves as well as our hopes and desires.

The Bible is the word of God, written by men who wished to bring a message of his love and belief but tainted with the proposition of eternal damnation. 

It's a series of moral agendas, of being right and wrong but with the sharp edge that 'being wrong' is not a choice. 

It acknowledges man,s weakness which is part of Gods gift of 'free will'  "but with the hand that giveth he taketh away".

 The stories, the parables are a gift to set and compare ourselves with but unlike any self analysis which is by definition, something within your own gift there is the heavy hand of condemnation behind it all and a dire prognosis if you don't aspire.